How A & D brought a warm, blooming summer vision to life at one of Virginia’s most beautiful estate venues
When A & D came to us, the vision was immediate and joyful: festive, light, and garden party. Not formal, not fussy, just warm, blooming, and full of the kind of energy that makes a summer wedding feel like the best day of your entire life. The palette said it all: terracotta, blush, dusty mauve, forest green, and soft pink; earthy and romantic, with just enough warmth to feel like midsummer in full bloom.
Raspberry Plaine Manor in Leesburg was the perfect setting. The sweeping grounds, the pergola, the estate charm, it was a venue that didn’t need to be tamed, just celebrated. And that’s exactly what we did.
The Vision: Warm, Blooming, and Garden-Fresh
The ingredient list leaned fully into the summer garden aesthetic: garden roses, carnations, ranunculus, gladiolus, spray roses, and dahlias in warm terracotta, blush, and peachy tones, layered with white peonies, gypsophila, and a lush base of Italian ruscus, leatherleaf fern, and eucalyptus.
Carnations, one of the most underrated flowers in wedding design, were a star of this wedding in the best possible way. Blush and off-white carnations made up A & D’s wedding garlands, and they were absolutely stunning against the warm palette. If you’ve written off carnations as a budget filler, this wedding will change your mind.
The Personal Flowers: Garden-Fresh from Head to Toe
A & D went all in on personal flowers (and it showed in the most beautiful way).
The bride carried a small-to-medium, flower-heavy bridal bouquet with a clean white ribbon, styled to feel gathered and natural rather than structured. Her hair, styled half-up, was adorned with a floral comb slightly larger than the bridesmaids’, with spare blooms tucked in alongside it. Four bridesmaids wore matching floral hair combs with loose buds, carrying the garden aesthetic all the way through the wedding party.
The groom wore a pocket boutonniere, a more design-forward choice than the standard lapel style that felt completely intentional against the festive, elevated aesthetic. Six additional lapel boutonnieres were designed for the groomsmen, and three wrist corsages on gold bands were made for the mothers, each featuring a single bloom with complementary greenery.
Two blush and off-white carnation wedding garlands, both uniform in length and style, were a standout personal flower moment, worn with pride and styled beautifully against the warm color story of the day.
Bridal bouquet: $200 | Wedding garlands: $150 each | Bridal hair flowers: $60 | Bridesmaid hair flowers: $40 each
The Ceremony: Drama, Drape, and a Garden Swing
The ceremony at Raspberry Plaine Manor was designed to feel immersive, like stepping into a garden that had been lovingly tended just for this moment.
The centerpiece was a stunning 19-foot by 10-foot arch dressed in sheer white fabric draping along the top and cascading down both front legs, with vining following the same trailing pattern. Flowers and full greenery swept across the top of the arch, ending a foot before either end to let the drape breathe. The result was ethereal and romantic, grounded by the warmth of the blooms woven throughout.
Eighteen chair sprays in flower and greenery lined the aisle chairs every other row, tied with ribbons in rose gold and olive green to echo the palette. Two cocktail tables tucked under the pergola during the ceremony each had a statement bud vase and a votive; simple, purposeful, and perfectly in context.
And then there was the swing. A garden swing on the Raspberry Plaine grounds was dressed with trailing greenery and scattered flowers at 55 inches high on either side, one of those details that photographs beautifully and makes guests stop and smile every time they walk past it.
Arch design: ~$1,200 | Chair sprays: $30 each | Swing flowers: $125
The Cocktail Hour and Reception: Layered, Warm, and Completely Cohesive
As guests moved into cocktail hour, the remaining cocktail tables each had a clear-glass bud vase and votive; light, easy, and consistent with the garden party energy without competing with the larger design moments happening around them.
The welcome mirror sign was dressed with green vining across the top and down one side. The escort card table had vining sweeping across the top. The bar was dressed with vining and a cluster of five floating candles at one corner, surrounded by three clear-glass bud vases arranged around the bar sign. Every transitional moment in the space had a floral detail that felt intentional without feeling overdone.
The twenty round table centerpieces were a masterclass in purposeful simplicity: five clear-glass bud vases with three floating candles per table, arranged in a purposeful cluster at the center. Clean, airy, and completely in keeping with the garden party lightness of the whole day.
The sweetheart table was where everything came together. The tabletop featured clusters of floating candles with vining and scattered flowers across the surface. And in front of the table, across the ground, the ceremony flowers were repurposed into a lush, blooming sweep that framed A & D’s table with the same florals that had surrounded them during their vows.
Centerpieces: $125 each | Sweetheart table: $120 | Bar decor: $210
The Repurpose Moment
The ceremony-to-reception flip at Raspberry Plaine was one of our favorite kinds: quiet, intentional, and completely transformative. The florals that had filled the ceremony space during the vows were carefully repositioned across the ground in front of the sweetheart table during cocktail hour, creating a lush, garden-floor moment that grounded the couple’s table and gave it a sense of depth and abundance that no single purchased piece could have replicated. It’s the kind of detail guests might not be able to name, but they absolutely feel it.
The Investment
A & D’s full-service wedding florals, covering all personal flowers, ceremony decor, cocktail hour touches, and full reception design (including setup and teardown), came in just under $8,000. For the scale, the detail, and the sheer number of floral moments designed across a full estate venue from ceremony through reception, that investment went an incredibly long way.
Want Something Like This for Your Wedding?
If you’re dreaming of a warm, garden-inspired summer wedding with florals that feel gathered, intentional, and completely alive, this is exactly the kind of design we love to build. Whether you’re planning an estate wedding in the Virginia countryside or a garden celebration anywhere in the DC and Maryland area, we’d love to bring your vision to life.
Mountain Mama Florals is a wedding and events floral design studio serving Washington DC, Annapolis, Baltimore, and Coastal and Eastern Maryland.
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