Gilded Stem
02The rose wall
03Dressing the stair
04Orchids, four feet up
Weddings from $15,000 · two dates a monthHold your date
Gilded Stem · Fall 2026p. 3
In this issue
Luxury wedding florals for New York and the Hamptons. Two weddings a month, designed by Celeste and made in our atelier in the Chelsea flower district.
- 12CommissionsWhat a Gilded Stem wedding costs, plainly.
- 24The atelierFrom the first sketch to the 2 am strike.
- 31Celeste, in conversationOn rooms, restraint and twelve years of runway sets.
- 42FeaturesSeven weddings from this year.
- 58LettersFrom our couples, and from the press.
- 64Where we workManhattan to Montauk.
- 70QuestionsBefore you call.
- 76Hold your dateTwo Saturdays a month, never more.
Commissionsp. 12
Three commissions.
Every wedding is designed from the room up. These are where our couples begin; your proposal follows the first meeting, itemized to the stem.
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I
Ceremony and dinner
From $15,000
The aisle, the altar and every table for up to 150 guests. Personal flowers for the wedding party. Installed the night before, struck after the last dance.
- A design meeting at the atelier
- Personal flowers for twelve
- Ceremony and reception
- Overnight install and strike
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II
The full house
From $40,000
The room itself becomes the arrangement: a ceiling, a staircase, a wall of roses. For ballrooms, libraries and museums, and anyone who wants their guests to stop in the doorway.
- Everything in ceremony and dinner
- One suspended or architectural piece
- A mock-up table at the atelier
- Celeste on site all night
Most requested
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III
The Hamptons weekend
From $65,000
Three days under canvas: the welcome dinner, the wedding in a sailcloth tent, the brunch on the lawn. We bring our own crew, and our own cooler truck.
- Welcome dinner, wedding, brunch
- Tent ceiling and entry
- A crew of ten on the East End
- Every rental flower vessel
Private dinners and galas from $8,000. Two weddings a month, never two in one weekend. $2,500 holds your date.
The atelierp. 24
How a room is made.
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“Bring the floor plan. I’ll bring a pencil.”
One
The first meeting
Two hours at the atelier with Celeste, your venue’s floor plan and a pot of coffee. You leave with sketches, not a slideshow.
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Two
The mock-up table
Six weeks before, we dress one full table in the studio, linen to candle. You sit at it, you change what you like.
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Three
The market, 4 am
The week of, Celeste walks the flower district before it opens. Roses from Ecuador, orchids from Holland, garden roses from a farm in Pennsylvania.
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Four
The overnight install
We take the room the night before. Ladders, rigging and a crew of up to twenty, gone before your planner arrives.
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2:04 am. The ballroom, swept.
Five
The strike
By 2 am the room is empty and swept. Your flowers go to a hospital in Midtown before breakfast unless you keep them.
In conversationp. 31
Celeste, on rooms and restraint.
Before Gilded Stem, she spent twelve years building runway sets in Paris and Milan. She opened the atelier in 2014 with one cooler and a borrowed van.
- You came to flowers from fashion. What did you bring with you?
- Lighting, mostly. A show has eleven minutes to make you feel something, and the light does half of it. I design every wedding from where the candles go, then I add flowers.
- Your rooms are famous for being white. Is that a rule?
- Not at all. It’s just that white shows the room. When a couple wants color, I want one color, all the way. My favorite wedding this year was oxblood from the door to the cake.
- Why only two weddings a month?
- Because I go to the market myself at four in the morning, and I’m on the ladder at midnight. If I did more, I couldn’t do that. And then it wouldn’t be mine.
“A room should change temperature when you walk in.”
Celeste
Featuresp. 42
Seven weddings from this year.
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05The library aisle
A private library, the Upper East Side · May
White roses, delphinium, hydrangea, four hundred candles
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06A tent on the dunes
East Hampton · August
Hanging greenery, garden roses, chandeliers we rigged ourselves
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07The stair, again
A townhouse in the West Village · April
Phalaenopsis garlands down two flights
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08Above the city
A rooftop in Midtown · June
Low gardens of white, three thousand votives
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09October, in oxblood
A club in Gramercy · October
Burgundy dahlias, blackberries, copper beech
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10By the water
Southampton · September
Hydrangea, beach grass, an arch that took the wind
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11Gold and gardenia
A loft in Tribeca · March
Garden roses, gardenias, stephanotis, our own brass
Lettersp. 58
Letters to the atelier.
Our guests walked into the ballroom and stopped talking. Then they took out their phones. Celeste, I still don’t know how you did the ceiling in one night.
Alexandra and JamesA ballroom on Fifth Avenue, OctoberShe talked us out of half of what we asked for, and she was right about every single thing.
Priyanka and SebastianEast Hampton, AugustAt 2 am I went back for my shawl. The room was swept. The flowers were already in a van to the hospital.
MeredithThe West Village, April
- The Fifth Avenue Review“The quietest florist in New York, and the one every planner calls first.”
- Atlantic Bride Quarterly“Restraint, at a scale most florists can only dream of.”
- The Gotham Table“Her ceilings are the closest thing a wedding has to architecture.”
Where we workp. 64
Manhattan to Montauk.
The atelier is in the Chelsea flower district, two floors up, by appointment. Our weddings are wherever you are.
- ManhattanBallrooms, libraries, townhouses, rooftops
- The HamptonsTents and gardens from Southampton to Montauk
- The North ForkVineyards and barns
- Hudson Valley and ConnecticutEstates and private homes
Questionsp. 70
Before you call.
How far ahead should we call?
Twelve to eighteen months for May, June, September and October. We take two weddings a month, never two in one weekend, so those Saturdays go first.
How do we hold our date?
Choose it below and pay the $2,500 deposit. It holds the date, is credited to your commission, and Celeste writes to set your first meeting at the atelier.
Is there a minimum?
Our commissions begin at $15,000 for ceremony and dinner. Most of our couples invest between $30,000 and $80,000, depending on the room and the guest count.
Do you work outside New York?
Across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hudson Valley, Connecticut and the East End. Further afield, Palm Beach to Paris, by conversation.
Can we see the flowers before the day?
Yes. The mock-up table at the atelier, six weeks before, is part of every commission from the full house up, and available for ceremony and dinner for $1,800.
What happens to the flowers afterwards?
You keep your bouquets. Everything else goes to a hospital and a care home in Midtown before breakfast, unless you’d like it sent home.
Hold your datep. 76
Two Saturdays a month.
Choose your date. $2,500 holds it and is credited to your commission; Celeste writes within the day to set your first meeting at the atelier.
- 1Service
- 2Date
- 3Details
This is an example website made by Humfrid, so nothing was booked and no card was charged. On a real one, the deposit is paid right here and the date is yours. Get a website like this