Your Floral "Footprint" ~ Budget Friendly Weddings Part 2

1.       Think about your floral footprint ~ Every flower has a “footprint”.  The footprint is the mark that flower leaves on your bouquet.  Think of the size of the bouquet you want.  Now picture each flower leaving a mark where it will go.  The larger the mark the fewer of that flower it will take to fill your bouquet.  The smaller the mark the more it will take to fill your bouquet.

     

        A hydrangea has a large “footprint” 

    Where a flower like ranunculus has a small “footprint” ~ 

     

     

      You may want to consider using fewer small blooms and more large blooms to get the size of bouquet you desire.   This could make your larger and more lush for a smaller price tag.  

      

      For example ~ Hydrangea blooms normally run between $6.00 and $10.oo a bloom.  Where a ranunculus can be as much as $3.00 - $5.00 a bloom.  It would take about 10ranunculus to cover the footprint of the hydrangea.  Even though ranunculus may cost a little less you would need more of them to capture the same amount of space.  

     Some great flowers with a large footprint are ~ Hydrangea, Fuji Mums, and Gerbera Daisies.  Some inexpensive flowers with a smaller footprint are ~ Carnations, Mini Carnations, Daisies, and Asters.

Workshops & Classes

Did you know that The Secret Garden offers classes in floral design?  We sure do.  If you are wanting to have some fun with silk flowers, fresh flowers, or learn the Principals and Elements of design this is the place to be.  Classes started over the summer and will continue into the fall.  You can see some of the things we have created on our Facebook page HERE.  

We also have more classes coming up.  If you want to see our full class list just click HERE.

This fall we plan on adding even more classes so be sure to check back with us.  We will have a live pumpkin class where we will create a design in a pumpkin.  The plan is to also have a deco mesh wreath class.  Around Thanksgiving we will have a centerpiece class.  And between Thanksgiving and Christmas we will host a few different classes at the shop.

We would love to hear from you as to what you would like us to host a class on.  You never know we may just have what you are looking for!

Facebook 1000 Fans

Just the other day we hit a HUGE milestone on Facebook.  And who do we have to thank for that?  Well you of course!  Our fans.  Because of you we have hit one of our goals for 2012.  

So What's In it For You?  

For the rest of 2012 you will save 10% off any regular price purchase just by letting us know you are a Facebook fan!  

So make that holiday list and come on in and see us, call us up, or visit us online.  

Coupon Code: FBFAN12

*Not valid on sales, specials, 5 friday, or with any other coupon or offer. 

Being Independent

As many of you already know we are no longer a member of Teleflora, or any other "wire" service.  We are 100% independent and we love it!


One of the things we used to love about being a member of Teleflora (and let me tell you things we loved were few and far between) was our website.  They would update it, create the banners, change the product, and we just had to sit back and wait for orders to come in.  That was all well and good but we had no creative control over it.  We may not like the designs, color choices, or containers they were featuring.  So we started adding our own product.  It didn't take us long to see that people were choosing our unique designs over the other designs offered.


So now we are free, free to do what we want, free to create our own designs, free to choose the flowers, containers, and more.  Let me tell you, we LOVE being free.


Here is what we have created for this Holiday.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it all.

May News You Can Use

Another month is past and this year seems to be moving in warp speed. I just can't believe it's time for Mother's Day already! It seems like we were just planning for Valentine's Day.

I hope that you are enjoying the warmer temperatures and sunny skies. After the rains in April we deserve a bit of sunshine.

~Lori Barrett & The Secret Garden Staff

May Flower of The Month ~ The Lily

With so many beautiful Lilies to choose from it would be easy to celebrate this flower all month long! Beautiful Asiatic lilies, Oriental lilies, and Alstroemeria lilies. We wrote an entire blog article about the different types of lilies, and even included growing tips. So this May be sure to take time and stop and smell the lilies. You will enjoy the scents and sights along the way. Oh and we're sure Mom would love to see Lilies in her Mother's Day flowers.

Sunshine Bouquets are Back~

Yes it's that time again. Back by popular demand are our beautiful sunshine bouquets. All spring and summer long you can stop in and pick up a bouquet of sunshine. You will receive 5 stems of brightly colored daisies, and/or daisy poms. These are all market fresh and will last and last.
Your price just $7.99. They make a great gift for anyone who needs a bit of sunshine!

Memorial Day Tributes

Memorial Day is just around the corner. It is a day to honor our loved ones who have passed on. Bringing flowers to the grave to pay tribute to them is one way to do this. At The Secret Garden we offer a variety of memorials and tributes. We have created an album that showcases some of these items.


We can also custom design a tribute for you. Just let our designers know what you prefer and they can custom design something just for you.

Recital Season Begins

We love to see all of the tiny dancers perform. They work so hard to make the day of the big performance perfect. So it comes as no surprise that flowers are tops on the gift giving list. 

We can create a beautiful bouquet for your little performer. You can come in and see what we have to offer. We invite you to create your own bouquet to present to her that day. Pick their favorite color, flower, or both. We will do the rest. Also be sure to ask us about our Tiny Dancer, shown on the right hand side.  You can read an article all about it here.

We hope you have enjoyed this months lesson.  Please stop in and visit us soon.  1215 E. Pershing Rd. or check us out online at secretgardendecatur.com

Don't Outsource Your Mother's Day Flowers

With Mother's Day right around the corner we are in full swing at The Secret Garden.  Every year we select containers and fill them with flowers to create our own unique designs.  You can visit our website to see our full selection, we are adding to it as we get names for our creations from our Facebook Friends. 


We decided this is a good time to inform our followers about the benefits of buying from a local florist vs a national company.  


For Valentine's Day our Friends at the 3/50 project wrote and amazing article all about this and we will be sharing some of their information with you.  

So here is what all of that means to you.  When you call a national company they keep the "processing fee" and 20% of the order. You pay them XX dollars and they take out the processing fee and the 20%.  Then they use wire services such as Teleflora, FTD, Bloomnet, and a few others to find a local florist to send your order too.  When your order arrives at the florist it will say something like this:  YYY Arrangement $35.50, price includes delivery, fill as similar as possible.  Now the florist takes out the delivery fee, in most cases about $9.00, the price of the labor it takes to create your arrangement about 20%, and the cost of the container.  Leaving a small amount for the flowers the florist can use to make your arrangement look like what you have seen on the screen.  This is where most of the florists run into problems, they are not able to make the arrangement look like the picture with the amount of money given.  They end up using less flowers, a smaller container, or sending the order to another florist because they are unable to create it to their satisfaction.

What this means to you:  You will receive less then what is promised by the order taker.  You may not receive the arrangement you ordered.  Or your order may not be delivered at all if the florists in that area are unable to fill the order.  This is where the complaints start.  

How to avoid these issues.  Call a local florist, or order online direct from them.  You can do a quick search engine search to find a florist in the area you are needing your flowers delivered too.  When using this method always check the website for a physical address, this insures that you are ordering from a local florist and not an order taker in disguise.  This may take a few extra minutes but it will be worth it in the end, we promise.  

When you call your local florist they can tell you what they have to offer, they can describe the arrangements to you, and insure that your flowers can be delivered when you want them.  You will also receive the full value for your money.

So this Mother's Day, do not outsource your flower order, call a local florist. 

For more articles like this check out our Too Good to Be True Series. 

Article 1, Article 2.  Or our blog on order takers.  

Thank you for supporting the local florist in your community.