Sending Smiles ~

I don't often post wedding bouquet photos before we deliver them but in this case I had to make an exception. The days leading up to a wedding are busy for us here at the shop and this weekend having 3 weddings is no exception. I'm really looking forward to the ceremony being held at the Nassau Inn Ballroom tomorrow night. Design Manager Holly just finished her bouquet and it's a beauty. Using flowers in a combination that we often use - roses and mini callas, this one is speaks to the occasion and the holiday with the addition of silver hypericum berries and winter foliage's. Tomorrow nights New Years Eve wedding will be alive with lots of candle light and wisps of silver. The last wedding to be done in that ballroom before it goes under renovation, I can't wait to post photos for you to see of this and our other two spectacular New Years Eve Weddings!!  To see this and other photos of our wedding designs visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/loc

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas. For us it was a busy time in the shop, lots of hours working but lots of laughs too. Have Christmas Day off from the shop was so wonderful for the hubby and I. Slept in a bit later than usual, had a nice breakfast and then what did we do??? We hopped in the car for our annual trek out to Longwood Gardens so that we could be surrounded once again with flowers! Nobody does Christmas like Longwood Gardens and this year was no exception. Gingerbread cookies were the theme throughout and what an amazing display it was! Everywhere you looks there was lush foliage and poinsettias! My personal favorite area is the orchid room. With so many orchids growing up the wall in every color of the rainbow. These orange ones were one of my personal favorites but can you really have a favorite when you faced with such loveliness? Hehehe, this one makes me laugh. When I see him I see a smiling mouth, a funny little nose and huge eyebrows. Andy

 It's that time of year again and as has become the tradition, Shop Coordinator Sheryl has made my favorite sweet for us to share at the shop today! Email me at g@mondayflowers.com if you'd like the recipe but lets just say there is butter and chocolate involved so the yum factor is over the top! Thanks Sheryl, you make all the hard work during the holidays bearable!  Design Manager Holly also had the idea to treat us to some sweets today and stopped into a brand new cupcake company near her home in Columbus to bring us these beauties. I haven't had one yet but the hubby said the chocolate/peanut butter one was delish. Yes, we are in the flower biz and the designers have been busy refilling the coolers as the shop has been a revolving door today of folks stopping in for Centerpieces and Floral Gifts. We are sufficiently sugared so the energy level at the shop is "high".   We'd love for you stop in if you are in our area. Today is $5 Friday at

"Hi, I need a floral sympathy piece shaped like an Ice Cream Cone to send to a woman who used to own an Ice Cream Store, can you do that"? Yes we can! How cute is this arrangement that Designer Norman made for a recent viewing. Funerals are no laughing matter but how sweet (not pun intended) was it for someone to remember this woman by having this created. Not only is it thoughtful to come up with the idea of sending these particular flowers but the card read "She made the best ice cream in town".  I'd imagine her family will remember this tribute for many years to come.  Our designers always take pride in what they do but you can imagine that pieces like this are the ones that really make us proud. Great job Designer Norman!! To see this and other samples of our sympathy designs, visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com or our facebook back at www.facebook.com/localflorist

I'm inspired to write this blog because of an experience I had this week. A woman, from a company that I will not name, contacted me via email. She knew we did some on-line advertising (pay per click) with them. She offered free help for 4 weeks to look at my account, make suggestions and make any necessary changes. I was so excited that I wrote back right away and scheduled a phone meeting.  Knowing that it might turn into a "paid" service later, I was undaunted because I figured that if what she did helped me, I'd be happy to pay for future service. That is where this story goes wrong. Not more than 1 minute into the conversation, it became clear that this specialist was not looking to help me with my existing accoutn but wanted to make an additional sale.  My husband saw my face while I was on the phone so I wrote out on a big piece of paper:  "Selling Not Helping" Yikes, the lesson I learned.... well, there was no lesson. I'm not going to as

What is it about the holiday season? Mixed among the poinsettias deliveries, boxwood trees and holiday party decorations, we always seem to have more than our share of family funerals to create flower tributes for. As if the holidays are not stressful enough, imagine loosing a loved one at this time.  Actually, I don't have to imagine it, I lost my own father on Christmas Eve 19 years ago. The flowers above were delivered today for a very good customer who was having a memorial service for her mother. Soft pinks, seasonal but feminine made for a striking display at church and the pink marble poinsettias could be given away to family members after the service as a remembrance. There is no substitution for the personal touch needed to create flowers like these. Meeting with the family and discussing their wishes is both an honor and duty that we take very seriously. Above is an arrangement we created a few years back for man who had a special bond with his dog "Lady&

"What is your wedding flower style?" When I ask a bride that question, 80% will tell me, simple but elegant but what does that really mean? When you look in the dictionary the definition of these words, what do you find? Simple means: Free from ostentation and vanity, easy to understand and humble in origin. Elegant  means: Tasteful in design, dignified and graceful in appearance and cleverly simple. Take the bridal bouquet above? More than any other bouquet we've ever made, this one seems to strike a cord in certain brides. To me it's elegant but simple. It's natural but not wild. It has texture that stands apart from the wedding dress but does not compete with it.  But this type of bouquet only accounts for about 20% of the designs we create. Do I think that 8 out of 10 brides really want simple but elegant floral designs? Actually, it's probably the other way around. I think that 80% want complicated, cool, colorful, even funky flowers. For me,

Had to share these lovely photos from Kyo Morishima Photography of last months Scottish wedding. I have to say this was a favorite of mine, only because it was so different and fun to create. The grooms flower was a mixture of a pheasant feather a loop of willow, a touch of red hypericum and seeded euc berries and some blue thistle. A tiny piece of the grooms Scottish Tartan finished the look. The brides bouquet also had all those elements but large red tea roses made a very textured but elegant bouquet. Thank you Kyo for the amazing photos and to the Nassau Inn who hosted this amazing wedding. To see this and more of our wedding designs visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com and go to the wedding link to view our gallery.

Those times, they are a changin'. Is that a song? I can hear the melody in my head but I don't remember the exact words. But wow, if that is not the truth these days, I don't know what is. Years ago, if you owned a retail floral shop, you prepped your flowers, made them into pretty arrangements in your display coolers and lined up buckets and buckets of loose flowers for customers to choose from. The phone rang and you talked to customers about their needs and hung up by telling them you'd make  pretty arrangement and have it delivered in a jiffy. Then supermarkets started adding floral departments, making it less likely that you'd pick up flowers for your home at your local florist. Need flowers delivered? Yup, the florist is the best for that as most supermarkets don't deliver and so you started to gravitate towards floral services and retailers that had websites. It was important to be able to shop online and see what you were sending.   Computers are

If you read our blog often and see our wedding designs, you are sure to have seen these cool little berries that we us in our arrangements. What are they? Coffee beans? Holly berries? Nope, they are called Hypericum Berries and they are actually a cut flower used in many florists shops. In the case of these red ones, the look is quite seasonal and really adds a pop of color, just like they do in the bridal bouquet below. This is a sneak peek at bride Amanda's wedding bouquet for tomorrow. What about these green ones below? Added among cream and white flowers, they add a touch of green with a spring or summer feel. Add light colored red ones among deep red flowers for a bit of contrast and color. They come in so many different colors such as green, peach, orange, brown and red, they fit into just about any season. Add their deep green leaves into the mix and you can see why we design with them so often. To see more of our floral designs, visit our website at www.send