utah valley bride magazine: 2010 edition

Our 2010 advertisement in Utah Valley Bride Magazine has now been out for a little over a month, but I haven't yet posted it to the blog. Well, the time has come, my little friends! You can view the entire magazine online here. Check it out!

Our 2010 full-page ad:


In addition to our ad, Blossom Sweet also had three bouquets featured in the flowers section of the magazine entitled, "He Loves Me: 17 fanciful flower arrangements that will satisfy even the pickiest of petal-pickers." You've already seen these photos a few times, but I haven't posted their corresponding descriptions. So, here they are:

1. "The ultimate in elegance, this bouquet is ideal for the bride who expects nothing less than show-stopping floral artistry. In a flawless display, buttercream spray roses stand out on a backdrop of creme roses and dahlias. And let's not forget the final touch- a timeless vintage brooch."

{FYI: this particular bouquet was actually featured as a full page- the only one in the flower section! love it.}

2. "This lush bouquet is made for the bride who is shamelessly unafraid of color. An immaculate combination of flame callas, orange-france roses, burgundy dahlias, chocolate cosmos, and plum lisianthus creates a look that is stunning, striking, and bold."

3. "Fresh and vibrant, this trendy bright bouquet promises to provide the perfect pop of color. Add a beaded handle treatment, and you've created a signature style sure to wow the crowd."

And finally, Blossom Sweet had four pieces of floral advice featured in the "you do" and "you don't" sections:

DO: "Be selective in your designated choice of wedding florist. Choose a floral vendor with a great website and a regularly updated blog where you can see up-to-date posts with photos of their latest designs. Do your research!"

DON’T: "Be too trendy. I strongly advocate unique, current, and custom designs that are timelessly trendy. When you maintain the balance between “timeless” and “trendy”, you will never have occasion to look back and ask yourself, “What was I thinking?”

DO: "Be open to suggestion from your florist. She knows what she’s doing, and can tell you what will work and what will not work. If you’ve done your due diligence in choosing a florist who possesses a style you love, trust your choice! "

DON’T: "Save the best for last. Flowers are going to make or break the atmosphere of your wedding, so book your florist in advance. And keep in mind that the general rule of thumb is to allocate a minimum of 10% of your total wedding budget for flowers."

And that, my blog-reading friends, is the exposure that Blossom Sweet has in the four 2010 issues of UV Bride. It's shaping up to be a great year!

crying in a good way + we have a winner + out of office

Goodness gracious, thanks so much to all who voted in the poll, as well as to all who entered our latest giveaway! It was a great response in a relatively short period of time. I was able to gather some valuable information from the results, so thanks, thanks!

All of your comments were so sweet, and so much appreciated! I must give a special little shout out to blogger profile "Decker Family" and her comment on the giveaway post. It was the first comment and read,

"I seek after positive things- uplifting blogs included. I saw your blossom sweet link on one of your followers blogs. I love the beautiful colors in your pictures and visiting your blog adds beauty to my day. Thank you."

Well, Miss "Decker Family", your comment literally made me cry - in a good way! I am passionate about creativity and beauty, and to hear that my blog simply adds beauty to your day touches me immensely. Thank you! I know I don't know you, but I'm so glad to have you as a blog-stalker. :)

And while we're on the subject of shout outs, I have to give a shout out to my good friend, Becky, for introducing me to a fabulous site: random.org. This site made picking a winner so much easier. No more drawing little slips of paper out of a bowl for me - this site generates random numbers between any number range you plug in. Simply brilliant.

ANYWAY. Enough of that mumbo-jumbo. Who's the winner? Do you want to know?

Random.org generated the number 6, which means a big congrats to MINDI, one of our Facebook Fans!
You're the latest giveaway winner! Watch for your prize, "lovey dovey love songs" next week! I know you'll just love it.

And now, just as a note to all clients/colleagues, I will be out of office until Tuesday, February 9, so therefore I will not be responding to calls or emails until that time.

I'm going out of town, and will be doing a lot of this:
I dare say getting a good amount of this:
at a lovely location akin to this:laughing like unto this:
playing a good amount of these:watching my nearly-yearly quota of this:
and most importantly, I'll be doing it all with people I totally:
Ah. CANNOT WAIT.

But don't worry. When I'm back there will be plenty of photos featuring little lovelies like this:

Missing you already.
XOXO

while we're waiting...

To tide us over until Friday when the giveaway winner is announced {you still have until Thursday at midnight to enter! see previous post for entry details}, I thought I'd do a post on our current "photo of the month" sidebar feature.

This month's photo:

flowers used:
hanging amaranthus
mini orchids
mums
terracotta roses
gold strike roses
tulips
akito roses
pods
ranunculus
pin-cushion protea

give me a {lovey dovey} giveaway!

Happy February!

I love this month-of-love, and in honor of said month, I think it's only proper to do a lovey dovey giveaway!

