Happy Heart Day!

I hope you had a wonderful, romantic, cozy Valentine's Day!

I haven't done Valentine's flowers since my shop days, this year however I was running around working on flowers all weekend. It was a lot of fun to get back into the "day of love" mode again!

I was asked by one of my closest friends to make a "traditional" arrangement. Well....

It is red! :) I used Black Magic roses, red anemones, red hypericum berries and their natural greenery. I also painted green grass black to pick up the black rocks and the black centers of the anemone.

These were the same flowers I used in his wife's wedding bouquet two years ago. I bet he got points for sentimentality and romance. ;)

Romantic Red

The other bouquet was a challenge. An acquaintance of one my clients called and asked if he could drop off flowers and have me arrange them into two bouquets. Sure, no problem. 

Well there were 150 roses in five awesome hot shades ranging from lime green to orange and hot pink. I also received some long callas and filler.

After several attempts to make a "traditional" arrangement, I decided to scrap it and go for broke. 

Blooming with Love

I used Manzantia branches and sunk them in traditional vases filled with tiny river rocks. This weighted the branches. Good thing too, each had 75 roses and with the foam support it was very heavy. 

I hope all the wives loved their bouquets and I hope all of you remember that loving someone takes 364 other days out of the year too! :)

Using Your Wedding Flowers to Make a Difference

I love my job. There is nothing that brings me more joy than touching, smelling, and just generally surrounding myself with flowers. However, I understand and admit that their beauty is fleeting. Especially when you work as a wedding florist. Gorgeous centerpieces for one night.

But your centerpieces and other arrangements don't have to hit your venue's dumpster. I was inspired by an article about Nancy K. Lawlor who has repurposed some $2million in flowers taken from weddings, hotels and other temporary displays and distributed them to nursing homes and hospitals. Many of these people are suffering from long-term illness and many won't get to go home.

I know the joy that fl0wers can bring to people. I thought this was an awesome idea and one I am going to present to all my brides-to-be. Donate your centerpieces to Phoenix Children's Hospital, or bring them to a hospice care. If you're heading on your honeymoon, ask a family friend or your bridesmaids.

Most fresh flower arrangements will last up to seven days and sometimes longer so they can bring a lovely bright spot of joy and color to someone's life.

It's also good for the environment. This is just one way your wedding can be recycled and environmentally friendly.

If you can't distribute the arrangements yourself, call Green Events.

Green Events is a service designed to recycle the waste from big events. They rescue leftover food and cake and donate it to the hungry, will pick up your empty bottles and cans for recycling, and recycle your flower arrangements to nursing homes and hospitals.

So use your wedding to make a difference!

Vendor Shout-Out

Whenever I come across a fellow wedding professional who shines, I have to recommend them and just sing their praises!

In this case, it's a cake ARTIST by the name of April.

Wedding cake bakers and wedding florists work together quite a bit so I love asking my potential clients who they're using for their cake. I want to see their cakes and get to know them.

A potential client turned me onto Designer Cakes by April and I am so glad she did!

April is out of Queen Creek (Butterfly Petals' former haunt) and she does cakes for weddings, showers, birthdays and other events.

Check her out if you're interested in a fun, funky wedding cake!

I hope we work together soon April! Gorgeous work.

One of My Favorites!

Strawberry Shortcake!

A Really Unique Wedding Cake!

As the Mamma of a Soon-to-be-3-Year-Old Princess Myself, I love this cake!

I Love Good News and My Brides!

"Congratulations! You have been chosen to receive a 2009 Bride’s Choice Award! This award recognizes vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility."

That is the email I just received. Maybe everyone got one? I don't know but if not I am super excited!

Here's the official lingo!

"WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Butterfly Petals has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means Butterfly Petals is one of the very best Florists!

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

Butterfly Petals would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!"

I am pretty excited and I genuinely want to thank all my brides who left awesome feedback and helped me get this far!

Thank you!