The Flower Blog

My Top Five Prom Corsages

We have had two weekends of Proms and are coming up on three more! I get asked all the time what is my favorite prom corsage. I don’t have just one favorite because Gillespie’s has so many! But I think I can narrow it down to five.

5. Pink Ice

This corsage has a unique bracelet that has rhinestones cascading down the hand! To help hold the rhinestones in place is a small adjustable ring that goes on your middle finger. We added light pink sweetheart roses, sheer metallic silver ribbon, metallic silver leaves and rhinestone sprays.

4.  Couture

Couture is a breath-taker! This prom corsage has a rhinestone “belt” bracelet with white Mini Callas, sweetheart roses, sheer silver ribbon, strands of rhinestones, rhinestone sprays, diamond like pins, glass & rhinestone picks, black lazer leaves and black feathers! We could not have fit anything more into this wrist corsage is we tried!

2. Pandora

This was my absolute favorite corsage last year and for good reason! This corsage has the perfect combination of colors and offers diversity with its accents. I have tons of girls model their corsage after this one! Pandora is designed on a rhinestone and silver flash bracelet, has orange sweetheart roses, feathers, purple flash ribbon, green ribbon, lazer leaves and spiraled wire.

1. Sugar Skulls

Prom is about dressing up in your dream dress, getting your dream date and dancing the night away! Every girl wants their prom dress to match their style! Sugar Skulls is the embodiment of that! We want customers know we can tailor our corsages to them! Sugar Skulls is created on a black bracelet with a vintage feel and has lavender sweetheart roses, statice, lazer leaves, black feathers, rhinestones,  black beads, black flash ribbon and skull accents.

Create a Prom corsage that matches your personal style! Click below to start now!

Gillespie Florists King & Queen Contest!

Here's how it Works:

• Take a snapshot of you and your date wearing Gillespie's Flowers.

• Post it on our Wall.

• Tag your self in the photo as well as anyone else in the picture.

• We'll put it in our "Prom King & Queen Contest Album".

• Then you ask friends and family to "Like" your photo or make a positive comment on your photo.

• One week after the end of Prom Season, we will tally up the "Likes" and Comments and whoever has the most wins!

Gillespie Florists- Create Your Dream Prom Contest!

• Create a “set” on Polyvore using at least one of Gillespie Florists Corsages or Boutonnieres.  CLICK HERE to see those products.
• “Like” Us on Facebook.
• Post the “set” on the Wall of our Facebook Place page by April 12th. Copy and paste a link to your “set” on our Wall.
• We will announce the Winner and 3 runner ups April 13th!
• You can enter as many “sets” as you like but will be eligible for only one prize. Make sure to share your Dream Prom sets with your friends on Facebook and see which is their favorite!

What do you get if you win?

The Winner will get a $25.00 gift card that you can use for your dream Prom Flowers or any other purchase at Gillespie Florists!
The 3 Runner Ups will get $10.00 gift cards to Gillespie Florists!
And don’t forget, Bragging Rights!

Contest Ends April 12th 2012. Winners will be announced on Facebook April 13th!

Here’s a Link to our Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gillespie-Florists/196410082316

Here’s a Link to our Polyvore page where you can find more Prom Night sets!
http://www.gillespie-florists.polyvore.com/

Every year Van’s has a Holiday Design show and everyone at Gillespie Florists loves to go to these shows! Van’s partners up with the Teleflora Indiana Unit to bring a great designer to the show to give us new ideas for the upcoming holiday season! This year we had Bert Ford AIFD, PFCI from Ford FlowerCompany in Salem, NH.

Top 5 Colors for Fall

I asked Gillespie staff members and customers what colors come to mind when they think of fall flowers.Here are the top 5 answers I received; you may be surprised by some of the colors

5. Purple

Purple is a color that some people find surprising for fall flowers. I think it is a great accent color and can brighten up an otherwise dark bouquet.  It is easy to see how purple can work in a fall color scheme when looking at this picture.  Be careful when using purple in your fall bouquet. You want to make sure you are using a deep purple, if you use a lighter shade it will look out of place.

4. Burgundy

Burgundy is a rich color that will bring depth to your bouquet! Burgundy mums are a favorite among customers! Burgundy flowers pair up nicely with orange and rust flowers.  Cattails would go great with this combination of flowers, the chocolate colored spikes of the cattail will anchor the burgundy within the bouquet and the cattail’s unique texture will give added interest.

3. Golden Yellow

Golden Yellow flowers are a must in almost any fall bouquet!  Golden Yellow will not only brighten up the bouquet but also helps the other flowers pop! For instance, if you had Burgundy and rust flowers in a vase; it would be pretty but very dark and you may lose some of the definition of the individual blooms. If you add Golden Yellow flowers to the vase in between the other flowers, you will define the individual blooms and get more enjoyment out of the bouquet.

2. Orange

Think about when you go out shopping, what do you see this time of year almost everywhere?  Pumpkins! When we design our bouquets we make sure to add orange to our arrangements. We want to match the pumpkin orange color to incorporate the pillar of the fall season! The pumpkin! Sometimes we even design a bouquet in a ceramic pumpkin! The reason why orange is close to the top of our top 5 is because it is so versatile.  You can match up orange flowers with red, purple yellow and rust flowers or for a darker look; Burgundy, yellow and rust flowers. Orange is neutral color when you are dealing with fall so, it can go with just about any fall flower!

Drum Roll Please….

1. Rust

Now for me Rust can come in many shapes and sizes. Well, actually many different shades! Rust is an earthy color that can have hints of orange in it but also touches of brown and bronze. Rust is the true natural color of fall! Look around you and you will see it in the mums in people’s front yards, the falling leaves of the trees and in the décor of the stores you shop in. Almost everyone I asked about fall colors, the first color out of their mouths was: Rust.  You can see with the different pictures I have provided that Rust does have different shades to it. So, when dealing with its darkest version, make sure to pair it up with burgundy and a golden yellow for contrast. If you are working with a lighter shade of Rust, you can pair it with orange, yellow and red.

So what are your Top 5 Fall colors? Stop in the store and go through our walk in cooler and pick out your favorite fall colors and see how they go together! If you are not sure about what you picked out, our helpful staff will be glad to show you the ins and outs of the perfect color combination! Then see if you have an old watering can or pitcher at home you can put these great flowers into! You don’t have to use a plain old vase, look around your house and see what you can find!

Don’t have time to stop by? Check out our great selection of Fall flowers on our website! Click below!

Changing of the Season

Here at Gillespie Florists we are always under going dramatic changes with in the display room floors.  Every season, we have the most complete changes with specialty displays for the individual holidays.  We always start in the entrance foyer and move forward into the main room pulling seasonal fixtures to go into storage at our residential Gillespie garage or barn. Currently, we are fully engaged into bringing Christmas to life.  Half of the store has gone through a transformation of Summer to Fall and of course, Halloween!

A Touch of Christmas

A touch of Christmas has already been put out for our customers to preview. As soon as we get new Christmas products in, we are excited to show off the festive items!

We are proud to have one of the largest and most complete lines of plush available in Indianapolis.  Featuring elite lines not easily found at other retailers such as London based "Jelly Cats" and New York style, Manhattan Toy. You'll see them in the video below along with some of our current displays!

Our designers are busily designing outstanding set pieces to complete our eye-catching displays. It is our hope that every time you stop by you will see something new and interesting.

 Don't have time to stop by the shop but want an eye-catching bouquet? Just have it delivered! Pick a beautiful bouquet from our wide online selection! Click Below!

There are a few days in our lives that we can remember exactly where we were and what you were doing. With the 10-year anniversary coming up in a little over a week, it brings back the memories of that day.

I was going to Butler University as well as being a high school senior. I had just gotten out of an early class at Butler and was driving back to my high school when the radio DJ announced the World Trade Centers in New York had been hit by a plane. Honestly, I thought it was a joke. It took a few minutes to realize this was no joke, this was for real.

When I got to school, there was a somber atmosphere.  Every classroom had TV’s on watching the news.  There was no way the teachers would be able to get our minds off the terrible tragedy that went on that day.

I asked my sister, Sarah Gillespie, to tell me about that day because she was working here at Gillespie Florists. 

As was usual every morning, I had the television on the local news, quietly in the background. As I was preparing to head out the door to work, an anchor broke in suddenly with news that a plane had crashed into an office building in New York.

Details were scarce, but it appeared to be a horrible, unthinkable accident. I put my things down and watched the events unfold before my eyes. When the second plane hit the World Trade center, it became apparent to the media that this was no ordinary accident. I became uneasy; worrying what other places might be attacked.

I finally tore myself away from my television set because I was 20 minutes late leaving for work. When I got into my car, I turned on the radio to continue listening to the latest on the events unfolding that day. As I traveled, I heard about the plane crashing into the pentagon. Suddenly, I was overcome with fear that the plane flying above me might suddenly crash into a building here in Indianapolis!

When I got to work, surprisingly, the two or so people who had come in “on time” were not aware of what was happening on the East Coast. We turned on the radio so we could all listen together. We worried, waited and prayed as more details came across the airwaves. We do not have a television set in the store but someone brought one from their home during their lunch break so we could listen and see what was going on all around us. Once the planes were grounded, it was oddly quiet, as our store is located within a few miles of the airport. There was less traffic. It was very eerie and stayed that way for a few days beyond the attacks.

We have no record of any sales that day… we did have deliveries that were previously scheduled that we delivered, but no actual new sales in the twelve hours that we were open. Only one sale the next day (the 12th) and no sales again on the 13th.

We at Gillespie Florists want to thank all of the firemen, police officers and other emergency crews who risked their lives to save others.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones on that day. 

Where were you on 9/11? We’d like to know. Leave a comment on our blog.

Fall Mums are in at Gillespie Florists!