{even if you're not in the Provo/Orem area, READ ON as this particular prize can be mailed to any destination. And believe me... it's a goodie!}

{photo found at Martha Stewart}

So, I've been wondering lately just how people stumble upon the Blossom Sweet Blog. I'd love know who my visitors are and where they're coming from! That being said, I've placed a poll at the top left-hand corner of the blog. To be entered into the prize drawing, there are just two simple steps you need to take:

1. Place your vote in the poll letting me know just how you came to know of Blossom Sweet.
2. Once you've voted, simply leave some form of a comment on this post. All who leave a comment will be entered in the giveaway drawing.

So what's this prize, anyway? Ah, it's enviable!!!!!

For the winner of this giveaway, I will purchase all of the tracks from the Blossom Sweet Blog playlist: "Lovey Dovey Love Songs," {and then some} and will send you the purchased soundtrack prior to Valentine's Day! How perfect is that?

Here is a list of the songs- they are soooo, so good!:

1. Love is All Around- Toby Lightman
   
2. Nothing Fancy- Dave Barnes
   
3. Bubbly {acoustic}- Colbie Caillat
   
4. Love- Matt White
5. Angel- Jack Johnson
   
6. Speak Easy- Maria Taylor
7. P.S. I Love You- Nellie Mackay
8. Paperweight- Joshua Radin
9. Sweet Pea- Amos Lee
10. The Thief- Brooke Frazier
11. Dream a Little Dream of Me- Robinella
12. Close Your Eyes- Dave Barnes
13. On My Mind- Kalai
14. Dream- Priscilla Ahn
15. Coffee Shop- Landon Pigg
16. Lucky- Jason Mraz
17. I'd Rather Be With You- Joshua Radin
18. No Other Love- Chuck Prophet
19. The Way I Am- Ingrid Michaelson
20. Oh It Is Love- Hellogoodbye
21. Lovely Tonight- Joshua Radin
22. Magic- Colbie Caillat
    
23. My Girl- Dave Barnes

Enter if you want to have the most enviable soundtrack in the history of lovey dovey love songs! I will announce the winner on Friday. Good luck!

you get [MORE THAN] what you pay for

You know the old adage: "You get what you pay for?" Well, honeys, it's time to get that saying out of your head! Yep, when it comes to flowers for your big day, you get [MORE THAN] what you pay for!

Really? Really? How much work could it possibly be to design for weddings and events, anyway? It can't be that hard, right? Really.

Ooh, child, I promise you it's more work than you think! In this industry, there is SO much that goes on behind the scenes.

Now, let me say that I totally understand that in this economy, it's important to all of us to find the best deals possible. Believe me, I get it! That being said, I feel that it is important for brides to know what a steal of a deal they really get when it comes to hiring an event florist to bring their floral vision to life. Let me repeat that, STEAL OF A DEAL!

So, let me break it down for you. Here's what top event florists actually do for each wedding, each event, each bride:

• Consultations: For me, an average consultation takes about an hour {they can take much longer}, and my consultations are "free, no obligation."
• Custom Estimates: Putting together a custom bid takes a lot of time! I put a lot of effort into creating bids which fit the needs of each individual bride's floral vision. And once again, this is a "free, no obligation" item.
  
• Placing the Order: Top florists have great relationships with their wholesale source, and work hard to make sure your order is placed on time and that you get what you want.
  
• Bumps in the Road: Sometimes little things go wrong which are out of anyone's control. Which option would you choose? Option 1: Your florist calmly comes up with a solution and takes care of it. Option 2: You become a stress-case just before your wedding. Trust me, when your florist handles it, you'll never even know a thing about it. {For specific examples of "bumps in the road," you may want to revisit this post.}
  
• Details: I go out of my way and all over the valley to find custom ribbons, handle treatments, etc., which make all the difference in the finished product. And in regards to the design process itself, you can't imagine how long it takes to make sure that intricate details are displayed throughout every design.
• The Flowers Themselves: It goes without saying that high-quality flowers are expensive - absolutely stunning - but expensive. The cost of the flowers themselves is a LARGE portion of what you are paying for.
  
• Processing: Roses have thorns to be removed, dried leaves and petals need to be groomed so that each bloom shines, air and water temperatures need to be just right, and each individual stem needs to be processed and freshly cut to ensure optimal water absorption. This is a time-consuming, arduous at times process!
  
• Designing: This one's obvious, but it takes time, effort, and expertise to create your floral masterpieces!
  
• Delivery & Set Up: Load up the car, make sure everything is sturdy and in place, drive to the destination, unload the car, set up, etc.
• Cleaning Up the Flower Mess: To say that every inch of my design space is covered to the brim with a foot-high pile of leaves and stems to be cleaned up after every event is the understatement of the century. It's like a jungle in here!
  
• Floral Knowledge: What's in season? What's not? What looks good together? What doesn't? You are paying for expertise, experience, and general floral know-how.
  
• Advertising: Spreading the word is expensive! Worth it, but expensive. My clients don't pay for me to advertise, I do. The cost of running a business adds up quickly.
  
