Sending Smiles ~

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

This weeks " Principles of Floral Design " class was a huge success. 12 ladies joined us to learn about floral design and to made their own creations to bring home with them. Led by our Design Manager Holly and Assisted by Designer/Customer Care Coordinator Alanna, the ladies learned about Balance, Depth, Rhythm and Harmony. The class was a blend of Newbies to our classes and veterans who have been to 2 or more of our In Store Events . Doesn't it look like the ladies had fun?  Holly explains depth to the students.    Attendees had fun taking photos of their arrangements.    Attendees like Debbie and Lynn had fun taking pictures of themselves.    The students had fun looking at each others designs.    Attendee Laureen was taking pictures each step of the way to send to her husband.    Floral Design and Wine, what could be better? This class was only $55 and included food. Interesting in our future classes? Be sure to visit our website at www.sendi

Hey, look what I learned at our Scarf Tying Class last month. Yup, I was one of those girls who only knew how to take a scarf and wrap it around my neck a few times. Ann Kosco, long time friend and customer here at MMF did a great job showing me and over 25 ladies (as they ate and drank wine, of course) the many ways to use a scarf to fancy up your look. And in case you did not know it, scarves are a fashion trend for all seasons.  Because our Scarf Tying class was such a success at our Princeton store, we are now planning one at our Yardley, PA store on March 14th. For only $20 per person you get wine, cheese and even your own scarf to take home. Once again, MMF friend Ann will teach us all the tricks we need to go from boring to fab when dressing with scarves. The event runs from 6 - 7:30 pm so it's a fun, after work event so invite your friends for a girls night out. Remember, scarves are not just for winter and Ann will show us many different unique ties for summer too

Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is a day  dedicated to supporting small businesses nationwide. Last year,  over one hundred million people* came together to Shop Small® in  their communities on Small Business Saturday®. Small Business Saturday is a day for everyone — from the business owners who create jobs to the customers who buy locally — to support small businesses that invigorate the economy and keep communities thriving. It began in 2010 when American Express founded Small Business Saturday to help small businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Last year, over 100 million people came out to shop at independently-owned small businesses on the day. Now, in its third year, Small Business Saturday will be even bigger.  This November 24th, support the small businesses in your community! 

I have to admit that there are a few very girlie items I adore. The first are pocket books. I just love them and it's so much fun now that we are stocking them in the Princeton store. Truth be told, 3 of them never made it to the shelves because Alanna and Sheryl "treated" themselves to some already. Hey, it's a benefit of working here at Monday Morning Flowers! These just arrived and we have many styles, shapes and colors available. I'm thinking they will sell quickly and I can't wait to restock. Lots of bright colors, animals prints and even a few Western styles. Aren't they pretty?  I also love these smaller clutch size purses. Even though they have shoulder straps, they are small enough to carry just the way they are. I especially love the zebra print "roses" on the fronts.    Although I like the more wild prints, these quilt style bags are a great size and have a someone more formal feel. This type of bag never goes out of style so

Every now and then we get a bride who comes in and gives us creative liberty with her bridal bouquet - this is one such bouquet. Don't you just love it? We sure do, especially all the interesting texture. Made using Paco mini callas, mini gerbers, Orange Unique roses, Tango protea, chocolate brown mini cymbidium orchids, fiddle ferns, coffee foliage, seeded euc and fresh lotus pods! Wow, that is a mouthful. What do you think? Would you want to carry a bridal bouquet like this for your fall wedding? To see this and more of our wedding designs, visit our website at www.perfectweddingflowers.com 

Someone called us the other day and said ~ "What do you do? I don't know what your company does". Hm, I had to think about that and there was a part of me (the Jersey Girl Part) that wanted to come back with "We do air conditioning and carpet cleaning" but as you an imagine, that won't win me any customers. This is not the first time I've been asked that question but our name really does say at least most of what we do. Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co ~ we do flowers, we do balloons, that's not all but it's a big part!! This past weekend we inflated and delivered 500 helium filled latex balloons in shades of pink for a radio station "Breast Cancer" event. In fact, we inflate over 40,000 helium filled latex balloons every year. Just ask Alanna, Holly and Melissa and they'll show you they have the strong fingers to prove it!  Now yes, we also do flowers. Folks often say "I'll bet most of your flower sales come fr

