Sending Smiles ~

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...

This past week since returning from my California trip has been a whirl wind of bridal activity. Over the last few days alone I have booked on more 2012 wedding and 3 for 2013. What I have found interesting, is the demand for purple flowers for these weddings still seems to be quite high. Almost 50% of the new brides I'm meeting with are using purple in one way or another in their wedding flowers and decor. Many are choosing a shade of green for the maids or even deep lapis seems to be a favorite among current couples.  Thought I'd share this lovely centerpiece we made for bride Lori and her husband Steve. This floral design was create on to of our 24" tall candle holder. Inside the vase were twirls of purple callas and the cascading floral designing on top was made using green hydrangeas, purple roses, phaelanopsis orchids, calla lilies - both Picasso and Purple and light touches of a deep plum colored carnation. They were truly lovely in person.  I especially...

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

It's all in the details when you have accent colors like black and teal. Our bride Linzee wanted just touches in her white bouquet to pick up on her super cool color theme. After much searching for something fun but elegant, I decided on these wired black beads over the top of the teal ribbon wrapping the stems. I can't wait to see the photos her photographer gets. There are also black and teal accents among the mini callas in her bouquet but until it's delivered tomorrow that remains under wraps! I'll be sure to post after it's been delivered and the bride herself has the pleasure of seeing her amazing bridal bouquet - and it is amazing!! To see this and other of our floral design, visit our website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com or our main website at www.sendingsmiles.com

We had great fun creating the floral designs for George and Kelly's wedding for May 12th at the Shadowbrook.  What a fun couple, especially Kelly who is quick with a joke and smile. Luckily for us, they chose bright colored flowers not necessarily popular for moms being their wedding was the same weekend as Mother's Day. Hand tied bouquets of bi-colored Circus roses, sunny Asiatic lilies, mango mini calla lilies and loops of lily grass were the basis for the bouquets while Kelly's bouquet also had delicate white stephanotis dotted in among the bright yellow and orange blooms. It was a bright sunny day and the tiny accents of roses and ribbons on the ends of chairs were a perfect touch for the outdoor ceremony. Orange mokara orchids decorated the 3 tiered wedding cake. To see these and other wedding flower designs be sure to visit our wedding website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com  or our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist .

"What is your wedding flower style?" When I ask a bride that question, 80% will tell me, simple but elegant but what does that really mean? When you look in the dictionary the definition of these words, what do you find? Simple means: Free from ostentation and vanity, easy to understand and humble in origin. Elegant  means: Tasteful in design, dignified and graceful in appearance and cleverly simple. Take the bridal bouquet above? More than any other bouquet we've ever made, this one seems to strike a cord in certain brides. To me it's elegant but simple. It's natural but not wild. It has texture that stands apart from the wedding dress but does not compete with it.  But this type of bouquet only accounts for about 20% of the designs we create. Do I think that 8 out of 10 brides really want simple but elegant floral designs? Actually, it's probably the other way around. I think that 80% want complicated, cool, colorful, even funk...

If you've ever been on our wedding website - www.perfectweddingflowers.com you might have seen that we have an informal wedding survey. It's been great fun watching the results come in and at this time I felt I had a enough to share. These were all taken by bride who remained anonymous and were all beginning their search for a wedding florist. A few of the stats I found very interesting. 10% of brides were not enjoying their wedding planning experience and only 30% were loving every minute of it. A full 60% were somewhere in between. 60% of brides found my company through a venue who referred us compared to only 20% finding us through an online directory such as Wedding Wire or the Knot. 80% said they were hiring a florist to create all their wedding day flowers and 40% said they wanted to create some of their own wedding day decor. 40% of brides had budgeted between $500 and $1,500 for their flowers and 20% had budgeted between $1,501 and $4,000 with another 10% sayin...

