Sending Smiles ~

As I've said before, I'm a Jersey girl. This coming from a flower shop owner who has a fish named Bruce at one shop and Springsteen in the other. Kevin and I live in Hopewell, NJ and have our shops in Princeton and Yardley Pa but we both grew up closer to the Jersey Shore. We both have very fond memories of Asbury Park, especially Kevin who used to drive the "circuit" in his old Chevelle! Over the years time has been hard on Asbury Park but those of us who love the city have always had faith that the people would come back and so it seems they have! Today were able to drive the coast and ended up at Asbury. We were so happy to see all the new business including the kiddie water park, the many restaurants and gift shops not to mention the gorgeous beach and ocean. If you live anywhere near the Jersey Shore, show your support by walking their lovely boardwalk and spending a few dollars in Asbury!! A view of an un-restored building lovingly known as the Casino. Is t

My designer Gaby and I were talking the other day about the poor flower industry. Have you ever noticed how often other types of business's will put down flowers just to say that their product is better? Society of American Florist spends so much of their time letting other business's know that it's not cool to put us down to make their product look good. It's amazing how those that sell jewelry, candy, chocolates and goodness knows who else use flowers as a point of reference when saying their product is better. Yes, flowers you send today may be gone next month but is that what it's all about? What about the beauty of flowers or the way they can be personalized? What about how special they make people feel or how they physically brighten their mood? Does everything have to be about the long term? In a society of "let's collect as much stuff as possible" doesn't it make sense to bring a thing of beauty into your home that won't be collecting

Ok, I want to start off by saying that I have the utmost respect for anyone who waits tables for a living. The closest I ever got to doing that kind of work was my 6 month stint at a Dunkin Donuts my summer before College. Thank goodness I found my calling in Entrepreneurship and being a Floral Designer because I was not good at it! Why am I calling all Waitresses (and not waiters for that matter)? It's because yesterday while reading an issue of Floral Management I read about a study that was done back in the 80's that showed that waitresses that wore a flower in their hair earned 17% more in tips than those who did not. So, that explains why I did not include the men in this blog but that really got me to thinking about the true power of flowers. Our very own Shop Coordinator Sheryl often tucks a flower behind her ear while working and darn if it doesn't just make me want to hug her. There's something about a girl who feels care-free enough to risk lookin

There is one question that I get all the time from brides. Want to guess what that is? It's "how much are my wedding flowers are going to cost", of course! That is such a difficult question to answer, and not because we florists don't want to answer it. The truth is that some brides want lots of flowers and others want the bare minimum. I find that most fall somewhere in between. Taking the time to find out what the bride envisions for her day along with any budget she has set, is priority #1 during first consultations with me. The issue that have is that most families have not set an overall budget for their weddings. This is not good!!! Not setting a budget allows for overspending. You wouldn't ask your realtor to show you houses without telling them how much your mortgage was approved for, would you? You don't go car shopping with an open checkbook? Planning a wedding will be one of the most expensive "purchases" you will even make and I can not i

"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other." Chinese Proverb Lovely Lilies: I would not want to do event designs or wedding creations without them in my bag of "floral tricks". Large blooms that come in many colors, some fragrant and others not. People often confuse Asiatic Lilies with Oriental Hybrids and so below is a bit of an explanation regarding what makes them different! Asiatic Hybrids: The Asiatic hybrids are among the earliest to bloom, and also the easiest of lilies to grow! They have the broadest color range of any division, including whites, pinks, plums, yellows, oranges, and reds. Their flowers can be up facing , outfacing, or pendant, and generally are not scented. This variety general has a low cost than Hybrid lilies! They are also easy to use in hand tied bouquets and smaller sized centerpieces. Floating in a bloom or two in a small bowl makes an easy, elegant floral centerpiece.

