Sending Smiles ~

Have you ever noticed how sometimes it's hard to think of a business in more than one way? For example: maybe you always think of McDonald's as the place to get great burgers or even fries but we forget they make wonderful salads and really good coffee. Now, this is not an advertisement for McDonald's, even though I'm a huge fan, even own stock! No, it's just that even for my business, it's hard to get my customers to think of us as more than a florist. Even though the word Balloon is in our name, sometimes people don't realize that we do all kinds of balloon event decor such as balloon columns, arches, centerpieces. As a matter of fact, I did balloon decorating quite a few years before I started doing flowers for weddings. We blow up over 40,000 balloons every single year! Now that's a lot of balloons. Anyway, the point of the blog is that we are more than a florist, we are event decorators and I want to scream it from the highest mountain (well, maybe ...

Yarrow works at the computer updating our websites. Did you know that in addition to our sendingsmiles.com and wedding website, we have two FTD sites and a specific site for Sympathy ordering? We even have a brand new balloon event site getting ready to launch any day! Now that's lot of websites to maintain! She changes the homepages weekly, keeps photos and content fresh and updated and makes sure that there are no "breaks" in any of the links. We know how important our websites are to our customers. Great job Yarrow! If you have never tried our Hanky Panky or Choczel's you are missing out. We have customers come in just to buy a bag now and then. Yummy! This is a close up of a tropical plant called a Bromeliad. Healthy and easy to care for, this plant makes a great addition to an office or home. Over Christmas we sold over 25 of these plants. Now who says you can only send a poinsettia for the holidays! We have the cutest selections of Teddy Bears and other stuf...

About a month ago I was doing my usual buzzing around the shop and noticed a few people browsing. I greeted each with a "Hello" and a "Is anyone helping you yet?". Each told me they were being helped and I did not doubt it as all my employees were hard at work wrapping bouquets and bagging gift items. It's what I love about retail! That whole, I'm here, I need help and I need it now. I find it so stimulating! One woman, as I greeted her said "This place is amazing". She had this look on her face, her head was moving up and down, left and right and her eyes almost looked wild. I became alarmed!! What did she mean? Amazing good or amazing bad? I was almost afraid to ask but I said "Is that a good thing?" and she was like - "oh yes, this place is amazing". I had to ask further, "In what way" and she went on to tell me that she couldn't believe the selection of product we carried, how many employees were flitting her...

For anyone that has ever met with me regarding their wedding flowers, I have a battle cry that I state over and over. Pick a theme and stick to it. How does this save you money on your wedding flowers? Honestly, it's not about having tons of flowers everywhere, it's more about creating a lasting impression. Impressions are more easily made when a distinctive color theme or flowers are used over and over. How often have we seen flowers for a wedding where there are 5 or 6 bright colors all mixed together and after the event is done it's hard to recall what flowers were used or even what the exact color theme was. The eye finds many colors and too many texture to be confusing, leaving more of a confused impression instead of a favorable one. Don't forget that you should be looking for your wedding flowers and decor to represent you as a couple. No one would ever disagree, throwing a wedding takes lots of work, planning and money. Picking a striking but simple color combin...