Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Hello! I am excited to invite you all to the Always & Forever Spring Bridal & Special Event Show 2009. I am lucky enough to be a sponsor of the show this year. With a 45 minute fashion show, great vendors, and a corner just for the guys, this show is going to be fabulous!

Make a Smilebox photobook

In June I was very lucky to get the opportunity to create the flowers for the Dan and Lis Ernst wedding. The entire family was a joy to work with! I asked Lis to send a little bit about her wedding to share with you all. Here is what she had to say! Enjoy the storybook!

Dan and I met in Junior high and became great friends. In high school be continued to be best friends. We started dating our sophomore year of high school and have been together ever since for 7 years. We both attened the University of Iowa he is now an engineer and I am a teacher. We got engaged on November 25, 2005, right after Thanksgiving so we could be around both our families. That day Dan and I went to a movie, after the movie we were just driving around and he made a comment about the fish at eagle point park, wondering if they were still there over the winter. So of course I became curious as well, so we drove up to the park. On the way we stopped to get a cappuccino from the gas station becasue I was cold. When we got up to the park we walked down by the fish pond. There were no fish. At this time I sensed that something was going on, all the sudden he gets down on his knee. At this point I chuck my cappuccino, because I know what is coming. He says some nice words and asks me to marry him, I am crying and of course say yes, and say "what a rock!" you could say I was excited. Of course he asked permission first. We had a long engagement of 2 1/2 years. We liked it that way because we wanted to wait until we were both finished with school, and we needed time to make up our mindes of that we wanted. With a lot of help from both our parents and my sister the maid of honor we started generating ideas. Our wedding party was easy to choose because we had a tight group of friends and very close family. For the wedding we decided on the colors of pink and black. I wanted a lot of color in the wedding from the girls dresses to the flowers on the tables. We also knew we wanted something very unique, so we decided on flowers that were very fresh and garden like, no roses! I also wanted the guests to walk into the reception hall and the first thing they saw was the large center pieces. For those I chose to incorporate sticks. When I told all my bridesmaids I was doing this they thought I was crazy, they thought sticks! What! I invisioned curly stickes with flowers hanging and also lanterns. I wanted it to look like an outside garden. I also had large pink paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling to make the room seem more warm. I chose to have orchards as the main flower because they are so beautiful and they were the right color. They ended up turning out wonderful. The day of the wedding was amazing, we had a beautiful day, maybe a bit hot, but no rain so I can't complain! We we very untraditional becasue we had all our pictures done before the ceremony. I would recommend it though because it took a lot of the pressure off the day. Also it left time to celebrate after the ceremony instead of taking all the pictures. Our ceremony was at 1:30 so the morning went very fast. I cried all the way down the asle, and pretty much through out mass, what can I say I am a sap! After the ceremony we had a trolley pick us up at the church. For anyone who is still considering this, I would say it is a must. It was probably the highlight of the day, all our bridal party partying on a bus, it was great!!! We also took a few photos during this time mostly the wedding party up at eagle point park right were we got engaged. After that we needed to get to the reception at the Grand River Center, I was very excited and nervious because I had not seen how it all looked together. As we walked in I was amazed how everything looked. It was beautiful. The lights were dimed and the tables were lit by candle light, it was so wonderful, everything I had ever dreamed of. The meal was great, and so were the speeches. The dance was also one of the best parts, all our friends and family out there busting a move, it was great. My one problem I had that day was my busle would not hold. After about an hour of dancning and many people steping on the back by busle broke, and I had at least 10. The rest of the night consited of me dancing a few songs, then having to go and try to pin up my dress. It didn't work very well. Toward the end of the night I just decided to carry it and it worked a lot better. Overall it was a great day, that went far too fast.

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I am excited to announce our next future Mr. and Mrs. are Seth & Kristi. The big day is October 4Th, 2008 @ 2:00 PM at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elkader and the reception will follow at the Dyersville Commercial Club Park in Dyersville, IA.

The bride and groom were introduced in January of 2004 at a friends "Ugly Sweater" party by Kristi's older sister and the rest as Kristi says on her wedding website, "Is History!"

The Proposal

Seth popped the big question on September 1st, 2007 while they were camping on the Mississippi River. While cooking at his uncles cabin he asked Kristi to marry him in front of his entire family. Brave guy! Although the proposal was not exactly as planned, Kristi said "Yes!"

The Wedding Facts:

The Girls:

The girls are wearing a floor length apple colored dress with some beading on the chest area and a small white band around the waist.

