Sending Smiles ~

Like a kid in a candy store, we all gather when the flowers arrive, especially our Dutch shipments. Above, these gorgeous mini callas are such a pretty pink. They are so perfect, they look fake, don't you think?  We love dahlias and it's the season for them. we love getting them in assorted colors so that we can really play!!   Lotus pods are so cool and are fun to design with. Not an inexpensive flower but long lasting and super cool for those looking for something a bit different in their floral design. Most folks are used to the dried ones but they are green when they are fresh. Craspedia or also called Billy Balls , we love designing with the little yellow balls on a stick. They are super cute in wedding designs, especially boutonnieres! To see these and more of our flower designs, be sure to check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

 A red bridal bouquet is not for everyone but if you want to go bold, this just might be the wedding color for you! This bouquet made for our bride Alex yesterday was both striking and dramatic. Red roses in 2 shades and red mini callas accented with green hypericum berries was a sight to be hold!!  Here I am doing a bit of modeling with this striking  bouquet. Honestly the photos don't really do the color and texture justice!! What is nice about a deep, rich color like red is that in bright sunlight the color stays very true. A great thing on a sunny summer day in July! We can't wait to see Alex's pictures, can you? Each week when the wedding flowers arrive we hold our breath until we see them. In this weeks case, the flowers were spectacular and each variety chosen really complimented each other (I will pat myself on the back for that one). I rarely interject my personal tastes but when I do, I've been know to say that red is not one of my favorite colo...

 What an elegant combination - ivory roses, hydrangeas, dahlias, arabicum and ranunculus. I love the soft, natural and romantic combination is perfect for a summer wedding. Our designer, as always, has done a lovely job forming the bouquet to show the different shapes and textures while keep it soft and round. We'll be sure to keep you posted if our bride Michelle shares any photos of herself with her bridal bouquet! To see this and more of our wedding designs be sure to check out our wedding website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com and our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist

 Each week we try  to bring in a few new floral varieties that we have never seen before like this very cool green and blue hydrangea above. The heads are huge and we loved the ruffly nature of the petals.  The celosia this week are amazing. The colors are so vibrant and shocking! They really look so cool in the arrangements.  Oh my goodness!! What can you say about this beautiful Banksia above. Wow, wow, wow, the texture and colors of these flowers is just super cool. How fun!  Mocha sunflowers, locally grown and very brown, how fun is that? We love the yellow ones but these really add an interesting touch to a summer arrangement. Have you ever seen our bud vases? Each vase is a different shape and very artfully holds a single flower. Who says you need multiple flowers to make a statement? Not with these sweet vases. There you have it, our floral favorites from this past week - 7/22/12. Check back to see what next week holds in store for o...

Don't you just love the texture of this boutonniere that we made for a wedding last summer? A single peacock feather, a white daisy and a single tiny craspedia ball, combine to make a very unique boutonniere for the groom. Peacock feathers are still quite popular in our wedding and party designs. This wedding took place at Grounds for Sculpture in Trenton, a place known for it's natural setting and herd of lovely peacocks! The bride carried white gerber daisies dotted with the yellow craspedia and was a perfect compliment to this funky peacock feather boutonniere! Have you seen our other famous Peacock feather bouquets? Check out our blog written about it here !

This past weekend the hubby and I were out and about with a family function, so of course, I had my camera. I just can't walk anywhere without taking a picture of any flower I see. This one above was a single gladiolus stalk that was in front of a restaurant in Hamilton, NJ. This single bloom was gorgeous and as you can see against the blue sky, the color was very striking. I personal love this flower but sadly many of our customers won't let us use them in our design work. :(  Now, this is obviously some kind of daisy and was found in my Mother-in-Laws garden. I especially loved the pods, which I think is the left over center of the daisy once the petals fall off. Sadly, I don't know much about growing flowers but love designing with them. If I could buy these for the shop, I would but they are most likely just a garden variety meant to be enjoyed like this and not a flora culture variety meant for cutting. :( Once again, we are back at the restaurant and this...

