Sending Smiles ~

Did you know that we do a special every Friday at both our Princeton, NJ and Yardley, PA flower shops? It's called $5 Flower Fridays and each week we offer fresh flower bouquets at a very discounted price. Today's special are summer bouquets and aren't they just adorable? Each week we sell between 15 and 40 of these bouquets and it's our way of thanking our local customers and helping them to afford fresh flowers in their house each week. If you have never joined us for $5 Flower Fridays, we'd love to see you. Want to know what flowers are being offered ahead of time? Just text the word FRIDAY to 555888 and we'll add you to our Text list. Also, check out our Facebook Book Pages at www.facebook.com/localfloris t and www.facebook.com/sendingsmile s for advanced notice each Friday morning. Fresh flowers for just $5, you can't beat it! 

We had so much fun with our first Terrarium Making Class that we have scheduled a second one for  September 12 - from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at our Princeton Store in Forrestal Village. What's it all about? Well you get to mingle with fun folks, drink wine, eat delicious local cheese from Tre Piani Restaurant and then make your very own Terrarium to bring home. With lots of elements to choose from you get to customize it to your home colors and decor. At a cost of $75, you'll agree, it's a great deal for a night of fun. Ask customer Martha (above)  who not only had a blast but made new friends (apparently her and Jean were having lunch the following week). Past Mother of the Groom Jacquie (behind Martha) brought her friend and they seemed to enjoy themselves! Many of this months participant signed up for our Wreath making class to be held on October 3 here at the Princeton store. The Terrarium class only has 12 spaces so reserve your spot early. The wreath making cla...

Have you ever wondered how they grow those amazingly huge gerbera daisies that you get from our shop? Well, this week we were lucky enough to visit one of the farms that grows them for us - Ever-Bloom Farms in California. Ever-Bloom has over 14 acres of these amazing flowers - all under the protection of very sophisticated green houses.  According to Sue, the Director of Sales at Ever-Bloom, they grow over 120 varieties of gerbera and gerbera mini's in all shades from white, red, pink, orange and even one that is almost purple. Sue says that hot pink is the color in highest demand. The amazing plants are putting out flowers each and ever day, requiring they be harvested 6 days a week. Sue says the workers walk through each row picking them by hand and sorting them right out in the green house where they are added to these very cool carts by variety.  Minutes after being harvested, they are cut and placed into a special water solution to allow them to continuing ...

I'm laughing as I write the title to this blog but when I look at all these girls lined up and their bouquets, that was the first thing that came to mind. Do you have tons of Brides Maids and are you on a tight budget? If so, what you need are a few big flowers! These bouquets, recently created for the Rebecca's wedding, are only 3 stems of Dutch hydrangea. Although we gussied them up a bit by adding some loops of curly willow, a broach and a touch of fabric from the girls gowns, they were modestly priced. No one would ever say these weren't interesting and that they looked cheap. They actually looked quite elegant and natural - perfect for this South Jersey Winery wedding.  Bride Rebecca actually had 10 brides maids and these bouquet only cost $50 each. A gorgeous compliment to their dresses (the colors were almost exact in shading, it truly was perfect) and no one could complain about the size of these bouquets. Although each stem is quite pricey, just a couple wi...

Do you know that Stock is the name of an amazing flower? If you have read my blogs in the past, you may have seen it mentioned a time or two.  We use it all the time in our daily designs as well as our event and wedding work. Today we had the pleasure of being shown around Ocean View Farms in Lompac, Ca.  by Dan Vordale, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Dan was kind of enough to take time out of his day to show us around the farms!  I wanted to share some photos of the stock fields. Because I'm on vacation (I'm told I should do something other than talk or write about flowers) I'll be sure to  write a  more complete blog of what Kevin and I saw and learned at this amazing California Flower Farm but for now, I'll show you the Stock Farms!! What an amazing sight to see, rows and rows of this fragrant flower blowing in the breeze! Dan told us that although white is the best seller, all shades of purple are next in demand.  Dan explains to Ke...

