You might be a bridezilla to a florist if...

By Sophia Rodriguez

This article comes as a result of my experience as a bridal consultant and florist in a busy flower shop. No one enjoys dealing with a bridezilla.

Do you really want to be the kind of bride to be that vendors dread? Perhaps you are not sure if you are a bridezilla...if not, this article will help you determine if you qualify as a full blown bridezilla.
Furthermore, this article will demonstrate why stressing out your florist is really not beneficial for you or for your wallet.

First of all, what is a bridezilla? A bridezilla is a difficult, unpleasant, perfectionist bride. A bridezilla is just so focused on organizing a perfect wedding that she becomes completely unreasonable and unrealistic if things are not going 100% her way. No fun to deal with as a florist and wedding planner!

Let me give you some examples I've experienced in the past few years and see if you identify with any of these bridezillas.

You might be a bridezilla to a florist if...you are verify specific about certain things such as exact colors. Do you hear yourself saying things like: "That white is just not white enough for me!" or "Those pink flowers are not the exact same color as my bridesmaids dresses!" Flowers are natural, live beauties that are not always exactly consistent in shade from one month to another and from one season to another. if you want exactitude, choose artificial flowers, then you will be guaranteed an ideal color for your taste.

You might be a bridezilla to a florist if... you bring your pack of wolves to the floral selection. Bringing your mother, step mother, aunt and sister to a bridal consultation is just evil. Seriously, with most situations like this, the final result is always the same. Nothing gets accomplished from people arguing amongst themselves and the bride never gets what she really wants with all the conflicting opinions. The bride starts to doubt herself and her preferences go out the window. The ideal situation is for you to go to your consultation with only your fiancé. This is your wedding and even if someone else is paying for your flowers, you should be allowed to order what you want. If the payer is unable to accept this, you need to pay for your own flowers! If your fiance really does not want to participate in the selection of the flowers or decor for your wedding, he is putting a lot of pressure on you. Make sure you are up to the challenge. If so, just bring along your maid of honor or a bridesmaid. You and one chosen guest are all that you should bring to a wedding consultation.

You might be a bridezilla to a florist if...you can't take the professional advice of the florist. If your florist warns you that a certain color will not look good with another one in your choice...if your florist tells you that the flower you insist upon having in your bouquet needs to be flown in from Italy since it is not in season for your wedding date...you need to be open to your florist's suggestions. Any local qualified florist will be able to give you valuable advice if you will let them. Trust the professional you hired...or choose a different wedding professional that you will be able to trust.

All in all, if you behave as a bridezilla with your local florist, no one will want to serve you. Wouldn't you rather they look forward to pleasant meetings with you? As a bridezilla, your prices will go up and you won't get any special deal. Why should a florist go out of their way for you if all you do is torment your wedding professional?

If you are pleasant, open minded yet organized and decisive, you will be the dream bride every wedding professional will be fighting to have as a customer.

If you are NOT a Bridezilla and would like a Free wedding flowers consultation with a florist in Timmins, Ontario, call The Love Bug Flowers: 705-365-7653. You can also visit The Love Bug website at http://www.thelovebug.ca

Easter Gifts To Bring Spring Inside Your Loved One's Home: Top 10 Easter Floral Ideas

