Belevedere Flowers Blog

 Valentine's Day 2010 falls on a Sunday. We will be open for business that day and will be delivering flowers, roses, candy gift baskets, balloons, plants and plush animals to Philadelphia and over 100 surrounding suburbs. You may also have your flowers delivered on any other day that week. So if you are looking to make a big impression at the "workplace", go ahead and have your beautiful Valentine's Day roses delivered early in the week.

  Here are a few selections of flowers, roses, and plants we will be featuring this year for Valentine's Day.

Our favorite Valentine's Day color this year at Belvedere Flowers is passionate purple!

It doesn't have to be red...

...send purple roses instead!

" For Those About to Wed, We Salute You!"

I love the Intro on the Love Shack Photo website.

I had the pleasure  of doing a wedding with an awesome photographer, Jackie Bayne of Love Shack Photo. 

I have blogged about Jackie in the past, after we did one of my favorite weddings back in early Sept. 2009. 

Jackie was a lot of fun to work with and her personality shows in her pictures! I just think she rocks, and if there is anybody out there in the Philadelphia Area looking for a great wedding photographer to work with, I highly recommend Jackie @ Love Shack Photo!

I just received a disc in the mail the other day from Jackie with a bunch of great flower photos from the wedding we did together at the Radnor Valley Country Club in Villanova PA. She also shared pictures they took at Citizens Bank Park with the bridal party! The Groom was a big fan of the Phillies, and the Bride surprised him with a special visit to the ball park for some pictures before the reception!

Here are just a few of the great shots taken by Jackie @ Love Shack Photo-

First off, a special thanks to Cathy from Sprout Flowers in Worcester MA for the great idea, and a creative way for florists to come together, and help brides get  some table centerpiece ideas for their upcoming weddings at a very reasonable price range of $50. 

  You can read more about the centerpiece challenge and get the exact details on Sprout's Blog. 

     For my entry to the contest, I decided to do something appropriate for a Spring Wedding. I was also inspired by the tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils I picked up at a great price from the local flower wholesaler. Nothing screams Spring more than those 3 flowers!

  To create this design, I used frog pins to weigh down the flowers so they don't float to the top of the vase. Frog pins are obviously nothing new, but it's a great tip I personally picked up from the flower expert,  J Schwanke of Ubloom.

  I love submerged flowers inside vases, it makes a great conversation piece for any event. We even display submerged flowers on our front counter at the flower shop, so the customers can see how neat it looks. Everyone always asks us, "How do you do that!" Or, "Is that real? How long does something like that last?"

  Submerged flowers actually last very long from my experience, sometimes a couple weeks! You may need to change the water after a week, as it tends to get foggy looking. When you first submerge the flowers in water, there is a really neat bubble effect that forms around the edges of the flower, especially on a rose! The flowers also magnify when submerged in water.

  Submerged flower centerpieces have also been a very big seller for our 2009 wedding season. You can view some samples by surfing through our YouTube Channel.

Ok, so here is my entry for The Great $50 Wedding Centerpiece Challenge!

It's appropriately called "Spring Sprout" 

 That's right, you can now pick up a quick Belvedere Bunch of flowers at Boccella's Deli across the street from us on Eagle Rd. in Havertown PA. We wanted to try this out and make our flowers available to people on the go, and also give them a quality bunch of flowers at a special low price.

 Our bouquets are bigger and fresher than the ones you may find at most grocery stores. We also hand make all our bouquets vs. pre-made bouquets, which is what you will find everywhere else. That's what makes Belvedere Bunches stand out from the rest.

 Here is a few pictures & a video of this week's bunches (Jan. 18-23)  which include daisies, alstroemerias, statice, & 3 roses for only $10 each. 

Boccella's Deli is a great place to grab breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They also sell groceries, lottery tickets, & cold beer. I am proud to add Belvedere Bunches to the list.

I personally stop into Boccella's everyday for their homemade soup made daily. I am a big fan!

