Sending Smiles ~

 Ok, the word here is YUM!! Yummy has arrived with our new goodie baskets. Popcorn, chocolate, candy, cookies, you name it, these goodie baskets have them. Colorful and most in cool keepsake boxes, we've just added them to our website and are anticipating them be very good sellers. Wouldn't you want to receive one of these?  These adorable banks aren't new but we love the signs that Shop Coordinator Sheryl made to be placed around the store to "Inspire" our shoppers. Hey, they are cute, aren't they?  We're starting to do some demonstrations and classes at the shop. This one will be our first on August 15th, we will be holding a Terrarium Making Class. Not only do you get to make your own Terrarium to take home but you get wine and cheese too. What a great event for a girls night out or bring the hubby. Limited to 12 people assistants Sheryl and Alanna will be running the demo from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Students will even leave with a goodie bag filled w

LinkedTube Planning an event with lots of out of town guests? Why not consider rental glassware as a way of decorating your guest tables. Here's my quick tip on how renting vases from your florist can help make your venue look beautiful and save money. Check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com or our Faceboo Page at www.facebook.com/localflorist to see examples of our event designs using rental glass ware.

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

Gosh, it's has to be at least 5 years that we've been partnering with the Trenton Thunder Baseball Team and providing them with all their floral and balloon decor needs. I still get a tickle down my spine when I go to the park and see my sign among all those other national and local businesses. Makes me right proud to partner with such a great organization. This past Wednesday, which was the 4th of July, the Ballpark showed a standing room only crowd a fantastic time. What is more American then Baseball, hot dogs and sitting out in the sunshine! Ending the night with fireworks made for the perfect, All-American 4th of July holiday! Want to learn more about the Trenton Thunder? Check out their Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/trentonthunder or go to their website at www.trentonthunder.com

Every week we have been ordering in a different variety of Dutch Hydrangea and this weeks is amazing! It's so much fun being a florist.  This is Magical Amethyst Hydrangea, produces giant spherical flower heads that open lime green that change to pink then back to soft green with pink edges. All we can say is WOW! What do you think? To see these beauties in person, come visit our shop in Princeton, NJ or Yardley, PA or better yet, send some to a friend.

 Ring, ring, ring - Us: "Hello, Monday Morning Flowers, how can I help you?" Customer: "We need 30 floral centerpieces in 2 hours, can you help us?" Us: "Of course, we'll deliver them for you in 2 hours!" Customer: "It's my anniversary today and I need something sent our fast. What should I send to my wife?" Us: "How about a dozen of our Premium roses made by designer Norman? She'll love it" We have fun at the shop and we all work hard to be able to say Yes to our customers. To see more of our custom designs or learn more about our shop visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

 Flowers, flowers, and more flowers. I'm such a sucker for flowers and no matter where I am, if I have a camera, I have to take a picture. Like the photo above. While walking through Dublin last summer with the hubby, we came up on these amazing (wow, they were huge) planters filled with petunias (or at least that's what I think they are). It must be the climate there (a bit rainy and cool) that allows these to get so big because here in New Jersey and Pennsylvania I envision them burning up before they ever get this large. Below is a photo of a tiny flower I spied while walking back to my room at the hotel in Palm Springs when I was there in September at the Society of American Florist Conference.  Here at the shop we often deal in cut flowers and not the "planted, garden" variety but we love them all, just the same. Do you love taking pictures of flowers while on vacation as much as we do? If so, we'd love to see some of your photos so feel free to share t

I have to admit, I like flowers of all kinds, even ones that have gotten a little help from mankind such as these blue dyed dendrobium orchids. When you visit European countries, you'll notice that they love colorful flowers and have no issue with giving mother nature a leg up on both color and glitter - Yes, I said glitter. I especially love dyed daises and even these rainbow roses below. If you are thinking they are inexpensive because they are dyed, think again, these flowers come at a premium cost, not the other way around. Although, not for everyone, these dyed flowers can be fun and kwirky and depending how they are used can really start a conversation. We've even used them for weddings like this one for our bride Megan and few years back. Whether or not you love blue dyed orchids or roses or rainbow daisies or roses, you have to admit, they sure are different and if you love unexpected color, these little dyed beauties might be worth a second look!

How fun is this photo of the before and after of mother's day? We had a great holiday with over 730 floral arrangements , plants, goodie baskets and balloon bouquets being delivered in a 3 days span. Our staff of designers, drivers and sales associates all worked hard to bring smiles to Mothers all over our area and we could not be more proud of them. To see this and other pictures of our shop during the holiday visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist or our website at ww w.sendingsmiles.com

We love Mother's day here at the shop. Did you know that Mother's Day is the largest floral holiday here at our shop next to Valentine's Day? We'll sell over 2,000 carnations and just as many roses during the week along with other popular spring flowers like gerber daisies, hydrangeas, lilacs and more. What better time than Mother's Day to show mom how much you appreciate everything she has done for you? What better way than by sending her a gorgeous floral bouquet!! Ok, if you are looking for gift ideas for mom, can you really go wrong by sending her flowers? We think not! The variety of flowers available during spring are spectacular and there a so many unique ways to arrange them. What about French Tulips  submerged in a tall glass cylinder vase or a topiary of all Yellow Lilies? Does mom really love plants? What about a sweet Pink Azalea plant in an elegant ceramic pot? A gift like this lasts all summer long out in the yard and can be planted in the