Recently I wrote a blog singing the praises of the color Pink for wedding flowers. Now it's time talk about yellow. In the past 2 months alone, we have done 6 weddings (including one that we are doing this coming weekend) with yellow as the predominant color theme. For our bride Jihan we mixed lavenders, creams and buttery yellows using a mixture of hydrangea, tulips and roses for an elegant spring mixture and an accent of lime green foliage softened the look. Another dramatic combination has been yellow and steel grey. Our bride Jen used a mixture of forsythia branches, roses and orchids in shades of yellow to create her beach themed wedding. Accents of platinum along with soft yellows were an unexpected but gorgeous combination. Even her bouquet carried the theme using fragrant yellow freesia. A very convenient aspect of using this color theme is that there are so many gorgeous flowers that come in various shades of yellow. Orchids, roses, freesia, tulips, dahlias, mum, carnati

I met Ava and Harry one night quite a few months ago to talk about their vision for their wedding. Almost 3 hours later I felt like I had a clear picture of what they wanted their wedding flowers to look like. I also felt like I had known them forever. We really had a nice time talking about flowers, work and life. It's amazing how brides and grooms come and go but there is a piece of each one left behind inside of me when the wedding day is over. I was especially excited to do their wedding because Ava wanted us to create a cascade bouquet for her. I love hand tied bouquets but truth be told we do so many of them, it's more challenging to do a good, old fashioned bridal bouquet. My prediction is that we'll be seeing more and more cascades. The same weekend we did Harry and Ava's wedding we did two others and 2 out of three brides choose a cascade style bouquet, so it seems to be a trend that is picking up momentum. Ava's beautiful bouquet was very simple but so str

I don't know what it is about the color pink but it just never seems to go out of style when choosing a wedding flower color. A lush bouquet of ivory and pale pink roses is as timeless now as it was 10 years ago. Aged, ceramic urns filled with herbs and pink blooms make a perfect centerpiece for a wedding set in an old mansion. A simple wreath of cream hydrangea, pink roses and carnations and accents of moss look perfect at an outdoor terrace wedding. Pink roses everywhere speak of romance and elegance. Choose pink as your wedding color the options are endless. To see more, gorgeous pink arrangements visit our wedding website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com

Have you ever noticed how simply seeing a strong color can alter your feelings in an instant? I know it sure can for me. I'm very much affected by the colors around me. Some make me happy and some make me sad but there's not doubt that they make me feel something... Whenever I'm consulting with someone regarding an event, no matter if it's a wedding, corporate function or social party I always try to zero in on the clients wish for color. Not too long ago I met with a bride who was clearly getting mad at me because I kept bringing her back to color. "Why are you forcing me to pick a color?", she finally blurted! I'm not sure if that was the right thing or the wrong thing to do but I always begin with color when I'm designing event decor. Even if someone gives me a theme, such as a night at the casino, I know that certain colors will immediately remind me of that theme and so off in that direction I go. I felt that until that bride could pick a color,

Early this morning while I was stopping into my favorite bagel shop for my first cup of morning java I made an observation. Every morning when I go into this place of business, either by myself or with my husband, I always give a very enthusiastic "Morning" greeting to the wonderful staff behind the counter. I do it every day and I'd have to be having a really bad morning to not be bright and cheery about it. This morning I did my usual "Good Morning" and I received a very happy "Moooorrrning..... how are you today?". A little idle chit chat went back and forth "don't you love the weather, thank goodness the rain stopped", you know, the usual. Well, as I stirred my coffee and finished up my purchase another customer walked in and gave a very grumpy sounding "morning" to the staff and they gave her a half hearted "morning" back. Hm, I thought, what a difference in how they responded to me and to this other woman. That&#

As I sit here at my desk at just before 6 pm, waiting for my husband and driver to return from setting up a large floral event at the Hyatt in Princeton, I'm reading an online article from the Society of American Florist in their E-Brief. I love these e-mails that arrive every Wednesday with bits of new of the floral industry. The article I just read prompted me to think about what, if anything, sets a local florist apart from the local Supermarket. Aside from the fact that we usually offer delivery, which most markets don't, along with a wider range of "arranged" flower selections, we sometimes sell the exact same flower. People may ask why the flowers from the florist cost more than the Supermarket, and the truth is that it's about buying power, gross margins and acceptable spoilage. A local florist will buy far less than a Supermarket, thereby paying a higher price. They don't have the volume to make up for low margins. The Supermarket can also afford to