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On this particular September wedding day, the misty weather presented some logistical challenges for the bride and groom.
The ceremony that had been planned for a beautiful garden had to be moved indoors on short notice. A ballroom had to be transformed into a beautiful garden setting, complete with an arch and flower-festooned aisle.
As they say, into every life some rain must fall. And it was a good reminder that weather is one variable that no one controls, no matter how good of a wedding planner he or she is.
If you want an outdoor wedding, it’s best to have a Plan B just in case. We all know how variable the weather can be in Ohio, after all.
A number of years ago, the Farmers’ Almanac solicited submissions for its “Worst Wedding Weather Contest.” After Texas and Florida, Ohio tied Pennsylvania and Indiana for the most submissions.
Couples from those states “have experienced the soggiest, snowiest, windiest, most hurricane-hampered and hail-ridden wedding weather,” according to the Farmers’ Almanac.
MANY FACTORS TO CONSIDER
So what should you consider when it comes to creating that Plan B for your outdoor wedding? There are many factors, none more important than the safety and well-being of the wedding couple and their guests.
An article from about.com wedding expert Nina Callaway offers “10 tips for the perfect outdoor wedding.”
Of course, we’re pretty protective of the flowers, too.
We were on hand for that misty September wedding mentioned above. Being a perishable product, flowers require a tender touch. While do-it-yourself can be tempting when it comes to flowers (and other aspects of a wedding), it’s also comforting when a professional is on hand, in good weather and bad.
A florist will ensure that your flowers look their beautiful best. Unlike the weather, this is an aspect of your wedding that you can control.
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Connells Maple Lee Kids Club celebrates start of new school year with free event Aug. 22
Before they go back to school, they can go back to the Connells Maple Lee Kids Club.
We’ll celebrate the start of a new school year with a free kids club event Aug. 22 in each of our stores.
Children ages 5 to 12 will have an opportunity to create an arrangement adorned with a “back-to-school” stick-in. Participants also will receive a free balloon.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Registration is required by calling your nearest Connells Maple Lee store.
Connells Maple Lee Kids Club event June 20 to kick off annual ‘Stems Hunger’ food drive
Our annual food drive – Connells Maple Lee Stems Hunger – will take place June 20-27 to benefit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.
Connells Maple Lee Kids Club will help out with a special event on June 20 for children ages 5 to 12.
They are asked to donate a non-perishable food item as the price of admission and to bring an empty food can to fill with flowers and take home.
Participants also will have an opportunity to enter the kids club’s birthday card design contest and to create a Father’s Day card.
Time slots are available at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Registration is required by calling the nearest Connells Maple Lee: 2408 E. Main St. (Route 40), Bexley, 614-237-8653; 2033 Stringtown Road, Grove City, 614-539-4000; and 8573 Owenfield Drive, Powell, 740-548-4082.
Connells Maple Lee Kids Club spring reading list
Every November, Connells Maple Lee holds a weeklong children’s-book drive to benefit area public libraries. To encourage the reading habit, we include a reading list in each quarterly issue of our Connells Maple Lee Kids Club newsletter, Buds.
Many baby animals arrive in spring, which is the focus of our latest reading list:
“Little White Rabbit” by Kevin Henkes
This story about a bunny exploring a garden in the springtime is a perfect read-aloud.
“Smick!” by Doreen Cronin
Can a big dog be friends with a little chick? Find out in the newest book by the author of “Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type.”
“Animal Babies” by Harry McNaught
Readers will learn the names of 20 different baby animals in this beautifully illustrated classic.
“Deep in the Swamp” by Donna M. Bateman
This counting book features animal families that live in the Okefenokee Swamp.
“I Hatched!” by Jill Esbaum
A baby killdeer chick pecks its way out of its shell and discovers a wondrous world.
“Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White
Older children will love reading about a baby pig who starts out as the runt of the litter but grows up to become friends with a savvy spider.
The Connells Maple Lee Kids Club is free to children ages 5 to 12. Membership benefits include a membership card, Web site activities, giveaways, contests, member-only events and the Buds newsletter. Click here to register.