 I just asked my husband to give me inspiration for a blog post and his response was "Why not talk about your love of cooking and wine"? Ah, I knew there was a reason I married that man. In case you don't know, I love being home, I love cooking and I'm fond of drinking local wine. I don't have much time too cook, most nights Kevin and I get home about 7:30  or 8:00 pm so no long, drawn out cooking times for me, it's gotta be fast, it's gotta be good and it's got to be healthy. In the summer we BBQ as much as possible, like the plate above - fresh bread with olive oil for dipping, veggies and steaks on the grill - all in about 20 minutes. Add a glass (or 2 if it's not an early day at the shop the next day) of local wine, like this Blueberry wine from Princeton's Terhune Orchards and the night is perfect. Sit in front of the tube and watch the TV Food Network (I know, it's a bit redundant at that point but we love it anyway, especially Guy...

 Here are just few flowers that came in this past week that made us happy, happy, happy. How can you not look at this Blue Peppermint Hydrangea (above) and Sunset Mini callas (below) and not just say - aaahhhh. It's fun getting in new varieties of flowers coming through the Dutch market and these were 2 of our favorites. I'm sure we'll order them in again real soon!  Now moving on to some fun plants, we just got in these elegant anthurium plants. Don't you just love these waxy little heart shaped flowers. These plants had tons and tons of blooms and I doubt they will hang around long once our customers see them.

Have you ever seen Mountain Mint? Well, this is the variety that we get here at the shop to design with and it's one of our favorite foliage's to use in the summer. With it's lovely mint fragrance and bright lime green foliage's and little balls of sunshine, it's missed when it goes out of season in late summer. Locally grown right here in New Jersey, we use it in just about every wedding we do all summer long. It's lush and full bunches are long lasting and very economical. As you can see from Designer/Sales Associate Alanna holding them - the bunches are huge! To see more of our floral designs be sure to check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com and we'd love it if you liked our Facebook pages at www.facebook.com/localflorist (for our Princeton shop) and www.facebook.com/sendingsmiles (for our Yardley shop).

Yes, even as florists, we have favorite weddings we work on and from the last 2 weeks, this bouquet as to be one of them. If you watched our "Hand Tied Bridal Bouquet Cost" video, then this bouquet will look familiar to you. Cream hydrangea, ranuculus along with two shades of peach roses (one a tea rose and the other a garden variety) accented with peach hypericum berries. The reason we loved it was not only for the color but for the wonderful texture the flowers had. Peach has become a very popular color theme and this bouquet really shows why! What are your thoughts? Do you like the color theme and texture of this bouquet? Update! The bride has sent us photos so now you can see how they looked on the day of! We loved the coral color with the blue dresses and the Maid of Honor with her touches of blue with her coral colored dress. ?   And of course, the brides bouquet was stunning with her gown looking soft and romantic, don't you think? To see this an...

 Ok, the word here is YUM!! Yummy has arrived with our new goodie baskets. Popcorn, chocolate, candy, cookies, you name it, these goodie baskets have them. Colorful and most in cool keepsake boxes, we've just added them to our website and are anticipating them be very good sellers. Wouldn't you want to receive one of these?  These adorable banks aren't new but we love the signs that Shop Coordinator Sheryl made to be placed around the store to "Inspire" our shoppers. Hey, they are cute, aren't they?  We're starting to do some demonstrations and classes at the shop. This one will be our first on August 15th, we will be holding a Terrarium Making Class. Not only do you get to make your own Terrarium to take home but you get wine and cheese too. What a great event for a girls night out or bring the hubby. Limited to 12 people assistants Sheryl and Alanna will be running the demo from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Students will even leave with a goodie bag filled w...

How fun to have a wedding in a Winery.... In New Jersey no less. Yes, we grow grapes and make wine in New Jersey and what a wonderful spot for a wedding in May. The perfect location, the perfect couple and the perfect weather! Here's a quick and fun video. Spring Peony, Hydrangeas, Wheatgrass, Burlap, Twine and Curly Willow all take center state in this Elegant but Rustic Wedding. To see more photos from this wedding check out our Facebook Page or our visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com LinkedTube

While posting a copy of a blog to Google+, I wrote an introduction that I thought was worthy of it's very own blog post. My staff and family often tell me that I have a lot of patience when it comes to our clients.  It stems from them listening in on wedding and party consultations, which quite frankly, is an area of our business that takes a great deal of time and thoughtfulness. Not everyone buys flowers on a regular basis and sometimes they get a bit of "sticker shock" because they don't understand what goes into growing them, transporting them, prepping them, arranging them and then delivering them. It really is a long, time consuming process and with everything in life, carries a price tag because of it. Below is the intro I used to one my "education" blogs and if you read further, you'll see how my earlier working experiences have made me the business person that I am today. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts! ~ Georgianne   I'm a b...

