August 11, 2020

Fall-ing in Love

August 11, 2020

On a brisk but sunny, Fall, New England day, Emily and Bryan tied the knot at the beautiful Newport Beach House in Newport, R.I. on November 3, 2018. This chic, slightly modern, and clean venue offers scenic oceanfront views of the coast line and the Atlantic Ocean while providing guests with an intimate experience to celebrate the bride and groom.

Our bride Emily had lots of style, amazing decor ideas and gave us the inspiration to create a lush and romantic space with a touch of “coolness” that came so naturally to her! This couple radiated fun and love for each other and all of their guests and we wanted their decor to say the same. Warm gold accents were used throughout along with lots of natural greenery in the form of both ceremony and reception decor. The color palette included jewel tones along with soft white and dusty gray greenery, complimenting the all black attire of the wedding party perfectly.

Take a look at this Fall, chic, slightly modern and oh-so-romantic wedding in Newport, R.I.

Photographer: mhp & co.

Venue: Newport Beach House

Mary Kate Kinnane

April 20, 2020

Community over Competition

Mary Kate Kinnane

April 20, 2020

This past Fall I traveled to Warren, Vermont to gather with a group of professional floral designers to dive deeper into the topic of sourcing domestically and seasonally. With Mountain Flower Farm as our home base and Walt Krukowski as our expert flower farmer, we discussed, inquired and educated ourselves on how we all could expand our sourcing resources.

Using 100% American grown flowers has always been at the core of The Local Bouquet’s sourcing mission, but having the confidence to source throughout the entire year has been a process and something that took me years to master. To all of my fellow florists out there- my advice to you is start knocking on doors. Knock on doors, shake hands (maybe not right now) and ask all your questions. Begin a relationship with a farmer who you have always admired and ask them to work with you. Even if you can’t see their farm in person, having a personal relationship with them will make all the difference when it comes time to begin buying. It may seem scary in the beginning but believe me, it will all pay off.

To my bridal clients- you can rest assure that because of my relationships around the country with some of the best flower growers, I am able to bring you the most beautiful and fresh flowers for your wedding day. The icing on the cake is that they are seasonal, require less of a carbon footprint to get into your hands and support our local economy.

It is always a dream come true to see a flower farm in person, in full bloom! As a floral designer its imperative to see the product we are working with grown in its natural habitat and meet the person behind these beautiful blooms. I can say confidently that after seeing Walt’s beautiful hill-side farm and getting to spend a few days with him, I am so excited to add him to our list of growers and start buying his product immediately!

For 2.5 days, I joined some of my flower peers and industry leaders in the beautiful autumnal backdrop of Vermont’s Green Mountain range. There we took time to learn, create and best of all ask questions! For over 20 years, Walt has specialized in growing peonies, lilacs, viburnum, flowering branches and hydrangea for floral designers nationwide. Walt was such a great host and shared with us so much information, showing us just how accessible his flowers are even from Vermont!

Take a look at Walt’s farm and what learning on a flower farm looks like…

When we weren’t at Mountain Flower Farm, we spent our time at the beautiful Knoll Farm, which was just minutes down the road. Knoll was the perfect retreat-style accommodations for our group to gather and nourish our bodies and our minds together. Tucked into the woods, atop a steep hillside overlooking several mountains, we slept in a super cool yurt village! Each morning we would hike down the steep hillside to gather in Knoll’s beautiful barn for a farm-to-table breakfast and gather our materials for the day ahead. Each night we would come back together after a long day to enjoy each other’s company and enjoy another farm-to-table meal, prepared by Knoll’s culinary team. This was such an awesome time to talk “shop” with my peers, relax and get the opportunity to foster some new and old friendships. Floral designers, farmers, wholesalers, and media pros all gathered at one table talking all things American Grown= pure magic!

To top it all off, we even got some time to design our own hand held bouquets and a ceremony arch overlooking the most beautiful mountain range. Using the beautiful flowers and foliages we had experienced on Mountain Flower Farm as well as flowers from nearby farms, Understory Farm, Longfield Gardens and the Floral Reserve in Rhode Island- we were left to create a design that spoke to the season of Fall and all things locally grown and gathered. It was so fun to design for myself, however I was inspired by the materials. Opportunities like this are rare for me so when given the chance- its like being a kid in a candy shop!

Now, who wants to get married in the Fall?!!!

Photographer: Taken by Sarah

Venue: Knoll Farm

Mary Kate Kinnane

February 17, 2020

A Family Wedding

Mary Kate Kinnane

February 17, 2020

Last September, on the perfect late summer’s day, my brother in-law married the love of his life and I had the honor to design for them. To make things even sweeter, their wedding was held at the family farm here in Little Compton, Rhode Island where the groom and his 9 siblings grew up. Our family not only gained the perfect sister but we all got to join in on the festivities by being in the wedding party. With an all-star vendor team from near and far, this wedding was one for the books, with no detail left unthought of!

There is something so special about designing for people that you know and love. It is such a joy to share your talents and resources and give them the best that you can and something that they love! That is exactly what this wedding was for me- pure joy!

Read till the end to see how this wedding ends…

With a color palette of all white and green, the florals were designed to have a clean and classic look to them. Beautiful Elsa Sass peonies grown in Alaska at Scenic Place Peonies, perfect white dahlias from Dahlia Shed, romantic white spray roses from Paja Rosa in California, filler flowers like scabiosa and lisanthus from Weatherlow Farm and white hydrangea grown right here in my own cutting garden made up the bridal bouquet. Using eucalyptus as the chosen greenery, this bouquet had a light and airy feel to it.

The bride’s something blue was a vintage 49’ Plymouth car driven by the groom’s uncle.

A true testament to who this couple is, was the size of their bridal party! 18 groomsmen and 12 bridesmaids made up the bridal party- the largest I had ever designed for! The boys wore classic JCrew navy suits while the girls were in a collection of nude tones silk chiffon dresses.

If you look close enough, you will spot me in there. Yup, designer turned bridesmaid!

Our family grew by one, for a total of 23 people- adding to all of the fun and joy we experience daily with each other!

Using reclaimed pieces found around the groom’s family farm, the neutral and classic palette was carried throughout every decor detail. A vintage barn door was the perfect backdrop for this seating chart.

The bar was built by the groom himself and was definitely the focal point of the night. Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, the groom choose a large, over-sized window as the backdrop for the bar, creating a feeling like you were somewhere other than an open field.

The reception had a mix of rectangular tables and round tables, so we chose to arrange two different designs for the tables. On the rectangle tables, which had a beautiful sand tone linen, we designed tall, elevated pieces of all Russian Olive greenery, foraged from the family farm. To the left and right, mini arrangements with white florals and greenery were placed to fill out the tables and finish the look.

On the round tables, which had a clean white linen, traditional low compotes were designed, filled with seasonal flowers and greenery in the same color palette. This look was lush and romantic, giving the perfect nod to late summer’s bounty!

Finished with the perfect minimalistic stationary and gray beach stones, collected by the couple, each table had a clean and calming feel to it.

Every reception needs a floral hedge for the stage! This floral detail framed the dance floor and our happy couple perfectly!

This wedding ended with a traditional “presenting of the surf board”. For every individual married (either the bride or the groom) who is a surfer, they receive from the bridal party and surfing community a brand new “wedding board”. Of course my brother in-law had to one up this moment by literally riding his first wave as a married man, totally freaking out my mother in-law (seen lower left) which was captured perfectly by Maaike!