Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday Arena Flowers, Happy Birthday to us! Yes, believe it or not but Arena Flowers turns 3 years young today – and to celebrate, our Head Florist Andrew has created us this super-dooper birthday cake made from flowers!

Consisting of our ethically sourced Grand Prix roses, our signature Cherry Brandy roses, yellow and orange spray chrysanthemums, eucalyptus and creamy white hydrangea (all topped off with oranges, limes and kiwi fruit, making this a truly edible cake!), a celebratory flower cake has now become a tradition at Flowers HQ since our 1st birthday back in 2007.

Of course, there’ve been a lot of changes since those early days of Arena Flowers, and these ‘Then and Now’ pictures tell only half the story and make an interesting trip down memory lane:

Since our last birthday we have vastly expanded our product range and bespoke portfolio, partnered with an increasing number of charities and expanded across Europe with our international sites. And that’s all in just the past year!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal customer base and friends for your continued support, custom and feedback to enable us to expand and establish ourselves as the UK’s leading, fastest-growing online florist in the UK and beyond…

If you’d like to learn more about how it all began, you may like to read this, this and this blog post.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

A quick ‘Pop Quiz’ for you: What do Jon Bon Jovi, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Steffi Graf, Jodie Foster and Tiger Woods (pictured, right) all have in common? Apart from probably having a few bob to their names, they are all reported to be famous hay fever sufferers and/or allergic to flowers.

With an estimated 20% of the UK population suffering from hay fever this summer, watch any weather report from now through to September and you’ll see the emphasis increasing on the ‘Pollen Count’ as the allergy season progresses and airborne allergens attack their hypersensitive victims. We all know somebody who suffers from hay fever, and you may even have thought twice about buying flowers for them over the years.

But why should a seasonal dose of rhinitis stop you from receiving or indeed sending flowers? Truth is, if their allergies are particularly severe, many flowers are going to affect the recipient negatively but, in general, the more dangerous flowers are the ones with the most pollen. So a good guideline for sending flowers to a someone who may potentially explode into an itching, weeping, snotty mess is to avoid choosing flowers that have visible pollen.

Flower No-No’s(e)

Asiatic and Longiflorum Lilies are some of the most dangerous flowers for allergy sufferers, as parts of them are covered in powdery pollen. Songstresses Tina Arena and Britney Spears (pictured, left) are both alleged to have a lily allergy.  As the story goes, knowing of her allergy,  chart rival Pink once sent Britney a bouquet of lilies when they were feuding.

However, Lilies can be a good choice for allergy sufferers, as it is easy to simply remove the stems of pollen from each flower. Just try to find a non-allergic chum to do this particular job, as it will probably have the most robust nose and eyes and running at the earliest opportunity!

Another type of flower that is particularly bad for allergy sufferers is tree flowers / blossom. When choosing a spring flower arrangement, be careful not to include almond, cherry, apple, or any other kind of tree blossom.

Top Flowers for Allergy Sufferers

Andrew, our Head Florist here at Flowers HQ recommends chrysanthemums and gerberas, with new hybrids coming onto the market bred so that the parts of the flower that used to produce pollen now produce extra petals. But watch out for regular chrysanthemums and daisies as they can be highly allergic.

Another great choice for the allergy sufferer is roses. Not only are roses the most popular cut flower to send, modern roses used in floristry don’t have much of a negative effect on allergies. The reason for this is that their pollen is too large in size to be able to become airborne and truly infiltrate the respiratory system. To allergy-proof your bouquet arrangement, choose roses with little or no smell as these will contain the least pollen.

One of the best kinds of flowers for allergy sufferers are orchids and exotic flowers. Very few types of orchids cause any pollen-related allergies, and so are quite safe for those allergic to most flowers. It is important to note, though, that some orchids may cause a slight skin rash on sensitive individuals.

If in doubt, do contact us first before placing our order.

Hypo-Allergic Wedding Flower Tips

Traditional bridal gowns don’t normally include pockets for hankies, so the last thing a bride needs are snail trails up her lace sleeves from a runny nose. If the bride or groom is known to suffer pollen allergies, here are some simple tips to keep in mind when choosing wedding flowers which will help minimise hay fever symptoms:

1. Wedding Venues
   The best strategy is to avoid airborne allergens completely by holding your wedding ceremony indoors during the peak allergy season, especially if the main culprits are tree and grass pollen. So, no posing around in country meadows for those arty post-ceremony wedding photos, then!
2. Wedding Flowers
   Allergies to flowers are mainly due to their pollen count rather than fragrance.  Flowers begin to release pollen due to the aging process, so using Arena Flowers, the freshest flowers available, will prevent this problem. As for bridal bouquets, buttonholes, and other wedding flower arrangements, there are many flowers that don’t trigger severe allergies (see above for some suggestions).
3. Other Wedding Day Triggers
   Although many people may not realise it, hay fever symptoms do not always come from allergic reactions, but instead can be caused by everyday non-allergic triggers — and not just during the allergy seasons but at any time of the year.  So beware of perfumes and hairspray, sudden changes in temperature and even cooking odours.

Allergy-Free Artificial Flowers

If you want an absolutely 100% allergy-proof alternative for hay fever sufferers, then artificial flowers are the product of choice. No-nonsense and low maintenance, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new Artificial Flowers section added to ArenaFlowers.com — due to popular demand.

We will be adding more flowers to this section throughout the year, so let us know which artificial flowers you would like to see in the future.

Click to see our full range of allergy-free artificial flowers.

By following some of these simple guidelines, we hope you enjoy a pain-free summer this year, and don’t forget to consult a GP or pharmacist if symptoms persist!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

It’s nearly a week since Valentine’s Day and like previous years, this year too was manic with customers rushing to send flowers to their loved ones. Despite all the economic gloom and the discomforting worries about how we would compare our sales to previous years, sales were surprisingly strong adding to the notion that love conquers everything. It seems like the Cupid’s arrows were right on target and fortunately for us, we were well equipped to counter the minor irritants such as combating fraudulent orders, managing an external fleet of drivers & couriers, and responding to customer queries and concerns to ensure that flowers were delivered to recipients on time. Without delving too deep into numbers, we can assure you that there were many more happy hearts receiving flowers sent from Arena Flowers Valentine’s range.

