Congrats Anita and Rob

This past weekend, we were pleased to see Anita and Rob happily married with a few minor snags. Mother Nature decided not to play nice so the outdoor wedding spontaneously became an intimate indoor event and we had to quickly come up with an indoor alternative.

The only available location was a small room off to the side but it featured a fireplace that didn't really fit with the theme. To hide the fireplace, we stacked milk crates and covered it with fabric, placing the 'give-away' gifts (cedar seedlings) on top. The arrangement that had been intended for the arch went on the mantle and we placed the urns to the side.


The rest of the seedlings were placed on pillars, the seedlings were wrapped in a dark brown recycled paper and tied with a raffia bow - the sign in the background says 'please take me home and give me a space to grow'. The bridal and groom were delighted to find at the end of the night that all the seedlings found new homes!


The table centerpieces were a hit, the vases were filled with pine cones and riverstone. The arrangement on the top was mixed flowers - solidago, statice, astible, etc.

Eco Wedding

One of the trends around here lately is 'eco' - we're looking at carrying a line of 'eco' based products so it really came as no surprise when a good customer of ours ordered an 'eco' wedding.

For those interested in an 'eco' wedding, there are a lot of choices. This bride chose to go colorful so the centerpieces are a mix of 'wildflowers' - heather, solidago, astilbe, statice with cedar with pinecones and river rock in the vase. The bridal bouquets and the boutonnieres are all of the same theme. The wedding is outside at a ski resort during the day and the reception moves inside the resort during the evening.

One of the more interesting parts of the 'eco' theme was the give away gift for the guests - cedar 'saplings' in six inch pots are decorated with a recycled chocolate brown paper wrap and raffia bows. Hall pictures will be forthcoming.

Special flowers for special occasions

One of my earliest memories involves flowers. My mother started in the floral business when I was a toddler and her employer, a fine dutch lady, encouraged a love of flowers in me by periodically giving me tulips. Her philosophy was that any day was an occasion for flowers and that giving flowers to people was good but giving yourself flowers was needful too. It's a philosophy that I've embrace wholeheartly.

Big showy vases are fun to do, they're impressive but day to day, they're just not practical. A bright orange gerbera daisy and a bell of ireland in a bud vase is - it's bright, it's fun and it's infinitely affordable. In this day of tight fiscal planning, the luxuries often get cut first and it's hard to justify the little things. As a customer pointed out to me today, the gerbera and bell of ireland cost less than lunch and coffee out and they would be her sun in her cubicle. She says she's worth it and I agree.