By Sophia Rodriguez

If you are wondering what type of of Easter gift would best to send or bring to your loved ones for Easter, this article will help you make a decision by giving you the top 10 gift ideas for Easter time. Easter celebrates the coming of spring and new life awakening everywhere in nature. For this reason, flowers and plants are a natural gift choice and luckily they are easy to buy from your local florist. Flowers and plants will bring a smile to your loved ones and will bring spring inside their home. While many Easter gifts would be appreciated, there are some traditional Easter gifts that are more appropriate than other. As you are debating what to send, keep in mind that some floral gifts last a lot longer than others so if that is important to you, keep that in mind. Other Easter gifts such as treat and fruit baskets are perfect to give to families or couples but if you are gifting someone single, a large gourmet basket would probably go to waste. The most common traditional Easter gift is the Easter lily. This beautiful potted lily features 5-11 trumpet shaped white lilies per stem. They symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and new life and so, they are the bloom of choice for Easter gift giving. These lilies do have a fairly strong odor which is pleasant to most people. The yellow or orange stamens in the center of the flower should be removed when possible since these can stain and the flower will also last longer if these are removed. Top 10 Easter Floral Ideas Potted Easter Lily Bouquet of Mixed Spring Flowers Wrapped: Perfect for those who like arranging their own flowers. Also less expensive. Bouquet of Mixed Spring Flowers In A Vase: Ideal gift for most since it is all ready to display. An assortment of spring flowers might feature these blooms: tulips, daffodils, iris, pussy willow, daisies and lilies. Potted Hydrangea: This is another gorgeous spring potted plant. Hydrangea comes in pink, blue, purple and white. It symbolizes love, gratitude and enlightenment. Tulips Arranged in a Vase: The tulip is the quintessential flower of spring.They represent elegance and grace. Although tulips are beautiful, they are not long lasting. If they are stored in a fridge at night, it will increase their life expectancy. Tulips also bend towards the light. Mixed basket of bulbs: A mixed basket of bulbs holds many surprises and delights for those with a green thumb. Buy these with only a few blooms open and lots of buds remaining. A basket of bulbs may contain some of these blooms: crocus, tulips, iris, muscari, hyacinth and daffodils. Easter Balloon Bouquet: Perfect for the select few who don't like flowers or who are allergic to flowers. Also ideal for children and children at heart. Fruit & Treat Basket: Great for families who can share the fruit and treats. Chocolate Basket: Perfect for adults who will not be getting chocolate eggs from the Easter bunny. Fruit & Gourmet Basket: Ideal gift to send to an office or a group of grown ups. Often features cheese, crackers, apples, oranges, bananas, chocolate, cookies and jelly beans. If you are located in Timmins, Ontario and would like to send Easter flowers to your loved ones, call The Love Bug flowers at 705-365-7653. You can also visit: The Love Bug website to pick your gifts and to order online.

How And Why You Can Order The Best Quality Flowers For Your Wedding Via Your Local Florist

By Sophia Rodriguez

If you plan to make your own flowers for your wedding, you are going to want to know how to order the best quality flowers for your wedding.

You could do this through your local florist. This would be my recommended option for many reasons: peace of mind, freshness, variety and quality being at the top of the list. If you want to be sure to have the very best quality flowers for the best price, the best way is to pre-book your order with your local florist. Three months before the wedding is usually good but you can ask your florist for their preference.

Florist quality flowers are bred to be super hardy and at their prime. For comparison's sake let's take a look at the common daisy. A wild daisy is beautiful and very hardy in its own environment (the great outdoors). However, when you cut an outdoor daisy and bring it in, it will only last a couple days at best, sometimes just a few hours. The stem will be weak, not stand up straight and you will have a hard time using it in an arrangement or a bouquet where you have to stick it in floral foam without using wooden picks on every single stem. A florist daisy is strong, very hardy and, with proper care, can last up to 4 weeks! They are so much easier to work with, reliable and arrive at their peak. Plus, by ordering from your local florist, you can give her/him your exact list of what you need and be assured that you will obtain it all on a specific date.

When ordering through your local florist, make sure to let them know it's for your wedding or special event. Even though some say florists will charge you more for blooms if they know it's for a wedding, in my experience, when I know the flowers are for a wedding, I make sure to alert my supplier. The suppliers keep the prettiest blooms for weddings.

Tell your florist that you are making your own flowers and specify on what date you will need them. Some florists will try to discourage you from making your own and try to convince you to get them made by them but if you have your list ready, are very organized and confident, they will see you are serious, know what you are doing and will be glad to sell you the best possible blooms for your event, especially if you order well ahead of time.

With preparation, organization and an easy to follow how to guide, nothing can stop you and you will do fine. Many overworked florists will actually appreciate your initiative and will help you as best as they can. Of course, most florists will be glad to answer a few questions but the least trouble you are to them, the better deal they will give you.

Make sure to ask for the best possible price. Sometimes buying in full bunches, all in one color will save you lots of money. Roses come in bunches of 20-25. Daisies come in bunches of 5 but you have about 5 flower heads on each stem. Sunflowers are in bunches of 5; gerberas 10's; callas, 3's. Most other flowers come in bunches of 10's. As for baby's breath, a bunch has a lot of individual flower heads.

For a typical wedding (unless you are doing all your centerpieces with baby's breath), a bunch is more than you will need with extras for hair accents. Foliage such as leather fern come in bunches of 10-20 and tree fern (tikki), bunches of 10.