Last year, post Valentine, we had showcased behind the scenes activities of the hardworking team of flower fanatics at the Flowers HQ, but thanks to the new micro-blogging / social networking phenomenon called Twitter, everything was posted in real time this year. It was definitely fun posting pictures from phones when loading flowers to the delivery vans and driving to deliver them. Anyway, to cut the story short, for all those who didn’t follow us on Twitter, here’s a photoblog of the team, flowers, vans, and more…republished from what was posted on Arena Flowers Twitter Account.

In the beginning there was love…and balloons

Our very own Willy Wonka…Bill Keeling, MD, Prestat Chocolates, our exclusive chocolates partner

David and Goliath getting ready for the Valentine duel…Arena Flowers Delivery Van -Vs- our delivery partner’s truck

The Arena love machine kicks in, but let us not forget those with a birthday.

Love is in the air. Roughly 8’6” in the air.

Blast from the past – From I Love You Balloons to Heart of Chocolates

The One – The flower arrangement we mean…

And love is all around us…

Fraud Ninjas…

Men (& Women) at work…The Arena Flowers Assembly Line

Fighting Fraud With Apples

Trailer Attack at the Flowers HQ

Nick and the Boxes of Love

Be My Valentine – Will & his Co-Pilot

That’ll be all unfortunately, although we have plenty more on our Twitter account. If you liked our team and our flowers, please feel free to read our previous Valentine’s day post here. In case you are already on Twitter, and have been unaware about our Twitter account, please follow Arena Flowers here.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

The big day is just round the corner and, given the “interesting” economic environment we find ourselves in, we thought we’d share a few top tips to help Valentine’s Day lovers get the most out of their money and avoid some obvious pitfalls.

1. What does she actually want? A survey by a US florist found that 76% of women didn’t want red roses for Valentine’s Day.  The favoured option was a mixed bouquet, apparently.

   

2. Make her look good – send flowers to her at work: Valentine’s Day is on a Saturday this year.  That’s handy for us flower people (less traffic for our drivers) and for couples (as they can spend the whole day together).  On the other hand, part of the the fun of sending Valentine’s flowers is the girl (or boy!) receiving them at their workplace and being the envy of their colleagues.  There are definitely brownie points to be won with a lucky Friday 13th workplace delivery.
3. Save money part 1 – Avoid red flowers: Prices for all red flowers jump for Valentine’s, irrespective of the flower variety.  Pink flowers’ prices also go up, but not by nearly as much.  Other colours are far more reasonable – a white rose bouquet, for instance, symbolises young love so is entirely appropriate to send on Valentine’s and our mass of white roses is far more affordable than the mass of red roses.
4. Be fun – laughter is the best aphrodisiac: Add a photo in our checkout and we’ll print it and send it with your flowers.  You can also record a funny / romantic Valentine’s video message to send to the object of your desire.   Lots of people make their flower deliveries more personal using these low cost but high impact options. After all, they’re trying to outdo the other suitors who are probably just sending champagne, chocolates, balloons, teddies or maybe an “I Love You” card (you can send all such gifts with Arena too, of course).
5. All red roses are not created equal: Our red roses are, frankly, better than 99% of red roses out there. Not boasting, just being honest really.  They are long-stemmed, Grand Prix red roses. They come from one of the top three rose growers in Holland.  They’re not the cheapest.  But they are very very good.  We totally understand that some people don’t want to spend that much on roses, hence suggesting alternative Valentine’s flowers (see next tip) and gifts. But, if you absolutely, positively must have red roses, then ours are the best. We’ve bought a lot fewer this year (60% less than last year) and we agreed a deal way in advance in order to get a great price.  When the stems we’ve bought run out, they’ve run out.  That’s it.  We aren’t going to buy any more.  We expect our red roses to have sold out by by the 11th or 12th Feb after which time, we’ll only be selling other varieties of flowers.
6. Save money part 2 – Avoid roses altogether: Red roses prices go through the roof for Valentine’s, with the price of a red rose stem often increasing by 500%.  Whilst other varieties also rise at this time, you will get a far better deal if you buy an arrangement featuring a different variety, such as a pink lily bouquet or a 100 tulips bouquet (100 tulips for less than 24 red roses makes a lot of economic sense, plus the tulips will grow in the vase and create an amazing effect over the following days).  Alternatively, keep the number of red roses in the arrangement low, as in our Valentine’s The One.
7. You get what you pay for, so be careful: “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”  If you buy supermarket flowers, you’ll get supermarket flowers.  If one of our competitors sends you an offer for a dozen red roses for £20 including delivery (which some are doing), then read the small print.  They probably won’t guarantee the day of delivery (not ideal for Valentine’s!) and the rose heads are likely to be the size of a half-eaten M&M.  There are lots of other marketing ploys out there plus the big relay companies charge hefty commissions too.  We avoid any of that rubbish and just focus on doing a great job and saving costs for customers wherever we can.

   

8. Wow her in the kitchen: Our friends over at Jamie Oliver’s site have put up loads of good ideas for Valentine’s meals and home cooking and thoughts on how to get round credit crunchiness.  We suspect turkey twizzlers won’t be on the menu though. Or, if you like being all web 2.0 and user-generated, you might want to head over to MyDish.co.uk, a friendly site for food ideas and recipes (you could even win some Arena Flowers there).
9. Bonus 9th tip – Send a hint: If you’re expecting flowers or gifts from someone and don’t want them to send you the usual rubbish, then send them a hint.  There’s a “Send a Hint” button on every product page which allows you to send a snazzy email with a picture of the flowers you want plus your message. You can choose to send the hint anonymously or add your name.  If do send anonymously, be prepared for a nasty surprise – your partner might send the flowers to their other girlfriend/boyfriend!

