Sending Smiles ~

Ok, it's a "had to share" moment. I love, love, love this bouquet that we have created for our bride Katie who is getting tomorrow! All white mini callas accented between with simple, cool white feathers. How sophisticated and striking with a slightly "Art Deco" feel. I'm truly loving it! I can imagine the guests faces when they see her enter the gardens at Prospect House on the campus of Princeton University. As she passes, they will be dazzled with a view her feathered headpiece. To be clear this is not for the our bride Katie getting married on Sunday! I'm giggling as I write this because I can picture Katie number 2's face drop if she reads this and thinks "where is my bouquet of creams and pinks of roses and orchids"! Ah, I love the summer wedding season.....

Wow, it's almost August and the tropical flowers are in demand. Orchids, Ginger, Bird of Paradise and even these huge Heliconia flowers are in the shop this week. Yup, that's me in this funny self portrait trying to show you how big this flower is. It's only fitting when the weather gets hot that we think about palm trees and island florals, right? Heliconia, how cool are they? Heliconia is named after Mount Helicon, the seat of the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts and sciences in Greek mythology. Heliconia, also popularly known as lobster-claw, wild plantain or false bird-of-paradise, is a beautiful flower with multi-color bracts and varied flower structure.They have bracts are so large and colorful that they almost hide the flowers altogether. This keeps the flower's sweet nectar from other birds so that only specialized birds can get to it. Heliconia grow from 3 to 30 feet! Next time you are looking for a single bloom or two for a special vase, why not consi...

It's amazing how often we use wheat grass at the shop both in party work and just daily floral arranging. What a fun, happy and fresh product. Imagine my surprise when I did a bit of on-line research to learn more about it and found out that it's been cultivated for over 5,000 years and has been prized for it's nutritional properites. I had no idea! At the shop we often use wheat grass as place card table decor, like in this picture. For this event, wine corks were used to hold the escort cards and also helped convey the wine theme from the moment guests arrive! We usually take it right out of it's growing tray and put right on the table. Seeing the roots and mini seeds at the base are part of it's charm! It's also fun to use in glass vases lined with moss with a flower or two added and you have a quick, inexpensive centerpiece. If you are looking for something fun and natural to decorate your next party, think wheat grass!!

Ah, the fragrance and beauty of stock. Never heard of the flower? Such a strange name for a gorgeous bloom, right?  I must confess, that not everyone "gets" this flower and those not familiar with it's ruffled flowers often complain thinking that there is not the way it should look, but alas it is! That being said, it's still one of my favorite flowers of all time (next to roses, of course) not only because of those crinkled flowers all in a row but also because of their amazing fragrance.  Their long graceful line comes in so handy when creating floral designs and the colors of white, cream, lavenders into rich purples and Burgundy's also make for pretty arrangements mixed with other flowers or used just by themselves. Most of the stock we sell here in the shop is grown right in the U. S. of A, in California to be exact. I love that it's homegrown, right out in gorgeous fields. Can you imagine what it must ...

Anyone that has read my blogs knows that I'm pretty passionate about flowers, not just because it's my business but because they hold so many sentimental attachments for me. It's as much about the fragrance and the feelings they evoke as it is the actual flower and form they take. As a child I received flowers, a tiny nosegay held together with ribbons and bows, fresh from the florist on my birthday each year. To this day, when I smell carnations, I get a warm feeling inside because it reminds me of my childhood. My own bridal bouquet was created with lots and lots of mini white stephanotis flowers. For those of you without "smellavision" they smell like sweet minty jasmine and even now when we use them, they remind me of my wedding day 25 years ago. The bouquet pictured here was created for our bride Shannon. Garden roses, peony and ranuculus in shades of creams, pinks and reds - so pretty. As you can see from this photo, Shannon loved her bridal flowers enoug...

Once I get a bee in my bonnet (ok, I totally dated myself with that one) I'm hard to stop! I wanted our website to be easier for our mobile customers to use and by golly (there I go again) I've done it! It can't be said that we here at Monday Morning Flowers are not forward thinking and progressive. We just launched our mobile website and the buzz so far is that customers are really liking it. The neat (does that qualify as an "old" word) thing is that it actually works off our main website and will recognize if you are on a mobile unit. It automatically switches to an easier version to use which helps speed along your browsing and buying. Gee whiz, (sorry, I could not resist) you really can teach an old dog new tricks. Check out our new mobile site and let us know what you think. Now, my day would have been complete if I could have figured out how to include "upsy daisy" in this blog. Well, a girl can't always be forward thinking and clever at t...

