Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Hoping 2014 brings all your wishes together or at least a little closer.

I'm looking forward to working with so many fabulous suppliers this coming year and to designing displays for some awesome couples. 2014 is already looking like a super busy year, starting with wedding fayre season kicking off on 12th January. (More of this next week).
Keep your eye out for some fantastic deals coming soon.

Enjoy yourselves tonight, enjoy the celebrations but please be careful.

Take care and see you next year xx

Press coverage

My first press/web coverage from my #SBS win last Monday, has it really been a week?

Click here to see it

Thanks to The Florist for adding me in their latest news and features

Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday

On Monday I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of Theo Paphitis' small business Sunday winners. This is an initiative set up by Theo on Twitter that runs weekly. Small business Sunday or #SBS was started by Theo in October 2010. He asks small businesses to tweet about their business between 5 pm and 7.30 pm on a Sunday using the #SBS hash tag. He then chooses 6 winners that catch his eye to re-tweet to his 400,000 followers giving a massive boost to the chosen businesses. The benefits are inclusion on Theo's Small business Sunday web page, increased followers, media appearances and hopefully increased sales.

I have already had a jump in followers on Twitter and an increase of hits on my web page. I also hope to generate some publicity from this in the local press.

The Oaklands Hotel, Grimsby

Following on from the church service was the wedding breakfast at The Oaklands Hotel, Grimsby.
The top table display was split into 3 separate designs. A larger middle arrangement with two similar but smaller designs at either end.

The flowers were of a similar content to the brides bouquet with germini, freesia, viburnum, bupleurum and white stallion chrysants with a mix of foliage.

 The guest tables each had a medium fish bowl with ivory germini and bear grass with an ivory candle and clear crystal stones in the base.

I also dressed the table with tea lights in small glass holders and clear table crystals.

Each of the ladies chairs was dressed with an added germini with diamante in the chair bow.











The whole room all ready and waiting the arrival of the bride and groom.











I love receiving emails like this a week after the wedding.

Hi Sandra

Thank you so much. The flowers were absolutely stunning and are still going strong now!

It's been a pleasure having you do the flowers for the wedding.

Hayley (April 2013)

St Giles Church Scartho

This wedding service took part in St Giles Church Scartho.

The pew ends were simple bunches of ivory germinis with bupleurum and china grass loops tied together with an ivory bow.

 As this is only a small church the bride decided to have all the pews decorated.

 We also added two windowsill arrangements in the same mix of flowers as the brides bouquet.

At the entrance to the church stood two bay trees to greet the guests. These were decorated with ivory roses and ribbons.

T

Ivory and green wedding flowers

This may be a little later than promised but here is the first wedding of 2013.
A lovely spring colour combination of ivory and green. The main flowers were germini with other spring flowers.

 The brides bouquet consisted of ivory germini, freesia and hyacinths with green viburnum, bupleurum and loops of china grass. A light collar of salal was added with the stems bound in ivory ribbon with green shoestring ribbon criss-crossed around diamante pins.

 The 3 bridesmaids carried a similar bouquet of mainly germini, freesia, bupleurum and china grass. Diamante pins were added to the centres of the germinis and the stems were bound with the same ribbon as the bridal bouquet.

 The little flower girl carried a silver heart wand with a single germini and china grass loops.

 The guys were each given a single germini with china grass loops as buttonholes.

The mums wore a similar design but one was a lapel corsage (above) and the other a wrist corsage (below)
These were of the same flower content as the brides bouquet.

The lonely poinsettia

The first of the poinsettias was abandoned today, at Swanholme/Hartsholme area of Lincoln. I have had a notification of someone spotting him but no notice anyone has given him a home. If you have found him please let me know either directly on here or on The Lonely Poinsettia web page or click here
More will be abandoned next week, stay tuned.

Queen of Wedding Flowers

I was thrilled to win 'Queen of' on Twitter on 29th November and can now proudly say I am Queen of wedding Flowers.
These awards were started in the UK Jubilee year to celebrate fantastic women in British business by Dylan Moore of Aqua Design Group and I received this award through Dylan's Twitter accounts @AquaDesignGroup and @ADG_IQ.

The Lonely Poinsettia

As it's Christmas I thought I would join in the fun campaign of The Lonely Poinsettia.

Over the next few days I will be leaving some of these gorgeous little plants as gifts in some unexpected places (not saying where). If you are in the Lincoln/Gainsborough area do keep your eye out for these little plants, they don't like being cold so will need to be adopted and taken home and warmed fairly quickly. (If it snows this will be delayed until it warms up).
There is NO catch to this, if you find one it is yours to keep or give as a gift, all I ask is you comment on here, on Facebook or on The Lonely Bouquet web page here as I would like to know where they ended up.

