7-31-10 Lauren Gibson and Tom Creque Wedding Flower Preview

Can't wait for Lauren and Tom's wedding on Saturday!

New Vases!- Toledo Wedding Florist

Check out these awesome new vases that I bought for this weekend! Can't wait to use them and share pictures! They are called the clarinet vase and can be used this way with an arrangement on top, or the other way with branches which is how we are using them this weekend. Can't wait!

They are now available for rental through BBBJ. Check out other rental options here.

5-21-10 and 5-22-10 Ragina Donatelli and Chad Johnson- Toledo Wedding Florist

Ragina is a past student of mom's at Springfield High School, and was her student aide. They were both so excited when we made the connection.

Since Ragina was getting married in Michigan, she decided to do the pickup option. She had a friend pick everything up on Friday morning on the way to Michigan, and then her reception was back in Toledo and the Toledo Yacht Club on Saturday, May 22nd.

Her bouquet was made of white cymbidium orchids, yellow ranunculus, orange and pink miniature calla lilies, and white stephanotis with pink centers. It was absolutely gorgeous and smelled amazing!

Her bridemaids wore pink and her maid of honor wore orange and they carried bouquets of orange and pink miniature calla lilies.

For her reception, we filled square BBBJ vases with pink or orange gel and a submersible light and floated a pink or orange cymbidium orchid on top. These pictures of her helpers cracked me up. Once again, this was a pickup wedding. If BBBJ is servicing the wedding, then we would be the one carrying everything : )

Check out more pictures at the BBBJ website because Ragina and Chad are the new feature!

Old Town San Diego- flowers!

Kyle and I went and wandered around Old Town San Diego the other night and went out to dinner. The restaurant had a balloon guy who made me a flower! How perfect!

Let Me Clarify - You Can Always Get It Cheaper...

I saw this article posted from Nikki from Elite Events today and had to share it with my readers too! Thanks so much to Nikki for sharing!

Let Me Clarify - You Can Always Get It Cheaper... By Sasha Souza

There's one thing that I definitely know in life and that is you can always buy something cheaper - telephone service, flights, cars, office supplies, SEO optimization, wedding gowns, pharmaceuticals, wedding flowers, catering....wedding & event planners. You name it and I'll betcha there's somebody out there that can give it to you cheaper... I think that the question that people miss is: But Will It Be What I Want?

Let me give you a scenario that happened to me last year. I sent out a floral & decor proposal for an event that wasn't huge and over the top. It was for a nice party and right in line with the type of events we do. Prior to sending it out, I had gone through and made a few things optional for the client so that they could add in some of the "nice to haves". Exactly what I told them I would do when they hired me.

Then, the phone rings....it's the Mother of the Bride. We'll call her Carol.

Carol: "Sasha...in this economy how can you, in good conscience, send me a floral proposal THIS high?"

Please know that I had been through the proposal backwards & forwards and it met all of the required components that the bride simply HAD to have.

ME: "Thanks for your call, Carol, I sent it because I believe it fits the desires of Melanie (name of bride has been changed) and I did shave a lot off to try to meet your budget"

Carol: "But Sasha, how in the world do you expect us to pay for this? We have decided we don't want to spend more than X" {this would have been nice to know at the beginning, by the way}

ME: "Please let me know what you would like to cut and we are happy to make any changes you like. We can switch from long tables to rounds & squares, change the design of the flowers..."{basically, I gave her 15 options to make changes}

Carol: "But Sasha, Melanie wants all that and we expect that in this economy people are hungry for business and would be willing to make a little less profit for the job"

{quizzical look which garners the side note that in this economy, business owners are more likely going to want a higher profit from each job, not lower to compensate for fewer jobs overall - thereby providing the contracted & paid for services ONLY and not over and above the contracted services}

ME: "Carol, I'm not sure that's the case, but let me just say that I've found out something in life and in business...you can always get something cheaper but it will not be the wedding your daughter wants, it will only be the price you like." {if you use this in your business, feel free to say "well, Sasha Souza says..."}

Why have I told you this story? Because it's true and the statement that I made at the end is an important one when educating couples and ourselves on weddings and what we get for our money. It's easy to say you want a centerpiece to be smaller or "not over the top" or "simple". Let me give you a visual example. We have seen this image from the legendary Preston Bailey in our office many, many times. It's gorgeous with hundreds of flowers in it and I'm sure the image does not do it justice to how grand it is in person:

Can every bride afford it? No. But those that value it will seek it & Preston out to design for them and will be thrilled with the results. Here is how we used his inspiration for a bride who loved the look but couldn't pay the price tag for the flowers:

Could the bride have gotten even this arrangement cheaper? Yes! Absolutely but the structure of the piece, the height, the design would have been vastly different. More like this:

While still pretty, it doesn't emanate the same feeling - BUT it IS CHEAPER! So, if it's cheaper that they are looking for then this would work out perfectly but the expectation can't be for the gorgeous images above.

Another example...Is the peony any cheaper because of the economy? No. So, we offer alternatives and often we substitute with garden roses. Is it the same? No. It's just cheaper and different. Some brides are OK with that and others REALLY want the peony and are not going to compromise for anything less. The decision is only theirs to make.

