Sending Smiles ~

We love when professional photographers share pictures from wedding flowers we create. These pictures are from Amanda's wedding in early June and we actually just provided flowers for her sister Morgan's wedding last week! Don't you love the colors? Very unique and such fun!

Planning a wedding is fun but expensive and I find that often brides & grooms over think their bridal flowers. Hydrangea to the rescue. Take these bouquets for example; simple but by no means small yet they are elegant, natural and as amazing as it sounds, quite budget friendly. In the case of these bouquets, extra touches such as chiffon ribbon and draping hanging amaranthus took them from boring to beautiful and only slightly added to the cost. Lesson to be learned here? No need to over think the flowers and by all means, take the budget friendly route. Your Maids won't mind, your guests won't notice and your wedding budget will love you for it! To see these and more of our everyday and wedding floral designs be sure to visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com  

Who says Hydrangea is boring? Not us and not with these fun varieties that just arrived as fresh cut flowers. The one below has shades from green to mid purple and is called Expression Classic.  This variety is called Magical Coral and both come through the Dutch Market to our stores. They last forever and dry just the way you seem them. Don't you want some for your home?    To see these and more of our design ideas be sure to visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com or our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist  

Had to share one of this weekends wedding bouquets and what a colorful bouquet it is! It's not December yet and this colorful, fall themed wedding bouquet proves it. I love when brides are not shy about having colorful bridal bouquets like this one. Made from mini callas, orchids, hydrangea, hypericum berries, mini gerbers, roses, safari sunset, pin cushion protea and even blue thistle, this bouquet is sure to  be a look as she walks down the aisle.  Do you like this bouquet? Would you carry something so colorful on your wedding day? 

I'm laughing as I write the title to this blog but when I look at all these girls lined up and their bouquets, that was the first thing that came to mind. Do you have tons of Brides Maids and are you on a tight budget? If so, what you need are a few big flowers! These bouquets, recently created for the Rebecca's wedding, are only 3 stems of Dutch hydrangea. Although we gussied them up a bit by adding some loops of curly willow, a broach and a touch of fabric from the girls gowns, they were modestly priced. No one would ever say these weren't interesting and that they looked cheap. They actually looked quite elegant and natural - perfect for this South Jersey Winery wedding.  Bride Rebecca actually had 10 brides maids and these bouquet only cost $50 each. A gorgeous compliment to their dresses (the colors were almost exact in shading, it truly was perfect) and no one could complain about the size of these bouquets. Although each stem is quite pricey, just a couple wi...

 What an elegant combination - ivory roses, hydrangeas, dahlias, arabicum and ranunculus. I love the soft, natural and romantic combination is perfect for a summer wedding. Our designer, as always, has done a lovely job forming the bouquet to show the different shapes and textures while keep it soft and round. We'll be sure to keep you posted if our bride Michelle shares any photos of herself with her bridal bouquet! To see this and more of our wedding designs be sure to check out our wedding website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com and our facebook page at www.facebook.com/localflorist

 Here are just few flowers that came in this past week that made us happy, happy, happy. How can you not look at this Blue Peppermint Hydrangea (above) and Sunset Mini callas (below) and not just say - aaahhhh. It's fun getting in new varieties of flowers coming through the Dutch market and these were 2 of our favorites. I'm sure we'll order them in again real soon!  Now moving on to some fun plants, we just got in these elegant anthurium plants. Don't you just love these waxy little heart shaped flowers. These plants had tons and tons of blooms and I doubt they will hang around long once our customers see them.

How fun to have a wedding in a Winery.... In New Jersey no less. Yes, we grow grapes and make wine in New Jersey and what a wonderful spot for a wedding in May. The perfect location, the perfect couple and the perfect weather! Here's a quick and fun video. Spring Peony, Hydrangeas, Wheatgrass, Burlap, Twine and Curly Willow all take center state in this Elegant but Rustic Wedding. To see more photos from this wedding check out our Facebook Page or our visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com LinkedTube

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.