Hope some of that was helpful and or interesting.  Now it’s up to us to get down to work and get ready for the big day.  It’s going to be unbeliveably busy – here are some pics of Flowers HQ at Valentine’s 2008.  We’ll add some more pics once the big day has been and gone!  Hope Valentine’s goes well for you!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

The Arena Weddings arm of Arena Flowers has been around for just over a year now, and what a better way to celebrate our first twelve months than to take some examples of our beautiful fresh wedding flowers on the road.

The enquiry from Marika, organiser of the Think Pink Wedding Show came late in the day last week to see whether Arena Flowers may be interested in exhibiting last minute. Apparently, a couple of other London florists had let her down at the eleventh hour, and the show was left conspicuously missing wedding flowers from the burgeoning list of exhibitors for the show in Raynes Park, south west London.

Our florists were more than happy to rise to the challenge, and Judith got her thinking cap on while I started knocking together some promotional literature. With the flowers arriving freshly picked from Holland very early Saturday morning; our wedding florists Judith, Andrzej and Paulina got to work at the crack of dawn to create not one but four beautiful wedding bouquets for the show, as well as three coordinating buttonholes, two table arrangements and a gorgeous cascading tall vase display.

Once completed, the next challenge was to very carefully pack the wedding flowers so they weren’t damaged in delivery. With two drivers and an anxious florist overseeing the operation, it was a real eye-opener to see that as much care and strategic planning go into the delivery as do with the actual creation of wedding flowers!

Leaving just after 9am, it was straight to Raynes Park in the van with our rather lovely driver Jacek who put up with me in the passenger seat as I tried to prepare best I could for the unknown! On the way through Barnes I spotted a heron stalking the Barn Elms football pitches, just a few feet from the busy thoroughfare – wasn’t expecting that…but it kind of reminded me of my mission – a lone stalker, drawing in those brides to my lair of sumptuous wedding flowers!

Met with a huge bottleneck queue of cars and vans outside the venue, we made the decision to quit the extraordinary wait and frantically carry our booty the final 100 yards, heave them up the vast stairs (no lift!!!) and set up our pitch for the day with just an hour to spare before the doors opened to the public.

As soon as the show started, the event was packed with excited brides-to-be, mums, fiancées, bridesmaids and other womenfolk eagerly sourcing wedding garb and accoutrements from start to finish. Located right next to the entertainment, we found ourselves in a prime spot and, although a little deafened by the steel band (!!), the Arena Weddings stand was kept populated by interested parties and potential clients throughout the day. There was also the odd glass of plonk to entice visitors to my side of the ‘pond’…later polished off by me and a few other dry-of-mouth wedding suppliers located nearby.

The event seemed to go quickly and I was particularly pleased with the interest our wedding flowers arrangements generated, especially as this was pretty much new territory for us and a few miles out from the comfort zone of Flowers HQ! With online enquiries already coming in off the back of our first event, I am confident that we may be returning to the London Wedding Show circuit again soon – but perhaps with a bit more advance notice next time!

Interestingly, there were two common questions asked by visitors to the show: ‘Are they real flowers?’ and ‘How can I keep my wedding flowers budget down?’. To answer the first question, yes – all our flowers are real (maybe some of our flowers look just too perfect!), fresh and – wherever possible – ethically sourced. As regards budgeting for your wedding flowers, that’s for my next blog post – coming soon!

The wedding flowers on display at the Think Pink Wedding show last Saturday were: Amnesia roses, Cool water roses, Schwarzwalder calla lilies bridal bouquet (from £65), guest table arrangement (from £50) and buttonhole (from £7.50); Cool water roses, Limbo roses, Sea holly / thistles bridal bouquet (from £65); Sweet Avalanche and Sea holly bridal bouquet (from £65) and buttonhole (£7.50); Orchid cascade bridal bouquet (from £120), vase arrangement (from £26) and buttonhole (£7.50); and large mixed vase display including while lilies, pink mini gerberas, sea holly, sweet avalanche roses, limbo roses, carnations, and completed with soft ruscus and bear grass (from £80 plus vase hire).

Click here for a quick movie of the Arena Flowers stand at the Think Pink Wedding Show

If you enjoyed this post, you may want to check out our recent blog post on Winter Wedding Flowers, or learn more about our team of dedicated Wedding Florists or perhaps see how Arena Weddings began, with Jackie’s original blog post!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Just three good reasons to mosey on down to the David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club in Raynes Park, South West London today (Saturday 24 January) where yours truly will be exhibiting the floral fineries of our rapidly growing wedding flowers arm Arena Weddings at the Wear It Pink Wedding Show.

On display will be some of Judith (one of our award-winning florists)’s beautiful floral work especially created for this very special wedding fair in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The arrangements have also been designed with seasonal, ethically sourced flowers and take into consideration today’s tough economic climate, which has had an impact on wedding budgets up and down the country this year.

We at Arena Flowers want to make sure every bride feels like a princess without breaking the bank on their wedding flowers, making us the first choice for wedding planners throughout London and the South East. So it’s no wonder we’re fast becoming one of Cosmo Bride’s favourite stockists!

And talking of princesses and the glossies, come along to the event and you will also get the chance to view a stunning private collection of vintage wedding dresses dating from Victorian times, including a sample from Princess Diana’s iconic wedding gown.

Come join the fun from 11am-4pm. Entry fee is just £1 – which goes direct to Breakthrough Breast Cancer – and kids go free, so no excuses if you’re in town!

Wear It Pink Wedding Show
David Lloyd Health & Fitness Club
Bushey Road,
Raynes Park
London SW20 8TE
Click for directions

Full report with piccies to be posted next week – but if you need an immediate wedding flower fix, check out this post, this post or even this post about sourcing flowers for gothic wedding bouquets. Bride-tastic!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

• Fancy a Twitter with Britney?

- The Sun, 10th January 2009

• How boring: Celebrities sign up to Twitter to reveal the most mundane aspect of their lives

- Daily Mail, 3rd January 2009

• Twitter set for its mainstream telly moment on Jonathan Ross’s comeback show

- Guardian, 7th January 2009

What started as a trickle at the end of last year has become a deluge in the New Year, with headlines in the most popular newspapers in the UK showing incontrovertibly that Twitter has moved into the UK mainstream this year and established itself as the papers’ latest web darling.  Their interest is doubtless due, at least in part, to celebrity “tweeters” – celebs sell newspapers, so the papers are going where the celebs are and trying to grab some “Twitter scoops”.

