New Years Eve!

We'll be closing early tomorrow (New Years Eve) and closed all of New Years Day for the holiday weekend. There's still time to get those last-minute centerpieces in! Give us a call.

Know that everyone at Graves wishes you a beautiful 2011! We can't wait to see what it brings for us and we love hearing your stories too. See you next year! :)

New Blogs for a New Year

We're back open and ready to go! Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas? Ours was lovely!

We've added some new blogs to our reading list (to the right) so be sure to check out The Bridal Bar and Style Me Pretty because they're sure to inspire all brides! Certainly, they inspire us!

Closing Early today: Last Chance!

We'll be closing early today to enjoy the holiday weekend, so right now is your last chance to order!

We'll be back on Monday! Enjoy your weekend everyone! May your holiday be merry & bright. :)

Merry Christmas everyone! See you Monday!

Holiday Hours

Time to give you our holiday hours for the week! We'll be closing early on Christmas Eve and completely closed on Christmas Day, but there's still time to get your orders in! You can drop by and pick something up or call ahead and let us we design something custom for you.

Party Centerpieces

We had the honor of creating centerpieces for a Christmas party this past Friday, and the main arrangement turned out so pretty I couldn't help but share:



Isn't it gorgeous? Lime greens, reds and just a touch of orange to bring out the ornaments in her tree. Amaryllis, orchids, alstromeria, roses, hypericum berries, poms...

Holiday Hours:
We will be closed Christmas Day (Saturday) and closing early on Christmas Eve (Friday). There's still time for orders! Stay warm and have a merry Christmas everyone!

We Have a Winner!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Randy & Ruth Loftis of Shawnee Trophy!! They were nominated and won one of our poinsettias for all their friendliness and hard work! You guys are great!

Congrats!!

Reminder: Poinsettia Giveaway

These beauties are just waiting for a home! Don't forget about our giveaway this week! Let us know by Friday about a special someone who has helped you or brightened your year. We'll place all the names in a random drawing and draw on Friday!



You can contact us via FB or here!

Spirit of Christmas: Poinsettia Giveaway

We're in the spirit of Christmas and we've got a poinsettia giveaway lined up! Let us know about that special someone that's lifted your spirits this past year. Is there a worker at a local shop that makes you smile? The mailman bring mail to your door? Family member or friend carry you through the year? We want to help you honor them. Tell us about them on Facebook or here, either in a message or the comments. Friday's the deadline!

Aren't they just gorgeous?

More on Grave Blankets

Whew! I managed to catch a shot of one of our custom grave blankets before they ran out to the cemetery with it.

This blanket has green glitter leaves with ornaments and red bows with gold & green accents. The blanket accessories are $10 for each set, whether you choose silk poinsettias, nicer bows, pinecones and/or ornaments.


We always love pinecones! :)


Another lovely option, velvet bows....


And don't forget about wreaths! Wreaths are great for the cemetery, as well as for your home. And we would love to customize them to your preferences. But be quick, we're almost out of everything!

Grave Blankets

As I mentioned in our last post, we're busy getting grave blankets out! While they boys have managed to run with all our fancier ones before I snapped a picture, I do have one of our standard ones:

I'll try to grab a snapshot of one before they take it next week and I'll definitely post it on here to show you!



We have a lot of people ask what grave blankets are and what they look like. Grave blankets are essentially Christmas greenery on a wire backing. They cover the graves for the winter months (most local cemeteries allow them for December and January). We build our standard ones with four smaller bows and one large bow in the center.

If you're interested in upgrading your blanket, we have several options for $10 each option. We offer silk poinsettias, Christmas ornaments, pinecones and velvet bows.

Another option is to place your order on a standing order here at the shop and we'll take care of it for you every year. You can cancel at any time and we send out confirmation cards each year before actually charging for the order.

But be sure to order quick if you haven't yet! Grave blankets move really fast at our shop, but we do have a few left after our standing orders. We'd love to hear from you!

What a lineup!

