Centerpieces

If you’re hosting Easter dinner or brunch, a centerpiece is a great way to liven up the table setting! The most important thing for a centerpiece is to allow your guests to see over it. For a rectangular table, something long and low would look lovely and complement the table shape. Or something low and circular for a round table. Alternatively, a short and compact arrangement in a vase is a great hostess gift because it could work both as a centerpiece and as an accent on a coffee or end table!

Corsages

If you’re in the mood for something a little more traditional, Easter corsages for the ladies in your life may be for you! Fresh flowers are a great addition to any outfit, especially one as fancy as your Sunday best. Whether you’re going to church or having a nice brunch with family, our designers will make sure that your corsages look as beautiful as the woman wearing them!

Easter Flowers

Spring is the season of flowers, and Easter brings some of the prettiest blooms to the table! I’ve written about seasonal spring flowers before, but some of our favorites for Easter specifically include tulips, hyacinths, and the ever-popular peony. Plus, thanks to our partnership with Old Dominion Flower Cooperative, we’ll have more unique flowers like daffodils on a weekly basis! 

Easter Arrangements

This time of year, we get to experiment with fun additions to our regular designs! Baskets are a popular vessel for flowers in spring, and we have all kinds of lovely pastel baskets here at the shop. We also have little plastic eggs in all sorts of spring colors! If you’re looking for a sweet addition to the holiday, one of our favorite arrangements this time of year is the whimsical Jelly Joy!

If you need any Easter flowers, just give us a call!

The post Easter Flowers appeared first on .

Tulips

Photo credit: Travel Photographer on Negativespace

To me, there’s no flower that says “spring” like tulips! These beautiful flowers shine on their own in arrangements like Totally Tulips, but they also work very well mixed in with other spring flowers. One of my favorites is the Tulipris, which pairs pastel colored tulips with vibrant irises!

Hyacinths

Photo credit: Piqsels

If I had to pick a favorite spring flower, I’d pick the hyacinth! This flower offers a unique look to arrangements like the Christine, and it comes in all sorts of beautiful spring colors. My personal favorite is the pink hyacinth pictured above!

Peonies

Photo credit: pixel2013 on Pixnio

Around this time of year, the most requested flower is the popular peony! This flower isn’t in season quite yet, but its time to shine is coming up soon. Peonies are definitely on the more expensive side, but they’re absolutely gorgeous in arrangements like the Penny!

ODFC

This year, we’re extremely excited to once again partner with Old Dominion Flower Cooperative to bring you locally grown seasonal flowers! ODFC always supplies beautiful, unique flower varieties, and it’s always exciting to get their deliveries. In terms of early spring flowers, we’ll soon have access to anemones, daffodils, and hellebore, along with so many others!

The post Spring Flowers appeared first on .

Valentine’s Day at Fantasy Floral is like opening day on Broadway. It’s months of planning. Perfecting methods of dispatching. Hiring extra people for the week. Advertising through phone calls and social media and sprucing up our well-known decorated trailer on the circle. Decorating the shop with everything hearts and romantic red and passionate pink. Cleaning boxes and boxes of flowers that arrive daily. Lowering the temperature of the shop to a balmy 50 degrees so it becomes one big flower cooler. All leading up to Valentine’s Day morning when we turn on the shop lights, don our headsets, and start directing designers, front of the house assistants, and delivery drivers to help over 200 customers express their love and gratitude for the special people in their lives. It’s happy chaos spent with some of my favorite people!

Wonderful Stories

My favorite part of this process is taking orders. I get to hear the most wonderful stories! One gentleman always orders a blue carnation to be included in whatever arrangement he sends to his wife because the first bouquet he gave her was blue carnations. Another gentleman always orders a “designer’s choice” arrangement that includes two red roses that represent him and his wife. A dad who retired and moved to Florida always orders pink Valentine’s Day arrangements for his two daughters that still live in the area; we take photos of the arrangements each year so we make sure they are always different and unique. We have followed one couple’s journey through Valentine’s Day arrangements; he sent the first arrangement when they first started dating; last year they got engaged; this year the card read, “To my wonderful fiancée and soon to be my bride.”

Fantasy Floral Family

Our customers become a part of our Fantasy Floral family. We are part of the celebrations, and we are part of the remembrances. We share in the joy of new daughters and grandsons, and we share hugs when loved ones pass. We’ve even been able to play hero when 800 number or web-based florists failed to show up, or other shops are closed. I did our last delivery this Valentine’s Day at 9:30pm to a weary traveler whose husband wanted to cheer her up when she got to her hotel. I now view Valentine’s Day through this lens.

Before I started managing the flower shop, Valentine’s Day was just a commercial holiday to be avoided. The care with which people choose certain flowers and colors and why, and the care with which people compose the perfect card message, make me realize that sometimes we all need that reminder to tell the people in our lives how special and loved they are. Valentine’s Day is that nudge for many people. Sure, it is a commercial holiday, but the individual experiences are deeply personal and full of expressions of love and gratitude.

That’s a Wrap!

Because our customers are part of our family, each order, especially Valentine’s Day orders, are deeply personal for us as well. We know the huge trust each customer is putting in us to fulfill their vision and expression flawlessly. I never tire of the warm-fuzzy feeling I get when the dispatch board is clear, the last cuttings are swept up, and we turn off the lights at the end of an exhausting day and week. That is the wonderful part about small family businesses like ours. When you place your Valentine’s Day order, or any order, with us, we’ll treat you like the valued family that you are!

The post Valentine’s Day Reflections appeared first on .