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Showing posts with the label georgianne vinicombe

A Stressful Couple of Weeks Inspired This Post ~ we hope you find it helpful!

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Today is Going to Be a Good Day ~ by Monday Morning Flowers. In today's Monday Morning Flower blog post I'm not doing the usual floral post. Flowers and Positivity - they really do go hand in hand, so todays post is going to have a little spin. Have you ever noticed that when you drive by a field of flowers that you can't help but look and smile? That's why at this time of the year we flock to farms to pick apples, pumpkins and walk through fields of Sunflowers. The photo below was taken on a trip that the hubby and I took to California. These flowers are called Stock and I tell you they smell like heaven on Earth.  Have you noticed that many health facilities have live plants in their lobbies and floral related paintings on the walls? That's because studies show that looking at nature, including plants and flowers, uplift the spirits and aid in healing. Well, that's not really the reason for my post today, it is just a jumping point from which to talk

Our Latest Yardley Store Video

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We really had a great time working with Christian from YardleyTV while he shot this video. I admit, I think it came out well and I think the store looks adorable. What do you think?

My Time Talking to the Emerging Leaders of the Princeton Area

It was such an honor to speak before 45 young, emerging leader as part of the LEEP program which is an offshoot of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.                

Tribute to Women Awards ~ Princeton YWCA 2013

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Although we've provided corsages over the years for this inspiring event, this was the first year that I actually helped out by not only being on the Committee but was Co-Chair! What a great night it was!  Here I am with past honorees Debbie Schaeffer and Denise Taylor. It was so nice to have them in the audience again this year.    This is the first time the organization paired a raffle with the event and thanks to Hamilton Jewelers who donated a lovely pearl necklace. The ladies of the YWCA did a great job selling those raffle tickets and over $2,000 was raised!  While the ladies shared cocktails in the lobby, my dear husband along with Designer Holly and Matt helped set up the 39 tables of centerpieces we donated the nights event! Kevin worked hard to light all those floating candles!    The efforts were worth it and the guests loved the centerpieces .   Another year that Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co was happy to help out with a great event and a great

Princeton Chamber 2012 Business Leadership Awards

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I have to start off by saying ~ Wow! Wow, can you imagine that I'm included with these amazing men below being honored by the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce? I've pinched myself and so I must be awake but even after the Gala last night at Jasna Polana (the most amazing venue in Princeton) I'm still in awe. Below I'm pictured with (from the left) Senator Peter Inverso, President and CEO of Roma Bank who was honored as Business Leader of the Year, Dr. Herb Greenberg Chairman and CEO of Caliper as Innovator of the Year and Marty Johnson, Founder, President and CEO of Isles, Inc as Community Leader of the Year.  I also have to mention Brian Juleskusky of Bank of America for Sponsoring the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Brian came by the shop last week to learn more about me and the shops and we had so much fun. I'm thinking we are life long friends from this point forward.    Of course, the night would not have been complete with out my friends and fa

Entrepreneur of the Year for 2012 - Princeton Chamber

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The Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the 2012 Business Leadership Award honorees.   Entrepreneur of the Year Award  Georgianne Vinicombe, President & Co-Owner, Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co Sponsored by Bank of America Business Leader of the Year Award Peter Inverso, President, Roma Bank Sponsored by WithumSmith+Brown Innovator of the Year Award Herbert M. Greenberg, Chairman & CEO, Caliper Sponsored by NRG Energy Community Leader of the Year Award Martin Johnson, President & CEO, Isles, Inc. Sponsored by Glenmede

Traveling, Learning and Improving

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You can't teach an old dog new tricks... well, I'm not sure I fall into the category of being an old dog, but I certainly can learn new tricks. Kevin and I just got back from the Retail Success Summit put on by Bob and Susan Negan at WhizBang Training. Bob and Susan are 2 of our favorite business people and we've been learning from them for over 5 years now. Running through the heart of the conference was putting the customer first while giving them an amazing shopping experience. As you can see from the photo above, I had my coffee and I was ready to put my customer first and improve my business. The conference took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan (what a lovely city, not that we saw much but from what we did see, it was super nice) and with over 500 Independent Retailers in attendance. Marketing stategies, customer service, social media and personal improvement were all on the agenda and Kevin and I took page after page of notes and came up with many action items t

Skyrocket Your Business Interview

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 Last week I had the priviledge of being interviewed by Helen Burton (pictured below) on the Princeton Community Television. How cool it was to drive over to the TV Studio with butterflies in my tummy but full of excitement. For those of you that don't know... my first year of college was spent as a Communications major with the dream of becoming a TV Camera"man" someday. Back in those days, I loved being behind the scenes and even tried my hand at directing, which is just about the scariest thing I ever did! My buddy Mary and I would roam our College campus looking for folks to interview - her out in front of the camera and me behind. Well, this was certainly a change for me and a scary one at that! Being interviewed about what it takes to be in business was super fun and after a few minutes of staring at my hostess Helen, I began to relax and give my honest view points on what it's like to be the "Boss".  The program is called Skyrock Your Business a

