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Wow, what happened to October?  It seems as if it was just September and I was gearing up for a busy fall wedding season.  Next thing I know, it’s November 2 and October is nothing but a distant (?) memory.  Even though October was extremely busy, we had time to make some wonderful things happen and we’d like to share the exciting news with you.  We’ve added two new businesses to the mix at OK Florist and White House Bridal, WeDo Couture Wedding Invitations and More and Elegant by Design Store.  Kathy has all sorts of beautiful invitations to fit any budget and Debra makes custom jewelry!  We now have everything under one roof, from the wedding gown to the flowers, the perfect invitation and lots of bling to make everyone in the wedding party sparkle!   if we don’t have it, we’ll find you someone that does.  We’ll see you soon! 

Don’t trash that dress, let us consign it for you!  Did you know there is a new shop in town called White House Bridal?  We are an upscale wedding gown consignment boutique located inside of OK Florist in downtown historic Summerville, South Carolina just outside of Charleston.  The space is a grand old home that was built in the mid-1800’s.  With it’s striking grandeur, beautiful dressing rooms, an extensive, state of the art wedding consultation room, White House Bridal redefines traditional elegance for today’s modern bride.  We believe every bride should be able to fulfill her dream of finding the “perfect dress” without having to sacrifice style because of budget in these tough economic times.  Expect to find the dress at an unbelievable price!  White House Bridal offers new, sample and gently worn wedding gowns off the rack by some of today’s hottest designers.  We look for gowns that are no more than five years old and range in price from 30% to 70% off retail.  We also carry an extensive line of jewelry, handbags, veils, hair accessories, some flowergirl dresses and special attaire for the ringbearer!  Visit us online at www.whitehousebridal.com.

 

 

 

 

All I can say is “Ride Sally Ride”!  I’m still singing that song (for those of you that don’t know, it’s Mustang Sally) and it is Wednesday night!  A great time was had by all that attended #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Fern Michaels annual party last Saturday Night!  We celebrated with the Butterfunk Band from the Big Easy and they were FAB-U-LOUS!  We started the party the weekend before (September 6) when Fern’s Granddaughter Kelly got married out at Folly Beach, South Carolina at the Holiday Inn.  Stay tuned for those pictures and posts!  Then we continued into the week with getting the porch and gardens ready for the big party.  Saturday dawned sunny and no rain!  The staff and I started our day early with some cinnamon rolls from Lois our Director of Deliveries.  She is a great cook and keeps us well fed.  We needed our energy to blow up over 400 balloons!  I left the flowershop around noon to start putting out the balloons.  I hung them all over the property and they really added a lot of color and pizzaz to the party atmosphere.  

You can get more information about Fern Michaels at www.fernmichaels.com.  Be sure to pickup one of her great books, curl up on a porch swing with a mint julep and be swept away!  Come see us at OK Florist for all of your party needs.  Happy reading!  We’ll see you soon!   

Fern surrounded by bright colored mums relaxing before the big event!

Beautiful flower sprays hanging on front columns of house. Lots of bright, colorful party balloons! A grand welcome! Bright mums and colorful balloons line the porch steps leading to the front door! Another WOW! Love this vase! Some of the flowers I used are birds of paradise, red rovers, roses, bells of ireland, peacock feathers, hypericum and orchids! Dorie (Fern’s Sister) relaxing on the back deck. LOVE that tunic she’s wearing! Perfect size for the coffee table! We used a green vase filled with fushia gerbers, red rovers, orange roses, green kermit mums and orange spray roses. Centerpieces were made with sunflowers, purple mokara orchids, orange roses, snap dragons and hypericum berries! Fish Bowl filled with red rovers, fushia gerbers, purple mokara orchids, green kermit mums and roses. Notice the shells in the bottom! The balloons really add a lot of color! Looks like the band is ready! A stone dog stands sentry in the brick courtyard. I couldn’t resist filling his basket! Here’s the WOW! A “tree” covered with hanging green amaranthus and yellow cymbidium orchids. Base of tree is covered with anthiums, roses, mini calla lillies, green fugi mums and orchids! Can’t you just imagine sippin’ a mint julep on this porch! So Southern!   A cozy seating area complete with bright, beautiful mums and colorful balloons!

                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crotons, knockout roses and marigolds!

Fountain surrounded by fall color! Charlie

Fall is such a beautiful time of year here in the lowcountry of South Carolina!  The weather cools down (it’s 80 instead of 101) and it makes you want to get outside and create something beautiful.  Last week, I decided that we would spruce up the yard and do a little planting around the fountain at the flowershop!  We planted some knockout roses, marigolds and crotons.  These plants will last long into the fall holiday season and give us lots of bright color!  We also found a very interesting “bug”.  We named him Charlie……….Paul (our floral designer) found him and discovered that he is a sphinx moth caterpillar!  He is very cool!  We let him go back into the wilds after we took several pictures of him and yes, he really looks like that!      

 

One cool Caterpillar!

  Green Spider Mum

As we head into mid-September, all my thoughts turn to fall flowers!  I love the rich, vibrant, glorious colors!  Reminds me of an autumn sunset over Shem Creek.  Some of my favorite fall flowers are - 

CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Chrysanthemum comes from the Greek words “chrysos” meaning gold and “anthemon” meaning flower.  The first commercial production of mums began in the late 1940′s as florists began utilizing the flowers in corsages.  Mums can be very easy to work with, and fall pumpkins make fun accessories for mums.  Have you ever hollowed out a pumpkin and used it as a vessel for your flowers?  Pumpkin’s make great containers and we will be using them at a wedding in October where we are going to add floating candles and flowers!  But, that’s a different post for the future.  Stay tuned! 

 Chrysanthemums are to the fall what tulips are to the spring.  With their many colors, and various forms, mums have provided happiness for thousands of years.  There are a wide variety of mums. Some classifications include spider mums (flower petals long and tubular, with hooked ends), football mums (fancy mums with incurving petals), and pompon mums (small, stiff, almost globular flowers).  Flower colors include white, yellow, orange, bronze, red, purple and pink.  Stop by today and pick up some of these long lasting flowers!  They are sure to brighten your day!

Fugi Mums

 

 

 

     

Our new special events website (www.okfloristevents.com) is now up and running! Special thanks to Chris at F22 Designs for giving us a new look. You can reach Chris at www.f22designs.com. You can always order online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at our other website, www.okflorist.net.

  A stunning bouquest made with black magic roses, green cymbidium orchids, pheasant feathers and fern curls! This bouquet is perfect for a beach wedding! We made it in a nautilus shell and gave it some funky flowers! I like the blue thistle and the fern curls! All white bouquet made with hydrangea, vendella roses, stock, fugi mums, tuberose and freesia, the bouquet was handtied, but still had a little bit of a cascade to it. What hot colors! Loved the mokara orchids we used in the bouquet! I really liked the color of these gerber daisies. Pomander Balls perfect for the flowergirl! These were made with spray roses, button mums, hypericum berries and mokara orchids.

  Love those fern curls! Wouldn’t this be perfect on a tall cocktail table?