 We love Mondays here at the shop and with a name like Monday Morning Flowers that's a good thing. Although flowers arrive 3 to 5 times a week, Mondays is the day we get lots of our dutch flowers. Take the hydrangea above. We'll bet you don't see those everyday and certainly not in the flower department of the Supermarket! Called Expression they have a star design to their petals and each head is huge! $19.95 per stem.  We have fallen in love with the variety of mini callas. Called Paco they have the dreamiest lavender coloring you'll ever find on a flower. Long lasting and elegant, we use them in weddings and our everyday floral designs. $5.95 per stem.  These Starfighter lilies are spectacular! Each stems has 3 flowers that will bloom in succession. Long lasting with an amazing touch of fragrance, only a few stems in a vase will give you 2 weeks of floral pleasure. $6.95 per stems.  Alstroemeria is one of our staple flowers around here and we love all ...

Don't you just love Hydrangeas? I know I do. As soon as I meet with a bride and she mentions blues or purples, these gorgeous flowers pop right to mind. Full and lush, they make gorgeous bouquets, centerpieces and look lovely tied to the end of a pew with a simple fabric ribbon. This photo taken at Longwood Gardens just this past week (by yours truly, of course) really shows not only the depth of color but also the variety of color from bloom to bloom. As shown here, these are all mostly on the same plant of the same variety. If you are looking for a perfect match and to have the blossoms all the exact same shade, hydrangeas might not be for you. I personally think that the randomness of the color is exactly what makes these flowers so gorgeous. Haven't considered hydrangea for your wedding? Perhaps I have changed your mind? :o)

Iris and hydrangea Place Card Table , originally uploaded by Georgianne at Monday Morning Flowers . We created this arrangement for wedding of Bryan and Nicole at the Cranbury Inn yesterday. Usually I don't like using iris in wedding arrangement, mostly because they can be a difficult flower to work with. In this case, iris were the main theme and all the other floral elements used were meant to compliment this gorgeous bloom. One of my favorite pieces to design for any wedding is the escort card table, especially because we can make them a bit more grand and the couple are usually able to dedicate a few extra dollars to these displays. Setting the tone for the rest of the wedding decor, this piece greeted guests as they arrived for the ceremony at the Inn. Lavender hydrangea complimented with sweet geranium foliage created the base for lots and lots of deep purple iris.

Can flowers be a symbol of success? I say a resounding YES! Have you ever been to a beautiful restaurant and noticed that they have fresh flowers on their front counter or even at every table? Those flowers need to be replaced at least once a week but each week that restaurants pays for them for their space. Why? Simple, people love flowers. Flowers are a symbol of freshness and success. Businesses having trouble paying their staff, rent or other bills don't  buy flowers. Let's be honest, all businesses would love to have fresh flowers in their lobby but not all can afford them. In that way, flowers are a sign of financial success. I remember reading a statement made by Carley Roney, Co-Founder of TheKnot.com which was "with flowers, you get what you pay for" and boy, that is so true. Case in point, this weekend we had 8 weddings and various other parties that we were hired to create floral centerpieces for. We had every price point from $30 to $125! Wow, wha...

As you may know by now, I've recently purchased a new camera. Oh my poor staff. I hunt them down and photograph them all day long! One of the things I'm really enjoying about my new toy is the ability to get really great detail shots. I know that I'm a florist, yes, true but I am also a lover of anything beautiful and flowers are beautiful. Those of us that get to work with them day in and day out are extremely lucky. As floral designers we get to touch them, smell them, look at them up close and how awesome is that? Yes, flowers eventually die but so do all living things. What an amazing gift to enjoy them when they are here. Yes, wedding flowers are for the day but they will be forever immortalized in both photos and memories. Yes, your house may be nicely decorated but isn't it wonderful to have lovely, colorful flowers as accents here and there. Bring living "things" into the home transform the air and the mood. Yes, I may be a florist, and yes I'm on...

I guess most people would think that all the flowers for a wedding come in on Friday and get delivered on Saturday. There could be nothing further from the truth. Luckily for us, flowers take time to hydrate and open but also the process of designing is a much longer and labor intense one than most people would realize. The flowers above have just arrived for our bride Erin, who gets married this Saturday. Stock, delphinium, roses, hypericum berries and hydrangea will all be masterfully arranged into her bouquets and centerpieces! A team effort is definitely necessary and most weddings take about 2 or 3 days to create from start to finish! With three or four weddings each weekend, it's necessary to plan our time efficiently! Designer Rocio is doing the next step to the centerpieces which is adding the lovely assortment of greens such as seeded euc, geranium, ruscus and mint. These centerpieces are already gorgeous before even on single flower gets added! Working in assembly line ...