Philadelphia Wedding Photographer | Philadelphia Horticulture Center | Botanical Styled Shoot

I am pretty much obsessed with the Philadelphia Horticulture Center. It has been on my list of must-shoots since I moved back to the area 5 years ago and I hadn’t had the opportunity. Until now.

When the three of us – Kate of Kate Farley Design and Sarah of Juniper & Dash – got together to discuss what we wanted with our collaboration, we kept coming back to The Hort. The entire experience was smooth sailing and I am so impressed with the caliber of work and creativity we got from some of Philadelphia’s top wedding vendors.

First, let me talk a little about the gown. Ivy from Lovely Bride brought us a few and this was the obvious winner. The silk chiffon frock was soft and feminine moved like magic. I wanted to live in it. But the stand out aspect of it was the back: an intricately beaded overlay that looked amazing on our ballet-trained bride.

I was absolutely psyched to get Jessa of Squeeze My Hand on board. Her Texas-sized talent is astounding. Check out this luxe custom botanical letterpress suite that she hand-drew and produced. I could do an entire post on just these with their patterned gold envelope liners, fantastic sketched map, and really clever RSVP replies (I might just have to steal these!).

And then we got really hooked up with jewelry! Bario Neal is a fantastic independently owned jewely shop in South Philly (well, Bella Vista). The pieces are all handcrafted with reclaimed precious metals and ethically sourced stones. Oh, and they’re goooooorgeous. I swooned hard over the rose gold pieces we got. That aquamarine and diamond halo engagement ring! Are you kidding me?!

Kate Farley designed a ceremony set up that exceeded expectations. I adored the understated birch chuppah/archway. The hanging greens and creams of the seeded eucalyptus, roses, berries, and moss was sophistication to a T.

Kate also created the hand lettered chalkboard signs. (I’ve already expressed how I feel about her abilities.)

The thing that makes these things pop are the professionals involved and their visions. I can take beautiful pictures but I am no stylist. The combinations that people like Kate and Sarah put together are pieces that I just wouldn’t imagine. The pops of bright magenta and mustard against this greenhouse backdrop is exactly what I’m talking about. I see it and I couldn’t imagine anything more perfect.

A huge shout out to makeup artist Aleksandra Ambrozy and hair stylist, Jill Kozar of Up Your Do, for whipping up such elegance.

The reception area was Sarah’s brainchild. The idea of an L-shaped head table is genius! This gives more visibility and some dimensionality in a setting that is usually littered with rounds and rectangles. And of course we couldn’t leave it at that so Kate decorated a suspended ladder with lush greens and pops of the signature colors.

Note the place settings: custom, handdrawn chalk board placemats and silverare/napkin layout that gives just the right amount of modern quirk to the otherwise organic, elegant setting.

What’s a reception without dessert? Sugar Philly provided the navy French macarons and Suga – Groovy Deliciousness baked up batches of cookies, a cake, and gilded candy apples for us. There were more cookies at the beginning of the shoot but we just couldn’t resist – especially the butterscotch ones.

Again, I must thank Junebug Weddings for featuring this styled shoot on their blog the other week. It is one of the classiest and premiere wedding blogs out there and I couldn’t be happier.

Botany — the science of the vegetable kingdom, is one of the most attractive, most useful, and most extensive departments of human knowledge. It is, above every other, the science of beauty.
~ Sir Joseph Paxton