White Roses

By Peter Clark

 Wedding flowers are one of the essential parts of a wedding, and silk wedding flowers are a great way to make sure you have great flowers at your wedding without breaking your budget. Why would you buy silk wedding flowers instead of real ones?

Of course the head always says real flowers. It’s traditional, it’s real, real flowers are the only wedding flowers that will do it. Silk wedding flowers are, well, artificial.

However when the head stops ruling and reality starts to be heard, there are some very good reasons to use silk wedding flowers.

Why would you choose to buy silk wedding flowers rather than traditional real flowers? Here’s 6 reasons why.

1. Lets get one thing straight. Silk wedding flowers look just as good as real flowers. There is an impression that silk flowers look a little tacky, just a little bit cheap and poor quality.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern silk flowers look exactly like the real thing. A viewer cannot tell the difference between silk flowers and real ones when looking at them unless they either feel them or subject them to serious scrutiny.

2. Unlike real flowers, silk wedding flowers don’t wilt. They don’t have petals falling off from time to time and they don’t sag. Silk flowers look as good at the end of the wedding as they do at the start of the wedding. You can’t say that for real flowers.

3. And whilst real flowers are pretty much finished a few days after the wedding, a bride can keep her silk wedding flowers for years if she wishes to preserve the memory of her wedding day.

4. Real wedding flowers are very expensive. If you haven’t shopped for flowers yet just have a look at the price of real wedding flowers and you’ll be surprised at how expensive they can be. Silk flowers, on the other hand, can be extremely cost competitive. Particularly if you buy them in the right place.

Because unlike real wedding flowers you can buy silk wedding flowers online. Yes, you can ORDER real flowers online, but if they come from too far away they won’t be looking so great after delivery. With silk flowers, on the other hand, you can order online and get your silk flowers extremely cheaply, and they won’t come to you all damaged and wilting.

5. It’s possible to have the exact flowers you want, in the right colors, regardless of the season. With real flowers you’re a little dictated to by the season. If the flower you want isn’t in season, or the color isn’t in season, you’re stuck. But with silk flowers you’ve got a complete choice of flowers regardless of the season.

6. Silk flowers retain value. Now of course you may want to keep them as I’ve suggested, however many don’t. If you don’t want to keep your flowers you throw them out, if they’re real ones. They’ve usually had it. But silk flowers keep indefinitely, and can be resold.

Convinced? Silk wedding flowers are the way of the future.

Want to know where to buy Budget Silk Wedding Flowers? Visit Peter’s Website Budget Silk Wedding Flowers and find cheap flower girls baskets too at http://whiteflowerdesign.com/Flowers-Petals-and-Garlands/budget-flower-girl-baskets

Ten Important Things to Know When Ordering Funeral Flowers
By Ava Rose

 If you need to order sympathy flowers and want to make sure you get the best flowers at the right price then read these ten insider tips.

1. If there is a service at a funeral home it is most common to send flowers to the funeral home for the viewings and you should try and get the flowers delivered for the first viewing as their may only be 2 viewings.

2. It is acceptable& customary to send funeral flowers, Plants or Fruit & Gourmet Baskets to the funeral home

3. If you are sending flowers to a residence do not send funeral flowers such as a funeral spray or a cross or a funeral basket. Funeral arrangements are typically one side and designed to be placed against a wall not suitable for a residence. Instead it is traditional to send white flowers in a vase to a residence or a plant.

4. If the family is Jewish and the family is sitting Shiva you should send a Shiva basket which is basically a fruit & gourmet basket that should be kosher unless you know it does not matter. You can also send a green plant but you should not send flowers or blooming plants.

5. Funeral flower arrangements are typically one sided as they are placed against the wall rather than in the center of a table. Funeral flowers that go to the funeral home are generally large and showy. Pieces like crosses, hearts and large funeral sprays can cost hundreds of dollars. Even though you found something to send for forty dollars you need to consider that your arrangement will be placed next to all the others and many people will spend more. I would send no less then a fifty dollar arrangement to a funeral home. This would be for plants and floral arrangement.