Carol did go on to pay the bill for the flowers when she understood that what she would get by going elsewhere wasn't what Melanie would have wanted. We were very willing to make changes to the event to get them closer to their described estimated expenditure but they were unwilling to make any changes whatsoever and simply wanted it to be cheaper. period. just. cheaper.

That isn't how this works, people. If you go to the gas station to fill up your car, you make a decision on the name brand station that you go to, how much you want to pay per gallon & the octane level of the gas you want.

OR!

You can go down the street to the gas station without all the special additives. Will your car run the same? Maybe. Maybe not. My car happens to like Chevron Techron 89 Octane or better. I put anything less in it and I'm bummed by the lack of power and performance that I get in my car. I can't go into the clerk and ask them if instead of $2.99 per gallon I can pay $1.49 per gallon and expect the exact same quality & product. If you want me to shave $100 off an arrangement, you're going to lose $100 worth of flowers & design time.

So, when you're visiting with your vendors and you ask them to reduce their price please be sure that you are getting the same exact thing - because if you're trying to compare apples to apples and one person says they can do that Preston arrangement for hundreds less than the other person - chances are you'll be left with arrangement #3 on your 72" round seating 12.

Working on Vacation : )

I had an internship in California 4 years ago at a floral studio where I did weddings on the beach every weekend. I come back at least once, if not two or three times to San Diego to visit the family I lived with for the 10 weeks.

Last night we were celebrating Kyle and my engagement and were having a big dinner and Barb, my California mom, handed me vases and said make me something pretty. Off I went into her yard with scissors and here is what I came up with. Enjoy!

7-10-10 Kim Gogel and Neil McElroy Wedding Flowers

I'm telling you, these all white weddings are growing on me....

Kim wanted to keep things simple since there would be kilts involved.

These bouquets smelled amazing with white stock, garden roses, roses, freesia and lisianthus.
Kim's wedding ceremony took place at Zoar Lutheran and her reception was at Carranor in Perrysburg. Her centerpieces were gorgeous too! Can't wait to see the pictures Jennifer Mott took!

Best Boyfriend Ever!

I came home from short course and found a mowed lawn, a clean house and a flower arrangement that Kyle had made from cutting flowers from the yard. How adorable!

7-11-10 Ohio Floral Association Short Course- Toledo Funeral Flowers

One of the classes I attended today was called Sympathy from the Heart. Tom Simmons showed us all kinds of new trends in sympathy pieces.

Have you ever been to a funeral with fun pieces like these? The first two arrangements pictured are perfect for urns, pictures, another arrangement, or candles to go in the center of. The next one is a casket cover that represents someone who liked to golf. He really stressed that sympathy work should represent the interests of the person who passed away.

Another suggestion he had was since people are trying to not spend so much, two (or more) families can go in on the casket cover and they can be two different arrangements when placed together look like one. They have movement between the two which represents "moving to another world."

The easel pictured has living plants in it! What a great keepsake for someone to take home.

The next picture shows an idea again with "moving to another world" and would be perfect for an urn or picture.

In this large picture, Tom suggested that instead of a guest book, have a large arrangement where guests write their information on an enclosure card with a ribbon attached and everyone hangs their card on the arrangement.

This gorgeous pink arrangement is the same idea as the golf casket cover. It is in two pieces and multiple families could have purchased it.

There are so many shapes available to florists now. This is a creative take on the breast cancer ribbon. The company just came out with football shaped oasis for us to make footballs out of flowers in addition to round ones on stands we can make assorted sports balls from.

I loved this heart! Check out the lilies in it! They are a brand new lily that isn't even available on the market yet. But I promise Beautiful Blooms by Jen will be one of the first to order it!

Tom had all kinds of ideas for substitutions for those goofy ribbons with glitter names on them that are still so common at funerals. Represent the family members with hanging flowers in the last picture, or votive candles in the breast cancer ribbon.

Beautiful Blooms by Jen is happy to help you in you with any event life may send your way. For flowers as unique as you, call 419-367-0588. What an impact your arrangement will make if it is fun like the ones pictured here!

Day 1- OFA Short Course- Toledo Wedding Florist

I love coming to Columbus each year for the Ohio Floral Association Shortcourse. I learn so much in a couple of days. In my class with Kevin Ylvisaker today on Gen Y, he created all of these masterpieces. Who wants me to create something fun like this for your special event?! I can do any of them! It really made me want to be able to design on a daily basis. Who in Toledo are creating designs like these?

Call Beautiful Blooms by Jen for innovative designs at 419-367-0588.

We can add submerged lights to anything. Look at the awesome wire accents and the rainbow floral foam! So fun! How cool would it be if one of these were the centerpiece for your event, or the arrangement you send to your wife or girlfriend's office? So much better than a traditional dozen roses! This is nothing like what is usually sent and it is so FUN!

7-10-10 Wedding Preview

One wedding this weekend and let me tell you how amazing it smells! Freesia, stock and garden roses are the main reason, in addition to dendrobium orchids, lisianthus and standard roses. Everything is going to be gorgeous!