September's featured bouquet is a colorful mix of red roses, orange spray roses, mini sunflowers, fuschia stock, purple statice, hypericum berries and wheat.  This hand-tied bouquet was tied with a white stem wrap and a subtle white bow.  Estimated price $60-$80.

Yikes!  It's the middle of October, and we're a little behind on our favorite bouquets.  August is a tough month to pick only one featured bouquet, because we made a number of gorgeous bouquets, all of them different.  However, our featured bouquet for August 2005 is a strikingly colorful handtied bouquet of lime green cymbidium orchids, Mango mini calla lilies, and hot pink roses.  The stems were partially wrapped with a simple white ribbon and a row of pearl-headed pins down one side.  The approximate price is $140-$160.

Time has an article on the rise of "groomzillas" at http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1109319,00.html.  In a few weddings, we've seen the grooms take a more active role, but the spa trend hasn't really worked its way into our area yet.

When the Socirty of American Florists has an Outstanding Varieties competition, they're not kidding when they say "outstanding".  Dozens of growers brought hundreds of gerbera daisies, roses, alstromeria, lilies, and more to Lake Las Vegas last week, and we were impressed.  As promised, we'll be posting photos of some of our favorites.

Our first favorite was a brilliant orange rose named "Valentine" (we're not sure why they named it such).  This variety, from Koch California Ltd, won a Red Ribbon for standard roses, and features a vibrant orange petal with dark green foliage.  Orange by itself is not a popular color for weddings, but as part of a fall wedding, this rose would be outstanding.  The high petal count gives this rose a large head with a very classic profile from the top and side.

So Proflowers is getting into the wedding business.  Color us...interested.  We're sure there's a market for no-hassle ordering of basic wedding packages (stay tuned for more on that).  What makes us interested is how the flowers will actually look on your wedding day.

See, when we make your bouquet, the flowers arrive in our shop usually on a Tuesday, where they're sorted (only the best get used in wedding bouquets), placed in waster and nutrient solution, and held at proper temperatures.  For lilies and roses, we'll often leave them out for a day to get them to open perftectly, but it's in the cooler as soon as they do.  Your bouquet is actually put together Friday evening or Saturday morning.  Corsages and boutonnieres are also made at this time, and everything is stored cooled (36 degrees F) until delivery.  One of the challenges we have with corsages and bouts is they don't have a water source.  It's essential that we keep them moist and cool so they are absolutely perfect for your wedding day.

With Proflowers, your flowers will arrive assembled early in the week, and it's up to you to keep them fresh.  We know there are a lot of you out there who have a brown thumb, so to speak, and you know who you are.  We don't know of many people who have something capable of holding wedding flowers at the proper temperature.  There are a lot of rumors out there as to how to keep vased flowers fresh (pennies, bleach and 7-Up are all bad ideas--ask for a packet of nutrient solution instead).  We know there are a lot of people who will try to take the cheap way out, but just won't be able to hold their flowers at the peak of freshness like a professional florist can.  Like we said, we're curious.

If you've had experience with Proflowers' wedding flowers, good or bad, leave a comment and let us know.

We saw a great idea for a fall wedding today.  Our bride used candied apples as both the seating cards and the favors.  At the entrance of the hall, a table filled with hundreds of candied applies, individually wrapped and labelled, greeted the guests.  On each label was the guest's name and table placement.  What a perfect idea for a fall wedding!

In our area, candied apples are an art unto themselves, and many candy stores and bakeries offer these treats, often dipped in multiple layers of caramel, chocolate, or white chocolate and coated with sugared cinnamon, crushed nuts, or more!

If you're in the Butler or north Pittsburgh area, and not of the candied apple making variety, call out friends at Barkus Chocolates.  Their Butler store is 724-282-3006, and their Cranberry store is 724-776-3060.  Candied apples are seasonal, but they make fantastic ones.

Next week, we're off to the Society of American Florists Convention in Lake Las Vegas, NV.  One part of the convention is the Outstanding Varieties competition, where growers from all over the world present new and developed varieties of flowers.  This is a premier opportunity for us to take a look at new varieties of roses, gerbera daisies, alstromeria and other popular wedding flowers.  We'll have the first reports on the best flowers we see that will be part of weddings for years to come.  Stay tuned!

The Bloomery will be at the Butler Days Inn's Tropical Honeymoon Bridal Show on Sept. 18.  Admission is free for pre-registered brides, and all pre-registered brides are entered to win a Caribbean Honeymoon!  Find out more at http://www.daysinnbutler.com/Default.aspx?tabid=66.

The Butler Days Inn is an easy trip from anywhere in the North Hills, Wexford, Cranberry Township, etc. areas, and the Steelers play a late game that day (they checked).