Snap! and Chat with Joyce at Stoneblossom Florals

This is the first of our new snap! and chat series, where we get to know all of the fabulous people that we work with all year... florists, caterers, dj's, coordinators etc. etc.

We thought it would be fun to bring you a little "inside information" on some of the best in the biz! No surprise that we start our series with the lovely and talented Joyce Holland of Stoneblossom Florals.

We are long time admirers of Joyce, not only is she an amazing artist- but she is also kicks butt as a business owner. We have often considered WWJD (what would Joyce do?) when making decisions for our own business.

Let's go in and see what she's up to...

Here's the inside of Joyce's meeting space, which she recently renovated. It's very cozy and appealing. Did you know that before Joyce started her floral business she worked in Interior Design? She attributes this background to the way she approaches an event now... she designs "from the ground up," meaning she visualizes the event as a whole... linens, lighting, place settings etc... before she designs the flowers.

Fun fact about me (Mariah)... I went to school for journalism. Here I am as a hard hitting reporter!

Joyce's favorite part about her job? ... her clients! I asked her what inspires her most and she said... "The essence of the person in front of me! I try to really get to know that person, and understand what they like and don't like. On the production floor we take that inspiration and run with it!"

The most satisfying thing about her job? "I do love the initial consultation, because I love to get to know people... but my favorite moments are on the 'day of' when I deliver the bouquet or they see their venue decorated for the first time and I know they really love it. "

What are a florists favorite flowers you might wonder...

"The sweetest flowers are in the spring, I love Peonies, Renunculas, and Lilly of the Valley. I really love the sweet, petite flowers... and also the flowering branches.

My other favorite time of year is the fall. The flowers of that season are rustic and hardy. I love vines, berries and the muted colors in oranges and golds."

Recently, Joyce's amazing work is featured in a new hardcover coffee table book by Sylvia Weinstock called, Amazing Cakes. The photo on the right is from her highlighted event at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport.

Joyce's familiar brand... and lovely letterpress business card. See more of her fabulous work by clicking here: Stoneblossom

Stay tuned next week for another installment of Snap! and chat....

Joyce, thanks for your time and candid remarks! We look forward to seeing you this summer on the circuit!

Have a Happy Holiday!

More Deluxe Albums!

We just got a few more albums in today and wanted to share with you. These are our deluxe silk covered albums which come with a presentation box in the same fabric and an accent ribbon. They are really beautiful! So if you are looking for something special, this is the ticket...

All of our albums have 'flush mount' pages which means that the photos are all printed on one page and then that print (on real photo paper) is mounted flush to all the edges.

The flush mounted album should not be confused with a 'coffe table book'. A coffee table book is printed on different kinds of paper, but not actual photo paper. The pages are available in different kinds of thincknesses but most often are like a really thick card stock. There are always new albums coming out so this description probably has a lot of variables nowadays.

We have also had a lot of canvas prints coming in, it's so fun to open the boxes when these arrive.
I want to have every photo on canvas, they just look so cool! This one is for Leah and Matt, I loved that they picked a more artictic photo for their wall. It's very moody.

Wintery Weekend

Well, I don't know how all of you feel- but I am all set with winter & with snow. I'll take open windows and warm summer breezes any day, thank you very much. My kids on the other hand cannot get enough of it. They played outside all day, all weekend- in fact, I had to call them in well after dark on Saturday. They were "snow boarding" (standing on their sleds) in our neighbors yard, the only guy with a hill in the whole neighborhood... he was nice enough to turn on his outside lights though so the kids didn't crash into the trees.

Here's Vianne and Don - we went to a cool steep hill in Pawtucket where all the kids hang out to sled. Don grew up nearby, so he went here when he was little too.

They're off!

Jacques likes to wipe out and roll down the hill, that's his signature move.

I am not sure if they mean don't sled on this hill, or just don't sled into the pole (if that's the case, good thing they put this sign up because I definitely wouldn't have thought of that)- either way it's a funny photo.

Stella's Super Cute Proposal...

Stella and Shane met with Melissa a few weeks ago about their wedding and much to our happiness, decided to come aboard the Snap! ship. I got an email this morning from Stella complete with photos that brightened my whole day! She said...