Can you believe it's mid August and Baseball season ends in a month or so? Where did the summer go. We love creating flowers for the home games like this one. This photo was snapped by a friend and customer of Monday Morning Flowers and put on our Facebook page! How cute! Don't you just love the colors? We create three arrangement for each home game for placement in the ladies room - sorry guys, no flowers for you! The Thunder puts a sign up with our name and you'd probably be surprised how many people mention seeing these flowers.  If you have never been out the Thunder Ballpark you must take the time to catch game if you are in the area. A great place for family - good food and entertainment for folks of all ages. With a little luck The Thunder will make it into the playoffs and we'll be delivering a few extra of these butties!! 

 I loved these centerpieces we created  for this past weekends wedding for Kathleen and Scott. Their wedding reception was held at the Nassau Inn in downtown Princeton and this footed mahogany bowl is the perfect container for these soft, pastel blooms. The pop of rich brown looked amazing in their Palmer room with all the warm wood tones in the room.  A sweet mixture of peach Donna Roses, yellow craspedia balls, white daisies and pale pink mini gerbers arranged with elegant ruscus foliage and lime green buplurium fillers. The perfect height and width to fill up the center of the table without blocking the view across. These would also be pretty for an anniversary party, baby shower or a Sweet 16, don't you think? 

Couples like Rachel and Dion are the type of bride and groom that make what I do a real joy. Not only was it a delight to work with Rachel and her mother but I loved everything they chose! Take Rachel's bouquet for example: Orange roses, peach spray roses, cream ranunculus and dahlias, peach stock, mini calla lilies and touches of peach berries - oh the lovely colors and textures! She loved her bouquet and we could not have been happier!   Their wedding reception took place at the Princeton Marriott and had  vintage book theme. I loved the old card catalog that Rachel found at a Library. She used it for the escort cards - how cute!! Some touches of ivy, their engagement photo and an orange and peach floral arrangement made for a sweet display.  For their tables we created 3 different styles of centerpieces. This style had three different sizes of candle holders, each with an amber underwater light and a floating candle. Touches of petals and ivy trails ...

Last night we held our very first Terrarium making class and what a fun time we all had. About 12 folks got together for wine, cheese and a lesson in how to make their own terrariums. Led by shop staff Alanna and Sheryl, each person was able to choose their own plants, sand, gravel, moss and even butterflies and birds. I must say, there just might be some future floral designers among our students!  Everyone proudly displayed their works of living art at the end in a group shot and it was fun to see all their bright smiles. We'll be doing more classes in the fall - another Terrarium class on 9/12, a wreath making class on 10/3 and look for a Boxwood tree class in late November!  Thanks to the dynamic duo of Alanna and Sheryl for all their hard work for organizing, hosting and teaching the class. 6 out of 12 people at this class were happy enough with their experience to sign up for our Wreath making class and we can't wait to get started organizing that!  We w...

I live and breath flowers, flowers, flowers, flowers - it's what I think about all the time. No matter where I am or what I'm doing, if there are flowers there, I notice them. So obviously, I've learned a thing or two and these are the Top 3 Things I've learned About Selling Flowers!  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Flowers are like food. Some people love Escargot and will pay any price for them while others think of them as no better than a slug found in their garden.  Flowers are the same way - some folks will see the rare and unusual as something worthy of a high price tag, while others just don't see that appeal. Take the arrangement above for example: The roses are pretty common and affordable but the Dutch  Asclepias , the star shaped orange flowers are  much more unusual and rare, thus costing more. If you like them, you might pay for them, if you don't, you won't. It's as simple as that.  Sending flowers only to say you are sor...

Every now and then we get a customer call us who is throwing themselves are party and here's one that we just loved! After realizing that no one was giving her a retirement party, she decided to give herself one. A lover of all things pink, I'm pretty sure she got a kick out of these centerpieces we created for her. An assortment of flowers in shades of pink such as spray roses, gerbera daisies, hydrangeas, tea roses and mini calla lilies all arranged in these pretty silver containers, they looked amazing on the tables. The moral of the story is: don't wait for someone to throw you a party when you do something wonderful, throw yourself one and don't forget the flowers! 

