One

Call your local family-owned florist! Family-owned businesses always have better customer service than large corporate businesses for a lot of reasons. For our family-owned business, it’s because we want each of our customers to feel we have cared for them the same way we would our own family. Many of our long-time customers really are like family!

Almost every business has an online presence with the ability to place orders online. For flowers though, I recommend calling the florist directly. Especially if it’s your first time working with that particular florist. This way you are guaranteed an arrangement that is uniquely created with your loved one’s preferences. I ask a lot of questions when someone calls to place an order: favorite colors, favorite flowers, flowers we should avoid, tall or short, modern or traditional.

We take detailed notes that are saved for future reference. For instance, I know that Mr. B’s wife loves peonies and ranunculus. Mr. W’s wife called me before Mother’s Day, “I know my husband is going to order flowers. I just found out I’m allergic to eucalyptus.” Duly noted! No eucalyptus in Mrs. W’s arrangements from now on! Even if you don’ t remember, I will remember for you! Sometimes customers will even describe the recipient’s personality, and I include that in my notes to the designer. We challenge ourselves with each arrangement to try to meet the vision described by the sender.

Sometimes I get calls from people who have never ordered flowers and/or have no idea what the recipient likes or dislikes. That’s OK! Just give us a budget, and our designers will come up with something beautiful and amazing!

Two

For Valentine’s Day (and other busy holidays like Mother’s Day) consider picking your arrangement up or having it delivered before Valentine’s Day. Most people will want their arrangements on the actual holiday so you and your order are going to be jockeying for time and space with the whole rest of the world. By having an earlier delivery date, you take advantage of the benefits of a quieter and less frenzied time at the flower shop. The bonus is that your loved one gets a two or three day celebration instead of just the one.

Valentine’s Day is on Sunday this year. Have the flowers delivered on Friday with a very romantic card expressing your desire that she/he enjoys their Valentine’s Weekend. Who wouldn’t want to receive that expression of love and thoughtfulness?!

Three

The card message is important! I was listening to Jay Shetty on the Today Show this morning, and he said, “studies show that you’ll be more grateful for receiving and giving personalized and specific gratitude.” I see all sorts of card messages, but the ones that touch me the most (so I know they are touching to the recipient!) are the ones that are heartfelt. After all the time and effort you have gone through with the flowers, don’t skimp on the card message! Let it be personal and specific and heartfelt.

May your month be filled with the love and joy of the season. If you are local to our shop, we are always here to help with your Valentine’s Day flowers, chocolates, balloons, and plush animals!

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Valentine’s Day at Fantasy Floral is like opening day on Broadway. It’s months of planning. Perfecting methods of dispatching. Hiring extra people for the week. Advertising through phone calls and social media and sprucing up our well-known decorated trailer on the circle. Decorating the shop with everything hearts and romantic red and passionate pink. Cleaning boxes and boxes of flowers that arrive daily. Lowering the temperature of the shop to a balmy 50 degrees so it becomes one big flower cooler. All leading up to Valentine’s Day morning when we turn on the shop lights, don our headsets, and start directing designers, front of the house assistants, and delivery drivers to help over 200 customers express their love and gratitude for the special people in their lives. It’s happy chaos spent with some of my favorite people!

Wonderful Stories

My favorite part of this process is taking orders. I get to hear the most wonderful stories! One gentleman always orders a blue carnation to be included in whatever arrangement he sends to his wife because the first bouquet he gave her was blue carnations. Another gentleman always orders a “designer’s choice” arrangement that includes two red roses that represent him and his wife. A dad who retired and moved to Florida always orders pink Valentine’s Day arrangements for his two daughters that still live in the area; we take photos of the arrangements each year so we make sure they are always different and unique. We have followed one couple’s journey through Valentine’s Day arrangements; he sent the first arrangement when they first started dating; last year they got engaged; this year the card read, “To my wonderful fiancée and soon to be my bride.”

Fantasy Floral Family

Our customers become a part of our Fantasy Floral family. We are part of the celebrations, and we are part of the remembrances. We share in the joy of new daughters and grandsons, and we share hugs when loved ones pass. We’ve even been able to play hero when 800 number or web-based florists failed to show up, or other shops are closed. I did our last delivery this Valentine’s Day at 9:30pm to a weary traveler whose husband wanted to cheer her up when she got to her hotel. I now view Valentine’s Day through this lens.

