Bride's Magazine gave us a national "shout out" for a bouquet inspired by a wedding we did last fall for a wedding at The Sanctuary. Click on the pic for a closer look. It's in the current issue (May/June 2009), where they featured "Inspired by Sea Shells" as a theme. Our bride wanted an all sea shell bouquet, which we were happy to design. I featured it in an earlier blog ( I think if you type "Sea Shell" in this blog's search box it pops right up). She loved it and somehow the photo got on the internet.

Bride's Magazine found it, and called us to see if we could re-create it and ship it to them. We were real busy, but when Bride's calls, you don't refuse. Each shell is hand selected, cleaned, glued to a heavy gauge wire, then arranged. The mechanics aren't difficult, just time consuming. Each shell takes about 5 minutes, and there were over 150 shells in the bouquet so you can figure out the design time. Also, you'd be surprised how few shells make the quality cut. We went through at least a thousand shells to find these. Some were too small, cracked, too big, or just too plain.

So we were working on it, when Bride's call back to say they needed it a week earlier due to a change in the shooting schedule. We put three folks on it and finished it that afternoon. At the last minute we added a seashell arm bouquet I had been kicking around in mind. It was made of larger shells presented in a palmetto tree frond husk. I loved it but I was the only one in the shop who did. Oh well. We shipped it to Manhattan overnight Fed Ex, and waited. There was no guarantee they were even going to use it, so all we could do was hope they liked it.

About a week later, Bride's called and said it was perfect, but they needed more Spanish Moss overnighted to them. I guess it got kicked around a little in shipping and a couple small gaps developed. We grabbed a couple handfuls of moss, stuffed it into a legal size envelope and shipped it. It cost $49 to ship $2 worth of moss! That was a bummer. I mean we could have called a florist in Manhattan and had it delivered for much less. Live and learn.

We didn't know it made the magazine until we started getting emails from folks around the country wanting more info on it. Three brides wanted us to make and ship it them, but we recommended they use a local florist due to the shipping damage that might occur. Funny, those bride's weren't near the coast at all. I really liked the seashell boutonniere in the photo next to our pic. We create those too, but Rosenow Floral got it just right.

So that was a fun experience. Last week while waiting at the grocery check-out line I picked up a copy of the magazine, flipped it to page 154 and felt like a big shot. Until my kids starting arguing over a pack of gum. Then I just felt like a regular guy again.

Labels: beachside, bridal bouquet, Bride's magazine, kiawah, seashell bouquet, the sanctuary, wedding arch, weddings

Clara's been busy teaching Floral Design Classes by request for special groups. Lately she presented for the Seabrook Island Garden Club and Wine Savvy Women. Both groups had a blast, as Clara wowed 'em with early spring arrangements. The classes are a way for us to show our stuff, meet new people, and feel like a rock star.

Here's a little irony for you. Before we started Tiger Lily, Clara took a floral design class at our local technical college. No credits or anything, just an evening "fun" class taught by a local florist. She had never made a single arrangement before then, and didn't even know the names of the flowers. She enjoyed the lessons, and took a picture of her very first arrangement. She was so proud of it she put the photo on our home refrigerator for all to see. Alas, the instructor wasn't too impressed and told Clara to "stick to her day job." He shouldn't have said that. It was kind of like when Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. There was going to be a reckoning.

So 14 years later, Clara now owns the largest florist in South Carolina, voted the City's Best for a decade and won Charleston's Business of the Year award. She's been in Southern Living, televison, radio and all that. She also teaches the class that started her on the floral path. So there.

Actually, Clara and our staff teach 4 classes throughout the week for Trident Technical College. The classes are Floral Design I, Floral Design II, Wedding Design and Sympathy Designs. All are sold out every session, and people always call trying to sneak in. Several florists send their designers to the class for training. We also hold the special classes for various organizations.

Honestly, we get as much out of the classes as the students. After a long day of designing and processing flowers, consultations and ringing phones, we're often exhausted. We may have just finished processing 500 roses, making 40 centerpieces and and a bunch of large event focal arrangements. We're wiped out. At 6pm the students roll in all stoked about flowers they see, it reminds us what a great job we have. We know it's the highlight of their day, and we feed off of that and get re-energized too. All good stuff.

Once in a while our staff will come across the photo of Clara's first arrangement. The design is way out of date and there were some serious flaws with it. It would never leave the shop now. We'll smirk and poke fun out of it to her. She's still proud of it though, and we're proud of her.

Labels: classes, design class, floral design classes, Seabrook Island Garden Club, teaching, Trident Technical College, Wine Savvy Women