Sisters & Friendships
This Sunday, Aug. 2, is both Friendship Day and Sisters Day! We two girls at Brides N Blooms Wholesale & Designs spend so much time together we might as well be sisters! Truth be told though, we ARE friends. Good friends, who work together well. We say, celebrate the day and spend it with your friends and/or sisters. Giving a gift of flowers or something small like candles, candy or jewelry is a lovely gesture to show how important they are in your life.
Friendships and sisters also play a big part in weddings. Most brides-to-be choose their sisters and/or sister in laws, future sister in laws and ‘best’ friends to be in the wedding party. The custom of having female attendants is probably as old as marriage itself and its origins are entangled in folklore. One story is that brides in early England were surrounded with friends and dressed in outfits identical to her own. That would confuse evil spirits that might want to curse her happiness. In another story, bridesmaids escorted the bride to the wedding to protect her from thieves after her dowry. Bridesmaids these days aren’t chosen for protection, of course, but are usually chosen because they are significant people in the bride’s life. Since they will play a prominent role on a bride’s big day, they should be selected with care.
It seems like a no-brainer to have a sister as your Maid of honor or if you have more than one sister, to have them all in your wedding party. However, be realistic… Even though they love you, and are there for you in all instances, they may not be up to this particular task. It could be at for one reason or another, right now they are emotionally unable to assist with the details that are required of a Maid of Honor and/or Bridesmaid. So have a care for their feelings too. If you only have one sister, but her time management skills are lacking, (such as not EVER being ready for anything on time), then maybe a friend would be a better choice. If you have more than one sister and one of them is better with coordinating things, then she is obviously a better choice for Maid of Honor. However, when deciding these things be diplomatic. Give each sister or friend a special task that they can do and will make them feel special. Be open to having an honest conversation about what you need and what you expect from your sisters and your friends. Give them the opportunity to politely back out. Remember, this isn’t about love, respect or closeness, sometimes it’s just about ability and expectations.
Celebrating any event, big or small, be it Friendship day, Sister’s Day or your Wedding day is a perfect opportunity for you to share how much you care about those closest to you in your life.
Now go out and have yourself a friendship and wholesale flower-filled day!
Avoiding a DIY Flower Disaster
We 2 girls love our business. We enjoy floral designing for our clients and getting a chance to bring their vision to life. However, as a company that supplies wholesale flowers as well as doing design work, we have a lot of opportunity to guide our DIY brides and clients with their floral visions as well.
We also read a lot of information about DIY design vs. floral designers/florists. So, when we come across an article that we REALLY enjoy, we like to share the information! If you’ve been reading our blog you’ll know it is rare for us to share directly, and for the sake of you, our dear reader, we think it might be better to give credit where credit is due, and just give you the highlights.
The blog is called How to Avoid DIY Wedding Flowers Disaster, and it is published in Top Wedding Sites by Team Wedding. The author talks about some of the problems that DIYer’s face when putting together their own wedding floral designs. In a nutshell, here are the highlights of the article:
1. Flowers Do Die: Flowers are living things that need to be handled properly. Without the proper care they might die earlier than necessary. That being said, certain flowers are of hardier stock than others and can tolerate less water, warmer temperatures and too much handling. This is something that should be taken into consideration when making the decision to do your own floral design work.
A perfect example is hydrangea vs. carnations. Hydrangea are beautiful but unpredictable. Sometimes they hold up well and look beautiful for hours and days and other times within hours they look sad and wilted. Whereas Carnations, no matter what is thrown their way, rarely show the wear. We 2 girls personally think the Carnation gets a bad rap comparatively speaking to the Hydrangea. We never understand why people turn their noses up at this flower. When used in the right design it really is a delicate, lovely bloom that comes in a myriad of colors that Hydrangea will never see, and when put side by side, they can be very similar in design look.
The moral of the story is, if you’re not sure of the conditions of the day, stick with a flower with a higher tolerance.
2. Flowers Need Water: Like us, flowers need water to survive. Sometime you find a design that you just HAVE to have for your wedding centerpieces, escort or sweetheart table. As a DIYer your resources for instruction are limited to whatever can be found online or in magazines. We have found that those are notoriously sketchy and sometimes difficult to follow. So, if you are looking to have that WOW factor for your floral pieces, the most important thing to remember is, whatever the design, make sure that you have enough water to keep your flowers fresh. We also feel that your designs should last past the big day, and insuring a proper water source will help you achieve that.
