The Flower Blog

Vintage is the latest buzzword in the Indianapolis bridal industry! I have met with dozens of brides this spring and summer who are getting married using a vintage theme.
These young ladies are following in the footsteps of their grandmothers, modeling vintage from head to toe! From Birdcage (net) veils, dainty hats and feathers to gorgeous gowns (often tea length) trimmed or overlaid in elegant lace, these brides are vintage
chic!

What type of flower bouquet would be appropriate for the vintage theme wedding? A round, clutch style bouquet, of course! Large flowers work best; fewer stems for less
bulk, but dramatic effect! Flowers of choice are garden roses, peonies, anemones, dahlias, cattleya or phalaenopsis orchids and gardenias. Vintage does not mean that you have to relinquish the right to your own personal style, however. Consider adding a splash of color or some “bling” to make your special day your own, without sacrificing the theme that you have established. To complete the look, add feathers, broaches, rhinestone pins, pearls, an heirloom handkerchief or heirloom wedding bands into the bouquet. These accents can give a stylish twist for the vintage chic bride of today.

Plan your Vintage Wedding today! Click below to contact our wedding Specialist!

My sister and I are attending a workshop on advanced design techniques for wedding flowers. One of the common themes that I have noticed in wedding trends this year is the Boomerang effect of designs. Simply put, a design or style of the past is coming into fashion again. For those of you with parachute pants, I would not put them on quite yet, but who knows? Those pants could be the next big thing… again!

First of all, I should probably explain what a Glamillia is! A Glamillia is made from multiple florets of gladiolus, which are carefully pulled apart and repositioned within a composite style bouquet. The end result is a unique looking, single bloom effect. The name is derived from the camellia, which is a large-headed, single bloom flower.

The idea of composite style bouquets is not new. As a matter of fact, Glamillia bouquets were widely carried by brides in the 1960’s. Recently, I have noticed many brides are choosing to wear vintage wedding gowns on their wedding day. When the demand for vintage gowns increases, so does the demand for vintage style bridal bouquets. To that end, we designed a composite calla lily bouquet for a wedding last month (with the added effect of a rose and jeweled accents).

Composite type bouquets can be made of roses, tulips, gladiolus and calla lilies. The end result is a simple, yet elegant bouquet (or corsage) that is both stunning and (re) trend setting!

Father’s Day is this Sunday and millions of children out there are scrambling to find Dad the perfect gift. Studies have shown that the Necktie is the most popular gift choice for Father’s Day. Don’t you think Dad has enough neckties? Don’t just get Dad something different this year, get him something he will never forget!

We make several bouquets with keepsake containers with Dad in mind. Year after year we get calls from customers who send Dad one of these keepsake arrangements and we always get rave reviews! Customers order these bouquets year after year because they say “He talks about that bouquet all the time!” So, really Wow him this year with a mini Jeep filled with flowers, a Ford Truck filled with plants or a Weber Grill filled with candy!

If you don’t see a keepsake container that Dad will go crazy for, Check out our Terrariums! What is A Terrarium? A terrarium is a miniature indoor landscape with living plants that are perfect for people who want to decorate their office or home with house plants but don’t have a lot of space and time to care for them. These mini gardens are easy to maintain and a popular gift for men!

If Dad isn’t much of a plant man, maybe you should check out our Gift Baskets! We have a wide selection of baskets that can include anything from Gourmet food, Fruit, Junk food snack to candy! Our Junk Food baskets are popular for Father’s Day, probably because they have everything you shouldn’t eat!

To get some other great ideas, check out our Father’s Day video!

Gillespie Florists is open 12 hours daily Monday-Friday from 7am -7pm (we’re open on Saturday and Sunday too, just shorter hours). There’s a lot that can happen in a day and here’s the synopsis of a typical day here at the shop.

6:45am - 7:00am: Duane and Nancy come in to open the store. Nancy will start filling orders for plants, planters and Terrariums. When needed, she also designs beautiful corsages and dish gardens. Duane begins his day filling fresh flower orders.  Both Nancy and Duane will help customers as needed until the Customer Care staff arrives. Many customers stop in on their way to work, so the first hour of the day can be pretty exciting! Several days a week, Sarah is at the local wholesalers buying flowers during this hour.

8:00am - 9:00am: Two drivers, Debbie, Sarah and Sheila come in. The “Delivery Pool” driver loads up the morning deliveries for outlying areas and drives to a central location downtown, where he/she will meet with 30 other drivers in an industrial type building. The “Local” driver loads up the morning deliveries that have destinations that are nearby. Debbie, a member of the Customer Care team, will answer phones and assist walk-in customers.  Between customers and phone calls, she wraps “sunshine” bouquets (our very popular $3.95 take-out bouquet). All staff members will assist customers and answer phones when needed. Sarah, the Operations Manager, is responsible for ordering flowers from around the world, processing orders in the Order Control Department, routing deliveries/drivers, coordinating weddings and special events! Generally in this hour, you will find her in Order Control, processing and distributing orders to the design team. Sheila will design extra flower arrangements or help Duane with orders.

10:00am - 11:00am: Jacklyn and Della arrive. Jacklyn assists in the Customer Care and design departments.  Della is the “Web” Administrator and works on product development (to get new products to our website), write blogs, attend to our social media presence, work on PPC marketing and traditional marketing. Della is also the giftware buyer! Both delivery drivers are returning from their morning routes in the latter half of this hour. The drivers begin loading their afternoon deliveries and they will process new flower shipments, time permitting.

12:00pm: This is a crucial time of our day. Our “Pool” truck leaves at 12:30 and all orders for the greater metropolitan area must be ready to go with this driver. You will find everyone assisting customers, designing, processing flowers or loading a delivery vehicle during this hour. At 12:30-1:00, we begin rotating lunch breaks!

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Lunchtime!  Everyone gets a chance to catch their breath and a bite before the afternoon rush.  Duane, Elaine, Nancy and Sheila are working on orders for the next day and making extra bouquets. If Duane has weddings to work on for the weekend, this is the time of day he would get started on them.  Debbie, Jacklyn, Sarah and Della are all hard at work with the daily tasks assigned to them.

3:00pm - 4:00pm: Sarah and Nancy leave between 3-4pm. Before leaving she makes sure we are all on task and all orders have been processed. Our delivery drivers are usually finishing up deliveries in the latter half of this hour. As the drivers return, they will check to see if there are any additional deliveries to be made, check to see if there  flowers that need processed and assist the designers with clean-up before leaving for the day.

5:00pm - 600pm: Duane usually leaves around 5pm but is always happy to stay longer if needed! Sheila leaves between 6-7pm. Business also picks up for the 5 o’clock rush because customers stop by on their way home from work. This is my favorite time of day because most flower shops are closed and customers are pleasantly surprised to see us open!

7:00pm-7:30pm: We close at 7pm (sometimes later, if we have orders to finish or customers to assist). Jacklyn, Sheila and I get the drawers balanced, finish cleaning up and go home!

There you have it! 12 hours in the life of Gillespie Florists!

Check out our latest video of what we have in stock in our cooler below!

Top 5 Bestsellers for Prom 2012

The Prom season is officially over for us here at Gillespie Florists and I like to print product analysis reports to see what we sold more or less of to help me order supplies for next year's Proms. While doing this I thought, "why not share with everyone our best sellers?"


5. Three Alstroemeria Corsage - GFP7

In fifth place is the Alstroemeria Corsage! Alstroemeria lilies are not well known for being a popular corsage flower but here at Gillespie’s we use them quite a bit. We love using them in conjunction with other flowers; customers also usually like them by themselves. The corsage pictured here is the base priced Prom alstroemeria corsage on our free wristlet. Many customers chose to add on an upgraded keepsake wristlet. Alstroemeria lilies come in dozens of colors, which makes it easy for us to make the perfect match to your dress!


4. Three Mini Carnations & Two Sweetheart Rose Corsage - GFP5

In fourth place is the Three Mini Carnations & Two Sweetheart Rose Corsage! This is a combination of some of our most popular corsage flowers; no wonder this corsage is in the Top 5! Roses and Carnations come in a wide variety of colors therefore matching to your dress will be a breeze! This corsage works really well with multicolored dresses because of vast opportunities to mix colors.
The corsage pictured here is the base priced Prom alstroemeria corsage on our free wristlet. Many customers chose to add on an upgraded keepsake wristlet as well.

3. Dendrobium Orchid Corsage - Flower Bombe - 12PN06

In Third place is the Dendrobium Orchid Corsage! I think this one is popular because the classic Mother’s Day corsage is the cymbidium orchid corsage. although the cymbidiums are far too big for most teens taste, girls still want to emulate their Moms by wearing a similar type of flower. Dendrobium Orchids come in a limited colors but are still very versatile; thanks to new dyeing techniques the number of available colors is increasing!
If we cannot match your dress with the color of orchid, we can use white dendrobiums and match your dress with ribbons, leaves, beads, tulle and rhinestones instead! The corsage pictured here shows a keepsake wristlet, item #GFPBC!

2. Three Mini Carnation Corsage - Bauble On - 11PN12

In second place is the Three Mini Carnation Corsage! This corsage is so popular because of the versatility of colors! Carnations not only come in lots of colors but they also tip very well. Tipping is when we take a paint and tip the edges of a flower with it. Tipping can be harmful to some flowers but carnations tend to hold up pretty well with it! I believe carnations are so popular because they hardy enough to survive a night of dancing!
The corsage pictured here shows a keepsake wristlet, item #GFPAM

1. Three Sweetheart Rose Corsage - BoHo - 10PN24

In first place is the Three Sweetheart Rose corsage! Roses will always be a favorite among teens! Prom corsages are sometimes the very first flowers they will give or receive. Teenagers may act like they don’t pay attention to Mom or Dad but they do! They see Dad getting Mom roses for their anniversary or special occasions so the first flower that comes to mind is of course, roses! The great thing about roses is they are coming in more and more colors every year and that makes it very easy to match or compliment your dress! The corsage pictured here shows a keepsake wristlet!


We sell keepsake bracelets with our corsages about 40% of the time! Here’s a quick look at our Top 5 Bestselling
bracelets!

5. Triple Threat Bracelet - Dazzle - GFPAX
4.  Diamond & Pearl Bracelet - Sugarplum - GFPAZ
3.   Sophisticated Lady Wristlet - GFPAH
2.  Cream Pearl w/ Rhinestones - GFPBG
1.  Dancing Butterfly Bracelet - Midnight - GFPBD

Our Top Selling keepsake boutonniere holder this year was:

Silver Boutonniere Holder - GFPJ

The great thing about our prom corsages is that there are thousand of combinations! We have over 100 ribbon choices, dozens of leaf, bead and tulle choices! We of dozens of keepsake bracelets to put your corsage on and most importantly we have hundreds of flower combinations! Best of all, don't see what you need? Just ask! We would love to help you get the perfect corsage for the perfect night!

See the perfect corsage on our site and want to share it with your friends or your date? There's an easy Facebook and Twitter button on each product!

Check out our Prom Corsages and Boutonnieres by clicking below!

Watch the video below to see our designer favorites for 2012!

Last year, We at Gillespie Florists thought it would be fun to have a Prom King & Queen Contest! So, We held it again this year and it was a hit! Prom customers only needed to post their picture on our Facebook Fan Page wearing our flowers! We then asked our Facebook fans to "Like" their favorite picture or make a positive comment about it to determine the winner. We had several people enter but there can be only one winner!

And the Winner is...

The Results are in! Our Prom King & Queen for 2012 is....

Kelli Huffman & Tim Oconnor!

Kelli  & Tim each get a $25.00 gift card to Gillespie Florists and Kelli will be crowned with a tiara and flowers!

They had a whopping 68 "Likes" and comments on their photo! Congratulations!!

Kelli wore a three-sweetheart rose corsage similar to the one pictured here. Leah's was pink, black & silver and looked great with Tim's matching sweetheart rose boutonniere!


As a Thank You to everyone who entered the contest, we want to offer you a free Sunshine Bouquet! Just stop in the store any time, give us your name and we will give you your Sunshine!

Those Contestants are:

Meredith Warbinton & Quinn
MacKenzie McKnight and Christian Ewoldt
Allyssa Ashcraft & Sergey Dawson
Madison Raine Fines & her date
Brenda Danielle & Nick
Taylor Purcell & her date
Hannah Todd and her date
Carly Thomas & her date
Holly Wood & Griffin Goldman
Debbie Trowbridge
Glenda Pierce Sluss

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest! Until next year!

For the second year in a row we asked Prom customers to post a snapshot of themselves wearing Gillespie Florists flowers on our Facebook Fan Page to get the chance to be crowned the Gillespie Florists Prom King & Queen! Voting is today and tomorrow!

Here is what our Prom King & Queen Hopefuls had to do:
·  Take a snapshot wearing Gillespie's Flowers.
·  Post it on our Wall.
·  Tag everyone in the picture.
·  Gillespie’s adds the picture to "Prom King & Queen Contest Album".
·  Then they ask friends and family to "Like" their photo or make a positive comment on the photo.
·  One week after the end of Prom Season, we will tally up the "Likes" and Comments and whoever has the most wins!

What do they win?
The Queen will be crowned with a tiara, flowers and both King and Queen will be awarded with $25.00 Gift Cards to Gillespie Florists!  And don't forget, Bragging Rights!

Want to help decide who wins?

Click Here to go to the "Prom King & Queen Contest Album" and “Like” your favorite Now!

Winners will be announced on Facebook May 26st!

Check out our Fabulous selection of Prom Flowers!

Every year on Memorial Day weekend, my Mom and Dad drive to Greenfield, IN to visit the gravesites of my mother's parents and grandparents. My parents decorate the grave sites with permanent botanical flower saddles, designed in the favorite colors and flowers of our deceased relatives. When I was young, my siblings and I would make the journey with our parents. At the time, I didn’t understand the significance of the gesture, but I do now...

For our family, Memorial Day is a time to gather together to reflect and share wonderful memories of our loved ones who have passed away. We meet at our Aunt and Uncle's house in Greenfield and we travel to the cemetery together. After we place the saddles on the graves, we go back to their house and we have a big cookout. While the children play in the backyard, the adults share stories and count our blessings.

You might think that this would be a sober occasion, but it’s not! We laugh until we cry, enjoy the company of others and relive the great memories!

This holiday weekend, get your family together and remember your loved ones... Enjoy your family!

Something you may not know about Memorial day is that it was originally Decoration Day and originated from the American Civil War.