Well, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind at the shops. Between Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Flooding and Nuptials it's been a somewhat frantic time for us. It's always fun for us to style weddings because we not only get to be creative but our hands are on some of the most gorgeous flowers you'll ever see. We noticed a new trend with wedding designs and thought we share with you. Many of our brides this month have given us mementos to add to their bouquets. Case in point is the pretty broach below. We really loved how elegant this looked on Maritza's wedding bouquet this past Friday.  Bride Darlene was having her wedding at the Camden Aquarium last weekend and wanted to add a bit of sparkles to her bouquet. We found this rhinestone garland for her and did a slight spiral down her stems.    We guess you just might be getting the idea!! Bride Maggie gave us this gorgeous necklace for us to add to her bouquet. Isn't it stunning? It really poppe...

It's always fun creating wedding bouquets but it can be even more fun when we are challenged with a harder color theme, such as the coral of these brides maids dresses for our bride Gemma. Using shades of soft pink, white and coral, I think we did a wonderful job of giving both texture and wonderful shading. I especially loved the bridal bouquet which consisted of Bismark (coral), white and pale pink gerbers along with Amsterdam Roses (coral), Hot Orlando roses (hot pink) and Escimo Roses (white) with touches of pink waxflowers. I'm always telling brides that swatches and photos of the dresses are so important during the planning stages and this photo proves it!!

What fun it is to look back over the last couple of years and see all the different wedding bouquet designs we have created. This grouping goes from Creams into Pinks and ends in vibrant Purples - no two look the same! To see more of our wedding flower designs be sure to check out our wedding site at http://www.perfectweddingflowers.com/ !

Did you know that we actually ave a Bridal/Wedding Consultation Room? Yes, we do although sometimes it serves as a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or other Party Consultation room at time.  How wonderful is this space for discussing a wedding? Recently I spent some time freshening things up, flipping the room around and doing an over all overhaul of the space. What a great feeling and just in time for Spring!  We've tried to display all our rental items such as our archways, pedestals, special rental glassware, silk trees and topiaries, urns and even our new decorative trunks. Don't you just love chapsticks? Our brides seem to like them a whole lot. A vintage wedding gown on display in our consultation room. Hey, wait, that's my wedding gown from 1985! Did I just call that Vintage? Well, I guess it is. :o) The grooms love our couch. If they feel a bit overwhelmed (and uninterested) by the whole wedding flower process, they can retreat to this quiet area to flip thro...

It's that time of year when our summer brides come in to plan their weddings. It still might be a bit damp and chilly outside but it's warm and sunny in my bridal consultation room! What a wonderful time of year the summer is for a sweet and simple wedding, don't you think? I really loved the bouquets we made for Keally and Dan last year. Shades of pink, peach, yellow and white were so adorable with the colorful green dresses. How about these cool blooms created for bride Caroline at the Princeton University Prospect House last summer.  Clear glass cylinders were lined with variegated  leaves that were filled with pale blue hydrangeas and deeper blue delphinium.  Who says big is better? I say to pop it out with color! Keeping the elements to a minimum make for an elegant but restful appearance. So see more of our wedding designs be sure to visit our website at http://www.perfectweddingflowers.com/ or check out the galleries at various wedding sites such as...

How adorable is this cute little button. Running towards the camera with her sweet bouquet of Circus rose, hypericum berries and deep blue delphinium. Shaped like a fairy wand, her loving Aunt May told us that she adored her bouquet. With a smile like that, I don't doubt it!! Thank you to photographer Annie Hosfeld for this wonderful photo! To see more pictures of our wedding flower designs you can visit our wedding website at http://www.perfectweddingflowers.com/

What fun it was for me to write a guest blog on the Nassau Inn's wedding site. I'm happy with the results and thought I'd share the link on my own blog. The topic is "How to Choose a Wedding Florist" and I give my recommendations in 5 simple steps. If you are interested in this blog visit the Nassau Inn's wedding blog at the http://blog.nassauinn.com/2011/01/how-to-choose-a-wedding-florist/ I'd love to hear what you think and let me know if you found it helpful!