6. The card message is personal but some ideas are ‘our thoughts and prayers are with you’ or ‘with deepest sympathy’. It is also typical not to address the card specifically to anyone as the funeral director will collect all the cards and give them to the family. When you send a sympathy piece the card should clearly indicate who is sending the flowers (last name and or company name if appropriate) as it can be confusing to the family during a stressful time. You should also put your address on the card to make it easier for the family when they send out thank you cards.

7. If you are placing a banner on the piece it should state your relationship to the deceased. Customary banners are ‘beloved Mother’, ‘Dearest Friend’ etc. Many times a florist does not offer this as it is not something that they charge for and it costs them money. It will make the sympathy flowers you are sending look special so you should consider if it is appropriate for you.

8. When you send flowers to a funeral home the family generally does not take them home. If you want the family to have something for their home it would more likely occur and be more convenient if you sent the flowers to the home directly.

9. If you contact a funeral home that is trying to sell flowers you should politely say no thanks. Many of the mom and pop funeral homes have been purchased by a just a couple very large companies . These companies maintain the local name but they operate very differently. The funeral directors working for the funeral homes get commissions on flowers that are sold, the funeral home also keeps some of your money as commission on your flower order instead of it going into the sympathy flowers. Worse yet the funeral home employees don’t know anything about flowers, what is in season or in stock so you are paying a premium for lousy service.

10. Beware of websites pretending to be funeral homes, or websites acting like funeral home guides that are selling flowers. These sites are not associated with the funeral homes they pretend to be and I would not recommend dealing with them.

Ava Rose is the professional FTD Florist that was raised in a flower shop. Ava seeks to share some of her vast floral related experience with everyone. Ava will give you the inside information so you can order flowers like an old pro.

Your Online Source To The Meaning Of White Roses

Retail Florist Flower Buying Coop Saves Money
By Ava Rose

 Retail florists are aware that consumers have a variety of choices and can buy flowers from many places. Then brick and mortar florist has lost business and made lower profits as a result of orders being taken by companies that get commission or people simply shopping elsewhere. Rising fuel costs have also added to the misery and despite the downward pressure on retail price points the floral wholesalers have raised prices to retail florists. Companies like FTD that FedEx flowers to retailers are not doing florists any favors as their costs are high also. Flowers are not a staple and discretionary products in these economic times become more of a luxury.

That is it for the bad news. The good news is that florists have been paying roughly twice as much for fresh cut flowers because they buy them from floral wholesalers. How is this good news? Well, you can join or create a coop of retail florists and dramatically cut your fresh cut flower costs by more then half. Local florists can then offer customers much more product for the same price while at the same time reduce costs and become more profitable by attracting additional customers. A retail flower coop is very effective.

Buying flowers direct is very easy to do, the issue is that when you buy the flowers direct they are consolidated (dropped off) in Miami Fl and the flowers need to get to the the local flower shop. Wholesalers do buy direct, consolidate in Miami and truck the flowers in bulk to their wholesale store and then distribute it to the retail florist. The key for a local florist is to get the product trucked to their location.

By forming retail florist coops with a group of several local florists you are able to buy flowers in bulk and get them trucked to one of the shops. Some of the large flower trucking companies try to stop this by protecting the wholesalers but you can usually find plenty of trucking options or in the alternative simply create a wholesale florist company for the coop.

The first reaction from a florist when they hear this is no way, it is too hard to do, it cant be true that I can pay half as much and it must be another sales pitch. When florists try it out they then say I cant believe how much money I have saved and how much money I have wasted in the past. The retail florist coop is gaining in popularity and the wholesalers are not happy.

Start or join a retail florist coop in your area today and start saving.

New City Florist has led one of the most successful flower buying coops in the nation. They work with local NY/NJ flower shops in Rockland County, Orange County, Westchester County and Bergen County to buy wholesale flowers. To find out more check out the flower blogflower blog

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