To get the best value, buy from a local florist instead of a wire service
There are lots of statistics out there about the economic benefits of buying local. When you buy from locally owned stores, the money stays in your community and puts your neighbors to work.
It’s true whether you spend your money at a local restaurant, hardware store or florist.
Speaking of flowers, buying directly from a local florist rather than through a national wire service such as FTD (which last year bought ProFlowers) or Teleflora can put money back in your pocket, too.
That’s because the wire services are middlemen, adding another layer of charges that consumers pay for without realizing any added value in return. The wire services are marketing companies that hand orders over to local florists, who make the arrangements and deliver them to your home or office.
CNN Money, in a story timed to Valentine’s Day 2013, noted how FTD had advertised a glass vase with roses and mini-carnations for $44.99. However, to send that arrangement to Reno, Nev., FTD’s service charge bumped to price to $65.
By comparison, that same arrangement ordered directly from a Reno florist: $53.
“If all orders came in this way, our business would not be sustainable,” the florist said.
Of course, this begs the question of why they stick with the wire services if florists have trouble making money on incoming orders.
Greg Royer, president and CEO of Connells Maple Lee, said that FTD and Teleflora are generally well regarded; they have been in business since 1910 and 1934, respectively.
“We also want to be able to send orders to other florists, so accepting orders via the wire services is only fair play,” he said.
However, he noted that from a consumer perspective, it’s a better deal to work with a local florist. You’ll be dealing with the same people who are going to arrange and deliver your flowers.
And you’ll avoid the added fees associated with the wire services.
Connells Maple Lee Kids club announces 2015 event schedule
Another new year of fun, free Connells Maple Lee Kids Club events is upon us.
The kids club is open to children ages 5 to 12, with the events held in each of our stores, usually at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
The 2015 schedule
- Jan. 17: There are many more weeks of winter to come, but we’re turning our attention to spring.
- March 14: Our Easter event is just a hop, skip and jump away.
- June 20: Help us kick off our annual food drive, “Connells Maple Lee Stems Hunger,” and enter our kids club birthday card design contest.
- Aug. 22: Summer vacation is coming to an end, so we’re going to help ease you back to school.
- Oct. 31: It’s Halloween, so be sure to wear your costume as we celebrate the holiday and kick off our annual “Bouquets for Books” children’s book drive to benefit area public libraries.
Kids club registration is free and may be completed by clicking here or by visiting any of our stores. Membership benefits include a membership card, website activities, an e-mail newsletter, giveaways, contests, and, of course, our events.
The making of our fall catalog
Our 40-page fall catalog arrived in tens of thousands of mailboxes in October. (If you didn’t receive one, you can pick up a copy at any of our stores.)
With each of our catalogs, we change approximately 20 percent of the product lineup. Ultimately, it’s our customers who determine which arrangements stay in the lineup over the long haul.
How an arrangement makes it into the menu is an exhaustive process. It’s a long way from auditioning for a role to walking the red carpet, in other words.
Weak-selling arrangements are removed, or they are redesigned to give them a more current look. Sometimes an arrangement is discontinued because its container is no longer available.
Once we know how many items are being removed, we begin developing the new items. Inspiration comes from visiting other florists; from walking through gift trade shows in Atlanta and Dallas; from visiting container suppliers to spot trends in colors and styles.
Some of the ideas come from previous holiday selections. If a Mother’s Day item sells out early, for instance, we know there is strong customer demand for it, and it could get into the lineup.
Flower growers are part of the process, too, as we constantly seek out new suppliers. They must be able to provide premium product on a consistent basis. Currently, we are testing flowers from Ethiopia.
In late May, a small team pulls together new containers, flowers and ideas in order to develop new arrangement concepts.
Value engineered
Once we have the concepts, a team of designers turns them into actual arrangements, collaborating on some items or coming up with their own interpretations on others.
We buy flowers in all varieties and colors to keep our lineup fresh and interesting for our customers and designers alike. We also want flowers that we know will be available for at least a year.
With the arrangements made, the original group reconvenes in June/July to make final selections.