LinkedTube Planning an event with lots of out of town guests? Why not consider rental glassware as a way of decorating your guest tables. Here's my quick tip on how renting vases from your florist can help make your venue look beautiful and save money. Check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com or our Faceboo Page at www.facebook.com/localflorist to see examples of our event designs using rental glass ware.

We post photos of our wedding designs just about every week so imagine our surprise when I posted this photo on our Facebook Fan Page to have it skyrocket to over 100 shares and at least that many likes and comments? Wow, it just went viral - showing how powerful this color palate of purples and blues is right now. We loved the mixture of flowers used in Bride Rochelle's wedding bouquet - including Cool Water purple roses, Picasso mini callas, purple stock, limonium filler, white stephanotis (with purple pearl centers), purple lisianthus (with buds removed) and deep blue volkenfreiden delphinium. To see this and more of our floral design work check out our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist or our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

LinkedTube A quick video that explains how hand tied bridal bouquets are made, how they come together and why a bouquet costs what it costs. We love doing weddings and the floral industry. Be sure to check out our Facebook page to see more of our floral designs. We'd love for you to become one of our happy brides. To make an appointment I can be reached by email at georgianne@mondayflowers.com

LinkedTube Green plants not only make great gifts but they make healthy gifts. Shop Coordinator Sheryl shows off one of our many styles of Terrariums here in the store. To see this and many other plants we offer, check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

Gosh, it's has to be at least 5 years that we've been partnering with the Trenton Thunder Baseball Team and providing them with all their floral and balloon decor needs. I still get a tickle down my spine when I go to the park and see my sign among all those other national and local businesses. Makes me right proud to partner with such a great organization. This past Wednesday, which was the 4th of July, the Ballpark showed a standing room only crowd a fantastic time. What is more American then Baseball, hot dogs and sitting out in the sunshine! Ending the night with fireworks made for the perfect, All-American 4th of July holiday! Want to learn more about the Trenton Thunder? Check out their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/trentonthunder or go to their website at www.trentonthunder.com

 Please, please, can we please? We love our website  but sometimes have to create the same floral designs over and over is not so much fun. That's why we love the opportunity to design fun, funky, festive and elegant arrangements for our cooler displays. This is where we get to show customers running in for a quick gift how talented we really are! Don't you just love this simple orange basket arangement. Big is not always better. I love this arrangement above done in a simple glass bowl with "Free Spirt" roses, hydrangeas and veronica. All dutch flowers, so elegant but fun don't you think?    Imagine getting this for your birthday. Love the balloon box! Adorable cube arrangements that look good enough to eat! Love this tropical styled arrangement with river cane, roses, fatsia leaves and even a cute butterfly. Elegant for a foyer table, this makes a really elegant gift . I loved this arrangement that design Rocio made. Three roses, an orchi...

We love the traditional look of this classic cascade and if our likes and comments on our facebook page are any indication,  this bouquet seems to hit a high note with folks. Our Bride Laura sure seemed to love it when it arrived! Check out our video below to see how to correctly hold your Cascade Bridal Bouquet. White tea and baby roses, delicate stephanotis blooms and accents of babies breath along with ivy trails create an elegant cascade. This is me holding the bouquet and I can tell you that it was both easy to hold and not as heavy as you might think. Honestly, out of 100 weddings we do each year, we only create 2 or 3 cascase each year (we have another we are creating next weekend for our bride Sarah) and when we do, it's really a big deal around here. I love that his bouquet is so clean, classic and all white . In this case, the color being the same as her gown will make this bouquet an accessory for her, rather than a distraction. What do you think about ...