Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Making your tables stand out





I get a lot of questions from brides asking for suggestions/ways to dress up a table. A simple white linen is always clean and classic, but sometimes you may want to go the extra mile and really add some pop to you venue. I'm constantly being told, "Rentals are SO expensive..." Well, not necessarily. There are actually some affordable linen companies out there, and your caterer will likely have a considerable selection of place settings and flatware. If you want to make it a little more customizable, consider having your linens or accents made -- we happen to have a few seamstresses in our Rolodex that do an incredible job, but if you are close to someone who knows their way around a sewing machine and has expressed interest in helping you with your wedding, why not ask? I've always said its the smallest details that make the largest impression. A stunning tablescape will definitely blow the level of "wow factor" through the roof.

Case in point:

Take a look at this table setting. This table did double duty for us -- we used it at a community event here in Holladay this weekend (hence the interesting accompanying decor, amateur photography and horrendous lighting), but it also served as a demo table for a bride who's deciding her designs for her rehearsal dinner the night before her wedding. Its got to be one my favorite that we've done in a long time. Since we coordinated every aspect of this table, I'll break it down for you:

Linens: A simple white tablecloth is instantly upgraded when paired with a luxurious black dupioni silk table runner and custom-made, pique hot pink fabric napkins. To dress it up a little more, consider adding white chair slipcovers with pink or black chair ties.

Place setting: The plates and salad bowls are actually from Target. $1.99 each. No joke. Since they have such a bold pattern, it frees you from needing an elaborate centerpiece. The stemware and flatware are as basic as you can get, keeping things clean and understated instead of competing with the other pieces. The favor was a frosted take-out box filled with pink and white M&Ms and tied with a sheer black bow.

Centerpiece: Two antique mercury glass pillar holders with white candles are accompanied by a mass of hot pink spray roses in a simple silver-plated mint julep cup. (The pillar holders are part of our rental inventory) I suppose you could also add some white votives, but I tend to like things as clean as can be, especially when working with contemporary elements.

Inexpensive, but unique and memorable. Have YOU given much thought to how you can make your tables stand out? If not, take a second to do so. If you need to bounce some ideas off someone, we're always happy to help!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!


What does a floral designer get for Valentine's Day?

Kathy dropped by today with this adorable faux-gerb arrangement. She made the "vase" out of - get this - a base of coasters and worked her embellishing magic to make it so lovely. Such a happy little treat!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with lots of love!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Looking for qualified team members

It's that time of year again...We're hiring!

We're looking for 1-2 individuals to join our team and alleviate some of our summer crunch. Both positions are part-time and require candidates to maintain a flexible schedule, especially Thursday-Saturday. Candidates must be available during the spring and summer months (no 4 week trips to Europe!) and be physically able to stand for long periods of time and do frequent lifting. Successful employees may be invited to stay on the team through the fall and winter. Interested candidates should review the following brief summaries and contact me to receive a more detailed job summary and submit a resume.

Design Assistant:

This individual will be responsible for executing pre-determined wedding designs as well as event set-up and break down. Contact with clients and other vendors is required. There is potential for advancement with this position.

Must have previous, verifiable floral or design experience.
Have a sharp eye for color and design.
Have the ability to consistently work with speed and accuracy.
Be able to replicate designs with little to no instruction.
Have excellent people, communication, written communication and customer service skills.
Have the potential to manage production staff and event sites.
Must remain positive and thrive in potentially high stress environments.

Production Assistant:

This individual will be responsible for the processing and conditioning of floral material, design prep work, cleaning and organization, packing and transporting, event setup and breakdown, and limited floral design tasks. There is potential for advancement with this position.

Must have the ability to learn quickly and work with speed and accuracy.
Be physically able to perform tasks.
Have a desire to be involved in tasks that go beyond job description.
Be pleasant, cooperative, and helpful to team members and clients.
Be willing and able to assume new tasks as needed.
Participate in event setup and breakdown and bouquet deliveries as needed.

We have a blast doing what we do. Don't get me wrong -- this is hard work! If you love the wedding industry, flowers, and all things beautiful, and want to pick up a few extra hours this spring, summer and beyond, drop me and email. We'd love to see if you meet our requirements and are a good fit for our team.



A texting update...

After my posting last night, I started getting texts from people who apparently agree with my rantings. Then this morning I opened up my email to find similar sentiments from people who agree but encourage me to keep at it. So I'm not alone? I guess that's a good thing. I still intend to get comfortable with texting because I don't think its a form of communication that is going to be replaced any time soon, but I may just grump and grumble for a while for the fun of it. One thing I have discovered -- its actually kind of exciting to receive a text, provided I don't feel compelled to reply in the same manner. Would you believe I had no idea I had an inbox full of texts I'd never read? I always wondered what that sound was...

Monday, February 4, 2008

Little Black Book

We've got some fun stuff happening around here. Michelle found out she's having a girl (congrats!), Kathy just became our resident bionic woman after having some much needed back surgery last week (not so fun, but still a very good thing!), and we were just listed as one of stylemepretty.com 's three floral designers in the Utah section of their "Little Black Book". We're so happy to be hanging out there with the gorgeous and talented Audrey from Studio Stems and Megan from Petals and Blooms. Check it out to find the best of the best in Utah's wedding industry.


You may also notice some changes on the website. We only get around to making site updates every once and a while (it's been a year since our last update -- that goes to show just how busy we are!), so its currently a work in progress. It will likely continue to change over the next week or so before we're ready to leave it alone for another long stretch.

On a personal blogging note...

Today I felt old. I was just informed that we have unlimited texting on our cell phone plan. Having never sent a text before, I figured I probably should learn. I like to think of myself as fairly technologically savvy (or at least I'm married to someone who is which qualifies me as well). When I was 16, I had an honest-to-goodness analog "car phone" the size of a brick (early 90's ladies! It was about 40 cents per minute--I only used it to call my dad when I got lost in the woods of New Hampshire) and have never been without some form of a mobile phone since. I don't know why I've resisted the texting movement for so long... Laziness, I suppose. I have a 14 year old brother who probably sends at least 100 texts a day -- you'd think if nothing else he would have rubbed off on me. So I just sent my first two texts. One to my dad, and the other to my best friend. I think it probably took me 30 minutes to finish both. Tell me how that is more efficient than making a simple phone call or sending an email?! I know with practice I'll get quicker, but in all honesty, I doubt that this is going to be a frequent method of communication for me. If I'm not talking to a client or wiping up baby drool, I'm sleeping -- not trying to figure out how to type out an inadequate message on a key pad the size of a match book. Who has time to do that? And is this the cause for the decline in society's grammar today? I guess this marks the beginning of my decent into the refusal-to-change-era that comes with age. Tyler would probably say that began when I got a new laptop with Vista as its operating system and practically had a temper tantrum when I found out it was going to be too big of a deal to install XP in its place. Poor man has to put up with me...He does what he can to force me to grow with the times, but really, I'm a stubborn cookie. Baby steps, I suppose. If nothing else I can just spend the rest of my life living vicariously through Tyler and our boys. Until then, I'll just hang out here in the texting dark ages, probably churning my own butter, making my deliveries in a horse and buggy, and scribing your invoices with a quill and ink (since Vista doesn't support my version of Adobe Professional and I have to walk ALL the way downstairs to my office computer to send a PDF!). And I always thought I'd be on the forefront of progression! At least I know my way around a set of shears and a bucket of flowers... Who needs robots and flying cars when you can have a Whimsy bouquet instead?

Happy texting! :)