Customer Service Workshop

Today I have been on a workshop that was based on customer service but that in the end has given me lots of ideas to move my business forward.
This was a taster freebie from Rachel who genuinely gave her time to a small group of us to see if her strategies could help improve our all round customer service. To see more about Rachel and what she does click here.
We discussed customer service in large brands and small and how we hope to be treated and what we expect as consumers ourselves. Then we moved on to how we interact with our clients and ultimately how we could improve. Rachel talked us through some simple ideas that can achieve fantastic results and I would recommend her course for anyone who deals with customers.
I feel overall, I hope, that my customer service skills are good, after all I did get 9.864 out of 10 from the brides who voted for me in the recent awards (see here for full scores), but there is still room for improvement. There is always room for improvement!

Look out for some new ideas and more interaction in the future. If anyone has any questions on any part of floristry, be it wedding designs, seasonality of flowers, tools of the trade etc please post below.

Wedding flowers

Starting next week I will be posting real weddings from this year. They will be in order from the beginning of the year. So keep an eye out if you're looking for inspiration for your own wedding flowers, starting with some lovely spring flowers as well as this fresh ivory and green themed wedding.
Lots of different venues will also be featured along with some of the areas churches.

Christmas Wreaths

Now available, Christmas spruce wreaths. Other colours are available. Suitable for hanging on your door, porch or gate. Two sizes available, 10" or 12". These are made on a moss base.

If you prefer I also have these 14" Foam backed wreaths of holly, spruce and eucalyptus with Christmas decorations and cones. Other colours are available.
Also available from next week wreaths and crosses for in remembrance of your loved ones. These can also be personalized with names or sentiments.

Please order early to avoid disappointment. Deliveries can be booked right up to Christmas eve.
To order either click here or telephone me direct on 07748095431.

Urns for table centres

NEW IN

Small urns in black and bright pink. These lovely urns are tall enough that any display is taken off the table, giving more of an effect when you walk in, but low enough that the design won't be a hindrance to your guests as they chat over their meal.
 May be hired with or without flowers. Local delivery can be arranged.

Crystal gem chimney candelabras

These gorgeous 100 cm candelabras are now available to hire. The crystal gem chimneys sparkle when lit adding more glow to the night time proceedings.
Hire either with or without flowers and they come with small church candles as standard. LED candles are available at an additional cost, for those venues that won't allow real ones. Please remember to check suitability of candles with your venue.
Delivery and collection to local venues can be arranged, ask for details.

The 2014 Wedding Industry Awards certificate

My certificate to say I am one of the best wedding florists in the East Midlands.

Thank you once again to all my couples who voted, your comments and scores make it all worthwhile. XX

Wedding Industry Awards

The results are out!

Unfortunately I didn't win the regional final but I am still honored to have been chosen as a regional finalist, the only florist from Lincolnshire to do so. This was all achieved by my lovely brides voting for me, so I thank them all.
Yesterday afternoon was spent reading all the lovely comments left by my brides which really make these awards for me. My job, after all, is to produce designs which brides have trusted me to deliver and judging by the comments I manage to do that.

Below are the scores, out of 10, which I was awarded for various questions. The first score is my average from all voters and the second is the regions average.

Ability of your florist to understand, interpret and realise your vision and ideas.: 9.909: 9.893
Variety of different designs and ideas in your florist's portfolio.                                                            (where 0 is poor and 10 is excellent).: 9.818: 9.642
Quality of expertise, advice and guidance received from your florist.: 9.909: 9.907
Quality of customer service and communication received from your florist.: 9.864: 9.842
Quality of your florist's web presence (web site, facebook etc).: 9.7: 9.483
Quality of the flowers on your wedding day.: 9.955: 9.97
Value for money.: 9.909: 9.737

As you can see, the scores are really high and I managed to achieve above average in most of the sections. I only dipped slightly on Quality of flowers, but at 9.955 out of 10 I don't think that's a bad score.

Crystal gem fishbowls

 NEW IN

Crystal gem fishbowls are now available to hire. They look great on their own as a table centerpiece

 and even better when a small candle is lit inside.

LED candles are also available for venues where real candles are not allowed. Mirror plates will also add extra sparkle, get in touch for details.

Christmas door wreaths

Now available to order for local delivery. Whether you are an early Christmas decorator or leave it all until a few days before, get your orders in to guarantee delivery. Other colours are available, please ask for details.

Smaller holly wreaths are also available for graves.

Local delivery is for Lincoln and Gainsborough and all villages round about.

Crystal Candelabras for Hire

NEW to HIRE

These gorgeous candelabras are soon to be in stock. I will have 10 in stock for next weekend. Hire them as they are or with added flowers.