The Guys:

The guys are wearing black tuxes with black vests and a red striped tie.

The Colors:

The colors are mainly red and black with some yellow and orange mixed in for fall.

The Ceremony:

The ceremony is at St. Joesph Catholic Church in Elkader.

The Reception:

The reception is in Dyersville at the Commercial Club.

The Honeymoon:

The couple are honeymooning at the Riveria Princess, in Riveria Maya.

The Wedding Party:

The future Mr. and Mrs. are planning beautiful yet fun wedding. Friends and family are a big part of their special day. The couple have asked 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 4 personal attendants, and 3 ushers to share every moment with them. And let me tell you, this is going to be a fun bunch!!! This entire group has fun together no matter what they do, from bike riding and hunting, to camping and tailgating, this group knows how to have a good time. The wedding will be no different! Good Friends and Good Times.

And now to the important part...The Flowers!

The Bride will carry......

Kristi has a love for Gerbera Daisies. The bride will be carrying a mix of fall colored Gerbera Daisies and Roses in golden yellow, burnt orange, and rusty red. Crystal rhinestones will be added to give the bouquet a touch of bling. The bouquet will get finished off with a satin ribbon wrapping then accented with rhinestone banding. The warmth of fall with a touch of sparkling elegance.

The Maid's will carry......

Mix of Gerbera Daisies in fall colors such as golden yellow, burnt orange, and rusty red. A dusting of fine designer glitter will be added to make the bouquets shine. The stems will be wrapped in the same gorgeous satin the dresses were made from to really coordinate the bouquets together with the dresses. It is a really nice personal touch using the same fabric off the bolt the dresses came from.

The Wedding Party......

The flowers to wear will be designed using Gerbera Daisies and or Roses accented with fall berries and greenery. A touch of designer glitter will be added to these flowers to make them shine. The corsages will have a beautiful ribbon accent and the boutonniere's will be accented solely by greens and berries to keep them pretty yet masculine.

I look forward to designing fun and beautiful bouquets for this couple! Keep an eye out for pictures from the wedding. They are sure to be great!

I recently got the pleasure of designing the wedding flowers for the Wessels-Wegmann Wedding in Dyerville. The reception followed in Farley. Working with Kristen, Jeff, and their entire wedding party was a wonderful experience. I wish the best of luck to both of them! Check out the video I have added above. There are a few shots of the reception. Wedding party pictures will follow. We love feedback!

Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted anything on here! So sorry! Things have been crazy around here and I promise, I do have some pictures and stories of future couples and recent weddings we have done to post! It has been exciting working with so many new people along the way. I look forward to sharing posts with you and please........comment!!!! We love feedback!

When sitting down and discussing flowers I often get hesitation when asking if there are children needing flowers in the wedding party. Brides tend to ask themselves if the children are old enough, mature enough, or just plain brave enough to face that great walk down the isle.

Children often are a very important part of the happy couples lives and it's very important for them to include the little ones in their special day. Although they might not do exactly what you want them to do that day, it will be cute and very entertaining. No one will disown you if your ring bearer has his finger in his nose walking up the isle. Most likely they will snap pictures and get a good chuckle, unless they are his parents. :)

Feel free to send over any ideas or tips you would like to share with everyone. Funny stories are always fun to hear as well! Here are some ideas I have collected over time.

1. Practice, practice, practice! Let the kids walk up and down the isle until the feel comfortable.

2. Give them a partner. If there is an opportunity to put two children together, often they are more willing to get down the isle. An older child guiding a younger child tends to work best. It's a lot less scary having a partner.

3. Buy them a book. There are many books out there explaining the duties as a ring bearer or flower girl. Visuals are always great for children.

4. Make sure to have entertainment. Have a good stash of food and activities at the front of the church for the children. Find out their favorite treats and past time and make sure to have them ready when they make that long trip up the isle and in between pictures. Puzzles, coloring books, travel games, water, cereal, snack bars, etc. Be sure to tell and or show them what is in store for them as well!

5. Get them involved. Let the kids have a say in what they wear. Of course you want to give them options or you could have a mess on your hands, but if you are not set on the attire, give them a couple choices and let them decide. They are less likely to fight the wearing the attire if they picked it out.

6. Spend time with the kids. Sometimes the children involved in weddings are not as close to the couple as their parents may be. It may be a best friends son or daughter or a cousins child. Even though you see them from time to time, your may not really know the true child. How are they when they're nervous, scared, anxious, etc. Kids tend to be a lot different when they are not around people they see everyday. Take time to really bond with the kids. Depending on the age offer to take them to Chuckie Cheese or a park. Not only will you get the chance to bond, but you'll also get to say thank you to the parents for letting their child be apart of their special day by watching their child.

