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Showing posts with the label flowers monday morning flowers floral delivery

The World is a Mirror

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&#

It's a nice day for a wedding?

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"What are the wedding trends for 2010"? As I sit at my desk typing up Wedding and Mitzvah proposals for events I recently booked, I'm noticing that people are really starting to include Friday Nights and Sundays in the party mix. Not sure if this is trend to save money or because those dates are available but I think this year we are doing almost as many weddings on Sundays and Fridays as Saturdays. For your viewing pleasure I've included pictures from Trisha's wedding this past Sunday at the Crystal Plaza up in Livingston! Looking into 2010 I already have two weddings booked for January and both are on Sundays. Hm, I find this curious but I love it. At one time I would be lucky to do 1 wedding in January and I predict that we'll do as many as 6 to 10 for January, 2010. Having them spread out over the course of three days is much easier on us. This past weekend, for example, we had 1 wedding on Friday, 1 on Saturday and then a fairly large one on Sunday. Muc

Fresh Back from the Philadelphia Flower Show!

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I'm back from the Philadelphia Flower Show and I have to say that I was not disappointed. The theme this year is Bella Italia and anyone that knows me knows that Italy is my favorite destination! This year I was lucky enough to have been asked to be a judge! I represented an award given out by the Society of American Florists, of which I am a member. Our judging began at 8:30 am sharp on the morning of the preview day and it was great fun to be able to see everything up close and with no crowds. My wonderful husband was kind enough to drive me in to the city and then keep himself busy for a few hours during the judging. Afterwards, he and I were able to spend about 1/2 hour walking the show. The final judging was happening but the show was not yet open for the preview afforded the members of the Horticultural Society. It was wonderful to try to take it all in before the crowds streamed in. One of my favorite displays was the one that represented Milan and was created by AIFD me

We Survived and Business Was Blooming!

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Well, the holiday is over and it was an eventful week. First, I scared the heck out of my staff by fainting at the shop on Monday. After a scary ride in an ambulance and a less than perfect nights stay in the hospital (I would have been more rested sleeping on the floor of the flower shop) I was released back into the watchful eyes of my husband and staff on Wednesday. I'm also proud to announce that we did over 720 deliveries in about 3 days!! Not as many as last year (just over 800 last year) but considering that the holiday fell on a Saturday this year, we were tickled pink! All our hard work on marketing the business and attention to customer service really has paid off. We also designed, delivered and set up two gorgeous weddings on Valentine's Day. Mary Beth and Leah were the most adorable brides and absolutely loved everything (much to my delight). Leah's wedding was fun, earthy and funky using all blue hydrangea, green hypericum berries and brown gerbers !

Scenes from a Flower Shop - Part 2

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Well, I could not resist doing a "Scenes from our shop" Part 2. So many cute pictures to show! To the left is a shelf of all baby items, stuffed animals and cute novelty containers that hold pretty floral displays. To the right is a shelf themed for Valentine's Day. Satin ceramics and red glass vases, chocolates, love themed stuff animals make for fun shopping. Below is a picture of designer Rocio who is wrapping her creation for the trip in the delivery van. In cold weather flowers need extra attention to keep them from freezing! The photo to the right show Design Coordinator Dianne Legg putting the finishing touches on a wedding cake at the Nassau Inn. Simple touches of fresh flowers are a very popular way to dress up a simple wedding cake. Most people find it surprising when I tell them that we did exactly 100 wedding in 2008. Now, that's a lot of wedding flowers and many, many hours of meetings with brides! No wonder I'm tired! :o) To the left is a tin of yumm

More Scenes from the Shop...

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Yarrow works at the computer updating our websites. Did you know that in addition to our sendingsmiles.com and wedding website, we have two FTD sites and a specific site for Sympathy ordering? We even have a brand new balloon event site getting ready to launch any day! Now that's lot of websites to maintain! She changes the homepages weekly, keeps photos and content fresh and updated and makes sure that there are no "breaks" in any of the links. We know how important our websites are to our customers. Great job Yarrow! If you have never tried our Hanky Panky or Choczel's you are missing out. We have customers come in just to buy a bag now and then. Yummy! This is a close up of a tropical plant called a Bromeliad. Healthy and easy to care for, this plant makes a great addition to an office or home. Over Christmas we sold over 25 of these plants. Now who says you can only send a poinsettia for the holidays! We have the cutest selections of Teddy Bears and other stuf

Make Fear Your Friend - The Countdown to Christmas

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Earlier today, home from work at a reasonable hour, I decided it would be nice to take a hot bath. The next few days leading up to Christmas will be long and crazy working at the flower shops so relaxing for an hour, soaking in a tub, soothing my tired feet, sounded like heaven. As my husband prepared to relax and watch some football, I mentioned my idea to take a bath and catch up on some magazines, including the latest issue of Fortune Small Business. He was quick to say, "make sure you read something fun" as I peddled off upstairs. I laughed to myself at his comment because to me reading Small Business Fortune is relaxing compared to the Floral Management, Retail Florist, Florist Review, Flowers& and Floral Finance magazines that I read monthly. Compared to how work related those are, Small Business is as down right non-work related as it can get. Anyway, I had been wanting to read the cover story in the December/January issue titled "Make Fear Your Friend" b

