You Make Me Wanna Say 'I DO'!: It's All About Mechanics

I had another great week working at the studio. We had a few different events and smaller parties going on. I really have begun to appreciate our slower weeks. It gives me a chance to ask all the questions I want to and observe how the designs are being built. The designs we make here are all beautiful but the foundation to these designs are the mechanics. Your client won't be happy with an arrangement falling apart or flowers dying because you didn't take the time to place your flowers in the foam correctly. Overall you want your client to be happy. This is just one of the key things to pay attention to in order to do that.

Okay, now on to the fun part!

For this event we used fringed tulips, succulents, roses, and some wheat-grass. I loved the addition of succulents and grass into the mix of flowers. Really made for a very organic feel.

Bar Mitzvah Party:

This arrangement that Tiffany made was for a private home delivery where we also used fringed tulips, normal tulips, and hydrangea. I think the fringed tulip may be my new favorite flower to use in arrangements for this time of year.

Tulip Arrangement:

While I was processing the tulips I noticed that one of the leaves of the fringed tulip had also started to get the same fringe look on it. So cool! It's amazing to see what happens to these flowers sometimes in the growth process. I wonder how this works?

About the middle of the week we had a little celebration party for Zoe. Larry made this interesting arrangements with orchids, spray roses, and hydrangea! I loved how much the colors played on each other and helped everything really stand out. The orchids in the arrangements are actually mini orchids so Larry used some wire and floral tape to make an extended "stem" for them so he could place them throughout the arrangement.

Party for Zoe! Blue or Pink?

Ian and Zoe went to market a couple weeks ago and ordered a bunch of new containers and pieces for us to use in upcoming events. This is one of the new pieces we just got in so Ian put together this arrangement of assorted tulips and greenery in different glass bottles. It so simple but I loved it! This is an easy but cute idea for a collection of flowers. There are a lot of events that we could fit this into, hopefully something soon!

Can't wait for and event to use these!:

We also had a couple appointments for incoming brides where we prepare a sample of their wedding proposal. This is their first look at what their overall design will be. Here they can ask any questions and gives us a chance to make any adjustments.

All White Sample:

Second Sample: (I loved the waxflower in this one)

We also had a simple delivery for a conference later at a local hotel. If you can't tell I loved the lighting in here in addition to the flowers we added.

Hotel Conference:

Friday was the busiest day this week! We had a last minute party at the Art Museum, arrangements that needed to be made for the Oscars, and three cascading bouquets for more gasparilla celebrations. It amazes me how much everyone can accomplish in one day. In this business it seems like its all or nothing, everything always comes at once. Friday was my favorite day this week though! I love the busy days!

Tiffany started out the day by making the three cascading bouquets. I have really never made a cascading bouquets before so she went over making each bouquet step by step. Once again its all about mechanics in creating a successful cascading bouquet. One of the major problems for these bouquets are the stems falling out. With the cascade effect more of the stem is hanging out of the holder. There are a few tricks using wood picks, tape, wire, and floral adhesive to make it so nothing will be falling out of your bouquet. In addition to mechanics she also mentioned a few other things that stood out to me. While building the bouquets she said to think of each color or flower type as a layer. Each layer should have its own depth and dimension. This way it doesn't all blend in. Another thing that I observed was the way she placed her foliage in. Instead of taking individual strands of ivy she clustered and bound them together and placed the cluster on top of the holder. Once this was placed she trailed it down through the bouquet. This way everything is more secure and you don't use even more foam space with multiple insertions with all the foliage that you need for finishing touches. One final thing that I think was very key to the design was the way she treated the longest rose stem in the bouquet. In order to support the long rose stem she used a wood pick and wire to wrap around the base of the stem to stabilize the rose. the wire piece was pushed through the other end of the foam and curled around the cage. This ensure that end rose will never fall out!

Step by Step - Purple and Red Bouquet:

Final Product:

Fuchsia Bouquet:

Finished Product:

All White Bouquet:

Finished Product:

Larry also made these amazing arrangements for the Oscar party scheduled for Sunday. The addition of the white flowers really made the difference in these arrangements!

Oscar Party:

We also had an event on Friday for the Tampa Bay Museum of Art. We started out with some simple white and green arrangements with callas, orchids, and greenery. We headed out to deliver the flowers and had about everything placed when we were informed that the client also needed some purple in the arrangements With it being about 4:00 on a Friday and not much time we ran back to the studio and had to decide what would complement the design. Janet came up with the idea of adding some purple design wire into the arrangements in addition to the small amount of purple stock we had available With only about 15 minutes left before the start of the event we added in the finishing touches and this was the result! Even though these last minute additions can be stressful I secretly love the little bit of adrenaline rush it is to get things done at the last minute. It feels good to look back and see what you've accomplished when that moment is over.

Museum of Art: