Sending Smiles ~

They say there is a hurricane coming but for now this bright and sunny bridal bouquet that we created for bride Jennie this past weekend is a beacon of sunshine, don't you think? I love all the fall colors and monochromatic floral designs for events and everyday are super popular right now, with Yellow leading the pack. We've added lots of new arrangements to our website for Fall so if you know someone under the weather or having a birthday , be sure to check out what is new. Here's  hoping that Hurricane Sandy is more hype than wind and rain! 

What I love most about Balloon Decorations  is how visual they are for a relatively low cost. Take this event for example ~ this room at Green Acres Country Club is lovely but a bit plain. Now enter a "Global ~ Earth" themed event for the YMCA this past week, add a few well placed balloons and you have....  This! Simple, single balloon centerpieces - using a "Bubble Earth Balloon" attached onto a basic balloon weight. The smaller tables had just the balloon centerpieces while the larger tables had a 12" wide and low cylinder vase filled with glass gems, under water lights (green and blue, of course) and 5 floating candles. Imagine how magical this will look when the sun goes down and the lights really begin to show.    The extra floating candles really add a glow - I can only imagine what they looked like when they were lit!    Taking our inspiration from the invitation (which looked similar to these favors below) we went full on with the Earth...

I have to admit that there are a few very girlie items I adore. The first are pocket books. I just love them and it's so much fun now that we are stocking them in the Princeton store. Truth be told, 3 of them never made it to the shelves because Alanna and Sheryl "treated" themselves to some already. Hey, it's a benefit of working here at Monday Morning Flowers! These just arrived and we have many styles, shapes and colors available. I'm thinking they will sell quickly and I can't wait to restock. Lots of bright colors, animals prints and even a few Western styles. Aren't they pretty?  I also love these smaller clutch size purses. Even though they have shoulder straps, they are small enough to carry just the way they are. I especially love the zebra print "roses" on the fronts.    Although I like the more wild prints, these quilt style bags are a great size and have a someone more formal feel. This type of bag never goes out of style so...

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that more and more brides are going to be asking their floral designers to create cascade bouquets for their weddings. In the last 3 weeks alone, we have created 3 of these beauties and buzz on our Facebook page has been quite dramatic. Take the bouquet below ~ Bride Shedline was super pleased when Kevin arrived with her bouquet. Don't you just love the rich color in shades of purple. That in itself is an ongoing trend with many couple choosing purple as their wedding color. This bouquet was created using roses, mini callas, stock, lisianthus, carnations, limonium and touches of elegant foliage's. It's actually not that heavy and was super easy to hold (the biggest fear most bride's have when deciding on their bouquet is weight and ease of carrying it correctly). See my YouTube video that shows how easy these bouquets are to carry.  Another trend I'm noticing more of is the use of mixed plant material such as succu...

Don't you love doing crafts during the fall? There are just so many fun materials to work with. Take pumpkins for example: Who says you have to leave them orange? We love spray painting them with fun colors like purple, gold, bronze and even silver. Add a little touch of silk berries, a silk leaf or 2 and a fresh touch of seeded eucalyptus and you have a fun accent for the dining room table or mantle. Another fun project is to stack one pumpkin on top of another, 3 or 4 high. This can easily be done by securing with long wooden picks. Put the largest at the bottom (don't forget to remove the stem), then go smaller, smaller and end with the smallest at the top. What a fun way to add some decor with height just outside your front door on the side of your driveway. Lastly, why not carve out a mini or medium size pumpkin and add some floral foam and design a colorful floral arrangement inside? Add some fall leaves, dried wheat, foliage and some long lasting flowers for a...

Well, better late than never to mention that it's Boss's Week and it ends tomorrow. Never heard of the holiday? Well, you might think it was invented by Hallmark but actually it was "invented" by  Patricia Bays Haroski. She registered "National Boss' Day" with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She was working as a secretary for State Farm Insurance Company in Deerfield, Illinois at the time and chose October 8 because she forgot that the birthday of her boss, who was her father, was actually on the 16th. Four years later, in 1962, Illinois Governor  Otto Kerner  backed Haroski's registration and officially proclaimed the day. So there you have it! Boss's Day is October 16th but here at our shops we celebrate it the whole week and believe it or not, it's quite a busy week for us. With all those employees out there that who appreciate everything their Boss does for them (even I get Boss's Day gifts every year), it's the perfect ...

A Chance to Network:   Last week I was lucky enough to get away from the shop for a few hours and spend some time with some amazing and dynamic women. The Women's Business Alliance (an offshoot from the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce) held it's very first "Women's Leadership Conference" and I what a wonderful event it was. Over 300 ladies attended I personally left very inspired. In the photo above you'll see some of my friends, from left to right ~ Krystal Knapp of Plant Princeton, Debbie Schaeffer of Mrs. G's Appliances, me, Denise Taylor from Great Looks 4 Less, Ellen Kuznick of Career Finders and panelist Lynn Doyle from "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle".  Let's face it, it would not be a women's event without flowers. We helped to sponsor the event by donating 25 floral centerpieces - pink roses, my favorite!  The Marriott did a great job and the Chamber Staff along with the WIBA committee of volunteers were t...

What an weekend! Three weddings and all so colorful and lovely! First up, bride Jackie chose these super cool green and ivory bouquets for her maids. Green buttons, orchids and berries along with ivory roses. Loops of lily grass make for an interesting combination, don't you think?   Bride Jackie's bouquet was a stunner for sure. Deep blue thistle, ivory roses, white mini gerbers, arabicum, hydrangea and anemone's combine to make for a very textured bouquet.  Ah, I'm in love with cascade bouquets lately and this one is amazing. White and purple picasso mini calls with white stephanotis, white tea rose and deep burnt orange spray roses accented with green berries and ivy for bride Gia.  Gia's maids will carry these amazing burnt orange roses, ivory spray roses and brown berries. What a pretty combination for a fall wedding, don't you think?  Bride Melissa went for the softer, romantic side of a fall wedding. Very pale blush pink roses, silvery lav...

Every now and then we get a bride who comes in and gives us creative liberty with her bridal bouquet - this is one such bouquet. Don't you just love it? We sure do, especially all the interesting texture. Made using Paco mini callas, mini gerbers, Orange Unique roses, Tango protea, chocolate brown mini cymbidium orchids, fiddle ferns, coffee foliage, seeded euc and fresh lotus pods! Wow, that is a mouthful. What do you think? Would you want to carry a bridal bouquet like this for your fall wedding? To see this and more of our wedding designs, visit our website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com 

We love getting rare and unusual flowers here at the shop and Banksia is one of them!  Banksia is a genus of around 170 species plant family Proteacea. If you have ever seen our very cool Pincushino Proteas at the shop, they are from the same plant family. These Australian wildflowers are easily recognized by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones" and heads.  Heavy producers of nectar, Banksias form a vital part of the food chain in the Australian bush. They are an important food source for all sorts of nectariferous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, sting less bees and a host of invertebrates. Furthermore, they are of economic importance to Australia's nursery and cut flower industries.  When we purchase these super cool flowers, they come by way of the Dutch Flower Market. Long lasting and quite large, our designers love making arrangements with them. If you are looking for something a bit unusual, per...

Someone called us the other day and said ~ "What do you do? I don't know what your company does". Hm, I had to think about that and there was a part of me (the Jersey Girl Part) that wanted to come back with "We do air conditioning and carpet cleaning" but as you an imagine, that won't win me any customers. This is not the first time I've been asked that question but our name really does say at least most of what we do. Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co ~ we do flowers, we do balloons, that's not all but it's a big part!! This past weekend we inflated and delivered 500 helium filled latex balloons in shades of pink for a radio station "Breast Cancer" event. In fact, we inflate over 40,000 helium filled latex balloons every year. Just ask Alanna, Holly and Melissa and they'll show you they have the strong fingers to prove it!  Now yes, we also do flowers. Folks often say "I'll bet most of your flower sales come fr...

This weekend's weddings seem to sum of the weather. On one hand, it's October 6th and the nights have started to get cool and the leaves are starting to drop here near our shop in Princeton Forrestal Village. Summer is definitely over and so our wedding designs for bride Dawn reflect the traditional fall feel of the season. Her bouquet was made using rich red roses along with a variety called Circus, which is a yellow and red bi-color. Along with the roses we have mango mini calla lilies, seeded eucalyptus, burgundy berries, Tango pincushion protea and very cool uhule fiddle ferns. She loved it!!  Now talking about weather, although the calendar says fall, the temperatures say summer, hitting highs in the low 80's so our next bride Kristie's bouquet reflect the feel of the day. Her bouquet was made using yellow fever few buttons, yellow and pink ranunculus, white mini daisies, garden roses, buplurium and gardenias. Gardenia's are special to Kristie and keep ...

We had so much fun Wednesday night hosting our 2nd hands on design class. This time we taught  everything you needed to know to make your own Fall Wreath! First timer Jessica had a wonderful time and we were impress with not only her talent but all the ladies who did a great job!!  Each participant was given a grapevine wreath as their base, some ribbon, dried oak leaves, pine cones and dried wheat. From there the ladies were able to choose from a large array of other elements such a faux fruit, berries, vines and other dried materials.   Once their elements were chosen, Sheryl and Alanna had the honors of applying the hot glue. Between making their wreaths, talking and snacking on wine and cheese, a very pleasant night was had by all!   Let's face it, everything is better with Wine and Cheese! Melissa, Jeanne and Martha have enjoyed coming out to the store for a little "creative girl" time.   Mother and daughter team Jeanne and...