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Garden Party Sisters bio picture

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope." Lady Bird Johnson

Meet Mary (the right sister):

My love for flowers started at a young age. One of my first memories growing up on our family farm was playing outside with my sisters (I am lucky to have two!) and gathering "flowers" for a bouquet for our loving mother. Little did I know, I was collecting some really beautiful (and unfortunately sneeze-inducing) blooms. I gave them to my mother and she thanked me, proudly displaying them on the back step of our farmhouse. Poor Dad is severely allergic. Everyone that came and went loved the colorful bouquet unexpectedly adorning our warm brick steps. I have never grown tired of the warm feeling I receive after giving my floral designs to friends, I believe it is what I am meant to do with my life. The simple act of creating a beautiful collection of nature's finest blooms and soaking up the smiles from our brides heals my soul. I consider myself extremely lucky that I can now devote 100% of myself to my business, well except for my little Lee.

At the ripe age of 25 (ha), I am proud of the path I am on in life. A Garden Party is going on 4 years, I have been happily married to my first love for over 2 years and we are settled in cozily on his family farm in a small town. We recently expanded our family on July 11th, 2009 to include Lee, a giggly, fuzzy-headed, curious, somehow always hungry little boy. We enjoy going to Penn State games (Horticulture, Class of 2006), playfully bickering about what to record on our DVR (don't act like you aren't guilty also), eating dinner together after the fields are tended, ignoring our cell phones on Sunday evening and getting our hearing back after spending time with our 4 nieces (ages 5 through 5 months).

Meet Dawn (the left sister, but somehow always right):

Playing with flowers has always been a part of who I am. Even as a little girl I remember picking the tiniest clover flowers and using them to decorate my dollhouse. In high school I was lucky enough to get involved in horticulture class and really dove into floral design. My college years (SUNY Cobleskill, Class of 02) introduced me to all aspects of horticulture. As an ornamental horticulture major, I learned about hundreds of trees, all by Latin name of course! Lots of my spare time at school was spent in the floral design lab with my new best friends. Amazingly enough, the first big wedding I designed for happened to be my own! Since my wedding a little over 7 years ago, it is amazing to think of where I am now. I have a fabulous husband, Chip, who is more than happy to take over "mommy" duty when I am at the flower shop working away. We have been blessed with two little girls, Grace and Leah, who like to spend a lot of their time picking flowers for me! My girls are always itching for an adventure, so we spend lots of time outdoors and make almost weekly trips to the zoo and park together. Grave even amazed her teachers this year when she explained the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees! It seems some things run in the family...

What we stand for:

Dawn and I have enjoyed watching our business grow from designing for our own weddings, to serving dozens and dozens of lucky brides. Our commitment to each other and to our business is one of the easiest things we have ever done. We believe that by doing what we love and always giving our best, our business will reflect that. Nothing makes me happier than watching our vision come to life through flowers. We are lucky to be able to say that we LOVE our jobs; we adore meeting with glowing brides, helping to plan their special day, adding our unique and personal touches with flowers, and then watching it all come together perfectly, just as nature intended.

A Garden Party is just beginning to bloom, our hope planted the seed...

Tag Archives: Tall Centerpiece

Waterfalls, Clayment DE Wedding Florist: Sarah’s Winter Wedding…Part 1

So this is the post all of our winter brides have been waiting for! I just got the digital prints hot off the press from Tina and couldn’t wait another day to share them with you! Thank you Tina for ALL of the great photos from Sarah’s January wedding, you amaze me more and more with...

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February 25, 2010 - 12:47 pm Tina - Your designs blew me away - can't WAIT to see what you do at my wedding!

February 25, 2010 - 12:49 pm Amanda C - I was so excited to see you post these pictures from your friend's wedding! I couldn't wait to see the ceremony backdrop in full effect and am blown away by the bride's bouquet - LOVE!!! As always, I am not surprised to see yet another beautiful job well done by the two of you. Just confirms my thinking that I made the right decision! :)

February 25, 2010 - 1:15 pm Kylene - You girls did such an amazing job with everything!! It was a really wonderful day :)and I agreee with Tina....can't wait to see what you come up with in October!

February 25, 2010 - 3:13 pm Roanna - You and Dawn did such an amazing job, you really transformed that room, it was so elegant, beautiful, and romantic!! The attention to detail is incredible!

