Sending Smiles ~

They say there is a hurricane coming but for now this bright and sunny bridal bouquet that we created for bride Jennie this past weekend is a beacon of sunshine, don't you think? I love all the fall colors and monochromatic floral designs for events and everyday are super popular right now, with Yellow leading the pack. We've added lots of new arrangements to our website for Fall so if you know someone under the weather or having a birthday , be sure to check out what is new. Here's  hoping that Hurricane Sandy is more hype than wind and rain! 

What an weekend! Three weddings and all so colorful and lovely! First up, bride Jackie chose these super cool green and ivory bouquets for her maids. Green buttons, orchids and berries along with ivory roses. Loops of lily grass make for an interesting combination, don't you think?   Bride Jackie's bouquet was a stunner for sure. Deep blue thistle, ivory roses, white mini gerbers, arabicum, hydrangea and anemone's combine to make for a very textured bouquet.  Ah, I'm in love with cascade bouquets lately and this one is amazing. White and purple picasso mini calls with white stephanotis, white tea rose and deep burnt orange spray roses accented with green berries and ivy for bride Gia.  Gia's maids will carry these amazing burnt orange roses, ivory spray roses and brown berries. What a pretty combination for a fall wedding, don't you think?  Bride Melissa went for the softer, romantic side of a fall wedding. Very pale blush pink roses, silvery lav

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 

This weekend's weddings seem to sum of the weather. On one hand, it's October 6th and the nights have started to get cool and the leaves are starting to drop here near our shop in Princeton Forrestal Village. Summer is definitely over and so our wedding designs for bride Dawn reflect the traditional fall feel of the season. Her bouquet was made using rich red roses along with a variety called Circus, which is a yellow and red bi-color. Along with the roses we have mango mini calla lilies, seeded eucalyptus, burgundy berries, Tango pincushion protea and very cool uhule fiddle ferns. She loved it!!  Now talking about weather, although the calendar says fall, the temperatures say summer, hitting highs in the low 80's so our next bride Kristie's bouquet reflect the feel of the day. Her bouquet was made using yellow fever few buttons, yellow and pink ranunculus, white mini daisies, garden roses, buplurium and gardenias. Gardenia's are special to Kristie and keep

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.                        

With all the colors available to us, I have to say that I'm still a sucker for creams and greens. It's just so relaxing, elegant and unassuming, don't you think. One of this past weekends weddings for bride and groom Krystal and Rob had us doing flowers in shades of green (yes green flowers) and off whites. Below is the design bench as designer Norman works on one style centerpiece for their reception. Clear cylinder vases filled with ivory roses, cream hydrangeas, bells of Ireland and buplurium accented with natural ruscus. These are going to look amazing on the tables.   I especially loved her brides maids bouquets. Here is me holding one which matched my outfit perfectly! :) I especially loved Krystal's bouquet of cream dahlias and roses, white arabicum and super green garden roses. Light accents of buplurium kept the bouquet from looking to planned and gave her the natural feel she was going for. Such a pretty late summer flower combination don't you

Wow, how fun is this wedding we did this summer at Molly Pitcher Inn? Bride Amy (sister of last years  bride Lauren at Nassau Inn) and groom Matt had a very cool nautical vibe going on to her wedding. Taking place right on the river in Red Bank really set the stage for a fantastic day! The sun was out, it was a bit hot but who could complain with a cloudless sky at the Jersey shore - we sure couldn't. Design Manager Holly and assistant Brendan did a great job delivering and setting up this rather complex wedding. Making our way to the shore from the Princeton area during the summer is no easy task. We had so much fun working with the family again and loved all the flowers and decor they chose. Amy's bouquet was hand tied using white mini gerbera daisy, regular daisies, roses, yellow craspedia and accents of lime green fillers. I loved how her bouquet complimented her lovely gown and especially loved the accent of the variegated foliage around the outside of the bouquet.

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

 I loved these centerpieces we created  for this past weekends wedding for Kathleen and Scott. Their wedding reception was held at the Nassau Inn in downtown Princeton and this footed mahogany bowl is the perfect container for these soft, pastel blooms. The pop of rich brown looked amazing in their Palmer room with all the warm wood tones in the room.  A sweet mixture of peach Donna Roses, yellow craspedia balls, white daisies and pale pink mini gerbers arranged with elegant ruscus foliage and lime green buplurium fillers. The perfect height and width to fill up the center of the table without blocking the view across. These would also be pretty for an anniversary party, baby shower or a Sweet 16, don't you think? 