It may be winter to you but our summer and fall brides are working away, looking for inspirations for their weddings and so I thought I'd add this into the mix for consideration. Can't decide what to have your flower girl carry? How about one of these adorable "kissing" ball pomanders? Tossing petals is still the number 1 choice but sometimes it's not allowed. Why not choose one of these whimsical arrangements for her to carry? Imagine creating one with white button mums accented with tiny black pearl pins and a black satin ribbon. So elegant for a black and white themed wedding. Going for a natural look? What about green moss accented with loops of grasses or even curly willow dangling on natural raffia? Looking for a soft, romantic look? How about soft and ruffled pink carnations accented with tiny sweetheart roses? Unexpected and fun, who could ask for anything better!

Choosing flowers for your bridal bouquet can be daunting - to say the least. With so many options, how do you know you'll choose the flowers, style and colors you really love? When I meet with brides I remind them to remember that the flowers they carry will not only be viewed up close but also from a distance. Brides that are fearful of color should take note that soft shading differences, like the ones in this bouquet, make for interesting close ups and add a soft amount of color against their white or ivory gowns. If you are thinking that creams and whites are just too blah for you, why not add a touch of pastel? To see more examples of our wedding designs visit our wedding website at http://www.perfectweddingflowers.com/

 Are you planning an event that requires floral centerpieces? Are you overwhelmed with all the flower, color and container options? If so, this blog should help you at least understand how the container being used to "house" the flowers can help or hurt you with regards to size and budget. Read on to learn how important choosing the right container can be! Let's talk about the flowers pictured below. These floral centerpieces were created in elegant wooden pedestal bowls. There are a few reasons that I personally like this way of designing. First off, the container, although adding to the cost of the over all table display, also creates a wonderful starting point for the flowers. The container is interesting in and by itself and the flowers only add to the elegance. The pluses to use a container like this one is that the flowers are slightly elevated off the table making the arrangement look more substantial. The fact that the container is decorative means you need less ...

So you are planning your Spring wedding and everywhere you read they tell you should choose flowers that are “in season”. Sounds like it would be simple but often flowers that are available and affordable are not so easy to discern. Why is that you might ask? Mostly it has to do with where flowers are grown. Years ago, if you went to your local florist for wedding flowers, chances are they had a green house attached to their shop and grew many of the necessary flowers. Whatever they grew at that time of year was what you could choose from, plain and simple! Fast forward 50 years and that’s no longer true. Even if we look back 10 or 15 years ago, florists were able to obtain at least some flowers from local greenhouses and farms. Today in NJ, there are not many of these local sources available for “florist” grade cut flowers. Why do I mention this? Well, because the season and weather conditions here in NJ and Eastern PA (where my shops are located) does not really play into the whole ...

Ah, the age old question - do you schedule wedding consultations on the weekends? Well, maybe it's not that old a question but for those of us who run small floral shops (yes, even though I have 20 employees, we are still small) it's always tough to be in two places at once. I love meeting with brides and I reserve that  job to me and only me. Why just me, the owner? First off, I love meeting the brides. Secondly, I feel that for all the things we do in the shop, weddings are an area that truly can make or break our reputation. You only get one chance to do a great job for a wedding and after 22 years in the business, I'm just not willing to delegate that job to anyone but me. My talent is reaching into a brides mind and extracting her floral taste, even if she does not know she has one. On her wedding day I want her to feel that I not only listened to her but that I became one with her and created exactly what she would love. Now back to the question. Yes, we do weddin...

"I'm on a budget of about $1,000 for my wedding flowers. What's the best way to spend my money"?  Sound familiar? I get asked that question all the time and so I was inspired to write this blog.  I know it seems like a lot of money but if you need a bridal bouquet, 4 brides maids, flower girl, boutonnieres and corsages, altar decor and even centerpieces... wow, it can be a hard one to maneuver! My advise in this budget range would be to concentrate mostly on the personal flowers such as the bouquets, etc. Keep the flowers to one or two colors so that you can keep the bouquets smaller and more chic. Also, be sure to keep to seasonal flowers. No, peony are not in season in October - come on, I know you were thinking they were!! I'm going to hang a sign in our consultation room that says "spring flowers are mostly in season during the spring"!  It's ok to want pink flowers in November but with a little research you'll find that roses, lil...