Sending Smiles ~

This past week we had the pleasure of working on a small wedding with a cool twist. The groom, who is Scottish was able to provide us with a bit of his very own family tartan! His flower, pictured hear included lots of natural elements such as deep blue thistle, seeded eucalyptus, a loop of curly willow, a pheasant feather and red hypericum berries. A light accent of his family tartan was added, which matched the brides bouquet that also had the fabric wrapped down her flower stems. Who said boutonnieres have to be boring? This one certainly helped the groom express his family history and his personality! To see this and more of our design ideas can be seen at our website at http://www.sendingsmiles.com/ http://www.sendingsmiles.com/aboutus.asp?topnav=TopNav

We would be less than truthful if we said that the last 2 years or so have not been a hard time for our company. The recession took it's toll and with other flower shops closing around us, we are grateful to not only be surviving but thriving. This week we brought together almost our whole team (driver Joe and sales associate Kristine we unable to attend) for a business celebration event! We had a great time and thank you to Salt Creek Grille here in the Princeton Forretal Village for doing a fantastic hosting our meeting!  It's always fun getting a group shot as we are rarely in the same place at the same time! Mom and Dad Vinicombe even made an appearance (Arlene works in our office part time assisting Kevin) and they even brought the grandkids - our niece and nephew Mary Ann and Markie!    Shop Coordinator Sheryl, Driver Jeff, Sales Associate Melissa and holiday driver Kyle pose for me!  Driver Allan, who has been with our company for over 6 years attempts to w

 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

We did it, we survived an unexpected October snow storm on a busy event weekend. Taken with the hubby's cell phone, these floral centerpieces were set up at Prospect House on Princeton Universities Campus. Look at the snow covered trees and gardens in the back ground. With 4 teams on the road doing daily deliveries, setting up this party (a Corporate function) a full sized wedding (with church and reception set ups), a flower and balloon decorated Mitzvah and a Halloween party thrown in for good measure - it took nerves of steel to pull it off. Thank you to my amazing crew who without the benefit of boots, gloves or chains for the their tires, managed to set up all parties and get back safely to home base, each with their delivery vans intact. With power outages, electrical poles on fire, party locations being changed at the last minute and all around mass confusion, I think we did a pretty darn good job. I don't think I'll ever think of October as "no need to worry

Isn't this rose amazing? I snapped this photo this week in the shop this last rose sat in a bucket next to Designer Norman who was using them in an arrangement. Ordered in just for our daily designing pleasure, this rose is always a hit with recipients and senders alike. It's considered a bi-colored roses as on each petal it has two distinct colors. In this case a back color of golden yellow and a tip in a bright orange/red shade. It's high petal count means it opens full and lush, almost like a garden rose variety. Basically just a stand Tea Rose, it's affordable and of very high quality. Looking for an amazing rose for your wedding or next party centerpiece? If this is anywhere in your color theme, you can't go wrong with this variety. Grown in South America, it's of very high quality and the color is just to die for, don't you think? To see time where we have used this rose in our daily designs and in our wedding creations, visit our website at www

If you've read my blog before you know how I feel about funeral flowers. Yes, those obituaries sometimes say "In Lieu of Flowers" and you all know, that it does not mean not to send flowers. It merely means if you want to make a donation, yadda, yadda. You know that floral tributes not only express your sympathy for the grieving but don't you think the funeral home looks very sad if there were no flowers there? Sending flowers for funerals is a tradition that goes back ages and the reason is that it helps folks know you care, flowers make them feel loved, make it known the person who has passed was loved. It helps make the funeral more bearable. This blog is not about that. It's about NOT sending flowers that arrive to the funeral home in a box! We are not against ProFlowers, who just happens to be pictured here. They are not the only ones that sell flowers delivered in the mail. FTD and 1800flowers sell those, among others.  This blog aims to make you awar

 No two the same, it's what I always say, no two weddings we do are ever quite the same. Just a look at these recent wedding bouquets proves my point. Take the brides maids bouquet above for example. Roses, gerbers and dahlias in red, accented with deep sapphire blue delphinium, green garden roses and accents of fresh buplurium make for a colorful bouquet. If you like the way they look in our design area, you should have seen them up against the sapphire blue brides maids gown! Wow!  This bouquet is set to be delivered for bride Kristen even as I type the blog. The colors are amazing and what makes this bouquet even more special is the unstructured design. With an eye towards it not being overly round or symmetrical, this bouquet delights in different ways from different angles. I love, love, love, pink and brown together and how simple is this brides maids bouquet of light pink roses accented with chocolate brown cosmos. Yes, those are a flower that are a deep chocolate