We love when brides send photos and how nice of bride Corinne to send these lovely shots from her recent wedding. Her color theme of pewter and yellow was such a striking summer color theme, don't you think? Her bouquet was made of all white gerbera daisies with light colored centers and accents of yellow craspedia. Similar to past bride Lauren's bouquet from last year. It was sunny and happy, just like Corinne! I always love Gerberas but don't you love the color of the shocking yellow ones? In this case, the dark centers play up the rich grey of the dresses along with a pop of silvery dusty miller to finish off the bouquets. You know I love rental glassware and the perfect spot to use it is at Triumph Brewery in Princeton. A huge space and long tables are perfect for this mix and match of floating candles in different size and styled vases. Also, a great play off the black linens to really pop and create drama. To see more photos from this wedding be sure t

 A red bridal bouquet is not for everyone but if you want to go bold, this just might be the wedding color for you! This bouquet made for our bride Alex yesterday was both striking and dramatic. Red roses in 2 shades and red mini callas accented with green hypericum berries was a sight to be hold!!  Here I am doing a bit of modeling with this striking  bouquet. Honestly the photos don't really do the color and texture justice!! What is nice about a deep, rich color like red is that in bright sunlight the color stays very true. A great thing on a sunny summer day in July! We can't wait to see Alex's pictures, can you? Each week when the wedding flowers arrive we hold our breath until we see them. In this weeks case, the flowers were spectacular and each variety chosen really complimented each other (I will pat myself on the back for that one). I rarely interject my personal tastes but when I do, I've been know to say that red is not one of my favorite colors

Don't you just love the texture of this boutonniere that we made for a wedding last summer? A single peacock feather, a white daisy and a single tiny craspedia ball, combine to make a very unique boutonniere for the groom. Peacock feathers are still quite popular in our wedding and party designs. This wedding took place at Grounds for Sculpture in Trenton, a place known for it's natural setting and herd of lovely peacocks! The bride carried white gerber daisies dotted with the yellow craspedia and was a perfect compliment to this funky peacock feather boutonniere! Have you seen our other famous Peacock feather bouquets? Check out our blog written about it here !

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

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

LinkedTube A quick video that explains how hand tied bridal bouquets are made, how they come together and why a bouquet costs what it costs. We love doing weddings and the floral industry. Be sure to check out our Facebook page to see more of our floral designs. We'd love for you to become one of our happy brides. To make an appointment I can be reached by email at georgianne@mondayflowers.com

 The weekend of June 15th and 16th had us doing three full sized weddings and what fun we had working on 3. Ah, how can you go wrong with sunny yellow in June? Imagine the brides maids carrying these as they walk down the aisle at the Molly Pitcher in out on the water in Red Bank. The bouquet above was made using bright yellow gerbera daisies, Gelosia roses, cream hydrangea, white and yellow daisy pom poms and yellow craspedia (billy balls - hehehe). How bright and vibrant they are and we can't wait to see the professional shots of bride Amy's brides maids carrying these adorable bouquets. A nautical themed wedding, accents of blue were added to the centerpieces, place card and altar decor but for the bouquets we simply added a navy and white striped ribbon for the nautical touch. Below is the bridal bouquet of white roses, and white mini gerbera daisies accented with those round yellow Craspedia. A touch of lime green make it all pop and give a very fresh and natural feel t

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 to be hired for a last minute wedding and we really enjoyed creating this one for bride Zulma. Shades of peach, lavender, pale pink and white using mini gerber daisies, roses, pom pon daisies, carnations and babies breath combined into a restful and sweet wedding bouquet. Similar flowers were used in the altar arrangement and the table centerpieces. Pops of soft spring greenery complete the look and should make for one happy bride and groom!! Congrats to all the folks getting married this weekend. To see this and more of our wedding designs visit our websites at www.sendingsmiles.com and www.perfectweddingflowers.com

I came across this blog that I wrote for the Nassau Inn in Princeton and thought it might be worth sharing here on my own blog. One minute you are engaged and then next minute you are deluged with ideas and dreams. How do you turn your dream into a reality? How do you find a florist that will not only make your dream come true but partner with you to help you decorate your reception and create memorable bouquets? You are looking for someone who will partner with you, not just tell you what you should do. First off, remember, you are looking for someone who will partner with you, not just tell you what you should do. Finding someone that listens and can interpret your floral wish list might take a little extra work at the beginning but will pay off in the end. This blog will give you some pointers to help you save time and frustration. Here are my 5 steps to follow to find a great florist! Step 1: Start by asking friends, family and other wedding vendors (includi

In our area, Prom season isn't just one or two weeks, it's almost 2 months long. This year we are trying to step our designs and have started offering "Build a Corsage" style of ordering. Our new Prom boards are such a great tool for the guys and girls to choose the individual elements that will make up their Wearable Flowers. The way it works is, they choose what they would like their flowers to be on, whether it's a rhinestone bracelet, a head band, a necklace or even an arm band. Each one shows their retail price. Then they move on to choosing the f lowers . Again, each price is shown for them. Then they move on to the extras such as gems, sprays, feathers, ribbon, etc. They can choose to add as many of those as they like. Add them up and that's the cost. The flowers for the boys work pretty much the same way, chose the flower, add a bit of bling and before you know it, you have a custom boutonniere that only he'll have!! To see more of our F