 Ah, nothing says summer like a sunflower bouquet and so it's the perfect flower for a summer wedding, don't you think? Today's bride Jane wanted a fresh picked feel to her bouquet and I  think we really achieved that. Medium size sunflowers arranged with a rim of fresh babies breath and lemon leaves with a hint of monte casino white asters between the blooms adds just a touch of softness the bouquet would not have without them. I also love the pop of white and I think it will look smashing (did I just say smashing?) against her simple bridal gown.  For the men we are using Viking pom poms for the boutonniere. I like the fact that although they look like a sunflower, they are much smaller. This way they don't feel like they are wearing a ladies size corsage. Speaking of corsages, we also like using the viking pom pons to make delicate wristlet corsages like this one. It not only has the wristlet attached, we also include pins in case they decide to wear t...

Because I failed Junior English in High School and did not pass Business Writing in College, it gives me the warm and fuzzies when people say they enjoy reading my blog.  If I could just go back and find those teachers.... well, I regress. I meet business owners and other florists who ask me why I bother to write a Blog. My reasons are actually pretty simple. I like writing, I like sharing the knowledge I've gained in my industry and I'm a social person. I write like I talk and although others might have trouble finding topics to write about, it's comes pretty easy to me. I think of things I want to talk about when I'm at home watching TV, driving in the car, taking a shower or even at 3 AM when I can't fall back to sleep.  I write down exactly what I would say if you were here in front of me, minus all the Italian hand gestures of course! Sharing advise, money saving ideas, new products and life experiences are all easy topics for me and it seems folks want ...

 Yum, we have started getting in some new gourmet product, just in time to test it out for the holiday gourmet basket season! Believe it or not, our Corporate customers will begin ordering their holiday gift baskets before you know it.  We've been enjoying getting in a new variety of Dutch hydrangea each week and this week's is called "You and Me Together - Pink". We love the shape of the little flowers, so pretty, don't you agree?  Next week we will be having our first Terrarium class and we love making these cuties, like this one that Designer Norman made for a customer. A little wave action to look like the sea is what she requested and Norman did a fine job with it!  We've been carrying jewelry and we just got in a new line of bracelets. They are so pretty. Some have saying such as faith, kindness and love. Colorful and affordable at only $14.95.  I love the head bands, they are so cute! Perfect for when you need a touch of bling!  How c...

We love when brides send photos and how nice of bride Corinne to send these lovely shots from her recent wedding. Her color theme of pewter and yellow was such a striking summer color theme, don't you think? Her bouquet was made of all white gerbera daisies with light colored centers and accents of yellow craspedia. Similar to past bride Lauren's bouquet from last year. It was sunny and happy, just like Corinne! I always love Gerberas but don't you love the color of the shocking yellow ones? In this case, the dark centers play up the rich grey of the dresses along with a pop of silvery dusty miller to finish off the bouquets. You know I love rental glassware and the perfect spot to use it is at Triumph Brewery in Princeton. A huge space and long tables are perfect for this mix and match of floating candles in different size and styled vases. Also, a great play off the black linens to really pop and create drama. To see more photos from this wedding be sure t...

No we are not inviting you to come in to the shop and take a tumble!! Believe it or not, we have started to display our fall products for the season.  Halloween, Thanksgiving and general fall product have started to arrive and at the risk of tooting our own horn, we really love everything we have brought in for the season. Apparently, owls are very popular right now so aren't they mugs adorable?   Also, loving the thanksgiving platters, pitchers mugs and more. Giving thanks was never so much fun. These make great gifts too. :) Be sure to check out our facebook page as we will be showcasing all our fall arrivals there as they are displayed. www.facebook.com/localflorist

 This red bouquet might look familiar from a previous blog post but I wanted to update and share the reception photos. Alexandra's wedding held under a tent at Fernbrook turned out lovely, even though the weather was not 100% cooperating! The brides maids all carried bouquets of white Vendela roses which looked so pretty with her fabulous red bouquet!  The centerpieces were styled in two different ways. The low centerpieces were hydrangea and roses arranged cleaning and simply in a clear glass cylinder vase. The matching above eye level pieces were hydrangeas, roses, hanging amaranthus and curly willow placed up onto our elegant clear glass pilsner vases.  Alex and her family hired us to hang these huge lanterns along the tent and they lit up when the lights came down. I can only imagine how amazing they looked when the storm blew in and the wind picked up. It had to be very memorable! The clean and romantic look of all white looked so elegant. Don't you ju...