The arrangements are “value engineered” to give the best value to our customers. Perhaps better-priced flowers or containers can be used without upsetting the integrity of the designs.
Finally, the approved arrangements are professionally photographed for inclusion in the catalog.
And now it’s in the hands of our customers, who will vote with their pocketbooks and ultimately determine which arrangements stay in our lineup.
7 ways to say you’re sorry – and many other free quotations and expressions
The Greek mathematician Archimedes said that with a long-enough lever and a fulcrum, he could move the world.
That’s a pretty lofty goal. What if you are just searching for the right words to accompany the flowers that you’re sending to a loved one?
Connells Maple Lee’s website offers more than 200 quotations and expressions to help you say what needs to be said. They cover everything from anniversaries and birthdays to love and marriage, business and education to sympathy and thank you.
For instance, here are seven ways to say you’re sorry:
1. “Accept these flowers in place of the words I said.”
2. “I wouldn`t have made a mistake with my mouth shut.”
3. “I’m wrong – you’re right.”
4. “I muffed it! I`m so sorry!”
5. “I’ll never forgive myself … but I’m hoping you will. I’m sorry.”
6. “I may not be perfect, but my apology is close.”
7. “Will these keys let me out of the doghouse? I’m sorry.”
Feel free to pick one or cobble together your own creation from these suggestions.
We can’t promise that your words will move the world, but they will be a really nice complement to the flowers you send.
A thorny problem is solved by our annual May-June rose sale
“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”
― Maud Hart Lovelace, author
Indeed, June is National Rose Month, which coincides conveniently with the fact that roses are abundant this time of year.
That abundance explains why Connells Maple Lee has its rose sale every June.
As everyone knows, roses, especially red ones, are in great demand at Valentine’s Day. Hence, prices go up for florists and customers alike. Even then, however, the law of supply and demand comes into play.
There’s considerably less demand for yellow and orange and white roses, which become more affordable for us and, in turn, for our customers. This Valentine’s Day, we offered a “rainbow” mixed-rose (colors other than red) arrangement with babies breath, valued at $59.99, for $39.99.
A rose farm typically harvests its crop every six to eight weeks. Conveniently after the Valentine’s Day harvest comes the one for Mother’s Day. But while there’s another big crop of roses in late spring, there is not a corresponding holiday to absorb all of those flowers.
So we created our annual rose sale, which this year started May 17 and runs through June 22. We discount rose arrangements by $10 for one dozen and by $20 for two dozen, among other offers.
Yes, in June the world smells of roses.
There’s also the whiff of our annual rose sale in the air.
We’ll walk down the aisle with you on your wedding day
Talk about a night at the museum. Instead of historical figures coming to life, this is a story about a would-be florist providing flowers for a wedding at a museum.
She left the flowers overnight in the museum’s old refrigerator – and they were frozen solid the morning of the wedding.
Not only are we familiar with this story, we lived it. At least the part where the woman came to us in a panic, and we made all-new bouquets, corsages and boutonnières in time for the nuptials.
It certainly wasn’t the first time we repaired or made new bouquets on short notice for a bride who bought her flowers elsewhere and was disappointed. Nor is it the only way that we can help to make a wedding day a little more special.
Wedding packages
We’ve been fortunate to provide flowers to many big weddings, but the typical expenditure for wedding flowers is between $400 and $1,000. We also offer affordable wedding packages.
Typically, we deliver two hours before a wedding to make sure that everything is where it should be.
Wedding service
We also offer a wedding service – for a fee, in some cases – that arrives an hour prior to the exchange of vows and stays until the bride has walked through the door and down the aisle.
A trained wedding consultant helps everyone with their flowers – and brings along a toolbox to help with just about any other need that might arise:
• Such as the time that the flower girl gave an enthusiastic hug to the bride, who was left with a nice bright lipstick stain in the middle of the gown. No problem. Our consultant pulled out her stain stick and removed the blemish.
• Or the time that the bride’s gown zipper ripped just before the wedding. Our consultant reached for her needle and thread.
• And the icing on the cake with all of this? It was the time that our consultant helped to ice the wedding cake moments before the reception.