Get in touch for more information

The 2014 Wedding Industry Awards

Tonight I am delighted to announce I am a Regional Finalist in The 2014 Wedding Industry Awards.
The award, at this stage, is judged completely by the vote scores of the couples who I have provided wedding flowers for, so a HUGE honour.

The next stage will be judged by experts in the appropriate sector and be based, partly, on comments left by the same couples who have voted.

I will let you know how I get on later this month x

New Web Page

I have been working hard behind the scenes and finally I have upgraded my web page and it is now online. Updated with new photos from many of this years weddings and the testimonials many brides have left. Please take a look at www.sandrasflowerstudio.co.uk 

Now that has been done I am hopefully going to have time to devote to this blog. I hope to start from the beginning of this year with the weddings in some form of order. So if your looking for inspiration for your spring wedding, keep an eye out as there were some fabulous ones this year, like this one

There is also a new and improved page for ordering gift and funeral flowers online through my web shop on Direct2Florist. There is no excuse, you can order flowers for local delivery at any time of day or night.

Belton House wedding fayre

Thank you to all all the lovely brides, grooms and mums I spoke to yesterday. It is always fascinating to hear your ideas on making this special day truly your own. There were plenty of different and fun ideas out there and if you are only at the very start of your wedding planning, as many were, take all the ideas in and enjoy the ride. Please sign up to my newsletter too as I will be sending out once a month handy tips on choosing items of the flowery nature. I won't bombard you with stuff I promise!!

Belton House is a stunning country house where you can get married in the marble hall (Click here) or for the larger wedding a marquee on the lawn (Click here)

Wedding Industry Awards

I have entered The Wedding Industry Awards again this year. Two years ago I was thrilled to be shortlisted in the East Midlands region and am hoping to at least match this feat if not surpass it. This will be extremely difficult as I am up against last years overall National winner! I am therefore asking for all my lovely brides and grooms who have had me design their flowers since 1st November 2012 until 31st October 2013 (you can only vote after your wedding date)if you would all be so kind as to vote. You should all be receiving an email with a link, but if you don't please get in touch as I may not have your current email address.
Last night I went to the first regional get together of suppliers that the awards are putting on and met some lovely folk who I would be more than happy to recommend. I also got to have a lengthy chat with Damien, the organiser of the awards (along with his wife) who explained how they hope to see the awards evolve and how they are trying really hard to make it as fair for the small businesses as for the larger ones.
These are one of the better industry awards, as I see it, as only couples who have commissioned suppliers and have first hand knowledge of the products can vote and it is not all about how many clicks or web friends you have.

To vote for me you can click on the link below, but please remember you can only vote if you were married between 1st November 2012 and 31st October 2013.


The wedding Industry Awards Vote for Sandra's Flower Studio

NEW: Order Flowers Online

New.

As from today you may order flowers to be delivered on line. At the top of the page on the right hand side is a 'Order flowers online' tab. Please click this link and it will open, in another window, my page on the Direct 2 Florist flower delivery system.
My page is full of my designs, with one or two library photos, that you may order to be made up and delivered locally by me. There is a small fee taken by D2F for processing but the rest of the value goes to your flowers, no third party commission as some relay companies do.
You may also if you prefer take a look on line and then ring me direct to, A) save you the service charge and B) speak to me so I tailor make your design for you.

If you are looking for flowers for further afield, click 'home' (top of the page) and there is an postcode finder. If you enter the recipients postcode it will take you to the closest few florists to this and then you get the choice of florist and flowers.

Daily thoughts

Are we all enjoying this wonderful weather? What a lovely week to be able to potter about setting up storage space and deciding where all my lovely stock needs to live.
I am still working hard though, collecting a few items for one of my brides for this weekend from one of my many trusted suppliers and wading through consults and quotes as well as delivering gift bouquets.

Gift basket

Once sorted I shall be posting about my new studio but for now it is in no fit state for public approval. Why when you unpack do you feel you have more stuff than you started with?

Funeral tributes

Today has been my first full day of solely being self employed. All the planning has finally come in to force. While it has been ages and at some points I never thought it would happen, here I am, sat on my own in my studio with only me to bring in the work........scary!
On the other hand I have had a really good day with funeral tributes (pictured) and some gift work to deliver and my first funeral consult at a clients home.

5ft Coffin Spray

 

My main specialality is wedding and event designs but I am more than happy to create funeral pieces both traditional and modern. I will deliver to all local, both Lincoln and Gainsborough, funeral directors and in some cases wil be able to travel further afield.

I will soon have a web page up and running for ordering online or you can ring me and speak direct.