Mompreneur Mondays- Gardening With Your Kids

From a very early on I have involved my children in gardening activities.  One of my proudest moments as a flower mama was when Matthew plucked a crunched up dry leaf off of an African Violet and wrinkled his nose at it.  He was about one and a half at the time.

It hasn’t always been easy doing garden work with my little ones, however I have noticed that one of the easiest way to get Matthew to snap out of a bad mood is to put him to work; carrying heavy buckets of dirt and watering cans, and digging around rocks.  Not only does it give him some exercise and tire him out, but it is a great way of distracting him from whatever put him in a bad mood in the first place.  I recently began a winter project planting tons of Echiveria/ Hens and Chicks, and involved him in the process.

For his first activity, I buried all of the plants under tons of potting soil.  I had him bring his Firetrucks along and dig and “rescue” the Hens and Chicks.  Once he did that, I showed him how to plant them and water and mist each one with misting bottles.  Have you ever seen a four year old or toddler with a mister or water gun?  It doesn’t get much better!

In the days that followed we had his mini bulldozers in the dirt, filling flower pots and vintage teacups for me.  Messy and dirty?  For sure!  But he absolutely LOVED it!  And we had beautiful potted plants to enjoy at the studio and at home!  Of course if you are going to try this type of activity with your own children you must supervise them, this isn’t an activity where you want to leave your kiddos to their own devices.

Since the Hens and Chicks were such a hit, we have now moved on to fresh herb gardens and are having tons of success with them as well.  Stay tuned for more reports on our progress and stories on how we are slowly getting Violet (our one year old) involved too!

  Here is a photo of one of our finished creations 🙂

That’s Fabulous Friday- Supporting the Locals, and Signs of Spring!

This has been one CRAZY week!  As you have probably noticed I already skipped a Way Back Wednesday blog entry.  What can I say, business is going really well for us these days, and I couldn’t be happier or feel more blessed!  Not only do we have so many beautiful weddings ahead of us, but some of you have become such good friends, that much like our couples of the past, you keep my work from actually feeling like work.  Thank you all so much!

The first most fabulous piece of news to report is that gluttonous displays of wealth, via floral designs, have become a thing of the past.  See ya later entire carpet of rose petals! It just seems inappropriate to fill large vases with fruit slices when so many families are struggling to even put food on the table these days.  Rather than opting for gigantic topiary balls stuffed with Roses on tall glass vases (that all end up in the dumpster), Hudson Valley couples seem to be requesting understated, but very elegant floral displays.  This new trend is carried out by  incorporating reusable rental items, recycled materials, and locally and domestically grown flowers, plants and produce.  Make no mistake, the weddings will be just as beautiful (and in many cases, just as pricey) as those with the towering candleabras.  However they will incorporate much more customized focal point tables, such as place card tables and bar areas.  And even better news is that our LOCAL economy will benefit from this trend!  We are currently looking into a way to recycle wedding flowers as per many of your requests, and will keep you posted once we have finalized this type of offering.  Hopefully by the end of this month.

The second piece of fabulous news this week is that spring may be arriving early!  Although we actually had snow yesterday and the day before,  I did notice some early signs of spring earlier in the week.  On one of my walks I saw some Crocus, and the Tulips are already emerging from the ground at my house!

There is plenty more fabulous news to come, but in order to keep reporting on it, I must get back to work!  Have a great weekend everyone!!

~Heather

 

Tips on Tuesday- Fragrance Should Also be a Consideration

It is so easy for brides to get caught up on the look and feel of bouquets and wedding flowers, and there certainly is no shortage of photos to browse through these days.  However I would encourage everyone planning a wedding to consider fragrance as well.  Sense of smell is said to be the strongest sense we have tied to our memories.  So although you may never forget how beautiful your wedding flowers looked, there is nothing like unexpectedly getting a whiff of a flower that may have been incorporated in your bouquet.  So many of my memories are tied to fragrance.  If I ever get a whiff of something that has a memory associated with it, I can almost immediately be taken back to that time.

Some of the most fragrant flowers I would suggest using for wedding work would be: Double Stock Flower, Lily of the Valley, Peonies,  Wax Flower, Sweet Peas, Stephanotis, and Gardenias, just to name a few.

Are any of you incorporating fragrant flowers into your wedding day in some way?  What is your fondest memory tied to scent?

~Heather

 

Mompreneur Mondays- Running a Business with Children Involved

With our production season quickly approaching you will notice these blogs will become shorter and shorter!  This week is all about weighing the pros and cons of keeping your little ones with you, as you work.  For me it is pretty easy for me to have my kids with me during my “off season”.  This time of year I pretty much live at my desk writing estimates, researching, and number crunching.  However there are still a few days out of the week that I do find I need to have my little ones in daycare, just so I can do my grown up work; such as have meetings and make phone calls that cannot be interrupted, etc.  I also feel that my kids benefit from socializing with other children for at least part of the time.

