Tuesday, November 11

Wedding Flowers 11-8-08


This is St. Mark's Chapel, on the grounds at Mordecai Historic Park in Raleigh. It was built in 1847, by slave carpenters on the Haughton Plantation in Chatham County, NC. In 1979, it was given to the Raleigh Historic Properties Commission and moved to the present location, which is also the location of President Andrew Johnson's birthplace, Mordecai House (a plantation home), an 1842 kitchen and the Badger-Iredell Law Office (ca. 1810).

I didn't have time to scout around for the best photo of it, so this will have to do. It was the site of one of Mel Day's three weddings Saturday. It doesn't hold very many people, but it is a charming site for a small event. I had hoped to show you the flowers on the doors and the initial L we made for over the doors, but I inadvertently made a video of it, and the quality is poor. I have to quit hitting the video button!


The altar.


The hand-built pews have wonderful needlepoint pads, covered with all sorts of native flora and fauna.


I love this one with the fox, don't you?


The table centerpieces at the reception, held at the Umstead Hotel. Manzanita branches hold kissing balls of orange roses. The branches are studded with small green orchids, and the tall cylinder vases are partially filled with Granny Smith apples.


This view was taken after the lights were turned low and the centerpieces pin-spotted.


These kissing balls stood atop smaller cylinder vases in the cocktail reception area.


One of the table centerpieces, which was also used on the entrance table in the chapel. The brown curly things are "monkey tails", the bud form of a type of fern.


We left flowers for the cake, and the baker decorated it. We returned to the reception site after the ceremony (with all the flowers used at the chapel) and I took this photo then.

Note: I did the kissing balls atop the vases and wired the small orchids.

12 comments:

Pat said...

I'm having comment trouble. Just to say it is a charming place and I love the colour scheme of the reception.

JeanMac said...

Beautiful work - I love seeing your pics.

Granny Annie said...

You just have to keep saying "kissing balls" don't you?

I could tell you didn't arrange the flowers on the cake.

Anonymous said...

I just love the pictures of these historic venues.So pretty!

Joy Des Jardins said...

I love the colors Judy. This is very different than what I'm use to seeing....but I like it....it is charming.

Pearl said...

what fancy and fanciful needlework. someone put a lot of hours into that.

Darlene said...

I wonder who did the beautiful needlepoint. It's so beautiful that it's a shame people will sit on it.

Very creative floral arrangements. I'll bet wiring those delicate orchids was a real challenge.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

These arrangements are all so imaginative....LOVE those Centerpieces with the Granny Smith Apples...! All the flowers you showed us are truly lovely!

David Edward said...

bless you
the flowers are so beautiful

Shephard said...

Ok, you can imagine how much I love this. I loved the tables and center pieces!
~S :)

Sky said...

i love the needlepoint chair pads. they are so lovely. it is an art we don't see often enough now. my great aunt needlepointed chair covers for my mother's dining room table chairs when i was a young child.

your floral work is beautiful. while the colors in these photographs are autumnal the arrangments still feel light and festive. i especially love the manzanita branches with the kissing balls, orchids, and apples. exquisite!

(i had a friend in atlanta whose last name was mordecai. i wonder if her family was fronm nc.)

Jamie Dawn said...

The kissing balls look marvelous as does all the decor.
Those table centerpieces are really neat looking.
That quaint chapel is a perfect place to get married if you are having a fairly small wedding.
I grew up going to a church called Rose of Sharon Chapel that was small and quaint and had beautiful stained glass windows. Many people had their weddings there and probably still do.