Friday, April 26, 2013

Real Weddings: Nicole and Billy

Have you ever had this experience? You meet a client for the first time, totally hit it off, hug at the end of the meeting and wish you could be instant friends with them? That’s exactly how I felt when I met Nicole. Right off the bat, she let me know that her wedding was just about 6 weeks away and she had planned not to have flowers because she couldn’t come to terms with buying traditionally grown flowers that have been shipped from thousands of miles away. When our mutual friend Irene told her about LoCoFlo, she was so excited to find out that local flowers were an option in March.

Nicole was marrying a sweet, Irishman on St. Patrick’s day weekend. Her colors were green and white – with lots of texture and interest thrown in.

The bride was stunning!  (I’m a little teary just looking at the pictures!)

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Her bouquet was filled with locally grown tulips, ranunculus, stock, early hellebores, paper whites, boxwood, mini pussy willow and succulents. It looked awesome and smelled glorious!

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The boutonnieres were cool with little succulents, ranunculus buds, boxwood and mini-pussy willow.

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The wedding took place in the beautiful Vollmer Center at Cylburn Arboretum. It was a beautiful spot for this late winter wedding.

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Thanks to our growers-who tirelessly grown in the winter-despite the struggle with weather and heating greenhouse! Special thanks to Farmhouse Flowers, Lynn Vale Studios, Seaberry Farm and Plant Masters.

We’re so grateful to wonderful photographers like Heidi Roland Photography who make our work look great! Check her out on facebook too!! To see more photos from Nicole and Billy’s wedding, you can check out our flickr site.

Congratulations to Nicole and Billy! Wishing them much love and happiness in the future!

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spring Design Class at Local Color Flowers

On Sunday, we hosted our first design class in our new space! It was so much fun to have folks in the shop getting their hands on flowers!

We started out with snacks picked up from the Sunday market including pastries from Chez G and Infused Spreads, treats from the Mallow Bar and the most wonderful salted caramel brownies EVER- from Charm City Cook.

After snacks, I gave a brief over view of some design techniques that we use here at LoCoFlo. We usually start with a base-branches, foliage, herbs etc. Then we go to our focal flowers-our WOW flowers. Then finally-all the other bits and pieces the help an arrangement move. We talked a little about color palettes, orientation and scale. Then-I introduced the flowers. This week we had crabapple, sand cherry, wild mustard, red bud, lilies, tulips (in all different shapes and sizes), daffodils, anemones, gerbers, ranunculus and curly willow.

Class is in session!

Of course we talked about the awesome local farms that contributed flowers to our class that day (Farmhouse Flowers, Plant Masters, Lynn Vale Studios, Locust Point Flowers, Belvedere Farm and the brand new Castillo Flower Farm).

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Once everyone picked their flowers-the creative magic began! Everyone made gorgeous spring arrangements in a variety of color palettes.  The arrangements turned out so beautiful!

Here are a couple examples!

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Carling even took a little video!

We’re definitely looking forward to more classes in the future! Keep an eye out for a schedule of upcoming classes and events.  We hope to see you soon!

Monday, April 22, 2013

VINE!

A couple weeks ago, Eric told us about VINE. When he described it, it sounded…less than interesting. A six second video that loops around and around indefinitely as you watch. WHY?

Then I started watching VINE videos. It’s amazing how effective a 6 second video can be in telling a story, making you laugh or showing you something incredible.

So, we signed up! On Friday, LoCoFlo started making VINE videos. We actually had a ton of fun making them.

Our first video showed Carling making a kale arrangement for Kale A Rama.

Our second video showed Irene making her version of the kale arrangements.

VINE is easy and fun – so check it out. Be sure to LIKE Local Color Flowers on VINE and check out our other videos!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Just Like I Imagined

For years, I imagined LoCoFlo having a home of it’s own where we could have plenty of fabulous space to work. I day dreamed about space to have consultations and pop-up markets and open houses and design classes.

Well, this weekend, it was just like I imagined. Friday, Carling, Irene, Laura Beth and I worked on a variety of fun projects including 2 weddings, arrangements for Kale A Rama, Lululemon, Apothecary Wellness and…the BGE guy (yes-the bge guy came to read the meter and ordered flowers to take home at the end of the day!).

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(thanks to our friends at Balance Photography for photos of our kale arrangements!)

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Saturday, we opened up the garage door while the Waverly Market was in full swing and sold herb and succulent gardens.