"So our story is a little unconventional... Shane & I booked our venue before I had a proposal because I had my heart set on Harkness after we saw it in person, and I've always wanted a spring wedding. I've known since October that "the ring" was coming and even this past week I knew it was coming any day, but I had no idea it would be today! Shane showed up at my classroom before the end of the day and my paraprofessional (I teach kindergarten) said to the kids...

"This is Miss Lee's very special friend and he has a very important question to ask Miss Lee, so put on your best listening ears!" (here's where mariah gets goosebumps!)

Then Shane got on one knee! I was completely speechlesss and in tears! I knew it was coming but I didn't know he would show up at school!

Here is Stella and Shane and her class- how adorable is this? Big kudos for Shane- kids can be tough...they could have booed him off the mats! After all, I am sure one or two of these boys must have a crush on Stella.

Here's Stella and Shane later that evening in the snow- how festive!

And of course, you have to have this shot!


Congratulations on your "official" engagement guys! I think it's a hoot you booked us first!
Do any of our other brides have some fun engagement stories and photos to share? Send them my way, you could be the next to be blogged!

Snap! on the Stands...

The newsstands that is.... If you don't already have a copy, RUSH right out and get one! The 2009 edition of Southern New England Weddings AND Newport Weddings are both out now. Our ad in SNEW features a terrific photo that the lovely and talented Melissa took at Isabella and Dan's wedding this past July. Nice job Melissa!

In addition to our ad in SNEW we also have a great feature from Nell and Patrick's wedding in July. Trish photographed this event.

Carrie and James' Rosecliff wedding was featured in Newport Weddings, yours truly and Melissa were the photographers...

and, Heidi and Otto's Belcourt Castle wedding also had a feature! Trish photographed them last March.

Here I am relaxing at home and reading all about all the fabulous weddings of 2008.


You know, people say my kids look just like me- but I really don't see the resemblance...

Tis the Season... For Albums!

One of my brides for next year mentioned she liked seeing actual albums on the blog- "hey Charlene!" - so I thought I would put up another post featuring the gorgeous album of Isabella and Dan. The albums are rolling in this time of year, so I won't get to post them all, but I'll try my best!

Isabella opted for the classic black leather- can't go wrong with that. Plus, she has a really big dog that drools alot- and you can always wipe off leather!

You'll be seeing that photo of Isabella on the left in another blog post coming up this week!

She's the star of our new ad in Southern New England Weddings...

Love the flush pages- very modern and clean.


AWW! One of my favorite pages in the album. I love when the photos take up the whole page!

Another favorite album design- a detail in the background of the page (in this case a close up of Isabella's fun green cake) with photos on top (the cake cutting).

Another beautiful family heirloom!

Mariah's Career Day Debut...

Today I went in to talk to my daughter Vianne's class about being a photographer. I was so nervous- I felt sick! Trish told me that I probably wouldn't have any trouble impressing the six year olds, but I wasn't so sure. Good thing I came prepared... I made this visual aid for the kids... the photos are all out-takes from weddings this year. I thought the kids might like to see me in action.

We also took a class photo- I thought the sunglasses might be a fun touch. That's Vianne in the lower right hand corner.

This is Vianne's fabulous first grade teacher- she wishes she could get married again so that I could do her photos.

Here's me and Vianne- luckily I was a smash hit- kids can be a tough audience, but I think I won them over. One of the little boys told me my hair smelled good- so I think that's a good sign!

Albums, Raves & Great Ideas...

Some of you may remember Michelle and Joe from this summer- they made several appearances on our blog... engagement photos, wedding, trash the dress session! Here they are again, well- their albums anyway!

Michelle ordered a two volume set of albums. She chose the navy blue with light blue ribbon to coordinate with her wedding colors. The albums each live in their own little presentation box. I love how they look stacked on top of each other!

And here is the inside of the albums... this one is Michelle's fine art B&W album.

After Michelle received her fab albums she sent us this awesome thank you note. The photo on the front is a shot Melissa took at her wedding. It's a photo of all the guests on the dock during her cocktail hour... Fun photo & a Great Idea!



How cute is this stamp she had made at Zazzle.com?! One of my favorite photos from the wedding...

As if that wasn't enough great uses of her photos- Michelle used some of the shots from her engagement pics on this cute card that she put into the gift bags for her out of town guests- Great Idea!

We love it when people think outside the box and use their photos in different ways!

Thanks Michelle and Joe!