We had so much fun Wednesday night hosting our 2nd hands on design class. This time we taught  everything you needed to know to make your own Fall Wreath! First timer Jessica had a wonderful time and we were impress with not only her talent but all the ladies who did a great job!!  Each participant was given a grapevine wreath as their base, some ribbon, dried oak leaves, pine cones and dried wheat. From there the ladies were able to choose from a large array of other elements such a faux fruit, berries, vines and other dried materials.   Once their elements were chosen, Sheryl and Alanna had the honors of applying the hot glue. Between making their wreaths, talking and snacking on wine and cheese, a very pleasant night was had by all!   Let's face it, everything is better with Wine and Cheese! Melissa, Jeanne and Martha have enjoyed coming out to the store for a little "creative girl" time.   Mother and daughter team Jeanne and Amanda had fun creating

Have you seen our Wedding Wire Page? We recently add new photos, a new video and even received a few new reviews recently.  Watch this sweet little video and then be sure to visit our WeddingWire Page. We've also updated our Wedding Website so be sure to take a look around. It's much easier to find examples of our work by color, season and more.  We love doing weddings and we hope it shows.                        

Do you know that Stock is the name of an amazing flower? If you have read my blogs in the past, you may have seen it mentioned a time or two.  We use it all the time in our daily designs as well as our event and wedding work. Today we had the pleasure of being shown around Ocean View Farms in Lompac, Ca.  by Dan Vordale, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Dan was kind of enough to take time out of his day to show us around the farms!  I wanted to share some photos of the stock fields. Because I'm on vacation (I'm told I should do something other than talk or write about flowers) I'll be sure to  write a  more complete blog of what Kevin and I saw and learned at this amazing California Flower Farm but for now, I'll show you the Stock Farms!! What an amazing sight to see, rows and rows of this fragrant flower blowing in the breeze! Dan told us that although white is the best seller, all shades of purple are next in demand.  Dan explains to Kevin how the s

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

Ok, don't tell Designer Norman this (because his ego is big enough) but folks who view his online photos and videos just love him. One fan said "When I see his smile, I can't help but smile with him". So yes, I'm a sucker for Norman too because when I'm not wanting to choke him, he makes me laugh. If you have never seen one of his videos, you are in for a treat. All it takes is Shop Coordinator Sheryl prompting him and off he goes as you can see from the videos below. If you want a chuckle, they are worth a look!

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 .

It's always fun being in Floral Management Magazine and this time it was our Facebook Fan Page that was featured. We are going to take that as a compliment. Society of American Florists resident "Techie" Renato Sogueco was talking Facebook's new Timeline format and used our page to demonstrate the changes.

I can tell you that if you don't care, you really should. Did you know that 80% of the flower bought in the US are grown outside the US? It's true, that means that only 20% of the flowers sold in America area grown on American soil. You might wonder why this is and it's as simple as this - consumers want low cost. But wanting everything at a low cost can be a high price to pay as we see less and less being "Made in America". As I read a view point in Floral Management Magazine written by Lane DeVries, who is the current Chairman of the California Cut Flower Commission, part of what makes flowers less costly coming from Columbia has been because of the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act, which provided duty free access to flowers from being imported from South America. As part of the geopolitical interest of the US, through "Plan Colombia", as the federal government called it, our government has "Invested" an estimated $570 m

Once again our schedule worked out to allow us to attend the Northeast Floral Conference and Expo last weekend. This year it was held in pretty Sturbridge, MA and the hotel there did a great job tending to all the crazy florists who blew in! As you can see, the expo volunteers did a great job leaving the floral mark every where you turned. the above arrangements we over 6 feet tall and really got us in the mood to meet, greet, learn and share with our floral peers.    The weekend was chock full of seminars, demonstration's, lectures and even a vendor fair. Below, J Schwanke AAF, AIFD PFCI instructs our design class in new and fun techniques for wearable flowers. J is always inspirational and entertaining! To see more of J's wonderful ideas check out www.UBloom.com Below Delaware Valley Wholesales very own Laurie Lemek AIFD also showed us new ideas for prom and wedding floral designs. No conference would be complete without a cocktail and dinner party and this o

Are you “Saying it with Flowers?”   Hey there! I’m J and they call me the “Flower Expert”! On ABC Television I’m known as the “Flower Guru” and I host the world’s first internet weekly web TV show about flower apply named “ Fun with Flowers with J ”.   My industry refers to me as “the Most Trusted Voice in the Flower Industry”.   :o) Monday Morning Flower’s Georgianne and I became fast friends at a seminar I was giving in Heightstown, NJ.   I love her energy and enthusiasm for helping her fans “say it with flowers” whether it’s for Valentine’s day, prom, happy weekend or BOY do I LOVE YOU!!! No matter how you break it down, I love everything about flowers.   Nothing (and I do mean NOTHING!!!) allows us to share our emotions better than flowers. It’s impossible to “RUIN” someone’s day with flowers although it is possible to select the wrong flower.   Consider the gentleman who sent his wife a cactus to repair their “prickly” relations…well, you get the idea. :o) The Societ