Happy 2017!

A look back on 2016

Just a few days into the New Year, and it is hard to believe that it has been over a year since the very first post here at Perennial Petals, when we opened the doors to Flower Design by Bridget here in Clearwater, FL!

So very much has happened in the last year, it is hard to imagine it all!  Over 1,800 amazing people have been following my shop on Twitter and Facebook, as the year has flown by!  

I met some wonderful people, and got to design some beautiful flowers for Baby Showers and got featured in Style Me Pretty for this beautiful Military Wedding I had the honor of designing the flowers for, along with all the special flowers I got to design all year long!  

My shop was featured as one of the cover stories for Creative Business Maven Magazine, and my daughter and I got to be cover girls! 

While every year has mountains and valleys, it is sometimes nice to look back and be happy about so many wonderful things that happened in just one year's time!

Here is to the future! Wishing you all a bright and happy New Year!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

How To Set A Beautiful Thanksgiving Table With Flowers

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The Holiday Season is almost here!  While this is always a very busy time for us, so there will still not be weekly blogs, I did want to post some holiday planning tips before it got too busy, so your tables can be beautiful and enjoyed by everyone!

Everyone knows the basics for a Thanksgiving Dinner table: turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and sweet potato pie, maybe spiced hot apple cider or a family recipe for roasted green beans or grandma's special macaroni and cheese!  But what about a beautiful, colorful centerpiece as a final, finishing touch to go with all of your hard work preparing such a wonderful feast?  Or if you are a guest, what about a table-ready design for your host or hostess instead of just store-bought plastic-wrapped flowers or a bottle of wine? (Tip: We actually make designs incorporating bottles of wine so you can have the best of both worlds!).

Centerpieces are always beautiful additions to any table, and simple or elegant flowers can be a beautiful touch to complement a beautifully prepared meal.  They are easy to make but with everything going on for the holidays, why not get a piece ready for the table, or have something custom-made for you? 

Grocery store flowers can be beautiful, but the stems need to be cut and the flowers need to be gotten into a vase.  Also, they are so tall they can end up interrupting conversation and being a distraction on the table, instead of adding to the beautiful setting everyone should be enjoying, not being annoyed by! 

Florists are specially trained to know what flowers will look the best in different designs, and can help to work out a custom piece to fit your table, and can even match the existing decor in your house (or in the house of the person you are visiting for Thanksgiving).  Not sure of the color scheme or the design of the room you are going to?  A good designer can work with you to put together a beautifully neutral Fall-themed piece that can be incorporated into any Thanksgiving table.

And, I really do make custom designs of flowers and wine, so your host's table can be set, and the guests can enjoy a glass while the turkey finishes roasting to a golden perfection!  No matter what, a Thanksgiving table holds a little extra special magic when there are beautiful flowers accenting the meal!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

'Tis (Almost!) The Season!

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I can't believe it is already Fall and with that the Holidays are right around the corner!!

With so much to prepare in a Flower Shop for the Holidays, the blog will be updated closer to the end of the year as we get ready for some very exciting things!

Stay tuned to the Flower Design By Bridget Facebook Page and Twitter and Google+ for latest news!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

Fall Foliage Decor Ideas

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Fall is a beautiful time of year and it is really simple to bring some of that beauty into your home for lovely seasonal decorations - bright reds and yellows and hues of orange with splashes of green and touches of gold can make for wonderful accent pieces and decorations.

The easiest is always to order fresh flowers for a centerpiece or to send as a gift.  The bright colors will be professionally selected and guaranteed. 

You can also find lots of ways to use items like pine cones, and if you live in an area where you are lucky enough to get fall foliage, you can always use what you have right outside!  Rinsing off colorful leaves from your yard, letting them dry and using them to accent a coffee table or bookshelf or dining table is one simple way!  You can also take small branches with a few leaves still on them and place them in a glass vase for a simple but beautiful pop of color in your home.

Small pumpkins and gourds start to go on sale this time of year as well.  As do things like walnuts and pecans.  There are tons of great craft ideas using these items.  Or you can keep it simple and just use the pumpkins and gourds as they are for simple accents.  Or you can place them on top of some of the leaves you collected earlier!  And a little bit of gold spray paint or even regular gold or bronze-colored paint can be used to give them a nice shimmer or glow.  If placing them on a table you can add some glass votive candles to add extra sparkle.

If you are like me, and you live in an area of the world where fall items exist only in retail stores, you can always check out places like a dollar store and pick up some nice fall-colored items to use in your own centerpieces.  You also can always add some fall-colored or scented candles.  Spices like cinnamon and apple and of course pumpkin are always nice!  