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We also chit chatted with lots of friends and neighbors who stopped by to see what was inside “that green striped building”.

Finally today, we hosted our first design class in our new space! It was so much fun welcoming folks in to try their hand at floral design.

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All of the arrangements turned out so beautifully! Here’s one example of a finished arrangement.

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Spending the weekend working is pretty awesome when this is the kind of work you get to do!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Real Weddings: Tiffany and Gretchen (and family)

Tiffany and Gretchen were married in an intimate ceremony at the Elm in Hampden on the first Saturday in Spring. What a beautiful way to celebrate the season of new beginnings.

When I met with Tiffany and Gretchen and their adorable kids for the first time, their love for each other and their family was clearly evident. They spoke emotionally about how excited that they were to be getting married (again) –but this time- legally.

It was a beautiful early spring day for a wedding and the brides were glowing.

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The couple’s daughters were decked out in adorable dresses with little posies of locally grown hellebores, ranunculus and ferns.

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The couple’s son was too cute for words as the ring bearer. Check out his tiny boutonniere made from locally grown boxwood and a tiny, white anemone.

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I’m so grateful that Tiffany and Gretchen chose Local Color Flowers to be a small part of their special day.

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Thanks to Farmhouse Flowers and Lynn Vale Studios for these beautiful, locally grown flowers.

Special thanks to Monica Lopossay for these amazing photos that perfectly capture the joy felt at this wedding.

Congratulations to Tiffany and Gretchen! Wishing you and your family much happiness in the future!!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Spring Is In the Air at Local Color Flowers

As the temperatures hit 80 yesterday, the LoCoFlo team was busy at the studio and out in the community.

At the studio, we hosted Urban Farmhouse for their second pop-up market. Clients and other gardeners came to to pick up seeds, seed starts and soil amenities for their spring gardens. LoCoFlo got on the band wagon and sold locally grown cut flowers and branches by the stem. You could see it on people’s faces and hear it in their voices-they were excited spring had finally arrived. Folks loved the instant gratification that flowers gave them while also being totally psyched about the promise of a summer garden.

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While Eric sold flowers, Carling, Irene and I headed down to Fells Point to the Bella Bridesmaid open house. We were excited that the ladies from Lemon and Lime Event Design invited us to be part of this great event. Carling made some great bouquets for folks to “try on” with their dresses. We also made a sweet centerpiece to give away as a raffle prize.

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The open house was great fun with cocktails, sweet treats and loads of gorgeous dresses to try on. Carling and Irene tried several on for fun and looked AWESOME! (thanks to the amazing Maria Linz Photography for these great photos of our flowers!)

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After a long Maryland winter, it was great to be working with the doors open, visiting with friends and sharing local flowers. Happy Spring!

The Difference a Small Business Can Make

With our taxes done, and the first quarter of 2013 over, I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the impact our little, local, business had on the world last year. I’m not talking about all the people we made happy with local flowers (we did that too!!), but this is about our FINANCIAL impact on our community. We all know the top 10  reasons to buy local, but the impact of buying local is real-and pretty amazing.

Last year was our 5th year in business. It was our busiest year yet and we brought in more revenue than ever before (still not a TON, but good for us!).

Here’s how Local Color Flowers spent it’s income last year.

Local Growers: The largest part of our budget last year went to local growers.  38% of the money spent in 2012 went to paying  17 growers for flowers, foliage, succulents, herbs and more.  We’re excited to to increase that number this year.

Locally Owned Businesses: 37% of our money spent went to locally owned businesses. Many of these were small businesses that provided construction services for our new building. Other small business we patronized included the Baltimore Food Co-Op, Zekes Coffee, Atwaters, Grand Cru, the Dogwood, Eddies, Lucy and Amelia, Second Chance and of course the Evergreen Café (my office for the past 4 1/2 years).

Local Designers: As we expanded, our local designer pool expanded. We worked with 7 amazing designers in 2012 and we paid them 13% of the money we spent last year.

Things We Need to Work On: 12% of the money we spent last year went to “miscellaneous stuff”. Most of this category was filled up with purchases at places like Home Depot for supplies for the space, Pennock for floral supplies and Michaels/Joann’s for ribbon and crafty crap. We’ll continue to shop local for these types of products when we can.

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As we start or 21013 season, we’re excited to continue contributing to our local economy.  Investing in local business  and local workers is what helps our community grow. We’re looking forward to continuing to do our part.