If you have not tried Boccella's Deli, please stop in today and check them out, and pick up a Belvedere Bunch while you are there!

Of course, you can also visit our flower shop or shop online 24/7 on our Belvedere Flowers Website.

 We just recently added some new custom flower designs to the website on our Christmas page just in time for the holidays!

The first design is called Holiday Tulips 

 10 stems of "merry widow" tulips designed in a keepsake galvanized red pot, accented with fresh holly, pine tips, gold balls, and ribbons. Merry widow tulips have deep red petals with pure white tips and edges. Tulips also come in solid white, red, or pink this Winter. You may always put your special requests in special instructions while placing your order on our website. If you have a certain color combination you want to use, we can create that for you. 

Below, using the same container, we also designed an arrangement with a mix of premium flowers such as tropical red ginger, kale, white tulips, red roses, burgundy kangaroo paws, & blue thistle. We also accent those flowers with seasonal Christmas greens such as pine tips, cedar, and holly, and finish it off with pine cones & gold balls.

Available for delivery to Philadelphia & all surrounding suburbs all month long.

Purchase this Elegant Holiday Design for only $45

 Next, below, we have a seasonal design arranged in a rectangular shaped cube vase, using spring flowers with seasonal evergreens. This is a great gift for Hanukah or Christmas.  Also great for everyday winter occasions, such as a get well hospital delivery, or a special birthday centerpiece.

Purchase Spring for the Holidays for $50

Spring flowers such as gerbera daisy, hydrangea, snapdragon, & tulips.

Looking for something tropical this Christmas?

Our next latest design is created in a keepsake ceramic red pottery. Arranged in a contemporary style with tropical red gingers, butterfly anthuriums, red intuition roses, tulips, bells of Ireland, and seasonal mixed evergreens & Christmas decorations such as faux apples, balls, pine cones and ribbons.

Tropical Holiday Design

Below is another unusual custom made design by Belvedere Flowers.

The perfect centerpiece or Christmas or Hanukah done in mostly whites & seasonal evergreens.

Designed in a swooping crescent shape flow including  flowers such as roses, kale, tulips & alstroemerias. Accented with faux apples, pine cones, and white birch branches.

Purchase this Crescent Shaped Seasonal Centerpiece for only $55

Also, check out our poinsettia plants available all month long for pick up or delivery.

Here are some pictures below of the varieties we will be carrying this year.

Different shades of red, white, cream, marble, monet, jingle bells, and more.

On September 5, 2009, I had the pleasure of creating & delivering wedding flowers for one of my favorite brides of all time! She was recommended to me by Stephanie at Congratulations in Havertown PA. 

Kris (the bride) came in to my flower shop totally prepared with pictures and an exact idea of what she was looking for in her wedding flowers for the Radnor Valley Country Club in Villanova PA.

It was a black and white wedding so she wanted to have all white wedding flowers, and lots of floating candles, and orchids submerged inside cylinder vases. We created 15 table centerpieces for the reception in the  Villanova Room, and also a large arrangement for the lobby, where the cocktail hour was going to be held. We also created bouquets for the bridal party, and fresh large altar pieces for the church at Our Mother of Good Councel in Bryn Mawr PA.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jackie Bayne, an awesome photographer with a really cool website!

 I look forward to getting some great photos from Jackie, including shots at Citizens Bank Park.

The bride is surprising the groom, a huge Phillies fan, with a visit to Citizens Bank Park to take pictures after the ceremony! I can't wait to hear about the reaction of the groom when he finds this out. I am sure Jackie will capture the moment, and bring out the best in the bridal party with spectacular photos that I hope to post here soon.

I also met a real nice cake guy, David, at Dough Main Baked Goods in Rosemont PA. The cake was absolutely spectacular, we added white hydrangeas & white roses to it.

It was also a pleasure delivering and setting up at the RVCC, Chuck is always organized and prepared and does an amazing job at the country club. A great place to get married for sure!

