Sending Smiles ~

Isn't late September such a nice time to have a wedding? The weather has been a bit wicked this year being a bit more rainy and muggy than usual but we sure have loved the color combinations from some this months weddings. Orange has been popular all year going from burnt to corals (with pink undertones) right on into light, soft peaches. Take this bouquet above. Peach and orange roses, spray roses and berries accented with spectacular dahlias were the perfect color combination for a late summer, early fall bouquet. This bouquet was held by the brides maids and the one below was held by the bride.   The bride carried peach roses, orange spray roses, peach mini callas, creamy white roses and dahlias accented with peach berries. This bouquet was created for Amy's brides maids. An exact copy (but a bit smaller) of a bouquet we created for bride Keally last year (also featured in Contemporary Bride - NJ) this lovely combination of peach, pink, white and yellow was made using...

Outdoor wedding? Great but you have to have a back up plan. In the case of today's wedding for Nicole and Josh, we had just that. What I love about weddings is that you never know what to expect. Each one is different and the challenge is to make it all happen. Unfortunately, today it drizzled and rained and after a long night of down pours, the outdoor setting at the Hilton Gardens was not to be. Never fear, the flexible florist is here! What I love about flowers on the chairs and rose petals on the ground is no matter where the wedding is, it works. Now in the case of Nicole's wedding, we were to decorate (using quite a bit of flowers and fabric) her dream gazebo but with not a gazebo in site, we quickly put up our own archway (not shown in this photo) and proceeded to decorate that. It's not really what the bride wanted but it was the next best thing. All I can say is, if you are planning your wedding for outside, you gotta have a back up plan!! To see more of ou...

It's time for pumpkins, leaves and wheat being added to our fresh arrangements. It's also time for Corporate Meetings like this one. What's more depressing then a schedule of all day meetings just as the summer is ending. With our minds remembering summer vacations, time with family in the backyard cooking hamburgers and hot summer nights, do we really want to be inside? I suspect not but life goes on and this company knows it. What better way to ease your staff into meetings, seminars and brain storming sessions but by including fresh flower arrangements? Perhaps they heard that Harvard, Rutgers and others have done studies that show that having flowers in the work environment help to stimulate creating thinking!! As found on the "About Flowers" Website: The behavioral research, conducted by a team at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, identifies the factors most likely to impact 21st century employee well being, commitment and p...

Because of our heavy wedding and event schedule this week, we were not able to attend the Society of American Florist convention this week. One of the discussions I was looking forward to was color trends for 2012. Imagine my surprise when following the convention online, I noticed that the color most likely to trend for next years weddings was red!! Over the past 2 weekends, we have done two weddings for brides named Julia and both have chosen red bouquets! Last weeks bride, who's wedding had a casino theme complete with gaming tables, included fun elements such as feathers and tulle into her bouquet. This weeks Julia kept things simple and classic (see her bouquet above) by having us hand tie Black Bacara roses accented with tiny gems for a touch of sparkle. As brides start meeting with us for their 2012 weddings, I'll be sure to report back on the colors, flowers and other elements they will be using. That's what we love most about doing weddings... things are always ...

We love creating flowers for special events such as this birthday party. Not sure what direction to go in when deciding on flower centerpieces? Why not take a "hint" from the invitations you have chosen. Obviously, if you thought they were perfect to represent the milestone, clearly they should be a good inspiration for the table decor. Show us the invite, give us a budget and let us do the rest!

Well, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind at the shops. Between Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Flooding and Nuptials it's been a somewhat frantic time for us. It's always fun for us to style weddings because we not only get to be creative but our hands are on some of the most gorgeous flowers you'll ever see. We noticed a new trend with wedding designs and thought we share with you. Many of our brides this month have given us mementos to add to their bouquets. Case in point is the pretty broach below. We really loved how elegant this looked on Maritza's wedding bouquet this past Friday.  Bride Darlene was having her wedding at the Camden Aquarium last weekend and wanted to add a bit of sparkles to her bouquet. We found this rhinestone garland for her and did a slight spiral down her stems.    We guess you just might be getting the idea!! Bride Maggie gave us this gorgeous necklace for us to add to her bouquet. Isn't it stunning? It really poppe...

It's amazing what a little candle light can do, don't you think? These floating candle centerpieces were just about everywhere at Katie's wedding at Triumph Brewery. Simple but effective they really are an economical but romantic way to decorate just about any venue. Drop the lights down low and let the candles do the rest.    We loved creating these centerpieces last weekend for Gennady and Maggie. Simple branches and purple hydrangea accented with an underwater light really made a creative table decor with a low investment. Add some coordinating lighting along the walls and the location turns from ordinary to extraordinary - don't you think? Not sure how to decorate extremely long tables? Who says that all the vases have to match? We don't and we think that was exactly what made these table scape's more fun. Cylinders, elegant pilsners  and even square vases, mixed together really keep the guests guessing and turn up the crea...

Labor day weekend is always a busy wedding weekend for us and this year was no exception. With 1 wedding on Friday, 3 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday we sure had our share of fun creating amazing wedding bouquets. The bouquet above was created for bride Darlene for her sea themed wedding at the Camden Aquarium. White roses accented with rhinestone starfish (that she found online) and skeleton leaves along the outer edge really gave a beach feel but in an elegant, more formal way. Darlene is the third sister that we have done flowers for! Bride Liz had us create this elegant hand tied bouquet of Peach Donna roses. What I really love about this rose is how full and lush it opens. Not only is the shade of peach anything but boring but it also has more than one shade on the petals going from a paler peach in the center to a deeper shade along the edges. Bride Maggie's bouquet is just so bright and fun, just like she is. Ivory roses, green berries, rhinestone accented stephanot...

We love creating flowers for special events, especially ones that take place in the home. What fun it is to match the colors and style of a room. Today we set up flowers for one of our bridal families. Because they are expecting many guests at the home starting tonight and all through the wedding weekend, they thought it would be a nice touch to add flowers in various parts of the house. This piece was created for the dining room table and matches the decor and colors of the room. This next arrangement greeted guests as they entered the home. We used flowers such as chocolate anthiurum, free spirit roses, safari sunset and pincushion protea, curly willow branches along with seeded eucalyptus and bronze colored cushion mums. The flowers add a cozy feel to an already lovely home, don't you think?