If you want to save lots by making your own flowers, make sure you do it right! Follow along with this excellent how to guide: Unleash Your Inner Florist
Written by a florist for the average creative woman: How To Make Wedding flowers
http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com
http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com

So Many Flowers! Which Should I Pick For My Wedding?

by Sophia Rodriguez

Do you get the feeling that there are so many flowers and so little time? Do you want to know which flowers you should choose for your wedding? To tell you the truth as a wedding florist, if you want your flowers to look modern, look fresh and stay alive from the beginning to the very end of your wedding day, there are not that many flower types to choose from.
However there is still a rich variety of possibilities from within these beautiful blooms.

Which look will you go for? First of all, you must ask yourself what type of person you are. Are you a country girl who loves the wildflowers look? Are you a classy lady who wants a distinguished look? Or do you want a totally traditional wedding including traditional bouquets and arrangements? Finally, are you a creative lady who loves color and loves to make a statement. If so, you will want a bouquet that really stands out.

Let me give you some possibilities of long lasting and beautiful flowers per personality type.

Country Girl

Daisies and poms. These come in many natural colors and many dyed colors. You will want to stay away from the dyed varieties unless you are using in a centerpiece since these can definitely stain white dresses! From daisies to spider mums to flat mums and button poms, these long lasting beauties come in natural white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, purple, lilac, brown and burgundy.

Other country type flowers ideal to include are larkspur, delphinium, hydrangeas, alstromeria lilies, any type of lily, gerberas, solidago as a filler along with all types of caspia, baby`s breath and statice. Sunflowers are perfect for country type weddings as well as roses of course. Ranunculus, lisianthus, freesias, stock, peonies, tulips...there are many flowers in the country style that would be perfect for the country bride, however it will depend on what time of year you are getting married in.

Classy Girl

Orchids are ideal for the classy girl. From Phalaenopsis Orchids to Cymbidium Orchids, dendrobium and vanda orchids, you can`t get much classier than an orchid. Base your theme around these and you have a definite winning flower on your side. These come in white, cream, pink, purple,yellow, red, orange and so you are sure to find one to match your theme.

Other classy flowers include roses, casablanca lilies, lisianthus is classy as well as the calla lily, one of the classiest flowers of them all. Available in many colors, this stunning flower will set the tone for your entire wedding.

Traditional Girl

Traditional blooms are hard to beat for a winning floral theme at a wedding. Roses are the most traditional of them all, the red rose symbolizing love is the utimate in romance. Combined with stephanotis and ivy, this could very well be the most traditional suited flower combination.

Other traditional blooms recommended for use in wedding bouquets include lilies, orchids and lisianthus plus mums and daisies will round out the list of traditional blooms.

Creative Girl

The creative girl will probably want to use colorful and tropical flowers to make her wedding flowers stand out, be noticed and appreciated. Orchids and roses top the list since they are available in all colors and can easily creative a bold statement. Try a mix of hot pink, lime green and pumpkin orange roses to turn heads. Other possibilities include pincushion proteas, other proteas, heliconium, ginger, birds of paradise and anthuriums. Some of these are too big for wedding bouquets but perfect for bold centerpieces and head table or church ceremony backdrop bouquets. And with all these types, don`t forget to pay attention to the greens you choose. A variety of foliage can create texture, add depth and add that organic look to any wedding bouquet.

Do you want the challenge and honor of making your own wedding flowers? Not sure if you can handle it? You can with the help and guidance of this book. If you want complete and inexpensive instructions on how to make your wedding flowers, get my book called Unleash Your Inner Florist. It will guide you every step of the way and make it look like a professional florist made your flowers. http://www.howtoweddingflowers.com
And if you are in Timmins, Ontario, contact http://www.thelovebug.ca

How to Find Flowers That Match Your Wedding Colors

By Sophia Rodriguez

Are you wondering how to find flowers that match your wedding colors? If so, this article will help you find the perfect blooms to coordinate with your wedding colors.

Many bride to be's wonder which flowers they should use to match their theme. If you have a navy theme, an ice blue theme, a chocolate brown and pink theme or a bright colors theme, which flowers should you use to match?

Whether you decide to make your flowers yourself or if you prefer to get them done by a florist, this article will attempt to answer these questions and more. Before going into individual colors and the flowers to match, I just want to give you a few tips on the choice of your wedding colors.

Make sure that the colors you choose go with the colors of your reception hall. For example, if all the chairs at your wedding are orange, you had better choose a bright floral theme for your wedding...or rent chair covers to make everything white and pure again to be able to choose a pastel or vintage theme. Usually, wedding colors and flowers reveal the bride's personality, as it should. Keep this in mind as you are selecting your colors.