Of course I made some YouTube videos of the event and have posted them below for you to check out everything from loading the flowers for delivery, to watching the bride take photos, and getting a glimpse of the table centerpieces & large lobby vase.

Thanks Kris & Mike for letting me be part of your special day, I really enjoyed this wedding a lot, and hope that all my weddings in the future can go as smooth as this one did. Also a great job by all people involved in this wedding!

Enjoy these videos below, it was a nice day for a white wedding!

 Battle of the flower designers is back this week with a battle of the east & west coast local flower shops! We decided to compete against someone other than ourselves this week. Everyday Flowers from Orange County CA  was cool enough to take the plunge this week and battle against us for favorite design of the week!

Watch both videos below and vote for your favorite right here on our blog, or you can also vote on Facebook, or in the comments section of the YouTube videos.

Also check out Everyday Flowers Blog!

I will try to get some pics from Eric @ Everyday Flowers but for now here is a few of our pictures from this week.

 Vote for your favorite basket design in Week # 3!

This week we decided to use the same exact basket and same flowers & colors. I was surprised to see a different style used by each of us, yet similar at the same time in certain ways. My design (Adam) was more of clustered pave style, Linda's basket was more of a larger one-sided design, and Susan's was somewhere in the middle. 

 We each used 3 blue hydrangeas, 3 yellow pin cushion proteas, 3 peach eufloria roses, 3 purple stock, & 3 peach hypericum berries, with our choice of greens and accessories such as ribbon, curly willow, butterflies, etc.

We hope that you will also watch the video, as you know, pictures don't always do justice, and the video allows you to see the basket from all sides to help you make a decision on your favorite design of the week.

Vote for Adam, Susan, or Linda.

Here is the VIDEO! 

You may vote in the comments section of Youtube, or you may also vote on our Facebook Page, and you can also comment right here on our blog.

Here are the pictures from Week # 3 Battle of the Flower Designers! 

Adam's basket design above.

Susan's basket design below. 

Please Vote for your Favorite, Adam, Susan, or Linda.

Stay tuned for results right here on our blog!

Update- Adam wins Week # 3

Stay tuned for Week # 4 which will be East Coast Vs. West Coast!

Belvedere Vs. Everyday Flowers in Orange County CA 

 Here at Belvedere Flowers, I decided to have some fun with the flower designers and start a weekly design competition to keep us fresh and on our toes. Every week or so, Susan, Linda, & myself (Adam) will be battling it out for favorite design of the week!

  You can vote for your favorite right here on our blog, or you may also vote on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or you may Contact Us by email and vote.

  Each week, the design competition rules will change. We will post the rules for each week as we go, and we hope at some point that other florists would look to jump in on the competition. All in good fun of course! This isn't about seeing who is the best of the best, it's just about being creative and having fun!

  Week #1 was a surprise to both Linda & Susan. They had no idea it was a competition. I just told them to make a designers choice arrangement to put in our flower shop display refrigerator. The next day they found out it was on YouTube for an online voting contest!

  So lets just say the boss (Adam) cheated a little bit this week, even though Susan ended up being the winner anyway, without even knowing she was in a battle of the designers competition!

Update- Week #2 winner is Adam.

Stay tuned for Week # 3 pictures & video coming above!

Update- here is the video of Week # 2 Battle. Vote for your favorite flower design.

Here are some pictures from week # 2 -

Vote for Adam or Susan right here on this blog, or comment on youtube, facebook, or twitter too.

Here is a few pictures of Susan's designs & the video from Week # 1 below- and also available to purchase on our website!

Susan's winning design above (Week#1)

"Chic & Unique"

" Burgundy Bliss"

Another great one by Susan above...both of these designs are now available to purchase on our website!

Watch video of battle of designers Week # 1

& see the other designs by Linda, Adam, & Susan.

 Get them while they last, every week in August & September we will be bringing in hundreds of red & assorted roses at very low prices and we are passing the savings along to you. Check out these great little rose bowls designed by Susan. 

Order our "Summer Rose Special!"