Recently Jemima Kiss, a prominent blogger and journalist, revealed Jonathan Ross’s intention to discuss the service with keen Twitterer and web aficionado Stephen Fry on his first show back from suspension.   Yesterday, the Times Online made a story out of another of Ross’s “tweets”, publishing an article about his “announcement” that he would be hosting this year’s Bafta Awards.  There’s no end of celeb twittering going on, so if you’ve always wanted to know what John Cleese had for breakfast or are desperate to learn how Lance Armstrong’s comeback is going then here’s your chance.

There have been a few “bah humbug” articles too (hey, this is the British media after all) – work place concerns focus on how Twitter may hinder productivity, whilst some media sources simply complain about the lack of juicy gossip from celebrity tweeters.

We twitter too.  So we figured we’d share some of our thoughts on Twitter and Web 2.0.  In 2007 we launched our blog with a post explaining why we would be blogging.  Basically, as a new business in the impersonal online world we felt the blog would help give us a more human a voice, would enable us to communicate more personally with our customers, and would allow us to share interesting or fun insights or snippets on flowers and the online world more generally.

Since we started blogging, the “Web 2.0” movement and the social web have expanded significantly, offering additional channels and tempos of communication to complement the “older” channels.  The most obvious change is that the flow of communication is no longer as one directional or contrived as it once was. New media, to differing extents, encourage a balanced and more frequent communication between businesses and customers / visitors.

The most important difference though, in our opinion, is that new media channels enable real time, easy going contact between parties in a way that has never been possible before.  Historically, interactions between a business and a customer have been about hard nosed selling by the business and the making of informed purchasing decisions by the customer.  Social media communications are, in most cases, far more laid back.  If old media channels are like a full on business meeting in the office, then Web 2.0 channels are more like the “getting to know you” drink in the pub afterwards.  Consequently, the conversations are sometimes utterly inane and pointless but it doesn’t really matter as there’s not so much pressure on the communication to deliver immediately or at all (at least not as far as we’re concerned).

Many prominent brands have embraced Web 2.0 channels, with varying degrees of success.  Some examples of doing it right:

• Last year the web world was abuzz with the news that Top Shop, one of the UK’s leading high street fashion retailers, was getting 5% of its online visitors from MySpace. (“But is it good traffic?”, mutters my inner marketeer);
• One famously early adopter of Twitter was the popular US-based shoe retailer Zappos. Of their 1600 odd employees, 453 of them are actively on Twitter listening, engaging and responding to customer concerns;
• US-based low cost carrier JetBlue is on Twitter and has earned kudos from customers as their Twitter responses are often faster than those their customer service team;
• More recently, Dell reported $1 million worth of sales from Twitter alone. Although this number is miniscule in comparison to Dell’s overall revenue, it does offer plenty of brand exposure (eg us writing about them here).

The intangible value social media can add to a business is thought to be high. Guy Kawasaki, an early exponent of evangelism marketing who, in his capacity as chief evangelist for Apple, was responsible for creating a number of passionate user-advocates for the Apple brand, describes Twitter as one of the best new marketing tools of the century.  Of course, PR departments of big companies always produce a lot of hot air about such trendy initiatives, trying to push how cutting edge and down with the kids their brand is, so any such figures or self-congratulatory back-slapping press releases should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

Speaking for Arena, we have seen real benefits from our blog, our Facebook application (Flowers & Fun) and from our Twitter feed, and all at low cost.  However, anyone who tells you these channels will change your business overnight is talking rubbish (and may be trying to sell you something you don’t need – caveat emptor!).  There may also be a danger that with more and more people engaging with such channels, that the value will drowned out by the additional noise.

Nonetheless, we think it’s clear that Web 2.0 and new media channels can undoubtedly add value in many ways to any sized business.  As well as being informative, engaging with social media can also be just plain fun, and even eye opening on occasion.  A lot of the things we’ve found out or leads that we’ve picked were totally unexpected or from left field, and that’s one of the most rewarding aspects of Twitter; such serendipity can’t, by definition, be planned or manufactured.  On which note, here’s a final example of the unpredictable path that twittering can take: Let’s all ‘sue Telegraph’, say Twitterers.

UPDATE: For those that live on the other side of the world, the point about Twitter having arrived was made a million times better than this post by the first pic of the Hudson River plane landing appearing first on Twitterpic.

Some Useful Twitter Resources:

• 10 ways to use Twitter to Promote you Business
• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners
• Guardian list of Celebrities on Twitter (constantly updated)
• How companies use Twitter to bolster their brands
• How to use Twitter to grow your business
• List of Businesses on Twitter
• List of UK Businesses on Twitter
• Why Twitter should matter to you: Twustomer service edition

If you liked this post, you may enjoy reading our other posts on Social Media: Flowers in the Social Networking Arena & Send Free Flowers on Facebook.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Getting hitched in the chilly months of winter doesn’t mean that you need to compromise on your winter wedding flowers.  Although relatively rare compared to summer weddings, winter ceremonies can indeed benefit from all the sparkle and glamour of the party season, with family and friends close to hand for the festive period. Wedding planners will normally recommend against sourcing for the low season as flowers can be much more expensive, and less available. However, if you’re all set for marriage in December, January or February – Arena is here to guide you in making the most of your winter wedding.

If you look out into the garden, it may seem that the selection of winter flowers is limited, but many varieties are available all year round. For instance, roses, lilies and carnations – the nation’s favourite wedding flowers – may traditionally be known as summer flowers but they can be found in virtually any colour throughout the year. Winter weddings may also be brightened by using lilies or chrysanthemums. Again both of these are a popular choice and are available all year round so you will not have to worry about breaking the bank when it comes to choosing your wedding flowers.