Where will your wedding colors show up? In your dresses and flowers of course, plus in your linens, your tablecloths, your overlays. On the head table and guest tables, your color will be featured in your centerpieces plus in your accents if you use any such as rose petals, confetti or leaves. If you are using balloons, these should be color coded also, Other items that could be color coded are your flower girl basket, your ring bearer pillow and your pen and guest book. I'm probably even missing a few things but you get the idea..

.Your wedding colors make a Big difference in the overall look and feel of your wedding and will affect how people portray your wedding and perhaps even in how much they enjoy themselves at your wedding. OK, maybe I'm pushing it just a bit but I've been to a wedding where the colors were a dull puky green in combination with a bright red and it was just horrible. That's all i could think about the whole wedding...but then again maybe that's just me...I'm perhaps overly sensitive to color combinations!

Anyways, enough stressing you out over choosing your colors and here are some suggestions as to how to find flowers to match your wedding colors.

A Navy Blue Theme could be successfully paired with silver and other shades of blue and violet to create a vintage look. Flowers that could be used for you are hydrangeas, delphinium, bachelor's buttons, larkspur, lisianthus, roses, dyed dendrobium orchids, daisies, statice. My favorite is blue hydrangea in combination with cream roses and silver ribbon and metallic accents.

An Ice Blue Theme frosty winter theme goes well with silver, creams and whites. As for flowers to match, try light blue hydrangea, light blue delphinium, light blue bachelor's buttons in combination with white or cream roses, lilies, lisianthus and daisies. You could get light blue dyed daisies or mums for your centerpieces but avoid any dyed flower close to anything that could stain such as a dress or a suit.

A Chocolate Brown And Pink Theme could feature many beautiful flowers. Obviously there are way more pink flowers however a few standout flowers help with the brown part of this theme. Leonida roses have various shades of browns but there are also pure brown roses that you could include in this theme. Brown hypericum berries are ideal to add just an accent of brown amidst pink and cream flowers. You could use cream roses, white hydrangea, white lisianthus, pink roses, alstromeria lilies and gerberas. There is even a variety of gerbera that is now naturally grown in brown. This terra nigra gerbera is gorgeous and can be used in bouquets and centerpieces. Cream mini gerbera corsages with an accent of greens and hypericum berries would be beautiful. More pink flowers for you to choose from: peonies (available for a short period of time in spring), tulips, freesia, heather, ranunculus, mini carnations, carnations, gerberas and rice flowers.

A Bright And Colorful Theme
This is a fun one with many options. You could make it a tropical affair and include gorgeous tropical blooms such as orchids which come in many types and colors. Roses of course go well with any theme and come naturally in these fun colors: hot pink, bright orange and a natural green. You could also go with reds, yellows and oranges in your combining of wedding flowers and wedding roses. Other tropical beauties to include are gingers, birds of paradise, heliconium and pincushion proteas. Bright yellow daisies and lime green button mums also blend well with this bright assortment.

If you have questions about your wedding flowers that have not been answered here, visit my blog at http://www.howtoweddingflowers.blogspot.com

Make Wedding Flowers: My, How Times Have Changed, For The Better!

By Sophia Rodriguez
If you are looking to make your own wedding flowers, count your lucky stars that you live in this modern age of floral design. In the past, wedding florists had a very difficult life. They had to wire each flower individually! Every rose, every piece of foliage and every carnation had to be wired in order to compose wedding bouquets. All bouquets had to be made in vases or other containers and had to be pretty much self supporting. Can you imagine making floral arrangements, pew markers, bouquets and cake flowers with nothing but wire and tape on your side!

Luckily, in 1954, floral foam was invented! You know, those green blocks of water absorbing foam used for putting together floral arrangements. This invention has revolutionarized the way wedding flowers are made and made life much easier for the florists and for do it yourselfers like your who take the beauty of their wedding into their own hands. Not only does floral foam make life easier, it also keeps flowers fresher longer. For you, that means you can make your bouquets days in advance and still walk down the aisle with flowers that look like they were freshly picked.

Bouquet holders for fresh flowers come in many types now from straight handled holders for that modern look or slanted handle holders for the traditional look. Bouquet holders come in wet and dry foam; for fresh and artificial flowers respectively. Artificial or dry bouquet holders exist in Sahara foam for softer stems and Styrofoam for harder stems.

Making wedding flowers has never been easier due to the increasing availability of floral foam products available in most craft stores, superstores and online. From brick foam to bouquet holder foam to pew bouquet holders to floral spheres for flower girl topiaries and igloo foam for cake bouquets, there is a type of foam for every possible type of wedding floral décor. New kinds of foam are coming out all the time too...