February 25, 2010 - 4:34 pm Sarah - All I can say is that everything far exceeded my expectations! You guys are incredible and I'm thankful to have such talented friends! Thanks for making our wedding look so beautiful :) :)

February 26, 2010 - 7:59 am Michelle - I LOVE your design and I'm excited that I am able to use you for my bouquets and reception!

February 26, 2010 - 8:56 pm Brandy - What a GORGEOUS wedding!! Dawn, I wish I could get married again and have y'all come to Texas to do my flowers! *Love it!* All your weddings have been phenomenal, love seeing all the beautiful pics.

Philadelphia Wedding Florist: This piece of paper just made my day!

Getting the mail now is such an adventure! Whenever my little Lee is fussy, we head out to the mailbox (he loves being outside!). We grab the mail and slowly make our way back into the house, sometimes taking garden strolls to check out all of my flowers. I am ready for spring now, can...

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January 14, 2010 - 9:16 am Tina - How sweet! Love getting things like that from brides:)

“I just got engaged….now what?”

For those recently engaged brides out there, congrats! We have seen quite an increase in inquiries since the holiday engagement season…who said the winter months were supposed to be slow for florists? We are busier than ever and loving every second of it! Dawn and I love to hear engagement stories, we really are that sappy.
 I get...

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January 6, 2010 - 1:45 pm Patty - Mary, this post is very helpful to those of us doing research on budgeting for the wedding. I appreciate the specific price ranges you give here! Your blog is easy to read and I've enjoyed the variety of pictures to help with ideas. Great job.

January 6, 2010 - 5:51 pm admin - Thanks for the comment Patty. It is great to hear feedback, that is the whole reason I did the blog format! Information should be readily available to those planning such an important event, I am happy to share...feel free to email or post with other specific questions.

Running Deer, South Jersey Wedding Florist: Our wedding of the year!

Every year we have that one wedding that just truly comes together and turns out even more amazing then we had envisioned. This year I think that wedding was Staci and Justin’s. They got married at Running Deer on Oct. 3rd and everything was just gorgeous. The ceremony was outside, under the new pergola that...

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November 5, 2009 - 11:30 pm Tina - Beautiful work! So glad you're doing my wedding:)

December 4, 2009 - 1:23 pm Staci Wolfe - Thank you so much for all the beatiful work you had done and putting it up as wedding of the year it could not have been done without you!!! I could not have asked for a better florist!!

March 10, 2010 - 10:10 am A Garden Party was showcased in Florist’s Review! » Garden Party Sisters - [...] did not win the coveted award, we were published! There is always next year We decided to feature Staci’s wedding because we just loved the bright colors and we thought the flowers photographed well. I wonder who [...]

National Constitution Center, Philadelphia Wedding Florist: The Perfect Philadelphia Wedding!

This past Saturday Mary and I got to do a wedding at The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA. Clarisa was a beautiful bride, and we were lucky enough to deliver the bridal party flowers just in time to see her in her gown. Her bridesmaids wore purple gowns which showed off the vibrant orange...

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September 25, 2009 - 9:07 am Mary - Great blog Dawn! Love how Indpendence Mall is in the background of the tall centerpiece pic! Can you add a link to the constitution center website?

January 12, 2010 - 9:29 am This piece of paper just made my day! » Garden Party Sisters - [...] now and then…a card! Much to my delight, I recently received this card from one of our brides, Clarisa, and her new hubby, Dan. I love how she used one of her wedding photos! Of course, a little part of [...]

Smithville Mansion, South Jersey Wedding Florist: Tiffanie and Donald

Wedding season is back in full force and Mary and I are doing weddings every weekend. On Sept. 5th we had the pleasure of helping set up a gorgeous wedding at the Smithville Mansion. Tiffanie and Donald were a very fun couple to work with and Tiffanie, a wedding planner (http://www.epiphanyevents.com/) had a great vision...

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September 25, 2009 - 9:09 am Mary - I can't stop drooling over those beaded garlands!!!!!

The Merion, South Jersey Wedding Florist: Last August…

For the first time in a few years Mary and I didn’t book any weddings for this August.  She just had the baby and we figured we would take a break before fall wedding season hits.  In browsing through some old photos I came across one of my favorite weddings. Courtney and Steve got married...

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Philadelphia Wedding Florist: Hydrangea season is here!

About a month ago Mary and I had the pleasure of collaborating with Josie from JP Event Design, http://www.jpeventdesign.com, for their July ‘Event Inspiration’. JP Event Design is an event planning company out of Philadelphia. They stage weddings to showcase vendors so that potential brides can get a feel for what we have to offer....

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