Production season is another story entirely.  I cannot possibly have my children, ages (four and one by the way) underfoot while I am working with glass vases and extremely perishable product.  Occasionally when we are having clean up days and waiting for flowers to arrive, I will have them with me, and I find they absolutely love it!  At least Matthew does (my four year old).  He really enjoys helping me plant flowers, and has been watering my plants and helping me pick up stems since he was two.  I think there are far worse things than having your children grow up learning a trade.

I know many wedding professionals and other Mompreneurs who run successful businesses with their children in tow, and I’m wondering, how do you all handle it?  Do you keep your children with you all the time?  Have them in daycare?  What works best for you?

That’s Fabulous! Friday- Babies, Stylistas, and Fashion Photogs!

What an amazing week it has been!  We are delighted to announce a few fabulous events that took place.

First of all congrats to one of our former couples, Sarah and Dennis on the news that a baby is on the way!!!!  Their adorable daughter, Abbey is about to become a big sister, and we could not be happier for them!  Congrats on the wonderful news you guys, and keep us posted!!!!

Our second dose of fabulous news comes to us from another former bride and friend, Nina Isabella (or as I know her, the girl with the prettiest sounding name ever!).  Nina is an amazing interior designer  who works primarily in NY and CA.  Some of her work was recently featured on Design Sponge!!!  We couldn’t be happier for her and know that she will continue to create amazing spaces!

Here is a link to her feature:

http://www.designsponge.com/2012/02/sneak-peek-trent-and-dara.html

And here is one to her ever inspiring blog:

http://ninaisabellablog.com/

Our third piece of amazingly fabulous news comes from our wonderful across the hall neighbor, Peter Demuth. Peter is a very talented photographer who was selected to photograph the premiere issue of Clotheshorse Magazine!  We are just delighted for him!  Here is that link:

http://www.clotheshorsemag.com/

And here is a link to his wonderful website:

http://www.peterdemuth.com/#/special/splash/peter-demuth-photography-hudson-valley-wedding-and-portrait-photographer/

And for all this good news all we can say is, “That’s Fabulous!”  Have a great weekend everyone!

~Heather

Mompreneur Monday- How I got here

Women have to harness their power – its absolutely true. It’s just learning not to take the first no. And if you can’t go straight ahead, you go around the corner. -Cher

I know many of you are considering becoming Mompreneurs, or starting your own businesses and I for one think there has never been a better time!  I would highly recommend creating your own job.  Here is my story (I’ve tried to keep it as brief as possible, since this is a blog and not a novel; I have to keep reminding myself of that).

After my son was born I began A Night in Bloom more out of necessity than for any other reason.  The gas prices and daycare costs barely made it worth it for me to leave my baby in the care of others.  I had attempted to return to my job as a designer at a flower shop (which I loved!), but bringing my colicky baby along with me was just not in the cards. Although everyone at work tried their very best to accommodate us, it just wasn’t a match.    Despite me working part-time on the weekends, money was really tight and there was no way Bryan and I could manage on just his salary along with the expenses that come with a new home and a new baby.

Fortunately I had tons of experience working for florists by this time, and I knew there was a market for more personalized service in wedding florals.  Every once in a while I would hear about a florist that specialized in event work only. I loved this idea.  I knew how labor intensive weddings were, and I knew many brides were really put off when in the middle of a consult meeting they would be put on hold so I could answer a phone call, or help the driver figure out where one of the delivery cards had disappeared to.  Or even worse, a family would come in to order funeral flowers in the middle of a wedding appointment.  In a nutshell, brides seemed to be feeling like they weren’t a priority of storefront flower shops anymore.

I recognized that these brides were in need of more personalized attention, and I developed a plan to start my own floral design business.  So I slowly began designing weddings from my home.  Although I didn’t have a beautiful storefront location to meet brides at, I used this to my advantage and offered to meet brides on location.  What could have been seen as a real problem was actually an advantage, and I began getting more and more calls.  Daycare was certainly not an option in those days , so I tried my best to schedule all of my work around Matthew’s naps and worked many, many late nights.  (I will be offering lots of tips on how to work around your kids schedules in later posts).

The first few years were a struggle, and then the year finally arrived where I began working nonstop.  I had events booked for just about every weekend of the wedding season.   Around the same time I learned I was expecting baby # 2, in October of all months!!!  It was quite the year.  Although I did slow down long enough for my stay in the hospital and to get acquainted with my darling daughter, Violet, I still continued to work.  In fact I managed to book so many weddings for 2011, that I realized I was out of room for many of them in my home.  Which led me to a big decision…I was going to have to find some space outside of my home.  Which I did.  Thanks to this decision, my family and business have never been better!

I encourage everyone out there who may be considering this type of venture to go for it! Please stay tuned for more posts from Mompreneur Land on Mondays.