While the prices for winter wedding flower bouquets may run a bit on the high side, there are some great seasonal bargains to be found. For a real festive touch, what better than red or white amaryllis for an extra showy effect (as illustrated by our bridal bouquets above), or perhaps even poinsettia, holly or winter berries – mixing with winter evergreens such as firs and spruce.

Alternatively, there are also many varieties of lilies or orchids that make beautifully exotic winter wedding flower arrangements (as illustrated by our bridal bouquets below) and won’t necessarily cost you an arm and a leg. An exotic or tropical themed wedding in the bleak midwinter can make a lovely break from the cold.

Fire & Ice – Decorating Your Winter Wedding Flowers

Winter Bridal Bouquets
Winter white or very light ivory flatter any bride’s skin tone, and make the perfect canvas for bright, bold colours – bringing life to an otherwise monochromatic winter hues. When selecting a theme for your winter wedding flowers, a favourite choice is to opt for shades of white, rich greens and tones of copper or red and burgundy.

Buttonholes, Boutonnieres & Corsages
Continue a seasonal theme with spray roses coupled with holly and/or berries, or alternatively take the low season as an opportunity to experiment with exotic flowers such as orchids or asiatic lilies.

Flowers for the Ceremony & Reception
If opting for a ceremony in December or early January, it is likely that the wedding or reception venue will already be decorated in red and green for seasonal events however you do not need to feel constricted by these colour schemes. Metallics and whites will complement your festive setting, while extra colour can be added by lightly spraying petals with glitter to add that little extra winter sparkle.

Candles are highly recommended for adding warmth and glow to any venue, and decorating your winter wedding flowers with light or crystal embellishments also brightening your scheme. Mirrors, glass pebbles and baubles will add a glamorous touch to table decorations for your wedding reception. Wax apples, pine cones or cinnamon sticks will also add an extra festive feel to your centrepiece arrangements. For more ideas and inspiration for your wedding flowers visit our online portfolio.

Seasonal Availability & Christmas Flower Prices

In this day and age of under soil heating and imports from as far afield as Africa and Asia, most flowers are available to buy in the UK all seasons. However, the more ethically aware bride may have issues with the perceived carbon emissions associated with their availability – as well as inflated marketed prices over the Christmas period! Sadly, it is likely that wholesale prices for some flowers are set at a much higher market price then at other times of the year because of the increased demand for them for festive flower arrangements – something florists cannot control.

However, here’s a list of winter and all-year-round availability without the need for vastly inflated prices or air miles: Agapanthus, Alstromeria, Amaryllis, Anemone, Anthurium, Aster, Bouvardia, Calla Lily, Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Craspedia, Cymbidium Orchid, Euphorbia, Freesia, Gerbera, Gloriosa, Gypsophila, Heliconia, Hyacinth, Iris, Leucospermum, Lily (Asiatic & Oriental), Lisianthus, Muscari, Narcissus (Daffodil), Nymphaea, Ornithogalum, Phalaenopsis Orchid, Phlox, Poinsettia, Ranunculus, Rose, Sunflower, Strelitzia, Tulip, Veronica.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy this one about about our family summer wedding, or perhaps this post about spring wedding flowers or even this one about getting the best from your wedding photography.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

We always have such fun organising wedding flowers – what could give anyone more pleasure than organising beautiful flowers to make a bride’s day even more perfect?  Well that is what I thought until it came to organising flowers for my own daughter’s wedding in July!

To be fair to her, she wasn’t really being difficult – just that she was marrying a Scot and wanted to have the traditional theme of an English rose and Scottish thistle carried through the wedding flowers – as it had been on all the wedding stationery.  Katharine was also absolutely set on white roses with a touch of pink at the tips for her bouquet and venue flowers.

Then she came in to meet Judith, our head wedding florist who designs the most amazing bouquets and arrangements, and everything changed…

Andre makes a start on a pedestal arrangement

…adding some peach roses to complete the effect

One of the church arrangements

The white roses were discarded in favour of our lovely peach roses, as they were more in keeping with her French lace wedding dress.  Judith spent hours discussing exactly what she would like with flowers, with books, drawings, scraps of material, foliage and bridal magazines littering the table. Luckily our florists’ benches are really large.

Then we discovered that thistles are not considered to be bona fide flowers by Sassenachs, but simply as weeds!  This meant that it was impossible to get the genuine thistles that she wanted for the buttonholes and table arrangements. However, we settled on sea holly – Eryngium – as being the closest we could get to a thistle, so that was one problem solved.

Judith and Pawlina make the pew ends

Then Katharine wanted balls of flowers hanging from the ceiling of the marquee – ‘No problem’, said Andre, our head florist.  Judith decided that as we were having a Ceilidh – Scottish reels – in the evening we needed a giant thistle on the stage, and so started planning the flowers she would need to create it.

This thistle made from flowers stood fully 1 metre tall

And then we needed some large arrangements to indicate the entrance to the marquee – trees made of flowers were the obvious choice – to her, at least!

After some quite detailed discussions, all was finalised and Judith and Andre made enormously long lists of flowers that they needed from Holland and we sat back to let it all happen.

Table Arrangements: Before and After the Arena Touch

Judith and Andre started work on the Thursday before the wedding on Saturday and made all the large church arrangements, pew ends and table arrangements in advance. Early on Friday morning, two Arena vans pitched up and disgorged huge amounts of flowers into the marquee.

Judith then started work on her own -  making bouquets, buttonholes, wonderful arrangements for the marquee, flower balls, flower trees, and cake decorations – so many flowers it was quite overwhelming!

Arrangements all ready on the tables and flower trees in place

In the afternoon all the church flowers were taken to the church to set them up and then it was back to the marquee for an evening’s work. Judith was then later joined by Andre and they worked into the early hours of the morning, transforming the marquee and creating the most fantastic wedding flowers.  When we got up in the morning, everything was ready and looking simply stunning.

All that remained was for the weather to change. It had rained and rained and rained and… at about half past ten the sun broke through and the day got better and better until, by the time of the wedding the sun was shining brightly, the sky was a clear bright blue and it was the most perfect English summer day to celebrate our only daughter’s wedding.

