Vendor Spotlight – Artxchic Cake Toppers

We love coming across new ideas in the wedding world, and it’s even more exciting when you know the person behind it!  Meet Hannah – talented artist, former study abroad schoolmate, and wedding cake topper innovator.  I first some of Hannah’s family back when I was a teen working as receptionist at a hair salon.  Fast forward to college and we found ourselves just down the hall from one another in the stone towers of Cambridge University in the UK during a summer study session. 

Hit the >> button again and here we are.  Hannah recently started Artxchic Cake Toppers and even more recently created painted shadow boxes that allow you to display your toppers long after your wedding day has come and gone.  Her landscapes have always caught my eye and I can’t think of a better way to display these keepsakes.

 

Your name:  Hannah McLaughlin

Your business name:  Artxchic Cake Toppers

Your location: Manchester, NH

How did you start your business?

I started it by opening a shop on Etsy after I made a set for my cousin and his now wife.

How many years have you been in business?

I’ve been doing this for about 1 ½ years

What makes you stand out from others in your field?

My cake toppers can come with fully customized pet or child which was new to the field when I entered into it.

What's your favorite part of the work?

I love working with people who are so excited and happy about their upcoming wedding day.  It’s really a pleasure and adds a nice balance to my day job of working as a school counselor.

Are you seeing any trends emerge for the next season?

I’ve started incorporating custom shadow boxes as a way to display the cake toppers.  It helps make them more of a keepsake and something you can look back at and remember your special day.

What's the single best piece of advice you can impart to a newly engaged couple?

Don’t sweat the small stuff. 

Pricing Information:

My cake topper sets range in price starting at $60.  Each pet or child is an additional $10.

If you have any spare time, how do you spend it? Or some other personal tid-bit you don't mind sharing.

When I have a free moment I typically am on the golf course :)

Contact Hannah:

Order your toppers on Etsy - www.etsy.com/shop/artxchic

Follow her blog - www.artxchic.weebly.com/blog

Follow her on Twitter - www.twitter.com/artxchic

Find her on Facbook www.facebook.com/artxchic

Email - artxchic@gmail.com

On the cusp of wedding season…

Our first wedding of the season is tomorrow!  Every year I get the same “wedding high,” as I call it.  The giddy anticipation of another year of joy and beauty.  Usually it hits just as I’m pulling away from the Boston Flower Exchange with that first load of fresh flowers, still buzzing from the extra strong latte I brewed before the sun came up.  This Wednesday was no exception.  I’m sure it’s partially due to the caffeine and the quiet magic of the city in it’s pre-dawn state.  But there is no denying the excitement of the start of a season packed with the celebrations of some amazing couples.

Since we’re in the studio designing away today, there’s won’t be a Friday Flowers post, but hop on over to our Facebook page where there are sure to be a few sneak peeks throughout the day - https://www.facebook.com/ideas.in.bloom.llc

Friday Flowers – Boston Bridal Shower

 

Last weekend I had the absolute pleasure of co-hosting a beautiful bridal shower for a dear friend.  The wedding will be in upstate New York where the couple hails from. This shower was for all of the Bride’s Boston-based friends and family.  It was appropriately “Boston” themed and all were encouraged to bring gifts with local flair; tickets to a show, gift certificates to local eateries, or products from a uniquely Boston shop.  Especially fitting given recent events, don’t you think?  Big thanks to Nubar in the Sheraton Commander in Harvard Square for being so very accommodating!

Floral inspiration came in the form of springtime blooms, not unlike those you’d see in the Public Garden.  Tulips, Roses, Hydrangea, and Hyacinth, mixed with Ranunculus, Scabiosa, Freesia, Bells of Ireland, and Sword Fern.

These specialty tulips get me every time! I can never walk out of the market without a bunch this time of year. The multiple bloom, the fringed edges…who could resist?

The stunning beauty of a single Ranunculus bloom…

Budding Quince branches set in a cylinder lined with Sword Fern adorned the dessert table.

 

One of our new chalkboards (available for rent this season – variety of shapes and sizes!) displayed the mouthwatering variety of tea cookies from Butternut Bakery. Rave reviews for these desserts, as always!

Ridiculously delicious!!! 

Butternut Bakery also crafted the favors, set at each place.  Individually wrapped, Boston themed sugar cookies.  Do you see the level of detail in this Swan Boat cookie?  There is a white cloud in the blue icing of the sky!  Too pretty to eat…well, almost.

 

Newbury Street cookies.  Fitting since the wedding gown was purchased at a salon on this famous street.

The Bride-to-be’s first Boston home was near Fenway, so of course we had a CITGO sign. 

 

Love it, or hate it, the “T” gets you around Boston!

     

A beautiful celebration!

See Pam in New Hampshire Magazine!

 

Have you picked up the May issue of New Hampshire Magazine?  See Pam and the table that we created with My Feathered Nest for the Palace Theatre’s “Table Talk” fundraiser inside this month’s copy!