Just a Bit of Purple

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Over a year ago I wrote a blog that focused on the Color Purple (hey, wasn't that a movie with Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah) and here we are beginning a new year and the color purple is still hot, hot, hot!! I've been meeting with brides left and right and the color purple is still showing up as dominate color for this year in wedding designs. The above centerpieces were created for our very own Sheryl's sisters wedding. Everything was purple, including the floral centerpieces that were made from hydrangeas in a variety of shading. This bouquet being made by our designer has pops of purple statice along with rich red roses and deep blue delphinium.  These simple brides maids bouquets were just the perfect shade to match their deep purple/fuchsia gowns.  Bride Naomi wanted a Royal feel to her wedding day and so we took apart purple hydrangea blooms and sprinkled them down the aisle at the Nassau Inn.  Two different shades of purple daisies created these

This Weeks Weddings...

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 It is completely, impossible to get bored around here. This weekend had us doing three, completely different weddings and what great fun they were. We are also excited about our wedding designs but this week was especially gratifying. The bouquet above was created for our bride Danielle and was the coolest, funkiest bouquet we've been able to create since our Funky Peacock Feather bouquet. A hand tied mixture of mini callas, cymbidium orchids, mokara orchids, crespedia, pincushion protea,  limonium and the ever cool uluhe. What do you think of it? This next bouquet was created for the maid of honor for Pierre and Yves. The overall color theme for the wedding was Sunbeam, Tangerine and Guava with each girl carrying the opposite colors to their dress. This bouquet included all three colors as the maid of honor was wearing champagne. The rose varieties used were Gelosia (for the sunbeam yellow), Tropical Amazon (for the tangerine) and Movie Star for the (guava coral). With colors lik

Article in Floriology

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It's always fun having the shop featured in a magazine and we were thrilled to be included in this months Floriology Magazine. Designed for the flower shop owner, Floriology is a monthly, national magazine produced by 1800flowers.com for their members.   Each month the issue highlights individual stores and their owners. We were thrilled to have Managing Editor Fred Russell come out to inview us and take some great photos for the article. Our article was named "Marketing Frenzy" and was all about our attempts of social media and online marketing!

Happy Flowers in Washington DC

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Happy Spring! Ok, I'm early because Spring is still a few days away but look at this amazing cherry blossom tree from our recent trip down to Washington, DC. Kevin and I went to attend the Society of American Florist Spring Volunteer meetings and with one whole day to explore, look what I found. High up on a tree, just outside the Air and Space Museum stood this one branch on this one tree and it was actually blooming! Wow, what a treat and I have to say it caused quite a stir with my floral friends who all wanted to know where I found this gorgeous blooming masterpiece! Soon after witnessing that amazing sight, we ventured into the Botanic Gardens right next door. Talk about going from one extreme to the other - from Air Craft and Space Modules to these amazing gardens. Don't you just love the blue of the water fountain with pink of the orchids and azaleas? Can't you just close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine the smell of this wonderful place? Smell-a-computer...

Our Guest Blog - Nassau Inn

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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!

Monday Morning Flowers - Princeton

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Did you know our Princeton shop is located in the Princeton Forrestal Village? Yes we are and we are just up from the Westin Hotel and are located between Exquisite Brides (how convenient to be located next to that) and Tre Piani and Tre Bar (again, how convenient is that?)! We've actually been in the Village for just over 12 years and we really love it. We moved out of downtown Princeton when we lost our lease and needed more space. People often ask if anyone finds us in this mixture of corporate and retail and the answer is yes they do. We actually do a very brisk walk in and thanks to customer deciding to shop local and the recession lightening up it's grip a bit, our walk in is up this year very nicely. We make speedy delivery into down town Princeton, the whole Route 1 corridor, all of Mercer County, parts of Middlesex and Somerset, not to mention Lower Buck, each and every day. Offering delivery to over 70 zip codes keeps our 3 to 5 delivery trucks busy all day long,

Weekend Wedding Consultations

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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 wedding

Me Relaxing? Yes and here is proof

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Sorry, could not resist. Yesterday, after the staff and I successfully delivered and set up 5 weddings, I - Georgianne Vinicombe, went home, ate dinner and actually relaxed on my deck. My husband snuck this picture and no, I'm not down loading photos, updating a website or anything work related. I was actually playing solitaire on my new Droid phone. So to answer the burning question that I'm often asked "Do you ever relax?". Here is the proof, yes I do!! :o)

Fresh and Simple

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So, I posted this photo on my facebook page and people went crazy! It must be color but let's face it, it's a simple bouquet of three very common flowers - roses, mini gerbers and carnations but the color really takes it from boring to bravo! Tiny accents of branched solidago and add the fact that all these flowers are ultra high quality and fresh and with a bit of luck, we'll have hit a home run with our bride this weekend!! To see more of our floral designs for every day and wedding visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com