I've Fallen in Love Again!

...With succulents! I hate to beat that proverbial dead horse, but succulents are awesome! This weekend I had three very unique weddings, each with a fun, funky, element. But this little guy stole my heart.

I love its earthy green and chocolate combination. And those petals are just perfection!

So, while I will probably post again about these lovelies, I am posting this gorgeous guy for you to enjoy.

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!

Downtown Chandler Wedding Walk

Today I received a phone call from Glen at Light Rain Images. He wants a simple bouquet for the Wedding Walk in downtown Chandler tomorrow. I didn't even know there was such a thing so I'm happy to post it here.

I love historic Chandler. Inspirador is down there as well as a lot of other awesome wedding vendors.

Stop by and check it out! I'll post some of Glen's pictures and probably take some of my own.

http://www.dochavida.com/

Bridal Fashion Debut

Ah, the Bridal Expo, Nothing is more fun than two days of wedding bliss! I love bridal shows, it gives me a chance to show off and do some of my funkier designs.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by and visited our booth! I had so much fun and I have 300+ of you to thank for it! Congratulations to the winners of our bouquet drawing! I look forward to speaking with you about your weddings and your flowers.

I also want to spotlight some of my favorite vendors. I was flooded by referrals and I am eternally grateful! You did an awesome job and I can't wait to see you in June!

Jon and Lynette with Jagged Metal Works: 

Our patient neighbors! Not only do they put up with curly willow in their hair, our stuff spewing over into their booth, my schmoozy husband and me with my constant pacing as I eagerly await the brides; they do an awesome job!

I 've been asked a number of times whether or not I rent arches. I don't, and now I have an excellent referral. Jagged Metal Works' handcrafted arches, candelabras and more are not only gorgeous to look at, they're affordable. They set up, tear down, do all the hard work and you have a unique one-of-a-kind piece at your wedding! I can't wait to festoon those arches with flowers! :)

Definitely Debra:

I met Debra at Kirstin and Michah's November wedding. I saw the awesome peacock programs and invites she did for the event and I wished I'd known about her when I ordered 'generic invite #2' for my wedding a few years ago. Her booth was awesome and I was flooded all day with referrals. Thank you!

Kirstin was there helping out and I had a number of brides tell me the "girl with red hair who had a peacock wedding told me to come here." Awesome! I was so glad to see her again and to know she loved the end result! Kirstin is the cover girl for our website. I have to say, one of, if not, the favorite wedding of all time!

I was also surprised and amazed at some of my fellow florists! They were so gracious and I was tickled by each who stopped by with nice things to say:

Jen at Ever After Florals:

I think each florist has their own style and you have to go with one who truly gets you. I had a bride tell me Jen sent her to my booth after she explained her funky bouquet with dried florals. I was surprised and thrilled that another florist, a competing florist had enough respect for my work that she referred someone to me.

Jen is an awesome person. It was nice to meet her face-to-face and I have no problem returning the favor. Thanks Jen!

Jeanne with White Poppy:

Another awesome florist. They took to the time to say "Hi" and I was so grateful. I kind of felt like I was among celebrities. I've admired their work for a long time. I even photographed their booth before I joined in the the show as a vendor. Thanks for coming by guys!

Amy with Amy's Floral Design: 

It was nice to meet Amy face-to-face. We know a lot of the same people and it was great to meet her. I didn't get the pleasure of swinging by her booth in person but she came by mine and I am very grateful. I also loved her print information--if that's a sampling of her work, then she is an awesome florist.

Thank you so much everyone and thank you especially to the brides who stopped by and took a look at our booth!