As one of my sons remarked to me (and I think he spoke for all of us), it was the happiest day of his life.

To see more great pictures from the wedding – and pictures of weddings of some of our non family clients -  visit our Real Wedding Photos & Feedback gallery. If you would like Arena Weddings to create perfect wedding flowers for your special day, you can contact me direct on 020 8896 8693 or email weddings@arenaflowers.com with your requirements.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

You might have noticed that I have been quite conspicuous by my absence from the Arena Flowers Blog for the last month or so. No, I’m not planning a wedding myself (!!) but have been beavering away with our all-new Arena Weddings microsite which, in itself, has become quite a labour of love!

If you’re lucky enough to be getting married this coming spring, then October is traditionally the month to begin planning your special day – so you can get on with enjoying the Christmas party season.  So, you’ve set a date for the ceremony; booked the venues; arranged the photographer; procrastinated over the fluctuating guest list and perhaps even chosen a planner to coordinate it all – but don’t neglect to plan your wedding flowers!

With years of experience of creating the perfect wedding flowers, our florists have an unbeatable reputation for creating stunning, contemporary designs and traditional arrangements to suit even the tightest of wedding budget. They are also ethically sourced wherever possible, too!

With this experience and social responsibility, we have naturally accumulated a burgeoning visual history and portfolio of our bespoke wedding flowers, created specifically to the requirements of our brides.

Over the next week or so, we will be bringing you a wealth of wedding-themed blog posts to help you through the planning stages of your special day – from tips and hints, through to our own experiences of planning beautiful, fresh wedding flowers the Arena way.

In the meantime, take a browse through our extensive portfolio of bespoke and designer wedding flowers and simply give us a call on 0800 0350 581 to discuss your wedding flowers requirements, email weddings@arenaflowers.com or use our new enquiry form for a totally personalised service and quote – and our wedding team will delighted to help…

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Some businesses like to wind-down or even close-down over the summer, but not us workaholics at Arena Flowers! Recently, Will, Steve and Elsa headed to what has now become our second home at Noordwijkerhout, on the west coast of the Netherlands for an extended stay to oversee some of the operational stuff going on for our Dutch language site, Arena Bloemen.

On their return, they brought with them a lovely box of some particularly yummy chocolates (featuring in true comedy chocolate style a local landmark (in this case Amsterdam’s Central Station)  – perfect comfort food for the rubbish weather we’ve experienced in the UK this summer! And of course, our intrepid trio offered the perfect opportunity initiate me into this ‘Comedy Chocolate’ malarkey that seems to have carved itself into the Arena psyche…

The only question – which bod at Flowers HQ to tie-up and interrogate?! Having previously jumped Ruth, Vanessa, Damian and Ronald, we thought it was about time Andrzej (or “Andre”, as we call him in these parts!) and his team of amazing award-winning, hard-grafting florists (pictured above) received a thorough ‘going over’ and put under the spotlight. Plus, as the new academic year is almost upon us, each of our experienced florists offer career advice for ‘budding’ (geddit?!) florists…

Andrzej joined us way back in November 2006 when ArenaFlowers.com was a mere seedling. With ten years under his belt as a florist, Andrzej favourite activity at Flowers HQ is creating new flower designs and fulfilling bespoke arrangements. His favourite flowers to work with are sunflowers, amaryllis, tulips, hydrangea and “exotic flowers”. Andrzej became a professional florist after visiting and helping out at his friend’s flower shop. A passion for flowers soon bloomed (!) and Andrzej opened his own florists which he ran for eight years before joining Arena Flowers.
Andrzej’s career tip: “Don’t be afraid to experiment with flower arrangements, and listen and learn from experienced florists.”

Judith has been with Arena Flowers since – practically – the very beginning. Carving herself an unrivalled reputation for her wedding flowers, Judith always rises to the challenge of creating show-stopping flower designs with her favourite stems of ranunculus, lily of the valley, tulips, calla lilies, peonies and “many more.” Judith tells us that she actually fell into floral design “accidentally” as she wanted to utilise her creativity. Having considered fashion and interior design, Judith finally settled on floristry.
Judith’s career tip: “Don’t be scared if it doesn’t meet your expectations and choose the people you want to learn from carefully!”

Paulina, at just 22, is the relative youngster of the Arena Flowers floristry team but flower design is in her blood. Starting out by helping with her sister’s flower shop, Paulina soon picked up the skills to enable her to embark on a career as a florist on her arrival in London. Paulina joined Arena Flowers in July 2007 and particularly enjoys working with tulips, hydrangea, roses and calla lilies. Her favourite Arena bouquet is A Dozen Red Roses.
Paulina’s career tip: “Go for it if you’re passionate about flowers – even if it seems hard at the beginning.”

Ela started at Arena Flowers around the same time as Paulina and loves working with our luxury bouquets, especially Luxury White and Mass of Red Roses. Ela tells us that she “always knew she would one day become a florist as she was always very active in home decoration for different occasions.” After studying, Ela decided to try her real passion, so here she is…
Ela’s career tip: “Although it is hard work, your satisfaction and motivation rises when you see the happiness on the recipients’ faces.”

Kristina has been with Arena Flowers for nearly a year and originates from the Czech Republic. Her favourite Arena bouquets are Lovely in Lilac and A Dozen Peach Roses. Freesias, orchids and peach roses feature among some of the many flowers favoured by Kristina to work with.

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this dose of comedy chocolate and meeting some of our team, you might also enjoy the four previous comedy chocolate posts.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Quick intro from Will: We often get asked “So why is Arena Flowers so much better than John Lewis, Marks & Spencers or Interflora then? After all, you only sell a set of standard bouquets, just like them.”  Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Unlike the bigger players, we do numerous bespoke and tailored designs every week; it’s just that there has been nowhere for us to show them off on our website. Until now.  Recently Stan has made it her mission to correct this misconception and has been very busy building our new bespoke flowers gallery to showcase the full breadth and depth of our florists’ brilliance.  Enough from me (I’ll write a post about the other reasons Arena’s better for customers than Interflora another time!). Over to Stan and the joys of bespoke flowers!