We've got quite a lineup going on right now! We've got grave blankets going out, holiday wreaths being made up, poinsettias shipped in....whew! We'll be showing you pics of all these in the coming weeks, but they're ready to go now if you want to call or come by!

In the meantime, I wanted to take a minute and show off these gorgeous Limbo roses we got in this week. They're a beautiful yellow-green. Aren't they lovely? And so unique!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is everyone ready for turkey day? We've been working hard and are famished! You can still order last minute centerpieces today, but we'll be closed tomorrow (Thursday) so be sure to call now! Whether you're looking for traditional candle centerpieces, cubes or something funky for your table, we're happy to do it for you.

We'll be back on Friday, so come visit us and tell us about all those great Black Friday deals!

Turkey Time!

Time to thaw out the bird! Don't forget to order your centerpieces! We'll be here Monday through Wednesday and closed on Thursday, so give us call!

Behind the Scenes: Pomanders

We had a wedding this past month that included some gorgeous fall flowers. We're still getting the pictures all in place, but here's a few behind the scenes shots I thought you might enjoy.

Two of the arrangements were pomanders for a flower girl and the maid of honor. I'm so glad pomanders are coming back into style because they're super cute and a little different than your standard bouquet. The problem is that they're round and that can be hard to work with. You can't set it on your table once parts of it are covered in flowers- otherwise you would bruise the flowers. It gets difficult to hold onto after awhile because you're trying to keep your fingers in between the flowers. We can't hang a wire from our ceiling to hook it on since it's way too high. So how do you solve this dilemma?

You find a wreath stand and hang from the hook!


This was my bosses brilliant idea. It swings around and suddenly you can work all sides. I was thrilled.

Here's a closeup:


I love the colors. And the little pumpkins popped in there! Beautiful, fun and stylish all in one.

Christmas Customization

Looking for something a little more on the wild side for Christmas? :)


From traditional wreaths...




...to something a little more exotic...



...we do it all.

The People Behind The Open House

Jan, who came in and helped all throughout our open house and Bob:



We don't have a picture of us taken very often, so here we are, the people you talk to all the time! Left to right: Sherri (myself), the owners Bob & Pam, Carla & our Teleflora representative Suzi.


And of course YOU GUYS! You've always been so supportive of our open house, even coming out in that afternoon downpour. Thank you so much! You are the best customers and we love you! Thanks for always being the kind people you are.

A Fresh Start

We're switching things up! How do you like our new background? We love it and feel it freshens up the page. Don't worry - you can still find all our previous posts in the drop down calendar to the right! In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you on our new blog!

We're preparing for Thanksgiving centerpieces as well as beginning to customize Christmas wreaths, arrangements, cemetery pieces, etc. We do it all and will be happy to customize yours as well - just let us know!

Open House: More to See

November 12, 2010

A few more shots of areas around the shop this morning... Christmas is just around the corner, but fall is still in the air!




Home elegance...

Open House: The Prizes

November 12, 2010

Whew! Things are going great at our open house! The weather's not stopping us! Be sure to get in here to enter our drawing. Here's a glimpse at just a few of the prizes in store....

Fresh giveaways...




Absolutely stunning plants...


And our grand prize....



Check out this detail work. Gorgeous.


Be sure to get your entry in! You can't miss this!

Open House: The Morning Of

November 12, 2010

While it's still quiet I wanted to sneak some pictures up of our open house! We'll be busy soon and I'll be keeping you updated, but here's some snapshots to get your mouth watering going:

And speaking of mouth watering...Chicago St. Deli cookies and Daylight Donuts will be served throughout the day!

Open House Preview

November 4th, 2010

Mark your calendars! Our Open House is Friday, November 12th! Here's a sneak peek:



Are you excited? We can't wait to see you! We'll be here all day (8:00 - 5:00) with cookies and punch just for you as well as special sales (20% OFF all in-store purchases!).

Come see us!

103 Years!

November 1, 2010

We're celebrating 103 years this week! Thank you for being so wonderful all these years and being such fantastic customers! You're the best!