I had to share this photo of my adorable niece Mary Ann who received this big bouquet of balloons this week for her 1st birthday. How cute is she!? Balloon bouquets are one of the product lines we offer. It's not until you become a delivery person responsible for ringing the door bell that you can appreciate how much fun they are to receive. Add a stuffed animal or a box of chocolates and we guarantee you'll be a hero!! To see more of our balloon selection visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

This particular arrangement was created for a wedding but can you imagine getting this arrangement for your birthday or because you were feeling a bit under the weather. I've written many blogs about the attributes of receiving flowers but can you honestly look at this sunny arrangement and not smile? Last year when I was in the hospital over night, my staff sent me the most lovely floral arrangement and I have to tell you how happy it made me feel. Not just to have those lovely flowers in view but also because of the card message, which let me know that my staff missed me. Don't ever under estimate the Power of Flowers!!

Here's a photo of an after wedding (the couple got married in Jamaica) reception that we set up yesterday. I don't know about you but I was so happy to find out that the couple were actually going to be able to choose a linen color. In our area, most banquet halls, country clubs and the like only offer ivory or white and so unless budget allows, many of my clients need to stick to those two options. Personally, I love what a colored linen can do for a room, especially with regards to complimenting the flowers. In this case, the bride and groom asked me my opinion on what linen color they should do and I was happy to advise them. One option was a deep orange but that shade was very overpowering and more of a "fall" orange than a summer tangerine. There was also a hot pink and that color was a bit too much and I feared it would have overpowered the brightly colored flowers they wanted. Another choice was a deep plum purple that I really loved but they were a bit fear...

So, I posted this photo on my facebook page and people went crazy! It must be color but let's face it, it's a simple bouquet of three very common flowers - roses, mini gerbers and carnations but the color really takes it from boring to bravo! Tiny accents of branched solidago and add the fact that all these flowers are ultra high quality and fresh and with a bit of luck, we'll have hit a home run with our bride this weekend!! To see more of our floral designs for every day and wedding visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

Hallie's Bouquets , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . It's hot and so are the flower colors this season. Last weekends wedding for Hallie was so much fun to create and this weekend we have lots of orange and hot pink tones going out of here again. The temperature is over 100 and what better way to compete with the blinding sun but infusing amazing color into your life? Can you imagine the look on someones face who receives a flower bouquet in these bright colors!! Did you know that flowers physically make people happy and color has a lot to do with? Well it does. Bring flowers into your life, bring some home and send them as gifts. As Martha says "It's a good thing"! To see more of our flower selection visit our website at http://www.sendingsmiles.com/ !

Howell Living Farm , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . I thought I'd share a photo I took yesterday while out and about with the hubby. It's not often we both have the day off and unable to sleep in late, we were up and out early! It was a steamy, hot day but we really wanted to get out into some fresh air. After a walk through our favorite flea market we ended up at Howell Living Farm in Lambertville, NJ. Because of the holiday no activities were scheduled but we just enjoyed walking around the farm with our self guided map in hand. I especially love this shot that I got of just an open field. 15 minutes away from where we live and we had never been there! The perfect place to take the kids to show them what life was like 200 years ago on a farm. Sheep, ducks, horses and many elegant and swooping birds over head, it's truly a must see. My only complaint? No flower garden!! :o)

Memorial Day Wreath , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . Ok, this week has to be a record for flowers being delivered with a red, white and blue theme. We've even just about run out mini flags! I have to say, it's so nice to see Americans in the spirit of the holiday and relating that joy into floral arrangements being sent to family and friends. This wreath was created for Princeton Boro's Memorial Day celebration and what fun it was to go back past the monument even two weeks later and it was still there, looking pretty good!! Happy Birthday America!! We love you!

Virginia's Bouquet , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . Anything but boring, this bouquet was created for bride Virginia a few weeks back. A hot June day was the backdrop for this vibrant bridal bouquet of hydrangea, roses, gerbers, berries and button mums. A light rim of fresh variegated pitta foliage and the stems were wrapped in lime green ribbon. It was fun sneaking down to the Westin Hotel to snap a few photos of our lovely bride just before she walked down the aisle at Salt Creek Grille!