Always a Blogsmaid

Floral Deals and Steals

NY Ladies, I wanted to make you all aware of a great floral deal out there for you brides who are still hunting for a florist. 

Surroundings Flowers & Events  is currently offering wholesale based pricing to bride's in New York City. Brides can save 25% with Surroundings versus using another, local, high end florist. Currently, Steven Buckwald, the owner of Surrounding Flowers will take your proposal from a competitive florist and beat the price by 15-25%.   Take the challenge and see a savings of $50 on a $200 arrangement at another florist . . . with Surroundings you would only be paying $150...

Surrounding Flowers has a 7,000 square foot building in Harlem as well as 2 satellite shops in Manhattan.

Check out their website, and see some of their work below! They were even mentioned on Daily Candy!

I extended the Flash Me Contest!

Ladies:

It's been so crazy around here, I wanted to extend the Fancy Schmancy Flash Disk contest, (though I've gotten some great winners!) I will be posting the winners this THURSDAY.

For those of you who need details, please check out the original post and a photo of the slick prize for you and your maids below!  They are valued at $40 each!

Decorating a Tea Garden

The Q: Hi there.  I’m from New Zealand and getting married in 13 weeks (eek)  Trouble is I’m not sure how to dress our venue which is called the Tea Gardens.  A picture is attached.  We want to keep within the theme of the venue but still keep it very formal.  Do you have any suggestions for the table / room décor?

The A:  Hi.  First, it's a lovely venue.  I'm attaching the photos here.
My first instinct is to tell you to go with whites and greens, such as a sage, which I think will look very nice in the room. Perhaps with a navy accent.  I think that color palate will keep it looking formal, but still fitting inside of the room.  I would also suggest using calligraphied accents on your menu cards or for your table signs as a way of formalizing the look but keeping it garden.

In terms of centerpieces: Consider something like potted floral plant like Hyancinth or Hydrangea in a ceramic pot placed on a mirror and surrounded by  candles as something garden like, but made more formal.  Here are some images of that kind of look. Overall, my sense is to enrich you pallete with colors other than just white, but to keep your floral pieces light and airy.

I would move the trees out of the venue and if you want to REALLY liven it up at night, consider a rose or pale amber uplight for your walls and columns.

Here are some more inspiration photos.

TODAY: Cocktails for Camp!

Summer is coming ladies, and as we start making our plans for travel, relaxing and fun, let's think of the tons of kids that live around the city who don't have the chance to get out of the heat.  For tons of girls from economically strained backgrounds in NY (and cities everywhere, really), summer activities are limited to playing on their block or street and keeping busy while their parents are at work.  (or, if they have very bossy grandmothers, it involves going to typing classes all day long for 2 summers, but I'm not pointing any fingers, just typing REALLY, really fast)

The Lower East Side Girls Club  knows that, and so they created an amazing Camp Program to service the Lower East Side.  For 4 weeks, girls attend a day camp where they tend a community gardne, participate in art and culture projects and leadership building, all at the LES Girls Club center downtown.  THEN, and this the best part, the girls get to go on a sleepaway trip to the Adirondack mountains.  For many of the 50 girls who participate in the program, this is their first time out of Manhattan!!!

Camp is non-academic, and so it doesn't get funded the same way other programs do.  They rely on our donations to keep the program running AND tonight, is their major fundraiser.  Mayra and I will happily be there, and we hope to see some of you (please come up and say Hi!) there as well.  The suggested cost for tonight is $25.

Amazingly, it only costs $500 per girl to send a girl to camp.... Imagine if we all donated even just $5.... Again, the suggested donation for the cocktail party is $25, but you can make donations of ANY amount by visiting here.

WHAT: Cocktails for Camp Benefiting the Lower East Side Girls Club
WHEN: TODAY!!! JUNE 5th from 6PM- 8PM
WHERE: 56 E. 1st Street, (between 1/2)
AKA the LESGirls Club Art Space

A Change of Plans, Part 2!

