The Sun is Shining! But...

We have sunshine today in the Pacific Northwest. It hasn't been that way most of the week, however. Several large storm fronts have gone through bringing high winds and leaving us with several inches of rain.

The humidity in the northwest is one of the reasons we suggest you encase your dried flowers rather than leaving them out in the open. Mold and mildew are common in the area, and they will attack flowers...fresh or dried! We've experimented by leaving dried flowers out in the open. After a time, they tend to reabsorb some moisture. This causes some types of petals to curl. Others will appear to become pliable again. Then one of two things then happens. The petals may dry out again, but not so beautifully, or mildew and/or mold take over and rot the tissues of the flower. (This usually happens starting at the point where the petals meet the stem. With roses, especially, you often don't see it until the petals fall out, or the mold starts growing and the "fur" shows up).

By encasing your flowers in a wall dome, shadow box, table dome, glass box, jewelry box, or ornament, you are preventing the humidity in our area from rehydrating the foilage of your preserved floral arrangement. It's also important to seal the joins using the proper materials to prevent seepage into the encasement. We're here to help you!

It's gotta be good!

We want our customers to have a beautiful finished product, so we're sending a shadow box back where it came from.  It just wasn't good enough.  Someone hadn't taken the care and time to make the finish everything it could be.  It appears that the craftsman started off well enough, but when he (or she) got to the last side, they just didn't care any more (or maybe they took a break and just forgot to complete it?) 

It got me to wondering about life.  How many times have I started something and just run out of steam before I could become the best I could be?  Can I send me back? I guess that's the difference between things and people.  We really can rededicate ourselves to becoming better.  Sometimes we lose steam, but we can fix that without having to start over at the beginning.  Here's to becoming better a better me!!!

Beautiful Day

It is such a beautiful day in Auburn, Washington.  The weather is mild, the sun is shining...it's just gorgeous!  A bride brought in her "autumn colors" bouquet to be dried last weekend. Golds and reds...beautiful!  They are in the drying process right now.

I've purchased some spring bulbs that I need to get planted.  Did you know that many spring flowers preserve beautifully?  Tulips and Daffodils are awesome when dried.  Daffodils retain their beautiful color.  Some tulips will change color a bit...pinks will tend toward the purple side...but we've dried several arrangements in the past that have tulips included in them.

The wide variety of bouquets, seasonal color changes, and yearly trends in color make our job fun and fabulous!

To Trash or Not To Trash, that is the question!

What do you plan to do with your gown after the wedding?

Let's down play the monetary value of the dress for a few minutes and talk about the alternatives.

1.  You can leave it hanging in the garment bag it came in. (This is, of course, assuming that you didn't purchase it from China like a friend of mine did.  Hers came in a cardboard box!).  Pros: it hangs in a closet. Cons: it can yellow...and some zippers can stain the dress over time. (Note: if you DO chose this alternative, at least have it dry cleaned within a reasonable time of the wedding). The garment bag itself can deteriorate over time.

2.  You can have the gown preserved through a reputable company such as the Wedding Gown Preservation Company. (We can help you with this!).  Pros: It is cleaned, treated, and guaranteed not to yellow.  Archival museum-quality storage items are used. It will be just a beautiful if your daughter, friend, or god-child wants to use it years from now. Cons: there is reasonable cost to do this (but you don't have to pay for dry cleaning as well).

3. You can donate the dress to charity.  Aside from the "well known" thrift stores, there are charitable organizations who specialize in wedding & prom dresses for those who are not as financially blessed as others. Pros: possible tax deduction & benefit for someone else.  Obviously an environmentally "green" solution. Cons: you won't have it if a relative wants to use it later on. If your parents paid for the dress, they might want to be the ones to take the possible donation deduction on their taxes. You'll still need to pay to have the dress cleaned before you donate it.

4.  You can re-sell the dress over the internet or at a consignment store. Pros: you get some of your money back. It's a "green" solution. Cons: you still have to have the dress dry cleaned before you can sell it.

5.  You can "Trash the Dress".  This has become an "after-the-honeymoon" party for some newly-married gals.  They get together with their friends at the messiest place possible and have a wow of a party. Some even involve a photographer. Think mud, water, wine, food, rips, tears....you get the picture. Pros: If you bought a $99 special, this could be a great get together with your BFF's.  Cons:  If the gown cost a pretty penny, imagine several thousand $$$ going up in smoke (or down in mud!).  (Not to mention the additional cost if you are having professional photography done.)

At the Autumn Wedding Show at Emerald Downs last week, a future bride happened to mention her intention to trash her dress...with her mother standing next to her.  Ooops!  She quickly said that she was "thinking" about it (fast save!), but I imagine that conversation may be coming up again...

Your choice, ladies!  If you have other options, please feel free to comment!

An Amazing Weekend!

We had an amazing weekend at the first-time-ever Autumn Wedding Show at Emerald Downs.  Lots of brides, prospective brides, grooms, parents, friends and relatives!  Thank you to all of you who showed such amazing interest in our floral preservation and gown preservation opportunities.  We truly enjoy "educating" brides on this unique methods of preserving memories.

Drawing entries collected.

The winner of our drawing was a "mother"...Cynthia B. of Bonnie Lake.  Congratulations!  Cynthia won a certificate for 1/2 off a gown preservation.  That should help the pocketbook a little bit, Cynthia!

The winner of last month's drawing from the entries at the Tacoma Dome Bridal Expo was Chelee K of Seattle.  Chelee won a gift certificate worth $100 toward preservation services of her choice.

We will be keeping in touch with the folks who showed interest in our products so we can let them know about specials, new products, etc.