6. Relax. Kids get stressed when the adults are stressed, so try to relax, at least in their presence. It's good for everyone.

7. Give them a gift. If you are giving gifts at the rehearsal dinner to your dinner party be sure to include them in this as well. This may be a good time to give them the activities they will use at the ceremony. Just be sure to let the parents know you would like them to be used at the church for entertainment.

All of these of course are just suggestions. None are guaranteed to work, and kids of course will be kids! I can't wait to hear some of the other suggestions from this blogs viewers! Hope the wedding planning is going well!

On April 27th I got the pleasure of designing the flowers for the Soiree Fashion Show at the Grand Harbor in Dubuque. I had such a blast! What a great group of girls to work with! I did about 12 bouquets plus some flowers to wear for the show. The girls all looked great in their dresses, so it was a blast to hand out the flowers as they went up and down the runway. Behind the scenes was fun and exciting as there was tons of movement and people going from one dress to the next and all the while my only focus was to make sure these girls had flowers in their hands before heading out of the curtain. I felt like I was backstage at the runway finale of America's Top Model....lol! :) (I watch way too much reality TV.....DVR is my friend!) I can't imagine the time and effort that must have gone into coordinating this event. Thank you Soiree for the fabulous opportunity to show off my flowers!


I almost forgot to mention the 2 banners we got to introduce at the show. They are white cloth 2x2 banners that read "Here Comes the Bride" and one the reads "And They Lived Happily Ever After." 2 adorable 4 or 5 year old twin girls walked along each side carrying one end of the rod going through the top of the banner. It was so cute!!!! I asked the girls backstage if they did a good job and one spoke up in a very feisty manner and told me. "NO! Because my sister didn't twirl right." I laughed and laughed. Must have been a touchy subject. They did such a great job! The banners are $40.00 and $45.00. They can also be printed with names, dates, monograms, etc.

Hello! From time to time I hope to get to share some cool new products with you all. These are something I was really excited to share with you.

The pictures below are from a company called Blume Box. They produce these affordable, recycleable, and ready to be personalized boxes. I love them! They are so inexpensive compared to traditional vases and way cuter! The other super nice thing about them is, you can let your guests take them home without the fear of not getting your rentals or expensive vases back! They can reuse these over and over again too. I will post more pictures from some of the weddings that have requested to use them this summer.

You will see in the pictures there is a place card holder with a flower attached to it. These are called Blume Buds. Very popular right now! So cute! Call anytime for pricing! 563-923-4112

Hello! Had to share...I recently got the privilage of working with A fleeting Moment Photography out of Farley. Alissa shot some of my designs for me and Tanya her assistant helped out with the details. Oh my gosh, what fun! I had a blast. Alissa arranged with Mickey from Forever Yours, a bridal salon she works with, to provide a couple of dresses and her daughter Sarah to model.

What a wonderful cold morning. We had planned all sorts of fun and edgy shots. This being my 1st shoot, was not sure exactly what to expect. We had boutonniers in the sand, bouquets on rocks, steel, patterned paper, and a harley to boot! All kinds of crazy! Alissa has an eye and vision that is remarkable.

The inside shots were done 1st then we headed out side for some fun. My brother in law Nick brought his Harley to the shoot for us. It added a little edge to the photos. We all stood there shivering while Sarah posed like it was 80 degrees. What a trooper!

I am so excited to get these pictures up for all to see! Again, thanks to Alissa, Tanya and Mickey for the fun shoot!

Hey everyone! I am a newbie at this blog thing so bare with me. I promise in time it will get more interesting. :) I guess I will start off by introducing myself.

I am Brandi Lewin, owner and designer of Posh Wedding and Special Event Florals. I know it's a mouth full. Posh Weddings, will work! I graduated from the Floriculture at Kirkwood in 2001, but have been in the industry since 2000. I had the opportunity to work under a wonderful designer who taught me alot about design. I also have had the opportunity to help open and managed a very large retail flowershop in Dubuque. Both were fantastic experience and helped me find what it is that I truely love to do.

What I discovered is that I love the wedding and event work. That is where I shine. I love to meet with brides and discuss their plans and hear their ideas. I love the excitement of the wedding day and there is nothing better than watching a bride fall in love with her flowers. This is why I started Posh.

I look forward to meeting new people who are planning the events or their dreams and also to start a good network of other event industry people.