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Showing posts with the label weddings

Happenings at the Flower Shop

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Our days are busy and varied and this week was no exception. Our Sales Associate Alexis often designs but this was her very first casket spray. Isn't it pretty? We think she did a great job.  This week we have two weddings, including this one for Friday. Pink must be the popular color right now! We're thinking our bride "Lavender" is going to be so surprised when she lays eyes on this beauty.  Fabulous customer Anna from California contacted us via Yelp and said "Help", I need to send 60 roses and so here you go - who wouldn't be thrilled when this arrives, right?  Our Lead Designer Alanna was hard at work filling our cooler with gorgeous summer floral arrangements like this one. One minute it's in our cooler and then next it's leaving with a happy customer.  Can you send my wife a bright summer flower design to cheer her up? Of course we can. This pretty design includes mini calla lilies, roses, hydrangea, sunflowers and other

Wonder How They Grow

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Last weekends wedding for Lorrie had us using lots of fresh, natural flowers such as astilbe, fever fews and tons and tons of baby's breath. One of the flowers used in the table centerpieces and Lorrie's pretty bouquet was Queen Anne's lace grown in California. Ever wonder where those beautiful flowers we use in our everyday and wedding designs come from? For us, we love buying from Cali because of the quality, selection and the fact that they are USA Grown. Not many flowers are with most cut flowers sold in the USA coming from outside our country. Any opportunity I get to "Buy Local" US flowers, I jump at the chance. As you can see from the photo to the left, Lorries' flowers came out amazing and it's even more gratifying for me to have seen some of the amazing farm land that grow these amazing varieties. We may be located in New Jersey but we get in the most amazing flowers from all over the world and this picture proves it!   To see this and mor

A Sneak Peek at a New Years Eve Wedding

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I don't often post wedding bouquet photos before we deliver them but in this case I had to make an exception. The days leading up to a wedding are busy for us here at the shop and this weekend having 3 weddings is no exception. I'm really looking forward to the ceremony being held at the Nassau Inn Ballroom tomorrow night. Design Manager Holly just finished her bouquet and it's a beauty. Using flowers in a combination that we often use - roses and mini callas, this one is speaks to the occasion and the holiday with the addition of silver hypericum berries and winter foliage's. Tomorrow nights New Years Eve wedding will be alive with lots of candle light and wisps of silver. The last wedding to be done in that ballroom before it goes under renovation, I can't wait to post photos for you to see of this and our other two spectacular New Years Eve Weddings!!  To see this and other photos of our wedding designs visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/loc

A November Wedding for Brides Andrea and Suzan

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 What a difference a week makes. Last week it snowed and this week, although chilly, the sun was out. Today we created and delivered 2 weddings, one for Suzan and David and the other for Andrea and Kyle.  Above is the hand tied bouquet we created for Andrea. What lovely color, don't you think? What I loved about what she chose is that her bouquet not only contained a very cool mix of flowers which included Heart garden roses but also purple carnations, yellow mini calla lilies, Tango pincushion protea accented with chocolate cosmos and foliage's. From there we jumped to each of the 3 brides maids who carried a single type of flower but all different ones. This bouquet is all obviously all roses but what a rose it is. You've heard me talk about my love for Circus roses and this time is no exception. Don't they look like a fiery sunset all bundled into one small package? The second brides maid carried a bouquet of all yellow mini calla lilies accented with s

Wedding Survey Results

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If you've ever been on our wedding website - www.perfectweddingflowers.com you might have seen that we have an informal wedding survey. It's been great fun watching the results come in and at this time I felt I had a enough to share. These were all taken by bride who remained anonymous and were all beginning their search for a wedding florist. A few of the stats I found very interesting. 10% of brides were not enjoying their wedding planning experience and only 30% were loving every minute of it. A full 60% were somewhere in between. 60% of brides found my company through a venue who referred us compared to only 20% finding us through an online directory such as Wedding Wire or the Knot. 80% said they were hiring a florist to create all their wedding day flowers and 40% said they wanted to create some of their own wedding day decor. 40% of brides had budgeted between $500 and $1,500 for their flowers and 20% had budgeted between $1,501 and $4,000 with another 10% sayin

Personalize It!