So, remember this important lesson if you decide to do your own floral designs, make sure your flowers are either tolerant of being without a lot of water (orchids and other tropical flowers can survive without being directly in water for short periods of time) and/or provide your flowers with an adequate water source.
Just a small addition to this, when ordering flowers from Bridesnblooms.com, we will go over the differences of each bloom you might consider and the design work you would like to do with them. We will spend the time to help give our customers all the direction and information needed to make sure your blooms and designs will last as long as possible for your special event and beyond.
Now go out and have yourself a Wholesale Flower-Filled Day!
Weddings on the 4th
Independence Day is a day usually a of fireworks, bbq and celebrating this wonderful country we live in. A wedding on the 4th of July is a great way to combine both celebrations. After all, why shouldn’t a wedding have a firework finish and independence day be spent with family and friends! Here are some fun ideas that incorporate the patriotic Red, White & Blue colors into a fun wedding theme:
1. Sparkly shoes in patriotic colors:
Why not walk down the aisle sporting your red, white and blue! These shoes are Christian Louboutin pumps!
2. Berry Parfait desserts:
Cool your guests with a vanilla ice cream or yogurt Parfait for dessert! topped with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries is a delicious way to incorporate the red, white and blue theme.
3. Patiotic Aisle Markers:
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Rather than the traditional flowers, or lanterns to mark the way down the aisle, how about some Stars & Stripes!
4. Red, White & Blue Flowers
Throw a little 4th of July flavor to your bouquets by adding a beautiful blue bow to accent a Red and White Bouquet.
There is nothing more romantic about the sky magically lighting up in sparkles for a wedding! Take advantage of the day’s celebrations for YOUR big day!
Now go out and have yourself a sparkly, wholesale flower-filled day!
A Look Back… Top 3 Picks of Spring
Wedding season is winding down so now that there’s a little time to breathe, we’d like to share some of our floral design favorites! From ships, to beaches and beyond, its been a fun spring with very diverse wedding styles. Here’s our top 3 picks from our busy spring season:
1. Nautical: We so enjoy working with our water-loving brides! They are all about the ship and beautiful blue and white accents! Here is our favorite nautical look from this spring!
2, Color Madness! There is nothing more fun for us than working with bright and vibrant colored flowers! This particular combination is simply stunning. Using Orchids, Lilies and Roses in blue, purple, pink, yellow, orange & white, gave this bride’s day a striking mix of textures and colors which set the perfect tone for this beautiful wedding!
1. Romantic! Who doesn’t like a lush romantic feel for a wedding? Certainly we do! Soft white and blue tones with pops of yellow make for a beautiful color palette with lots of flowers, everywhere!
Image by Lisa Otto Photography
Image by Lisa Otto Photography
We wish to thank all our brides and clients for giving us the opportunity to be a small part of your BIG day! We’re looking forward to working with all our summer and fall brides & clients with much anticipation and thanks!
Now go out and have yourself a wholesale, flower-filled day!
Not Just The Flowers
So, we two girls love new and fun ideas for events…. and not just for flowers! Here’s a couple of ideas we just LOVE!
Sophisticated wedding reception games
Games can be an easy way to entertain guests and have them break the ice with people they don’t know yet! Popular picks include “I Spy”, wedding guest bingo, and Mad Libs, and the “Icebreakers” game. These games can be done during the wedding reception with more class than childishness. Print them or have them hand calligraphied on pretty stationery and according to your wedding theme. Sit back and watch your guests really enjoy the evening and make new friends.
A DIY Dessert Bar
Almost all of your wedding is planned to a T, so why not leave some parts up to the creativity of your guests? Give your guests the ingredients to put together their own tasty treats! Some easy ideas might include a custom ice cream sandwich bar or a gourmet s’mores assembly station. A candy table with everything to make their own candy/cookie sandwiches. Can you say, YUM!!
A special drink tasting or pairing
Liquor is always a great way to get people more social! Why not add a bit of a twist to make it more interesting? Have an expert bartender hold a tasting or pairing for your guests at your reception. Have a Wine or Scotch and chocolate pairing, or Wine & Cheese pairing. Even a specialty beer tasting for all your micro brew aficionado friends.
Older flower girls
Enlist your Grandmothers, Great Aunts or Mom’s Closest Friends as your flower girls! Not only will that make them feel special, it will create a memorable experience for them, for you and for all your guests!
Love story aisle runner
hand write your love story timeline on an a long roll of chalk paper. Or use photo’s to show your journey together.
Any one of these ideas can make your day even more memorable for both you and your guests! Now go out and have yourself a fun-filled, memorable, wholesale flower-filled day!