Seasonal Fireplace Decor

This post is a bit overdue!  You may recall this same fireplace from posts past.  First as a holiday display, then as a late winter/early spring hybrid.  Here it is again as a true ode to spring.

You’ll recognize some of the same elements, namely the glass cylinders and burlap birds.

Pam added river stones, moss, fern wraps and permanent botanicals to some of the existing cylinders. 

Combine those elements with birch vases, tree slices and a few nests and you have a refreshed mantle!

 

Earth Day 2013 – “Green” Wedding Flowers

It’s Earth Day!  Here at Ideas in Bloom, we strive to do our part for the environment and remain as green as possible while still providing our clients with the widest variety of cut flowers and designs available.  The cut flower industry isn’t the most environmentally friendly (flowers are shipped from all corners of the world year round) and we strive to make choices every day that help lesson our carbon footprint.  Here are our top five…

Recycling.  This goes well beyond reusing the flower boxes large orders come in or recycling the floral paper used to wrap bouquets.  We carry a large selection of unique rental items that not only allow our couples to cut costs, but ensure the multiple use.  Additionally, we always encourage clients to bring in their own, reused, containers around the holidays and tend to see the same family heirlooms year after year.

Living Decor.  Given Pam’s background in horticulture, it’s no surprise that we routinely provide plant decor for weddings and all other events.  From centerpieces to large installations, we’ve done it all.  In partnership with one of our growers, we also offer rental of larger trees and shrubs. Talk about impact!  Click here to see one of our collaborations.

Composting.  Retail florists often don’t have this option based on their geography, but as a independent studio in a more rural area, we actively compost all of our discarded floral material.  Our compost has even built a burm on which Pam installed a landscape!

Energy Efficiency.  During the busy wedding season our cooler hums, keeping all the flowers destined for celebration as fresh as can be.  When we don’t have events, we turn it off to save the energy and fuel.

Cutting Garden.  This is still a work in progress for us.  Each spring we hope to till more land to expand our gardens to include a true cutting field.  Sadly, it hasn’t happened yet, so for now we supplement our wholesale supplied flowers with blooms cut from Pam’s amazing existing gardens.  My favorite harvest are the Hosta leaves.  Gorgeous!

Have an Earth Day “resolution” or an unique way you stay green?  Share it with us here!

 

learn more at http://www.earthday.org/

2013 Boston Flower & Garden Show

 

Today may have felt like the end of winter, but temperatures are forecasted to dip in the next few days.  Didn’t get your spring fix?  Not to worry, the Boston Flower & Garden Show is this weekend!  Starting tomorrow you can walk through the doors of the Seaport World Trade Center and be transported to a magical land of blooming blubs, babbling brooks, and flowers as far as the eye can see…sort of.  But hey, we’ll take it! 

We will be buzzing around the shop this weekend and won’t make it this year.  I remember our trip last year vividly though – almost 9 months pregnant and going stir crazy, it was a great diversion!  Here’s a recap of that Show to get you in the mood: http://ideas-in-bloom.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-boston-flower-garden-show.html.

Planning to go?  Share the highlights with us here!

Think Spring – Flowers for the Winter-Weary Soul

  

It’s cold, snowy (depending on where you are), and rainy.  Again.  I love winter (yes, I can hear your “boos”), but when I’m cooped up in the house with a grumpy dog and active 11 month old, I can’t help but pine for the spring air and a snow bank free park they could both run around in. 

Instead of just imagining the delights those magically warm and sunny days, I thought I’d create a post of my favorite spring flowers.  The market is bursting with the early bird blooms these days and our trips there are good for the winter-weary soul.  Since not all are so lucky, here’s bit bit of distraction for you on this raw day.  Maybe if we all stare at them long enough and wish really, really hard, spring will get here faster?  Here’s hoping…

 

photos by yours truly | in order of appearance: daffodils, cherry blossom, lilac, peonies, lily of the valley, tulips, tulips & hyacinth, pussy willow branches

Did we miss a favorite of yours?  Tell us!

Vintage Wedding Weekend at Robin’s Egg

 

 

We had a blast designing for the Vintage Wedding Weekend and had the pleasure of getting to know the crew behind Robin’s Egg in Milford, NH a whole lot better. 

Here are our photos (with a few from Rhonda at Robin’s Egg) of the pieces featured at the event…

 

 

 

 

 

bouquet featuring garden roses, blackberries and trailing vintage lace

heirloom creamer to match!

dramatic compote style arrangement in colored glass

elevated centerpiece on a mercury glass pedestal and coordinating posy in a matching mint julep cup

springy collection of tulips, hyacinth and green tricillium in a burlap wrapped vase

another of our vintage sewing machine drawers filled with kale, viburnum and spray roses – a lovely centerpiece   

     

To see more, click on the full album below…

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