A Bride Finds Money… Fairy Tales Can Come True
What a great headline, right? It grabs you and you want to know more, don’t you? Who was she, where was she, how did she find it, where did she find it and what did she do with it.
As all good stories do, this one starts with… Once upon a time… there was a little bride. It seems that this particular bride had gone to multiple traditional florists, one by one, with all her photos and all her ideas, but the poor little bride kept getting sadder and sadder. Not one of them could make just what she wanted, for just the right price.
Finally, a friend of the little bride asked her if she had called Brides N Blooms, Wholesale and Designs, in Tampa. She shook her head sadly and said that she had never heard of them. Can she book an appointment? Can she show them all her photos and all her ideas? Would they be able make her dreams come true? Where were they located so she could go and find them!
No, her friend said, you can’t find their “shop”, because they don’t have one! But, they will meet you somewhere that is convenient for you. So, the sad little bride called Bride N Blooms, Wholesale & Designs at 813-852-2052 and booked an appointment.
Ellen & Dorelle met the hopeful little bride, smiled at her sweetly, and listened to her as she sadly recounted all the huge numbers that she had been quoted. They asked her quite simply, what was the most important aspect of her floral dream? And what price would make her the most happy?
Then the girls from Brides N Blooms, Wholesale and Designs got to work on the little bride’s quote. They cut a little here, added a little there and they worked and reworked, until it was just right!
When the little bride got her quote she was amazed… how could it be? It was less than the lowest quote she had gotten from all the others. Ellen & Dorelle had said, “Brides N Blooms, Wholesale and Designs has the word Wholesale as our middle name, so, you get to save money on your flowers! Plus, we don’t have a “shop” so you don’t have to help us pay for our overhead and best of all, we promise your flowers will be fresh from the farms and designed to shine in your arms.”
The little bride was no longer sad, she was very happy. She found extra money to spend on her honeymoon, got her flowers just right and had everything she wanted for her big day!
Then she lived happily ever after.
The End!
*now* go have a happy, fairy tale flower filled day!
Lemons and Lemonade
Last week we noticed something… sometimes, things happen and it just doesn’t seem that anything is going the way we planned.
We had a schedule full of exciting things we were going to be doing, both in our business and personal lives. One by one, like the proverbial dominoes, they fell. A long time scheduled item was cancelled last minute due to weather and something else for a family issue, then one item just wasn’t going to work because of a scheduling issue, another had an emergency pop up last minute. Now, usually when this sort of thing happens, the first one or two we think, oh just coincidence. By the time the 3rd or 4th domino was down and left strewn by the wayside, we began to think…is it us? is it them? Is someone or something trying to tell us something? Why is it raining lemons on our parade?? We began to say to each other there just HAS to be a reason why everything is just falling apart!? And after exploring any number of exotic reasons and wildly guessing at what the universe’s plans could be, we move on to how do we make the best of a crummy situation?
One of those events involved not just us, but a number of vendors, (though as it turned out it is not cancelled, just postponed, much to our relief) So here we are… buckets full of flowers…what do we do with them all!!? Luckily, we were able to schedule one thing that we could use a small amount of them for. But, what to do with all the rest? (and there were plenty, indeed!)
And then Dorelle who, as usual, is the ‘idea girl’, finds the coolest ways to give charity. She had come across an organization awhile back called “Random Acts Of Flowers”. So, as she has been doing of late whenever we have a few flowers leftover, or designs that were used for a show and returned, all still beautifully fresh, she takes them and donates them to a local home for the aged. They love whenever she shows up with flowers in hand and we love knowing that someone is able to enjoy them. (Not that we ourselves would not, but we get to see fresh flowers all the time!). So off she went… with buckets to give!
In the end, we were reimbursed for the flowers by the company that had postponed their event, and though we offered the flowers to them to keep, they declined. I like to think the universe was wanting those flowers to be used exactly as they were, thanking us for being charitable and bringing some sunshine to others. As for all our personal plans, well… eventually we’ll get it together and try again, or maybe… we’ll just make some lemonade.
http://www.randomactsofflowers.org/
Now, go make some lemonade and have yourself a flower filled day!