Floral Bridal Dress

October 21, 2010

Wow, wow, wow!! Check out what event coordinator Preston Bailey created for this year's Bridal Fashion Week! While all of his work is incredible, this is absolutely stunning.

15th Anniversary of Bridal Fashion Week

Stellar.

Christmas Creations Part 3

October 20, 2010
Whew! Final segment of our evening at Christmas Creations hosted by Oklahoma Flower Market! Prepared for a picture onslaught?

Let's open with this beauty. So lovely! This technique is called sheltering and can really create a pretty show.


These trees also featured prominently in the show:


The major event piece from the show:

Gorgeous! I love those red decobeads in the center.

And can you see all that wirework? Here's a closeup:

This piece just proves how huge wirework is in the industry right now. And I'm drooling over that flat wire!

We'll end with our personal favorite from the show:


Love. Love the graceful movement of those aspidistra leaves. Love the flowers tucked together. Love that its all green. A perfect, contemporary centerpiece for Christmas.

Psst...we're preparing for our own annual open house! Come have a ball with us November 12th and watch for details here and on our Facebook!

Christmas Creations Part 2

October 18, 2010

This Christmas lovely is completed on a new option in the floral world: Stackables! We're hoping to have them in soon since they are perfect for memorial work, but it's nice to see it used on everyday arrangements as well. Great for event work.


Pomanders are featured in this arrangement and I think they're super cute. Also of note is that tree fern topiary!


Closeup of their pomander:


Another arrangement with pomanders. See what I mean? I love it.


What's special about this one? The snow! Can you see it underneath that ornament? So pretty and clean. Another option this Christmas.


Our final segment, Part 3, will be up soon! See that lovely green centerpiece in the background of that last photo? I can't wait to feature it. It was our favorite.

Remember When??

October 13, 2010

We're going to get to Part 2 of the Christmas Creations show soon, but we wanted to remind you that SHS Homecoming is this Friday night! Especially for the Class of 1970 we've had special requests for old school football corsages and we're in the middle of preparing them for you!

But for any class - or for any mom wanting to show off her school spirit (but in a more modern way) - we're ready for you! Give us a call and order yours today! We may be out soon!

A sneaky peek...

Christmas Creations: Part 1

October 7, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

My boss Pam & I recently had the opportunity to attend Christmas Creations, which is Oklahoma Flower Market's 2010 holiday open house. It was lovely to be inspired for the upcoming season, especially since it's still the beginning of fall and we're trying to mentally think snow! But we're ready!

Here's a few shots of displays around the warehouse and in Part 2 will check out all those awesome fresh designs.

Check out all this green! (Of course...our favorite color is green mutually, so we were quite enthusiastic!)





Mark Erikson, our showman for the evening:



I loooove wirework so I snatch pictures of designs and ideas whenever I find wonderful uses of it.


Pam & I enjoying the evening out. Can't wait to show you all the fresh beauties in part 2!

Christmas Creations

October 6, 2010

Wow! We had a wonderful time at the Oklahoma Flower Market Christmas show last night! We've got to get started on today's orders, but pictures will be coming soon!

A Very Special Birthday

October 1, 2010

Wow! Ever wonder what 85 roses looks like all in one vase?





Now you know. :)

For an 85th birthday here in Shawnee! Happy birthday Mary Leiker!

Heeeello gorgeous!

September 27, 2010

We've been swamped lately with sympathy work, which is why the blog's been a bit quiet. In the meantime, here's a few that we completed last week!

This combination is popular among us. I don't know of anyone working at the shop that doesn't love the all-white & green combo, particularly with gazers, roses and bells of ireland:



Also gorgeous, this knockout piece of yellow callas, roses & delphinium. I wish we had managed to snag a better picture of it.



And the matching heart to compliment the above piece:


Mm, those green hydrangeas... gorgeous, gorgeous!

Mambo #5!

September 23, 2010

Wow, you've been keeping us so busy! Thank you guys for that! I haven't even had time to post!

I wanted to take a second to show off this gorgeous spray rose:



Oooo....ahhh...

This is a Mambo spray rose and they are beautiful.

Whew! Now I'm back off to work!