Whether it is a birthday celebration, wedding to be planned or Christmas party to organise, you want it to be perfect, with perfect beautiful flowers to match. Perfection comes from the heart, a passion for getting things right and just how you want it to be. No compromise.

Our flower arrangements are far from set in stone, and we know that one size (or colour or flower stem!) doesn’t always fit all. We’ve been fulfilling the individual wishes (and whims) of our varied customers since the inception of Arena Flowers back in July 2006, and this has included the sourcing of unusual and exotic flowers, flowers out of season and flowers in massive numbers, with arrangements designed in all colours and all sizes.

‘Bespoke’ is not just a description of what we can do for customers and their flowers. It also describes how we approach our service, by treating each customer as an individual. From the moment we receive a bespoke enquiry, our team takes the time to listen and understand your unique requirements and take great care and attention to detail, to interpret your dream into reality.

There is no greater satisfaction for our exceptional team of award-winning florists than in the challenge of creating a flower arrangement just for you – to your specifications.

So Why Choose a Bespoke Flower Arrangement?

Bespoke Wedding Flowers
• Your dream wedding bouquet unique to you: No other bride anywhere will have the same flower arrangement as you!
• A choice of embellishments – intricate beadings, grass looping and leaf embroidery to add extra originality
Visit our Wedding Flowers section for inspiration >>

Bespoke Bouquets
• Congratulating a special occasion? Say it with flowers with specific meanings and symbolism.
• Whether it’s a specific number of flowers or a combination of colours, it’s your choice!
Visit our Bespoke Bouquets page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Floral Displays
• Looking for that extra special centrepiece for an event or venue? Amaze your guests with a fragrant work of art – designed by you or our florists.
• Have fun with a variety of floor standing, table top or pedestal arrangements, created for specific decorative functions.
Visit our Bespoke Floral Displays page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Table Arrangements
• Where there’s good food there should be great flowers! Complete your dining tableware with a contemporary table arrangement.
• A versatile range of vases and containers to suit your business or home decor.
Visit our Table Arrangements page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Corporate Flowers
• Match your branding with coloured coordinated flowers, arranged to suit your company’s style.
• For work or pleasure, Arena Flowers offers a personal professional service for professional people.
Visit our Bespoke Corporate Flowers page for inspiration >>

Bespoke Funeral Arrangements
• Specify floral tributes that have significant meanings and evoke emotion unique to the sender’s sentiments.
• Our customer care team who will guide you through the process of ordering your funeral flowers with respect and integrity to your wishes.
Visit our Funeral Arrangements page for inspiration >>

If you have a bespoke enquiry, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly and helpful customer service team with your requirements. Email customer@arenaflowers.com or call us free on 0800 0350 581 (+44 20 8993 5400 for international customers).

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this post, you may find this one about the supermarkets pumping out uninspiring flowers and arrangements interesting.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

We were surprised and delighted a couple of weeks ago to learn via email that we’d been nominated for the IMRG‘s Online Green Awards (affectionately known as the OLGAs), in the small retailers category.  So surprised in fact that my first response to the email was to ask Sam if he thought this might be some elaborate phishing scam.  A bit of double checking later and we soon found out that, nope, we really were nominated. Hooray!

Looking at the list of nominees across the categories, we found we were in good company; nominees included eBay, Dixons, Ocado, Marks & Spencer and the Royal Mail – I haven’t added links as I reckon you’ve probably heard of them :).  Of the slightly less titanic organisations nominated there were some great businesses we’d heard of, such as Ethical Superstore, and some great businesses we hadn’t heard of (sorry!), such as Celtic Sheepskin, Tangkoko and Digital Direct.  I can’t include all nominees here, but you can see the full list, including Arena Flowers, here.

Sam and I attended on behalf of Arena.  If you’ve read Sam’s previous posts, you’ll know that he and his team are in charge of almost everything you experience online and offline when interacting with Flowers HQ (and you may also remember that he recently became the proud father of a new baby boy).

The awards ceremony was held at the Kensington Roof Gardens, in London – believe it or not, in these sumptuous, skyline gardens there are 1.5 acres of greenery, spread across three differently themed gardens, including (the pictured) flamingos. Amazing. Sam and I found this rather unfamiliar territory as, in order to keep our costs down and our efficiency up, Flowers HQ is sensibly based in West London near all kinds of highly optimised transport and business links and absolutely nowhere near any roof gardens or flamingos.  But we don’t care – our designer flowers beat all comers. :)

Right. This post is getting too long.  So, as we say in our meetings when someone goes on a bit: “Skip to the end!”. Two things left to say:

1. The IMRG’s findings (supported by numerous seasoned academics) were pretty interesting. The crux?

“The carbon emission of each item bought online and delivered to a customer is 132 grams of C02. Twenty-seven items need to be bought on a dedicated car journey to the shops to achieve the same level of efficiency. Nine purchases need to be made to be as green as shopping online on a bus journey.”

Dr Julia Edwards from Heriot-Watt university was assiduous in calling out that a number of caveats apply to this (or any other) model.  It nonetheless seems pretty clear that, whilst it’s hard intuitively to understand the environmental benefits of the white van man or the massive double decker Royal Mail juggernaut steaming down the motorway, in many ways they and the system they are part of can be far more efficient than us as individuals driving to the shops as to pick up items ourselves.  Read more here.

2. Arena won! Hooray!  Of course, showing off is a not terribly British, but, because this award shows how great our customers are we’ll share a couple of pics.  We’re trying to be green (we have a lot still to do on that front) and we obsess about how we can surprise and delight our customers every time they order. Business types tell us not bother about that and to just make more money.  Winning an award like this, and seeing orders coming in, makes us happy, as it proves our customers are buying into Arena not just with their heads but with their wallets.  Thank you to all our loyal customers. As they say, this one’s for you!

Sam, already used to cradling the Arena Flowers websites in his hands, is gentle with Arena’s cherished award.

