May Wedding at Phipps Conservatory & George Washington Hotel
Kaetlyn + Norman
CEREMONY Phipps Conservatory Outdoor Garden, Pittsburgh, PA
RECEPTION George Washington Hotel, Washington, PA
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
From our very first phone call I could tell that Kaetlyn was a Bramble & Blossom bride. Her kindness, her calm and bright demeanor, everything about the way she talked about her partner, Norman. She just had that quality of spirit that makes me say yes, let's make flower magic together.
And so we did. Kaetlyn and Norman had what the history books will likely refer to as a COVID wedding. They did what so many couples had to in 2020, 2021, and 2022...they adjusted their plans. And like so many of our clients during those years, they did it with grace and openness and generosity in their hearts.
Our initial phone call was way back in March of 2021, plenty of time to plan for their May 2022 wedding, right? 12-18 months is a wonderful amount of time to work with your floral design team on your wedding's look and fee. It is plenty of time for honing in to capture your personal style on the day of your wedding celebration and plenty of time to make necessary adjustments to handle whatever wedding planning and life throws your way. So fast foward to September of 2021 when Kaetlyn reached out to say that their original venue for their reception was delaying their grand re-opening and that they had been advised to look elsewhere for a space.
Eep! At less than 8 months to go before their wedding date, Kaetlyn and Norman jumped into action. Again, so chill, even with bad news and things not going the way they had hoped. With the help of their extraordinary wedding planner, Kimberly Alllera of Olive + Rose Events, they came up wtih a new plan.
And dare I say...a BETTER plan!
Due to the curve ball thrown by their original venue, Kaetlyn and Norman hustled to find a new space for their spring wedding. They needed someplace close to Pittsburgh, as they hoped to hold onto their plan of a ceremony in the gardens at Phipps. And the place needed to have charm and beauty to match their day, aaaaaand they didn't want to change their date. Enter The George Washinton Hotel.
The George Washington Hotel is just stunning. Let's start there. The architectural details are unmatched, and moment-for-moment there is nowhere that gives these vibes and has this much space within 2 hours of Pittsburgh. There just isn't. Everywhere you look, you see something that says SPECIAL and DELIGHTFUL in a way that usually only shows up on Pinterest. The windows, the floor, the bar, the lobby, the ballroom, stop! Everywhere you look...it's just dazzling!
To be honest, we designers spend a lot of our time behind the scenes figuring out how to draw your guests' eyes away from that weird empty space or ugly carpet or funky wall hanging or outdated fixutre or annoyingly central exit sign. The George Washington is like nope, I got you. I'll just sit pretty.
So in September 2021, Kaetlyn let me know that the plan was to move their reception to the George Washington Hotel and keep the ceremony at Phipps. Beautiful! Because we only do one full service event on any given day, our team was able to pivot easily to adjust to their new day-of timeline, and we got to work on coming up with new designs that fit the new space. For me, it was truly dreamy, in all honesty because the original venue had been a standard run-of-the-mill corporate-looking hotel and I knew that Kaetlyn didn't love it. The way that she gushed and got giddy about the GWH was completely different. I knew this was the right space for this couple and that made it so easy to let the designs flow and match their personal style and all the sweet details of the venue. And I felt glad that this couple was going to get exactly what they wanted. Wins all around.
Today, I'd like to highlight a few of the designs that really knocked our socks off! Below, you'll see the custom designs that we put together for Kaetlyn and Norman, each one creating its own little WOW moment for this happy couple and their guests. If you're trying to decide what kind of WOW moments your wedding should have, let's talk. That's one of my superpowers.
The best moment of the day for me was when Norman and Kaetlyn came into the ballroom and totally lost it over the designs. Someone actually caught that moment on video, here's a snapshot:
Sweetheart Table Design
Mantle Arrangements
Floating Neon Sign
Seating Sign
Lobby Chandelier
Dried Flower Cloches & Bottles
Now that you've seen some of the highlights, here are a few more photographs showing off Tyler Trippett's extraordinary skills and the true delights that only American grown flowers can bring to Pittsburgh weddings.
Color Palette
Blush, Dusty Rose, Garnet, Burgundy, and Sage. A lush spectrum of warm warm pastels with pops of darker gem tones features spring blooms at the peak of their season.
Featured Flowers & Greenery
Iris, Peony, Stock, Scabiosa, Tweedia, Larkspur, Butterfly Ranunculus, Garden Rose, Ranunculus, Poppy, Foxglove, Tulip, Weigela, Dried Strawflower, Nigella Pods, Gomphrena, Statice, Amaranth, Lavender, and Mixed Grasses, Callery Pear, Black Cherry, Smilax, Mint, Eucalyptus Parvifolia
Local Flower Farms
Lauren Seiple, Ohio Cut Flower Collective, Goose Creek Farms, Sol Patch, Cherry Valley Organics
Vendor Team
Venue: The George Washinton Hotel
Floral & Event Design: Bramble & Blossom
Photography: Tyler Trippett
Planning: Kimbery Allera, Olive Rose Events
Catering: George Washington Hotel
Cake: Duck Donuts
LOVE NOTE FROM KAETLYN & NORMAN
If you haven’t hired Bramble & Blossom for your wedding day, seriously go call Jessica right now!! Jessica and her amazing team were seriously amazing to work with. From the very first consultation, I could tell she had an absolute gift for flowers. I felt like she was reading my mind before I would even be able to articulate what I wanted! There were several times that I sent her brand new ideas (after we had already come up with a proposal) and every time she found a way to incorporate the ideas. We even had to change our venue at one point, and Jessica made me feel so much calmer by very quickly changing our proposal to fit the new venue. Every time I met with her, I walked away feeling 100% confident that she would make my wedding flower dreams come true. AND SHE ABSOLUTELY DID!!! When I walked into our reception space on the day of our wedding, I had to literally sit down because I was so absolutely overwhelmed by the flowers. Jessica delivered exactly what I had wanted flawlessly!!! And as if that wasn’t great enough, Jessica’s knowledge of flowers and dedication to sustainability makes you feel that much better about hiring her. I can’t say enough amazing things about her and her team, please go hire them!!!