No matter what, you can always order flowers or other centerpieces to your liking and have something nice to enjoy the warm tones of Fall!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

How To Choose Which Flowers To Send

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Flowers are a popular gift - for a birthday, for a congratulations, for sympathy, to cheer up someone who isn't feeling well, to tell someone we love them, to thank them or any other number of reasons!

There are tons of options and lots of flowers can even mean different things, here are some simple tips for choosing the best type flower arrangement!

For birthdays, "thank you"s, congratulations or to cheer someone up. these are typically more bold, bright colors, often times with bows, in fun vases.  You can often ask your florist to add in things like a small gift or a balloon.  Most florists keep lots of optional floral containers in stock for all sorts of celebrations!  You can ask them to use flowers like bright gerber daises or yellow and pink roses, snap dragons or birds of paradise to send to someone you care about as an arrangement.  And some can make a cake shaped out of flowers!

For sympathy, these are usually softer colors, white roses, a peace lily plant, or orchids.  There are specific flowers you can send for various meanings for a funeral.  And as well, most florists can make a shape such as a heart or a cross or a star our of flowers to send at a time of loss.

Just remember that you know the person receiving the flowers better than your florist does!  Some people loves red roses, others prefer something more simple, like daises, or more rustic like tea roses and amaranths. A cake shaped of white roses might make one person's day while a bouquet of bright yellow tulips might be exactly what someone sick in bed all week needs for a smile.  And your florist can always let you know what is popular, if you need some direction.

Some people prefer cut flowers in a vase, others like to receive wrapped flowers and place them in their own vase at home, and some people prefer potted plants they can enjoy all year.

You can always flip through a website for ideas or set a budget, give some basic notes and let the designer make you something wonderful, or call your local florist and ask where to start!

No matter what, more flowers shared among people will always create more happiness in the world! 

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

10 Cute Animals Reminding Us Why Summertime Is The Best

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1. Because watermelon!

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2. Though staying cool is important!

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3. Just remember to be careful around swimming pools!

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4. Actually, staying cool can be fun too!

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5. It is a great time of year to start exercising 

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6. And again, watermelon...

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7. Did I mention ice cream?

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8.And don't forget all the outdoor sports!

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9. And farm fresh veggies are always on sale!

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10. And oh yes...watermelon!

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Have a great summer everyone!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!

Planning Your Wedding Flowers

Flowers by Flower Design by Bridget

As your wedding planning gets into the full throes of a cross between your dream, your mom's dream, and your budget, it is easy to lose sight of the things that really are important in the planning process.

The most important thing is always, above anything, that you are marrying your best friend and soulmate and get to spend the rest of your life with this person.  That itself is really what the focus should be on!

Beyond that, family drama, guest lists, who to have as a bride's maid and what style of dress to wear are all things that have their own list of solutions depending on your situation.

But choosing flowers is, wonderfully, quite simple!

If you have an idea of what style you would like, what colors you like or what types of flowers you like, that is always a great place to start.  But a good florist can also give you ideas and fill in the blanks if you are not a creative-type DIY bride.

Remember that different flowers grow in different parts of the world, in different growing conditions and are complex or simple to ship, depending on how easy they are to package and how long they can last after they are cut.  Blooms like an orchid take special packaging and only so many stems fit in a box, whereas roses actually ship over twice as many stems per package.

Deciding on a local flower with simple growing and shipping requirements usually allows for more blooms for your budget.

A more exotic flower usually has a heftier price tag and will limit how many blooms you can have when trying to stay within your price range.

There are ways to get around a higher priced flower eating up your whole budget - using lots of greens creatively, having a sleek, modern approach and using actual blooms sparingly, using decorative items for centerpieces and fresh flowers only for things like bouquets and boutonnieres, etc.  And you can always fill in some less expensive flowers that fit with your style in a way that keeps the whole design looking like a million dollars, even you didn't spend anything anywhere near that.

A good florist will be able to work with you, and with your budget, and can give you realistic expectations for the amount of flowers you can get within the budget you have set, and help you figure out how to best balance your dreams with reality.

Keep that in mind as you start looking into florists for your big day.  And remember that at Flower Design by Bridget our goal is customer satisfaction and bringing dreams to life.  So for your free consultation with us, balancing budget and dreams is the focus - followed by doing everything we can to bring your dreams to life!

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Bridget is the proud Owner of Flower Designs by Bridget, bringing European Certification and 20 years experience to Pinellas County, Florida, where she lives with her husband (Air Force, Ret.) and two children.  When she is not in her shop, you will find her enjoying a cup of Roiboos tea with her family and several cats and dogs (including one named Daisy).  While the holiday greens and decorations of December are her favorite, she looks forward to bringing you sunshine and smiles through flowers all year round!