If only the IMRG had told us the yellow blob on our name badges indicated we’d won an award (click to enlarge), we’d have been a lot more relaxed throughout proceedings!

Finally, thanks very much to the IMRG for such a fun day.

PS Sam and I couldn’t work out why the flamingos don’t fly away from the roof gardens (if you know, please let us know – are they scared of heights or is life just too good up there?!).

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this post, you can read a number of others talking about ethical initiatives in our ethical and environmental posts category.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Regular ‘Flowers …uncut’ readers will be aware of the good causes that ArenaFlowers.com occasionally works with by providing assistance and beautiful blooms and flower arrangements.

So when Help for Heroes, a new charity which aims to help wounded Servicemen and Women, contacted us, we were more than happy to oblige (and we’ve had a fun idea to try to help raise money for them too – see the bottom of the post for more info).

Bespoke table arrangements for their Summer Ball a couple of weeks ago consisted of an array of floral arrangements representing the charity’s brand colours of red, ivory, blue and navy. These included red roses, red gerberas, red tulips, alstromeria and asiatic lilies, as well as blue delphiniums, agapanthus, lisianthus, thistles and freesias.

All this with an additional candle added, representing the ivory detail, which you can see twinkling away in the image above.

Event organiser Tricia Nanovo contacted us to tell us how the ball went, commenting: “Your contribution meant a lot and made so much difference to the beauty of the event and the ambience of the evening.”

Help for Heroes was set up by Bryn Parry, a former Green Jacket Soldier. He was inspired to do something to help and support wounded soldiers after visiting Selly Oak Hospital and Headley Court Tri-service Rehabilitation Centre.

Supported by Chief of General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt and working closely with the Army Benevolent Fund, Help for Heroes’ first aim is to raise vital funds to build a new gym and full size swimming pool complex at Headley Court. The new facilities will help wounded soldiers with the long process of rehabilitation and recovery.

The event was a fabulous success with over £11,500 raised from the charity auction and raffle on the night – with a final total estimated to be at least £13,000.

Donate with Arena!  If you type heroes into the discount box on our checkout when you place an order, we’ll track your order and donate 10% of the order value to Help For Heroes.  Simple.

For further information on bespoke flower arrangements or sponsorship and partnerships, contact customer@arenaflowers.com
For further information on Help for Heroes, click the banner below…

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy this post about our fund raising efforts for the British Heart Foundation, this one about our red roses at Amnesty International’s recent demonstration,  this one about us giving away free flowers for charity or maybe this post about the day kids took over Arena Flowers!

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post:

Sarah Holland is part of the crack team at the Flowers & Plants Association plus she also pops by every now and again to fill us in on the latest flower fashion trends, arrangement tips and to answer any questions you may have about flowers or plants. Our ‘Bouquets of Emotion‘ helped the FPA to win a Silver Gilt Award at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show a couple of weeks ago. Here’s Sarah’s story from the front line…

Death, disaster, delight… ok, so the show wasn’t that dramatic, but perhaps the meanings of flowers can be.

We did have flooding, the threat of electrocution as water dripped onto a live mic, a stand so busy we couldn’t get to it ourselves in the morning, and a silver-gilt medal for our efforts… but what we were actually showing was the variety and crazy nature of meanings of flowers from around the world, or that a particular person assigns to them.

The Flowers & Plants Association took our customary demonstration stand at the show, which we’ve done since the show’s existence. Our aim is to educate, inspire and promote flowers to the audience who come along and watch the designer demonstrations, and throughout the years we’ve created fantastic stands to showcase our theme for that year.

We were in the ‘International Language of Flowers’ marquee, a totally new idea in a totally new location, which sat really well with our summer fashion flower trend, ‘Talking Flowers’. We produce four seasonal trends a year to show you what’s happening in the world of flower fashion. “Flower fashion?” I hear you say, “Don’t I just get what I like?” Well, this is exactly what ‘Talking Flowers’ is about – using flowers in a way that is personal to you, to create meanings of your own. That means creating fun pieces of flower jewellery and wearing them just because you feel like it, or making big heart-shaped arrangements for the one you love.

Our trends are actually consciously based on trends in interiors and the catwalk, but that doesn’t mean we have flowers tottering around in high heels – but we do have pictures of flowers inside high heels, or even in wellies, or worn as a dress. The trends are about what colours, shapes and styles are hip right now – but they never lose the emotional message of flowers, either.

One way we showcased this was to get a super-talented team of florists at Arena Flowers to come up with a range of ‘Bouquets of Emotion’ – whether it was jealousy, passion, fear or loneliness. We had quirky designs, such as a bouquet in the shape of two bespectacled eyes for our ‘Stalker’ bouquet, and a gorgeous yin and yang design of white roses and peonies for our ‘Soulmate’ bouquet. The bouquets were stunning, really popular with the visitors, and really showed how creative you can be with the emotional messages flowers can convey. The lucky staff at the Flowers & Plants Association also got ‘the pick of the bunch’ at the end of the show – my bedroom is now bursting with my favourite flowers, roses, that are still going strong after a week in a hot marquee! See some pictures of the Arena Flowers bouquets on the F&PA site here.

To recognise the brilliant work by our super talented senior florists, Andrew and Judith, Arena gave them both a bottle of our vintage Pol Roger champagne. Congratulations to them both!

We also showed the sometimes bizarre, sometimes untrue meanings of flowers on our ‘Tree of Knowledge’, which displayed colourful tags of meanings of flowers from around the world. Some visitors even added their own meanings – you can see the full list on our website.

The most cutting-edge design was demonstrated every day by florists who’ve joined up to the Association as a member. Taran Vernon showed Indian design, Rosa Ashby showed modern flower design, Linda Day showed typical Spanish design, and Tracey Griffin, Hans Haverkamp, and Sarah Horne showed European flower design.

If you want more inspiration from the summer fashion flower trend, you can see over 80 fun, fast, fashionable designs to express your own meaning of flowers at our website.

Similar posts: If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy this one about the first day of the Hampton Court Flower Show.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

Share This Post: