AIFD Red Gala Day 2 Evening

What is a international floral convention without a ball? 

The theme was Red and the decor was GORGEOUS!    

We work hard at convention, there is so much manual labor that goes into this event and all the other shows that week.  

Black Tie events require a quick change from workroom clothes to ballgown worthy dresses...in this case less than an hour! 

I picked up this gorgeous dress at She Said Yes Consignment in Winchester.   

Me and my lovely Co-Chair Sheryl Timmermann AIFD: 

the food, because designers love an artistic plate of dessert! 

More Pictures of the decor and flowers courtesy of the AIFD Facebook page: 

AIFD Convention Day 2/ Blooms Over DC

Blooms Over Program takes all the leftover flowers from the runway shows, etc  and recycles them into arrangements / bouquets to be distributed to the general public at places like hospitals, hospice, retirement centers and the like.
      This program began in 1993 by Kurt Pamper AIFD at the San Francisco Symposium, and has been a part of symposium every year since.

This was the first year I have chaired a program, and the first year AIFD has partnered with another company to expand the Blooms Over program to reach its maximum potential.    We (AIFD) contacted  Petal Share, a non-profit organization that has been recycling flowers from weddings and special events in the DC area for several years now. 

Heather at Petal Share was instrumental in working with me to reach so many people this year in the DC area.  Her knowledge of  the facilities and people that would benefit the most from our program was a tremendous help.

Recycling flowers doesn't sound very difficult but it does require planning and organization.   We designed and delivered 960 bouquets....that is a lot of hard work to make and deliver...over a 48 hour period. 

So from the beginning, this is what my work area looked like:

Flowers needed to be organized by type, prototypes made, and volunteers assembled to make all those bouquets! 

The Blooms program had so many talented designers drop in and make beautiful bouquets all day long and into the next day.  Student designers from Ohio State University, College of Nevada, Idaho, and Golden West College.  

The logistics of packing up and delivering these bouquets, keeping count, and schlepping buckets of water all over the hotel kept us busy.  

  Sending Heather pics of the buckets so she could gauge how many buckets would fit in her truck and the vehicles of the Petal Share volunteers the next day.  I couldn't find a tape measure so, yes, I used my foot! 

AIFD Convention July 2018- Day 1

Hundreds of Floral Designers descended on Washington DC this summer to collaborate, design and dazzle at this year's AIFD convention.  

This structure was over 8' long and all hand designed and made by some very talented floral designers. 

When we hold our annual convention, in a different city every year, we tend to take over the entire hotel/convention center.  Flowers are EVERYWHERE!  Lobby, Registration desks, Concierge, Escalators even!

I served as Committee Chair for the Blooms Over project, but that comes later.  Since I had time, I helped out a few colleagues in the work room prepare for their presentations.  This was so much fun because A. It wasn't my show so no pressure  B. I got to play with lots of fun new products.  I still worked late, like 9 or 10pm that night but time flies when you're having fun!  

 Stacey Carlton AIFD lending a hand (literally ) to some work room designers

Fun hot pink roses, thistles and anthurium

 another handtied bouquet for the "It's a Wrap"

program by Stacey Carlton AIFD

Fun fact: that tackle box (above left )is from 1997 circa my College days at OSU/ATI

Day one also involved lots of caffeine and laughter.   More about the rest of the week in the next blog post! 

  

Catching up on January-June 2018

It has been a long time since my last blog post.  2018 has been a crazy year and staying on top of social media posting has been a the bottom of the priority list.  So today is about catching up. 

January was filled with Valentine's day prep, worries about snow storms during said Valentine's week, ordering in chocolates, balloons, bears and flowers.

Jan:

Then came February.  The hours were longer and much more anxiety ridden with prepping for the big V-Day.  

also the various strains of the Flu were going around like the plague in the 14th century.  You could really not be overly cautious when making deliveries, especially to the hospital. 

 We had some ice and snow also.  

Then my world stopped for a week.  For the entire week of Valentines day I was not in the shop.  A first in my 20 years in the business.  I was at the hospital ICU all week.  My husband of 6 years passed from complications from bacterial meningitis.   

I cannot begin to adequately thank those people who stepped in to help out at the flower shop that week, helped me with my kids, and just plain stepped up to be there for me and our families.  

It is a very surreal situation.  One situation I would never want anyone else to have to experience.  

The remainder of February I was in the shop and simultaneously dealing with my personal life.  

March brought...Snow?!! 

and the annual flower show at one of the largest DC distributors/wholesalers, Potomac Floral Wholesale.  Jamie and I went and Ooo'd and ahhh'd over all the gorgeous flower varieties from around the world: 

Pineapple protea

 a banana variety

anemones

 Jamie and I at the show

 a protea variety

 Sweet Peas!! 

 Inside the flower cooler 

April was Prom and Administrative Assistant's Day, Easter and just about every holiday you can cram into one month. 

Prom Corsage of white roses, pink wax flower and ribbon to coordinate with the dress. 

one of the many beautiful orchid varieties from our local orchid grower, Orchids For Everyone. 

May brought rain, rain and more rain.  Mother's Day and Apple Blossom festival.  And Rain.  Did I mention how much it stinkin' rained?!!  

an entire box of mixed tulips 

Mother's Day Flower delivery:

June has been much quieter with kids out of school, family vacations etc.  Our busiest times actually fall within the Aug- May range.   June and July are usually the time to go through paperwork, plan for the upcoming holidays and of course, catch up on social media postings.  

There are exciting things coming up the first week of July that I can't wait to share- mainly the AIFD symposium which is happening here, in DC.  Follow me on Facebook and Instagram so you don't miss out on all the gorgeous flowers and fabulous designs from around the world!