Sending Smiles ~

January ~ a time for social and corporate events? You bet! You would think that during the month of January, there would not be too many corporate or social events happening but it is the furthest from the truth. We have been hard at work creating flower centerpiece after flower centerpiece. This week has had us creating floral centerpieces for Executive Board Meetings (like the photo below) and other corporate events. Believe it or not we even have an order for Holiday themed c enterpieces . Why, you might ask? Because if you are in the restaurant business and you want to throw a holiday party for your staff, you certainly can't do it in December, so January is the perfect time!  Add a non-profit installation dinner, a 100th birthday party and a few other events and you have a very busy schedule of parties. Our flower designing staff have been hard at working making flower centerpieces of all sizes, shapes and colors. With the centerpiece designs below, the client reque

Is Thanksgiving your favorite holiday? If so, you are not alone. An amazing meal, fresh flowers and football... the perfect combination! We have some new designs available for the Thanksgiving holiday and wanted to share. Which one is your favorite? This one is called Autumnal Blooms Basket ~ This one is called Autumn Hues :  This adorable design include these beautiful long lasting blooms in a keepsake ceramic pumpkin! Alstroemeria Pumpkin Princeton  These 3 designs can be split up around the home or be arranged down one long table. This design is called Autumn in a Row.   This design is called Harvest Moon. Don't you love those vibrant colors?  How fun is this little mug? The front shows an adorable Turkey and the back says Gobble Till You Wobble. This design is called the Turkey Mug . Which one would you like to receive as a gift? To see more of our Thanksgiving offerings, including some adorable keepsake gifts, be sure to visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.co

So you are having an event and you want something for the tables but you don't have much money to spend? Well, big is not always better and when it down pop it out with color , color, color. Hey that could be a song, don't you think? Take these centerpieces for example; created for an event at Princeton University today. In this case a tight budget and a zillion tables (well, actually it was more like 80 but still a lot) meant that we had to really stand out with something that was going to be cost effective but memorable. Colorful gerbera daisies and underwater light to the rescue. These may not be huge but they sure are cute, don't you think?  

First off, a super big thank you to all my staff who did an amazing job this Weekend arranging and setting up 4 weddings and multiple other events. Fall is certainly on it's way and this weekends events were a combination of late summer tones and early fall ones with shades of pinks and peaches once again.  Anna's a bouquet was a natural blend of country style blooms such as a Queen Anne's lace, berries, gumphria, millet and eucalyptus along with elegant blooms such as ranunculus, tea roses, bouvardia, dahlias and freesia. I especially love the burlap ribbon treatment on the stems. Her bouquet smelled and looked amazing in person!   Moving on to Heidi's bridal bouquet - hot raspberry pinks, greens and white in the form of roses, orchids, mini callas and ranuculus along with accents of rhinestone spray for a touch of bling.   Moving on to Taotao's bridal bouquet in all shades of peach from light into dark using roses and mini callas.   Moving on

I love when bride's do a bit of DIY. Yes, you heard it right, I love when my bride's do a little themselves. Especially like what this past weekend's bride Crystal did. She let us handle the fresh flower part, while she and her maids set up some floating and votive candles on their own. I especially loved the little boards they found to anchor the centerpieces and the table numbers.  Aren't they super cute? She was able to personalize her wedding while not having to worry about processing fresh flowers and worrying about the weather (it hit 95 degrees that day).  She left that up to us to worry about and at a very modest cost, I might add. Again, vintage ~ country is very in these days and these adorable tablescapes were perfect for this tent wedding at Chauncey Conference Center here in Princeton. Would you consider doing a bit of DIY while your florist handles the floral aspect of your centerpieces? 

We love April and May at the store because of all the fun parties we get to decorate! Our designers were  hard at work making centerpieces today.  Blue and white centerpieces for a corporate meeting. Love the blue iris! Folks are loving all the bright colors at this time of the year. I'll bet these looked sharp on the tables.  To see these and more example of our party floral centerpieces, be sure to visit our event website at www.mondaymorningballoons.com 

 I love giving helpful tips to save money when you need to decorate for wedding or other party. Here are a few of my favorites. The big, tall cylinder vases filled simply with river stones and three huge gerbers really make a big show on a table. Use them alone or pair off with other vase creations for more drama. Prices starting at $30 at our shop!  Who says a centerpiece has to be huge and have lots of flowers? These cute compotes have moss, berries, ivy and just 3 roses. Super simple but elegant, don't you think? Only $40 each.  How about starting with a vintage or quaint container like this pitcher? Add a single huge hydrangea and some greenery for a casual centerpiece . $28 each.  Have a large space to fill? How about huge vases (rentals of course) with gems, underwater lights and floating candles. What a simple way to fill in a large space and adding lighting at the same time. Expect to pay $18 to $25 per vase.  Our tri candle holders have become so popular.

 Looking for centerpiece ideas with a rustic flair? How about this idea from last weekends wedding at an elegant winery? The bride provided to us these cool boxes and we lined them with burlap to cover the mason jars that housed the loose and airy wildflowers that filled the boxes. Affordable and quite large, these floral arrangements took advantage of seasonal flowers and really looked full and lush.  The Escort Card table display used river pebbles and wheat grass with wine corks as the escort card holders.  Wine boxes held the grasses for a little more visual appeal and once the table was fully dressed with branched arrangements and floating candle holders, it truly was a show piece that greeted Rebecca and Patrick guests to the Vineyard. No two centerpieces matched which allowed us to use some expensive flowers like the Dutch Astilbe and Hydrangeas in this piece along with the more modestly priced Margarite daises and thistle. To see these and more of centerpiece designs