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Well, the past two weeks have been a whirlwind at the shops. Between Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Flooding and Nuptials it's been a somewhat frantic time for us. It's always fun for us to style weddings because we not only get to be creative but our hands are on some of the most gorgeous flowers you'll ever see. We noticed a new trend with wedding designs and thought we share with you. Many of our brides this month have given us mementos to add to their bouquets. Case in point is the pretty broach below. We really loved how elegant this looked on Maritza's wedding bouquet this past Friday.  Bride Darlene was having her wedding at the Camden Aquarium last weekend and wanted to add a bit of sparkles to her bouquet. We found this rhinestone garland for her and did a slight spiral down her stems.    We guess you just might be getting the idea!! Bride Maggie gave us this gorgeous necklace for us to add to her bouquet. Isn't it stunning? It really popped against

Inside the Design Bench! Part 1

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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

Greetings from Asbury Park!!

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As I've said before, I'm a Jersey girl. This coming from a flower shop owner who has a fish named Bruce at one shop and Springsteen in the other. Kevin and I live in Hopewell, NJ and have our shops in Princeton and Yardley Pa but we both grew up closer to the Jersey Shore. We both have very fond memories of Asbury Park, especially Kevin who used to drive the "circuit" in his old Chevelle! Over the years time has been hard on Asbury Park but those of us who love the city have always had faith that the people would come back and so it seems they have! Today were able to drive the coast and ended up at Asbury. We were so happy to see all the new business including the kiddie water park, the many restaurants and gift shops not to mention the gorgeous beach and ocean. If you live anywhere near the Jersey Shore, show your support by walking their lovely boardwalk and spending a few dollars in Asbury!! A view of an un-restored building lovingly known as the Casino. Is t

It's All in the Details!

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Whenever I do a wedding consultation, one of the elements I'm always sure to discuss is the process of tagging all the flowers for my brides and grooms. This insures that not only is there no confusion about whose flowers are whose but also helps us to make sure that each floral is delivered to the correction location. How we do this is we e-mail each Bride a questionnaire for them to fill out and send back to us. There we ask for all contact information such as day of cells, wedding planner information, drop time desired, banquet hall and church contacts, etc. Then there is a place where we ask to the Bride and Groom to name each person in the wedding that is either wearing or holding a flower. Not only does this include bridal bouquets but also boutonnieres, corsages, etc. Lastly, we ask for this list to be broken down by drop off location. Most Brides forget that they may need their bouquets at one location for pictures and the gentlemen flowers might need to go directly to chur

What is it that you do?

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This seems like it would be an easy question to answer but sometimes it's not so straightforward! Today I had lunch with a dear friend (and business associate) along with a gentleman whom I'd never met. He is in a similar industry to mine my friend thought it might be nice for us to meet. Anyway, back to the topic of this blog - have you ever noticed when you ask someone, "What is it that you do?" it's funny how they take a deep breath and really have to give it some thought. Most of the time, 10 minutes later, you are listening intently but you are still not sure you understand how they make a living, right? That was me today. This gentleman's business seemed so confusing to me but I'm sure his customers know what he does or at least I hope so!! I believe that's because business today is so much more complicated than even 20 years ago. Remember back in the day when you needed meat you'd go to the Butcher? Or if you need a birthday cake you'd g

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

Same Sex Weddings...

Over the last two years we've been doing more flowers for same sex marriages. I have to say that I enjoy doing these weddings, not just because it's another source of revenue for the shop (and it certainly is) but I find working with these couples rewarding. Last night, I had a consultation with a lovely family (bride, sister and mom) and we were talking about the family dynamics that can sometimes rear their ugly heads during flower meetings. I'm sure that most people that either haven't planned a wedding for many years or have never planned one, must think that meetings with the florist must be tranquil and stress free. Unfortunately, I've seen things during consultations that could make your hair curl! I've seen grooms being mean to brides, brides being condescending to their groom. Parents being mean to their children, children acting downright rude to their parents and the list goes on. Sometimes I feel like I'm not just a florist but a therapist too!!

Special Occasion Flowers

I recently became aware of references made by various media sources making a blanket statement that florists charge more for flowers that are for a wedding than everyday flowers. I can only speak for myself and people I know from the industry and this simply is not true. We might use higher quality flowers for weddings but as with any perishable product, you get what you pay for. Last time I checked, most brides want perfect, fresh blooms for their wedding bouquet.... Our mark up for wedding flowers is the exact same mark up no matter how the flower is being used. Where we do charge a bit extra, about 10% more, is in our labor. Why? Well, because weddings are never done with just one phone conversation or quick meeting, like most other floral orders. On average, I meet with my brides at least two times in person with each meeting taking about 1 1/2 hours. I also spend about 3 hours addressing questions, returning e-mails, ordering flowers and typing (and retyping) proposals. Weddings