In 2024, J.Blu Design was invited to flower not one, but two pop-up wedding events at Company 421, a local, intimate event space in Mahomet, Illinois. This business was started when Hillary, of Hillary Rae Events, realized a need for a local venue space that could accommodate intimate weddings and smaller events. With simplicity in mind, she created the perfect hosting venue with insights from her already successful planning business. Pop-up wedding events in particular were designed for a stress-free yet traditional style wedding experience. These weddings take place on a number of pre-selected dates throughout the year where a two hour celebration is planned from start to finish for you by Hillary Rae Events for a fraction of the cost of a typical ceremony and reception. All the details and vendors are hand-chosen for each pop-up wedding date so all the couple has to do is show up with their selected guests and a marriage license and enjoy their special day.
Our first pop-up wedding date was a celebration of summer filled with fun, colorful, light and airy pieces that popped off the exposed brick walls and danced in the warm sunlight. For this design, we focused on seasonal favorites of pink dahlias, delicate cosmos, and bright zinnias with pops of orange crush roses, blue delphinium and pink larkspur with accenting blooms of stock, lisianthus, feverfew and celosia for a whimsical touch against deep huckleberry greenery and trailing baby blue eucalyptus. The venue’s antique fireplace doubles as a stunning ceremony backdrop which we adorned with a large arrangement on top of the mantel to accompany the couples as they exchange vows. We also designed coordinating table arrangements in petite gold compote bowls to highlight key areas in the space as well as a few small whimsical arrangements in gold cylinder bud vases to top cocktail tables. While all the couples of the day share the same ceremony and table florals, each bride and groom was designed their own personal bouquet and boutonniere including those of any wedding party that they got to keep.
We drastically changed gears for another pop-up in the fall where we featured vibrant autumn foliage against a warm atmosphere using light blush and deep burgundy blooms of mums, roses, leucadendron, and red hypericum berry with textural accents of different foraged grasses, dried pods, smoke bush, ruscus, and myrtle greenery. This time around, we paired a large mantel arrangement with a second matching floor piece that framed both sides of the romantically lit fireplace filled with taper candles in gold holders. We rounded out our design throughout the room with petite gold compote centerpieces and unique gold bud vase arrangements to accentuate the cake table. The bride for this pop-up date carried a lush bouquet of the same classically fall blush and burgundy blooms while the groom adorned a miniature version in a traditional style spray rose boutonniere.
We enjoy any opportunity to highlight and collaborate with local venues and other vendors and feature them on our blog to keep you up to date on what’s new in our small wedding industry community. With being such a small space, a little bit of flowers goes a long way in making a big impact. We look forward to flowering again for Hillary at Company 421 and make even more weddings come to life with fresh flowers.
Flowers: J.Blu Design Wedding and Event Florist
Venue: Company 421
Photography: Lisa Shreffler Wedding Photographer
Planning: Hillary Rae Events