Brides, while the purpose of the blog is to resolve dilemmas, occasionally, I find that there is a topic that needs to be revisited/ wasn't handled ENOUGH the first time.  After the post about retracting Save the Dates, this question came in through the comments section:

The Q: I have a similar dillema. My fiance is in the military and we have to bump the wedding up a month. We've sent out a save the date, but no invitations yet. The wedding is now 3 months away. Do we send another card as soon as the date is finalized or just wait for the invitation to go out?

The A: Hmmm. Well, I think that I'll first go back to what I mentioned yesterday, this is going to involve some TLC with certain guests.  First, contact any of your guests  VIA phone and email that got the Save the Date and MAY be traveling so that they can adjust their travel plans immediately.   Because you aren't canceling the event, just shifting the date, as long as they act soon, they should be able to move some things around.

The next issue, regarding sending another mailing, I would say NO, BUUUT, I would say to order the invites ASAP and get them OUT the door.  I would immediately (as soon as the date is finalized) an informal, WOM campaign via phone and email, that essentially explains due to a call to service, the wedding date will now be XX XX, 2008 and not XXXX, XX as previously indicated.  Additionally, I would consider inserting a small card into the invite.  This sounds redundant, however, sometimes people (mainly, guys) don't pay attention to details, and would have noted the first date from the Save the Date and not even REALIZE that it's actually a month earlier.  OR, more annoying, people will think that you made "a mistake" on your invites and start calling you.  I know that sounds totally ridiculous, but I've gotten calls on behalf of clients that are even more crazy.

So, I would consider adding a card, about the size of your response card that says:
Please note, due to a call to service, the date of the wedding is blah blah blah and not blah blah as previously noted on the save the date. 

Best of luck to both of you, thank you to your fiance for his service, and we'll be hoping for his quick and safe return back to his new bride!

A Change of Plans!

The Q: After my fiance and I sent out save the dates, we realized that we didn't want to have a huge wedding and are opting for a destination wedding instead, where we'll only invite our immediate families.  What do I do?  Since I'm not sending out invitations, do I need to retract a save the date?

The A: Well, I think it depends a bit on who your guests are.  If your wedding was considered "local" and no one was really going to be travelling to attend it, or a very limited number, I would simply spread the word more casually, letting people know that there was a change of plans.  I would be sure to call and write the guests who might have needed to travel, but are now no longer invited. 

If you were having a wedding that was very large, very formal, or involved a lot of out of town guests, then a formal "retraction" should be issued.

I think a note card saying, either "regretfully" or, in a more "fun" way that Due to a change of plans, the wedding and reception on Blank Blank date will no longer take place.  You should then add a sentence that lets people know what the plans are, i.e. "The bride and groom will have a private ceremony in the Caribbean this spring." or whatever the plans are.

Best of luck and enjoy either choice!!

Ceremony Resource

I got this link sent to me a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would be helpful to lots of you brides out there.  It's a site with tons of wedding readings- particularly romantic ones and not really religiously based.  I've found that designing the ceremony is one of the most challenging parts of the day for brides and groom and in addition to my VERY FAVORITE The Knot Guide to Wedding Vows and Traditions, this is a great source for lesser used readings.  Check them out here. WeddingReads.com

Rice Alternatives

The Q: I'm not allowed to throw rice outside of my venue.  Do you have any suggestions of alternatives that I can use to give a similar impression?

The A:  A common problem.  The rice is a little dangerous, both to women in heels and to the poor little birds who eat it.  In the past, we played around with birdseed, but it's kind of nasty and clumpy and just not that attractive. I personally love petals- even if they are just small petals pulled off of cheaper flowers- it  looks lovely and gives you the chance to do something colorful.  Bio-degradable, recycled confetti is also a great option.  My personal favorite, because it's fragrant, is lavender rice.  It' looks a lot like rice, but with a slightly purple color, and smells like lavender. It can be put into little pouches or cones for your guests to sprinkle you with.