April in May :)

Tomorrow is April's wedding day, the first day of May.  Her bouquet is stunning! I just love it. If giant ranunculus were available all year round I would be one happy girl.  I adore the mounds of soft papery petals. I love it 100 times more than that ever popular peony.. I know it sounds kinda crazy but I am a florist and so I am really picky! Check out the 2nd picture and those lovely petals! don't you just want to nuzzle your cheeks against them !! 

We have a wonderful combo of "warm" white roses, white roses and even whiter ranunculus. This combo gives us depth and a tone of romance which I love.

April, I hope you love it as much as I do... not that you should be looking at it yet! 

Lindsay at the Ancaster Old Mill

Wow, the Mill was a bustle today! I was referred by Vicki one of the Old Mill wedding planners to Lindsay and I am so grateful.
Lindsay was wonderful to work with and I loved using the deep tones of purple, eggplant and pink. Her maids bouquets were perfect against the dark purple dresses they wore and Lindsay's bouquet was stunning as well. They really speak to her sparkling personality.
In inside the lower Mill room we embellished the tables with big centrepieces of light pink hydrangea and baby green hydrangea. For the pop of purple we folded some leaves of eggplant colour and crafted them in to the centres. I did not take any pictures in the mill today, it was a little too overcast for my camera to get any good shots. (Tell my husband I need a new one please!) Hopefully if I bug the photographers enough they will send me some shots! I would love to show you they way things look in their settings.
For now you will have to settle for some shots I took.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Melissa

One down One to go

Tiffany was thrilled with her bouquet this morning when I went down to Staybridge Suites hotel in Hamilton for delivery. I must admit I loved it too. IT WAS HUGE!  I am certain it was about 14 inches in diameter. Normally hand tied bouquets are very light due to the optimal centre of gravity and flower distribution but Tiffany's bouquet had a noticeable weight.. not hard to carry for the day but it was a little more hefty than most bouquets.
The peony fragrance was wonderful. Scented flowers really add to the memory of your day. It is funny, our brain works in wonderful way's, a created memory is not as simple as it sounds. All of our sense store little memories all over our brain making the sounds, scents and tastes of your wedding day as important to imprinting your memories as the visual aspect you have spent so long planning.
I have a picture of Tiffany's bouquet and I hope to add a few more later!

Check it out!

Tucking them in

This week we had a first here at MWF. Our flowers were being held hostage by the Ash cloud. Yep, it affected our product for Tiffany's wedding and we had to come up with some alternatives to get the look she wanted. Delivery is tomorrow and I am happy to say today we were able to pick up a few of the fresh items we were told we could not get ( Thank you Lord).
We have some beautiful white Peony & white orchids to add to the bridal bouquet and personal flowers !! Yippee!
This forecast was not looking good for Saturday but sunshine is here to stay !
So I was busy working on weddings & meetings, plus last night and this evening I was at Marquis Ancaster and Marquis Hamilton as a preferred vendor during the tasting dinners.
 It was fun and i had the most wonderful time talking with the other vendors.

So I am ready to relax for the night . I have just tucked everything in and I thought I would show you what I am up to tomorrow.
All the finishing touches ( ribbon, labels, packaging ) will happen early tomorrow morning but for now this is what the studio looks like and I must say WOW it smells great this week!  (It is our Freesia & scented stock blossom)
P.S. the last shot is our table centres covered up so they retain moisture in the petals through out the night.. It always feels like I have tucked my babies in :)
Enjoy!

                                                                                                       

Ash clouds and Wheels

A giant cloud of ash grounding planes from Europe.. now that is a problem for the floral industry especially if you have flowers coming from the auction in Holland. Not only is the "no flying" a problem but also because we use perishable goods. The ones which are ready for cutting or were enroute will be unsuitable by the time the cloud has dispersed ... or what ever an ash cloud does to move or fade away.
We did have such air troubles once before, 911 was a floral disaster around the world however our inconvenience was nothing in comparison to the tragedy sufffered in NY.
Some times the day can start out difficult . Perhaps you get an early morning phone call from your wholesaler warning you of an Ash cloud, then you get into your van to get the kids off to school only to find they key will not turn over. But cheer up ! the school is only a short $7.00 cab ride away and you needed the walk home anyway.
Now, I can't control the ash cloud but I can get the van going.. here is how I did it.. you may have this happen too so I will share it with you.
Check it out below and put it in your memory.. you may need it :)

 MY CAR KEY WON'T TURN!!
Ever get in your car, put your car key in the ignition, and realize
 you can't turn the car key? It happens to everybody.
Before you turn green, burst out of your blouse and rip the head
off the key trying to force it, try this more gentle approach.
Your car has a steering lock that clicks into place when you take
 the car key out of the ignition. This prevents thieves from being
able to steer your car if they hotwire it. Sometimes the wheel is
turned to just the right place to keep your key from being able to
disengage that steering wheel lock. All you have to do is
turn the wheel a little bit in either direction while you turn they key.
 Voila! Everything's moving again. Now get to work!

I knew about this trick but forgot about the highlighted part...
TURN THE WHEEL AND AT THE SAME TIME TURN THE KEY. 

At least I made it back before the rain cloud moved in and had a
 pleasant 2 k walk  I was procrastinating about taking today.
 God is good to me :) I was also able to start the van and get
 the windows up ! Bring on the rain, I am ready. 

Now I need a little help moving that ash cloud ...  Check out the trouble
an ash cloud can cause.. who knew?? 

More about the ash cloud :

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/04/16/iceland.flights.volcano/index.html

Keri gettin married

It is a stunning day to have a wedding ... Mr Forecaster you can't keep us down!
Nice and cool with sunshine and NO RAIN!
Here are the photos of the bouquets, we are on our way!  Delivery to the Glenerin Inn Mississauga at 3:00.

Enjoy!

Testing, testing 1 - 2- 12

Well we have 12 new garden roses here and I am testing them out - vase life, how they open, how long they last, mould and botritus resistance, petals creasing ... blah blah blah.  So this is the peony alternative, these babies are expensive but beautiful. In a standard shop you can pay up to 7.50 a stem. This arrangement Is worth $75.00 but it is truly a Martha Stewart experience to have this on your guest tables. Of course you do not need to have a full vase of these, they can be beautifully arranged in some viburnium berry greens and look stunning!  This would also make a lovely bouquet!
Let me know what you think of them.

In the beginning..

God created flowers at some point during his 6 day's of work, and I am soo thankful for that !
However none of our flowers are grown naturally in the fields of Ontario... They come to us from ALL over the world.
They are cut in the fields, packed in to bundles of 15 - 25 stems and placed in boxes. They go from grower to airport and plane to tarmac. Off the tarmac to a truck who takes them to a wholesaler.. then I come and rescue them!
I bring them to the studio and treat them with loving care. A warm soak for 4 hours in an "awakening solution", then I carefully take off any broken leaves and gently remove those nasty thorns. After the spa treatment they slip into new glass vase and wait in a cool area to be arranged. Once arranged they are given a chance to open and off they go to you..  Treat them with care!

Here is a shot of the girls upon rescue ;) These are for Keri's wedding this coming weekend.