Ellen & Dorelle
Time to order the flowers…A bride’s dilemma
Your date has been chosen, the location has their deposit, and the ceremony space has been booked…It’s now time to start thinking about your flowers…
Up until recently there weren’t a lot of choices for a bride. You went to the local florist, you sat down, looked at books, and made a decision based upon what you saw. Now, things have changed and there are soooo many options! So much to look at on Pinterest Facebook, Tumblr and a myriad of wedding articles, blogs, magazines that you can look at from the comfort of your home. The whole world has opened up it’s windows for you to peek into! So when things are all said and done you really have 2 options:
1. Buy the flowers and do the arranging yourself. OR
2. Hire a professional to do the arranging for you.
If you are local to the Tampa Bay area, Brides N Blooms Wholesale and Designs can help you with either decision. The new trend in design is the Vintage/Gatsbyesque look or Shabby Chic! Let’s see what the the differences between choice 1. and choice 2. are:
If you want to do the flowers yourself, here’s what you will need, to create this fashionable look:
10 centerpieces, (5 tall, 5 short), 1 bridal bouquet complete with brooches, lace and pearls, 1 maid of honor bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 5 boutoniere’s, 2 Mom’s bouquets
1 box of roses: packed 125 stems $150.00
1 box of ranunculous packed 120 stems $250.00
1 box baby’s breath packed 220 stems $195.00
1 bunch of greenery $25.00
5 low vases $35.00
5 tall cylinders $60.00
16 strands of pearls $48.00
5 blocks of oasis $12.50
6 brooches $42.00
Your DIY cost is $817.50, plus your incidentals, wire, floral tape, ribbon, rose stripper, lace
Now…Let’s say you decide to have Brides N Blooms Wholesale and Designs do all the arranging, set up and delivery… Your cost will be $1350.00
Perhaps you have a local florist you would like to use? Depending upon the florist, you can expect to pay between $2,000 & $2500.00 for the same exact work, and, you probably will not actually get the full count of flowers as what we listed above.
What is the reason for the huge difference in price???
OVERHEAD and ability to buy directly from our own farms. Remember, Bridesnblooms Wholesale and Design has Wholesale as their Middle name!
Let us know if we can help you make all your floral dreams a reality!
VINTAGE PACKAGE:
Broaches, lace, pearls & crystals for a vintage style Bouquet
Maid of honor / Bridesmaid Bouquet
Roses, ranunculus, baby’s breath, pearls & crystal vase for a vintage look centerpiece
Baby’s breath and draped pearl centerpiece
A Big Jewish Wedding
Sometimes we get to attend a wedding! Go figure… and we enjoy it too! We attended the wedding of a dear friend’s daughter who also is one of my middle daughter’s oldest friends. They’ve known each other since they are three. Through today’s amazing technology my daughter was able to ‘attend’ the wedding by Skype from far away northern Canada and see her friend on her most special day.
As an ‘orthodox’ Jewish wedding, the affair was filled with all the traditions and ceremony that have been done for thousands of years. The bride and groom were surrounded by family standing outside underneath the chuppah while we sat with bated breath hoping that Florida’s traditional afternoon rainstorms would hold off until the groom stamped on the glass!
I found it fascinating to see the dichotomy of these two different worlds colliding, yet melding together. Women (like me) held up cell phones to take pictures and video’s to put online while men in their traditional garb of black hats and long coats stood and said prayers that have been said at Jewish weddings since the time of King David. It is truly an amazing time we live in.
And then…. there were the flowers! Brides N Blooms Wholesale division supplied all the flowers to the bride’s family to do with whatever they chose. We knew they had professional help from a family associate/friend and it was lovely…but the truth is, no matter how good the arrangements are it’s the flowers that make everything shine. The flowers themselves were exquisite and we got many comments and compliments on how gorgeous they were. (This makes us happy too!).
So, congratulations to the happy couple and everyone say “Mazel Tov”!
Flower Arranging Class!
Have you ever bought a beautiful vase, brought it home, and then, no matter what you did, you couldn’t figure out, for the life of you, how to make an arrangement look good in it?
Have you looked lovingly at someone’s beautiful floral arrangement and thought, I wonder how that’s done?
Do you have a creative bug, just trying to get out?
Do you love fresh flowers, but think you don’t have the time necessary to make a “real” arrangement?
If you said yes, to any of the above questions, come on out to our flower arranging class. August, 27th, 2013, at 7:30pm, just minutes from the Citrus Park Mall. (click on flyer for details)
Join us…. and have a wholesale flower filled evening of fun!