Rainbow foam is now available for arrangements in clear containers so that you can color match the mechanics of your centerpieces with your flowers. Open heart floral foam exists so that you can insert the flowers you wish into the frame and than add in a picture of you and your groom at the center of the floral heart. The possibilities are endless and increasingly so! The more creative you are, the better you can utilize the wealth of floral foam available in today`s market.

Do you want to learn how to use your creativity in combination with the floral tools available in today`s modern age? Unleash your inner florist and learn how to make stunning wedding flowers just like the pros.

How To Wedding Flowers

If you want more information on how to make wedding flowers, click here: http://www.makeweddingflowers.com

The Most Expensive Flowers to Have in a Wedding

By Sophia Rodriguez

Are you curious about what are the most expensive flowers to have in a wedding? This article will list the priciest flowers used to create bridal bouquets and will give information about each of these lovely blooms.

Of course if you are getting married in a tropical location, this list will not apply to you. This list is relevant for North American weddings because that is what I'm familiar with, being a wedding florist in Ontario Canada.

1) Gardenias The gardenia is a delicate flower that is very susceptible to getting bruised and damaged in transit...therefore, it is very expensive. They smell amazing and are the classic ideal in traditional wedding blooms. Are they worth the trouble and the price?

That is a personal choice. Do they have a symbolic meaning for you or are you in love with their look and scent? If so, I say go for it. If you just think they are kind of pretty and it could easily be substituted with a rose or lisianthus, then never mind the extra cost for the gardenias.

2) Stephanotis In flower symbolism, the stephanotis means marital happiness. Stephanotis are tiny flowers that smell delicious as well. They grow on a vine and so they don't have individual stems. Because of this, each flower needs to be wired in a special stephanotis stems. You want to use this flower amidst other blooms for a modern look. In the olden days they used to make entire bouquets of stephanotis.

This is an artsy, statement bouquet but really not suitable for the average bride. Stephanotis are perfect amidst roses or hydrangeas. Adding jewels or other type of bling to your bouquet would complement the stephanotis well.

3)Orchids Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Vanda, Phalaenopsis and Cattleya Orchids, etc.. There is a wide variety of orchids to suit every bride's taste. These exotic blooms come in many colors and are long lasting so that they look good throughout the whole wedding day and night.

Orchids symbolize love, luxury, beauty and strength, therefore they are perfect in wedding bouquets, corsages and centerpieces if you can afford them.

4) Calla lilies You are either a calla lover or not. Those that love this flower, love it a lot, enough to base their wedding theme around it. This trumpet like flower is elegant, classic and majestic. It is said to symbolize purity and marriage.

Wedding bouquets composed with this flower showcase it exclusively. For example, 6 large callas with foliage and a bow makes a simple yet classy statement. You can also feature small callas in the guys boutonnieres and even on your wedding cake.

5) Casablanca Lilies Casablanca lilies are in the oriental lily family along with stargazer lilies. They are expensive but also gorgeous for those that are attracted to them. The look is simple and elegant and they make an elegant statement, however they do smell very strongly. Make sure the smell won't give you a headache since many people are sensitive to its strong odor.

Other expensive flowers worth noting are hydrangea although you get a lot of bang for your buck if using hydrangeas in centerpieces since they are huge. In a wedding bouquets, hydrangeas are pricey because they are time consuming to work with. They need to be wired individually in bunches since the full bloom is way too big to use as is in a bouquet.

The pincushion protea is expensive since it is a tropical beauty from South Africa. Ginger, heliconium and birds of paradise are also pricey but not really suitable for wedding bouquets. In tall bouquets to decorate the church or the hall, tall birds of paradise and ginger flowers would be phenomenal, however expensive they will be!

Lisianthus is another traditional wedding flowers that can be quite pricey unless you buy them in their peak summer growing season. Certain flowers are less expensive in their peak growing season but very pricey when out of season. For example, lily of the valley and peonies have a very brief period of being in season in the spring. After that short period of time, if you insist on wanting these blooms, it's going to cost you.

To reduce the cost of expensive wedding flowers, make your own bouquets, corsages and centerpieces

. For more valuable tips on which flowers to choose and how to make your own wedding flowers, check out my book: Unleash Your Inner Florist: How to Make Your Own Wedding and Special Event Flowers. Http://howtoweddingflowers.com