Sending Smiles ~

Did you just find out that your flower girl is not allowed to throw petals at your church wedding? Never fear - a suggestion is here! Ok, sorry, that was corny but that happens all the time during my consultations. I ask brides what they would like their flower girls to carry and they seem to think that tossing flower petals is not only the only option but that it's allowed everywhere. Well, it's not. Most churches these days don't want petals being tossed for fear of tripping a guest on their marble or tiled floors. Other venues may want a runner to be down so that the petals won't get dug into the carpet and possibly leave a stain. If tossing petals is not an option at your ceremony site, why not consider a cute basket of flowers in the wedding theme. This one was created for little Rebecca for one of last weeks weddings and it's not only easy to hold but just darling!!

This past spring we were lucky enough to have a camera man come into our Princeton store to shoot our new video and I have to say, I love the way it turned out. It was fun seeing the employees all buzzing around going about their day! What do you think?

Recently one of our brides posted this photo on her Facebook and I have to confess, I took it for myself. As I mentioned to the bride Krista, what I love about this photo is that it not only shows the table flowers (which look very cool, I think) but it shows everyone having an amazing time. Rarely, do we get to see our table arrangements "in action" and this one screams - party! What fun and how rewarding for us to know that we helped set the tone for this very important day. By the way, in case you spy the gorgeous views out the window, this wedding took place this past summer at the pretty Lambertville Inn which is situated on the Delaware River, just across from New Hope, PA. To see more of their beautiful Inn visit their site at http://www.lambertvillestation.com/ !

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 www.h

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 of red rose

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 wedding

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 one