• Supplies: When you haven't done flowers yourself, it's easy not to realize what supplies actually go into it - and supplies cost money. We're talking an endless supply of floral tape; corsage wristlets; pins, pins and more pins; oasis foam; floral preservative; corsage boxes; ribbons; beads; brooches; buckets; vases; wire; etc.
• Blogging: Of COURSE I don't charge for my blogging services! {If I did, I dare say I'd be a rich woman!} But, I do invest a vast amount of my personal time and energy into making my blog a valuable tool for potential clients and brides in general in order for them to gain information and ideas, as well as {hopefully} a fun read.
  
• TALENT: I wouldn't have started a business had I not thought I had something fabulous to offer. Anyone can "throw together an arrangement." Few can do it with flair. Are you paying for my talent? My eye for design? My up-to-date, current, modern yet classically artistic style? Absolutely. Is it worth it? Without a doubt. Again, I never would have started a business if I didn't truly believe I had something fabulously worthwhile to offer to the industry. I'm really grateful for the talents I've been given, and I'm grateful that with those talents I've created a livelihood for myself. I'm very lucky!
  
• Time is Money, Honey: If you only knew the time it took to pull-off a successful wedding design, you'd probably wonder why anyone would be crazy enough to want to work in the wedding & event floral industry. I promise. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

So, there you go. I would say that the list above merely scratches the surface as to what an event florist actually does. What do you think? Anything you were surprised about? Either way, I hope that it at least enlightened you to some degree to the fact that event florists offer their services for a steal of a deal. And now to sum it all up, let me go back to what I said at the beginning:

You know the old adage: "You get what you pay for?" Well, honeys, it's time to get that saying out of your head! Yep, when it comes to flowers for your big day:
you get [MORE THAN] what you pay for!

alex + brian

When Alex first approached me about designing for her wedding, she told me how much she loved yellow flowers. But, as she was getting married in late December, she wanted know if yellow flowers would look out of place. In a nutshell, no! We decided to make it work by implementing wintery elements such as pine cones, winter greens, and branches into her design concept. The look we went for was "seasonal, but not festive." Well, it worked out wonderfully! She got just what she wanted: yellow flowers against a backdrop of crisp white snow. I think the yellow really pops!

Moral of the story: when it comes to what you love and want, there's always a way to tweak your design to make it work . . . no matter what time of year!

photography by {phiz photo}:

The handsome couple, the beautiful day:

to see the long-since-past post of my snapshots, click here.

utah valley bride feature

There's a new blog in town! Utah Valley Bride Magazine recently created a blog and asked Blossom Sweet to be featured in yesterday's post.

To see our feature post {complete with photos}, click here.

Here was my advice for their "rule of threes" series:

1. BLOG LOVE "This has been said time and time again, but choose a florist with a regularly updated blog and portfolio. A noteworthy blog will be regularly updated, fun to read, informative and visually splendid. You can place confidence in vendors who demonstrate expertise in the blogging arena."

2. COLOR LOVE "To ensure the look of your wedding is visually cohesive, choose your color palette wisely. If you have four or five shades you are set on incorporating, choose just one or two of those to be your main hues. The remaining colors can serve as accents."

3. PHOTO LOVE "Hire a photographer who excels in capturing details. Other than the blushing bride herself, flowers are what make a wedding beautiful. It breaks my heart when clients invest time, money and energy into making sure their flowers are stunning, only to get their photos back and find there are no great photos of them! When you invest in the details, invest in a photographer who will do them justice in capturing superb images. DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS!"

Thanks, Utah Valley Bride!

alex's bridals

Alex was a December bride... December 2008 to be exact! She just sent me over some of her photos, and I love them. Today's post will feature her bridal portraits, watch for the post of her wedding next!

What a beauty she is.
photography by {phiz photo}.

the lucky florist

Just completed my third and final consultation for the evening, and all three were with brides of the loveliest variety. Thank you, darling trio of brides to be. Thank you for making my "job" {I hesitate to even call it that} so pleasant and delightful.

Speaking of pleasant and delightful, somehow I always get the nicest/most beautiful/best clients. Always! Love it.

Thank you, ladies. You make me a lucky florist!

getting to know {me}

When selecting vendors for your wedding, there are many important things to consider, not the least of which is in regards to the personalities of the vendors themselves - it is important to choose vendors who demonstrate expertise in their field AND with whom you can simply get along!

That being said, I've decided to implement a new series of posts on the Blossom Sweet Blog, "Getting To Know The Artist." I anticipate that these posts will be somewhat infrequent and rather lighthearted in nature, but I think it will be a good way for all of you to get to know me on a personal level just a little bit better.

For the first installment, I thought I'd let you know that I love to play the piano in my spare time. I will own a baby grand in my lifetime. I promise you that! Music is my preferred channel for feeling and is among my most favorite pastimes.

So, that was the first official "getting to know the artist" moment - it wasn't too painful, right? :) And before I sign off for the night, I thought I'd share this little clip from "The King and I" just for fun {since it goes along so nicely with the new series of posts and all}. Looking forward to having you "get to know me" a little more from here on out!