Sending Smiles ~

Join us each Thursday beginning on October 7th for wine tastings at our Yardley store. Located at 45 E. Afton Ave right between the Yardley Inn and the Continental Tavern, our shop will be open to browsers and wine lovers a like. Beginning at 4 pm until 7 pm, each week we will highlight a different wine from a local vineyard. October 7th's tasting will be a lovely wine from Hopewell Valley Vineyards (yum, my favorite local vineyard). Start the weekend early with a tasting, a bouquet of flowers (but no pressure to do so) and then perhaps venture down to one of our fabulous Yardley restaurants for dinner. Remember, shop and buy local!! For more information visit our Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/localflorist  or shop us online at http://www.sendingsmiles.com/ To find out more about the local businesses of Yardley, PA visit the Yardley Business Association website at www.yardleybusiness.com/  and for more information on Hopewell Valley Vineyards visit their site at ...

Sorry, long time - no blog!! I had the honor of being included in a panel discussion at the SAF conference this past week in Orlando Florida. What fun and I sincerely hope that the florists in attendance enjoyed the discussion. My partners in crime were Rick from Exotic Flowers in Boston, Mass and Mandy from Hothouse Design Studio in Birmingham, Alabama. We spoke on the use of Social Media in the Floral Industry.   As you may know, I serve on the advisory committee for Floral Management Magazine and it was my opportunity to meet my fellow adviser's and all the writers and editors of the magazine.  Kevin and I especially enjoyed the Outstanding Varieties Display at the Conference. This room was filled with amazing flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors. It's wonderful to see all the new varieties being created! For my buddy Rick who had to actually judge these flowers, I have no idea how you could choose one over the other. They were all amazing! This new variety ...

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 weddin...

It's definitely balloon season!! How cool is this big balloon arch that Kevin created this morning for First Choice Bank. The perfect way to kick off a grand opening! Not many retail florists in our area can get this arch set up and ready to go by 7:45 am! We love flowers but we love balloons too! How did this client find out about our services? Apparently the American Heart Association referred us. We love referrals and our business depends on them. Just this past weekend we created 2 spiral arches (just like this one) and 3 column arches for the Heart Walk over at Mercer County Park. That set up took a team of 4 working from 5 AM to about 8 AM to finish before the walkers showed up! People often ask if we do balloons - um, hello -Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co. Balloons are in our company name and in our blood! On Saturday AM we once again created two large spiral arches in Palmer Square for Princeton Boro's JazzFeast. I love the lime green and black combo on this on...

Not sure, what color to choose when sending flowers or even planning a party or wedding? It's so hard to decide but truth be told, classic white is always nice both because it can be clean and modern or traditional and elegant. We recently created these pretty wedding bouquets. They were so simple but they looked amazing for a summer time wedding. Need to send flowers for a sympathy? The color white symbolizes wholeness, openness, truth and kindness. The color of white in context of flowers means elements of innocence, humility, and reverence, white flowers evoke simple beauty. When asked, most people will tell you that white flowers are beautiful so why not send them for a get well, anniversary or a birthday? The next time you are in doubt of what color flowers to use or send, never forget the power of white! Would you like to see more examples of our wedding designs? Check out our wedding website at http://www.perfectweddingflowers.com/ or examples of our everyday floral desig...

Who doesn't love chocolate? Well, all of us at the flower love sweets and these new chocolates are sure to be hit this holiday season in our gourmet and goodie baskets. People always love receiving gifts of foods and goodies. Add these vinegar and the gift flies off the "elegance" meter! Most of fruit and gourmet baskets are being sent for happy occasions but, of course, a food basket is always a thoughtful gift for sympathy. Have you seen our new cookie line? These cats and dogs are brand new and are so adorable. We also have many styles of flowers such as sunflowers and daisies. The grapes, bananas, apples and strawberries are so life like! Believe it or not we also have some in the shape of grapes, candy corn, leaves and pumpkins. Added to any food basket, they really bring a smile because they are not only funny but also taste good! Did you know that we always have pre-made arrangements ready to go in our coolers? Always fresh and always creative, they are perfect ...

In case you did not know, Monday Morning Flowers inflates and sells over 40,000 helium filled balloons each and every year. Wow, that's a lot of balloons. Lots of our balloons leave our 2 shops in balloon bouquets but many of them are delivered and arranged for special events, such as this one. Kevin and Sheryl did not have far to go as this surprise party was being held at Tre Bar right here in the Princeton Forrestal Village. What fun it was, tropical colored balloons accented with giant mylars in the shape of a watermelon (inside family joke apparently). Arches and columns also take many balloons and before you know a year goes by and 40,000 balloons get inflated!! To see other examples of our balloon designs check out our event and balloon decor website at http://www.mondaymorningballoons.com/ ! To learn more about Tre Piani Restaurant and Catering visit their website at http://www.trepiani.com/