Before I started managing the flower shop, Valentine’s Day was just a commercial holiday to be avoided. The care with which people choose certain flowers and colors and why, and the care with which people compose the perfect card message, make me realize that sometimes we all need that reminder to tell the people in our lives how special and loved they are. Valentine’s Day is that nudge for many people. Sure, it is a commercial holiday, but the individual experiences are deeply personal and full of expressions of love and gratitude.

That’s a Wrap!

Because our customers are part of our family, each order, especially Valentine’s Day orders, are deeply personal for us as well. We know the huge trust each customer is putting in us to fulfill their vision and expression flawlessly. I never tire of the warm-fuzzy feeling I get when the dispatch board is clear, the last cuttings are swept up, and we turn off the lights at the end of an exhausting day and week. That is the wonderful part about small family businesses like ours. When you place your Valentine’s Day order, or any order, with us, we’ll treat you like the valued family that you are!

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I see it in the faces of the two ladies that stopped by Fantasy Floral on their lunch break, “It smells so good in here!” I hear it in the choked up voice of the mom who called us on Mother’s Day, “I just wanted to thank you. This is the most beautiful arrangement I have ever received! I just…just thank you…” Our delivery drivers witness it walking into office buildings, and without fail, someone they pass exclaims with a smile, “For me?!”

Reduce Stress

Last month, one of my childhood friends posted a photo on Facebook of her handing a bouquet of flowers to a woman as part of the Society of American Florists’ #StressLess tour. The look on the recipient’s face is one of joyful surprise, and I thought to myself, “This is why I love managing my son’s flower shop!” It’s not just a job; it’s being a part of something that brings joy, but that photo made me realize that it’s so much more than just bringing a moment of joy.

Bring Joy

Traditionally, we give women flowers for special occasions–anniversaries, birthdays, and of course Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. We’ve always known women love receiving flowers, but as I contemplated why we love flowers and did a bit of research, I found studies that provided a wealth of information and unexpected insight.

In one study, run by Jeannette Haviland-Jones in her Human Emotions Lab at Rutgers University, participants were presented with one of three gifts—a decorative candle, a fruit basket, or a floral bouquet—­supposedly as a thank-you for taking part in a study on mood. “In every case, the recipients responded to the flowers with what is known as the Duchenne smile—a heartfelt ‘true smile’ involving the mouth, cheeks, and eyes; neither the candle nor the fruit elicited that kind of across-­the-board positive response. And three days later, the flower recipients were still feeling happier than their cohorts in the study.”

Increase Personal Connections

The good effects don’t end there though! The participants that received the flower bouquets “reported feeling less depressed, anxious and agitated after receiving flowers, and demonstrated a higher sense of enjoyment and life satisfaction.” While we’ve always known how much women love flowers, did you know that men also love flowers? “The men who received flowers demonstrated increased eye contact in conversation, stood in closer proximity to the researchers, and produced more and truer smiles than those men who did not receive flowers.”

Brighten the Office

Recently, we started delivering weekly arrangements to a local business. Every Monday we rotate the old arrangements out and replace them with new arrangements. We provide two smaller arrangements that sit on coffee tables in waiting areas, and we provide a larger arrangement for the counter in their coffee/beverage area. It’s amazing how much the flowers brighten up the office, and after reading various studies on the effect flowers have on people, I also think it’s a great strategic move on the part of the business! Flowers have a positive effect on the mood, energy level, and productivity of everyone in the office!

Boost Productivity

A behavioral research study conducted by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that “study participants who lived with fresh cut flowers for less than a week felt an increase in feelings of compassion and kindness for others. Overall, people in the study simply felt less negative after being around flowers… The study found that people were more likely to feel happier and have more enthusiasm and energy at work.” Adding to these findings, a Texas A&M study found “that a change as simple as adding flowers and plants can be important in the most meaningful way to businesses in the modern economy… People’s productivity, in the form of innovation and creative problem solving, improved – which in certain circumstances could mean the difference between mild and great business success. During the study, both women and men demonstrated more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included flowers and plants.”

What’s not to love about flowers?

For me, I’ve been working with computers since I was in high school using the first generation of Peachtree Software in the early 80’s. Although managing the flower shop still involves a computer, I just love this latest chapter in my life–learning about flowers and designing arrangements. One of the best parts, happens on a day that is grey and rainy and my mood is not much brighter; I come into the shop and find gorgeous ranunculus, or peonies fully blooming, or see stargazer lilies bursting in color. I defy you to stay glum once you step into Fantasy Floral! Now that means you have to come visit us!

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