 I love giving sneak peeks into the shop and today has been an exciting one for sure. Lots and lots of colorful floral arrangements are leaving the shop. Many were ordered directly on our website... www.sendingsmiles.com and the phones just have not stopped ringing.  Lots and lots of last minute parties have come in this week such as this Murder Mystery centerpieces going over the Windrows (which is an active over 55 residence) and the centerpieces below for the Trenton Thunder Ball Park for their game tonight!  I posted this photo on Facebook and got over 45 likes almost immediately. I'm thinking they will be a hit for all those who see them. I love the mixture of flowers that arrived today, such as the mini calla lilies below. The stems are almost 28" long and the color is just so vibrant! Imagine these twirled down in the water of big cylinder vase!  The peony that arrived today on our Dutch shipment has an amazing coral color. They are just beginning to pop

It's hard to believe that I became aware of  Homefront just about 20 years ago. My friend Ann was involved in the organization and told me all about it. It was perfect timing for me because I was helping my mother and father move from New Jersey to Virginia. My mom had 2 of just about everything in her kitchen and there was no way we could move it all. Ann told me I could donate all their  "perfectly good" extras to Homefront (then called the Exchange Club) and so she put me in touch with the founder, Connie Mercer. At that time, Connie and her band of volunteers were helping folks that were homeless and living in motels on Route 1 by getting them into "real" housing. Ever since then, we've been donating flowers and balloons for their clients and their special events. Fast forward to 2012 and my "visit" with Connie to Homefront this past Monday, I can't tell you how impressed I am with the amazing organization she has built. Touring th

I was totally thrilled to see that InStyle Magazine suggests surrounding yourself with flowers to feel better. I could not agree more!!

I'm inspired to write this blog because of an experience I had this week. A woman, from a company that I will not name, contacted me via email. She knew we did some on-line advertising (pay per click) with them. She offered free help for 4 weeks to look at my account, make suggestions and make any necessary changes. I was so excited that I wrote back right away and scheduled a phone meeting.  Knowing that it might turn into a "paid" service later, I was undaunted because I figured that if what she did helped me, I'd be happy to pay for future service. That is where this story goes wrong. Not more than 1 minute into the conversation, it became clear that this specialist was not looking to help me with my existing accoutn but wanted to make an additional sale.  My husband saw my face while I was on the phone so I wrote out on a big piece of paper:  "Selling Not Helping" Yikes, the lesson I learned.... well, there was no lesson. I'm not going to as

I love noticing trends as they come and go and I have to say, peach has been a hot trend this year in event and wedding designs. I've always adored peach but with orange being the hot ticket, it seems like peach was just pushed aside. Well, not any more! Looking over our wedding designs from that last few weeks peach was a color we saw used again and again. It's also that time of year when I start meeting with many new brides for their 2012 weddings, a peach remains a strong color theme. I'll keep you posted as the trend into 2012 start to become more apparent but from my point of view - I'd be on peach being a bigger next year!

Last weekends wedding for bride Allie had us using lots of peach flowers such as these gorgeous Alejandra roses. What we love about this rose is the vintage coloring of the outer petals. A hint of green along the edge and then a deeper shade of peach towards the center, looks especially gorgeous as it opens more fully. To see more of the flowers we created for Allie's wedding, visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist or our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

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, it's Memorial Day and I'm at the shop waiting for Kevin to return from dropping off multiple flower and balloon decor for various events being held on Princeton's campus. Reunions and graduations at Princeton University always keeps up busy! To kill some time I love looking at the photos posted on The Trenton Thunder Ballparks website. Kevin and I don't get to go often but we love being a partner with the ballpark and supplying them with flowers and balloons all during the season. I have to admit, I get a kick out of seeing our 7 foot long banner in the stands too. It's funny how many people tell me they see our flowers in the ladies rooms (who expects to see flowers at the ballpark, right?) and we especially enjoyed sponsoring the events during the game on Mother's Day this year.  Every mother received a hot pink visor that included the Thunder logo along with ours and the other co-sponsor, Chauncey Conference Center. If you've never been out to a

What is it about these spectacular flowers that is so endearing? Well, first and foremost it has to be their elegance. Beautiful, large heads on long, delicate pale green stems, few flowers have such power to stand alone. These particular flowers were combined into a graceful bridal bouquet for a bride last weekend. All it took were these three open cut blooms.  Hand tied into an arm bouquet, tied simply with a satin ribbon, they must have looked amazing as she held them. Perhaps she'll send pictures? I hope so!! To see more of our floral designs check out our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

Tulips! You have to love tulips! I know that I do and so do our customers judging from the amount of tulips we sell each spring. It's funny how this week I was thinking back to my trip to Holland about 8 years ago. I even brought in my photo album to share with the staff so they could see all the greenhouses, farms and florist shops we visited. It was so much fun to share the photos with the staff, even if they did make fun of Kevin's facial hair! :o) Of course, a trip to Holland is not complete with out a visit to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. If you've never been, it's a must see if you love flowers! Look for my blog on that trip as soon as I get time to scan some of the photos. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy pictures that someone just sent me of the tulip farms in Holland! Can you imagine flying over this beautiful land and seeing this rainbow of tulips? If you can't get to Holland anytime soon why not stop in our shop for some of these pretty f