Ho, Ho, Ho or Ha, Ha, Ha

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Well, the big event at Forrestal Village is happening as I write this.!! There's nothing like Florists dressed up like little Elfs. Our very own Sheryl and Yarrow pose with some small guests who stopped by for some free balloons. Designer Dianne makes some last minute floral arrangements for delivery tomorrow. Doesn't the hat look fabulous? Thank goodness I'm on this side of the camera! The weather is really cooperating, it cold but clear and the horse-hayride has throngs of people lining up outside our shop. Hot cider and hot chocolate along with visits with Santa and an excerpt from the Nutcracker Ballet make for a fun filled day for the kids. Free wine at our flower shop, make for fun for adults!! Before I sign off, let me just remind everyone to stop and smell the flowers and don't forget to be kind. The holidays can be stressful but remember to slow down, enjoy the moment and be respectful of those around you. Happy Shopping and Happy Holidays!! http://www.sending

It's Official...

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Ok, so it absolutely has nothing to do with my business or flowers in anyway but I went to my first NFL football game yesterday. Go Giants! Why is this so monumental? Well, in case you don't know me well enough, I'm a workaholic. Ok, I said it. I, Georgianne work too much. In an attempt to go out and have some fun, I went to a football game. My brother called mid week and offered up his two season tickets because he could not go. My husband looked at me eagerly and at first I responded, "why don't you go with your brother or my cousin" but then I saw the look on his face. He wanted to go with me. Will wonders never cease? He wanted to spend the day with me at a football game and dagnabit, I was going. As I walked through the parking lot looking at all those people tailgating and even those RV's painted in blue with the Giants logos splashed across them, I wondered how strange this all was. They seemed to be having fun and this was completely social, no work

Halloween Fun

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I know Halloween is over but I had to share. We had our annual Halloween Costume contest at the shop and once again I was amazed by the creativity of my staff. Not only did many of them create fun costumes but a special kudos goes out to David, Sheryl and Kyle who went out and delivered (set up a wedding, in fact) fully dressed!! Too funny!! Pictured here is David (as a Stock Broker - notice the Plan B noose around his neck), Kevin the Beer Can, Heena the magician, Dianne the scary pirate, Yarrow and Dena the fallen angels, Sheryl the Vampira and Kyle the scary Jester (and no he did not deliver wearing that mask, that would be crazy). Funniest costume went to David, most creative was shared by Yarrow and Sheryl and the most like the person prize went to Kyle. Kyle, no offense, you are not scary but you are funny and so to us you are our lovable court jester! This year we also tried to spread some Halloween cheer to some local nursing homes. Our staff made and delivered some cute mug

What is it Like at Monday Morning Flowers on a Monday?

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"I've always wanted to work at a flower shop!!" We hear that so often we've probably lost count! But working at a flower shop can be a lot of fun so we could not agree more. How many jobs allow you to work with your hands, creating little objects of beauty that will bring smiles to the person who receive it? There are not many jobs like that! I thought it would be fun to whip out the camera and take a few shots of the staff in the midst of their day. As you can tell, it took a lot of coaxing to get them to pose - NOT!! Pictured above are Reina, Rocio, Dianne, Kristie, Tina, Heena and Yarrow.

Burst of Color!!

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Boy, there is just no way around it, I love color!! Take these bouquets for example. These were just delivered yesterday to our bride Jennifer for her wedding. Roses, mini callas, viking poms, stock, fall toned leaves and berries, what a stunning combination! I can't wait to see a picture of these colors up against the chocolate brown of the brides maids dresses!! Now take a look at these bouquets. How stunning are these! My bride Stephanie just loves peacock feathers. Purples and greens and peacock feather what a memorable, artistic combination for her wedding flowers. I'm sure everyone will remember her flowers! I had a bride in with her mom and they both expressed a dislike for green and green flowers. I couldn't disagree more! There are so many flowers that are naturally green. I love incorporating them in with other colors and even by themselves. I anticipate green being a popular color for years to come! Well that's my two cents on colors. My suggestion is use it

To Spend or Not to Spend... that is the question

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Well, you can't turn on the TV or the radio without hearing about the state of our economy. It's all a bit scary to be sure. As a business owner, it's even a bit more scary than usual (being in business for oneself is always scary, trust me on that). You want to invest in your company, buy new product, hire new people but there's that little bit of nagging doubt in the back of your mind that says "hold off, wait and see what happens". Over the last 20 years, I've been through quite a few economic downturns. One thing that I have noticed is that if you stay the course and don't roll over and play dead, you come out on the backside stronger than when you went in. I've also noticed that my industry seems to do well when money gets tight. You might wonder why that it is but it's actually pretty simple. Flowers make people feel good and all things considered, they are pretty inexpensive. When people can't buy that new refrigerator or that new c