Carla's Bouquet

Sisters... Carla the bride and her sister Kristin

Napkins add a special touch

Cupcakes that match

Jane's Baby Shower

We had a great afternoon yesterday. Thanks to all the girls who baked, cooked and brought the games. Since Jane won't find out if the baby is a girl or boy, decided to do something different. The house is already decorated for autumn and Thanksgiving. Chose shower colors in chocolate brown and soft green, pistachio. One of her girlfriends made a "stroller" cake. And matching cupcakes.

In order to keep the decoration budget down, I bought "gifts" for the baby and used them to decorate. Floated rubber ducks in crystal bowls, a stuffed lion, taggy rattle. Out by the pool, piled diapers, wipes, bath lotion, washcloths, etc. Not only did they add to the baby shower mood, she got to take them all home to use.

Great food, games, and good friends and a new baby almost here. Followed by another one in February! What more could you ask for. :)

Signature Button Bouquet

Finally finished. Need to get Malcolm to photograph. Here's a peek. Felt flowers, leaves all cut and stitched by hand. Our colors raspberry and black. Buttons carefully selected for each flower. This one has 16 stems (flowers). They can be larger or smaller.

Christmas Bouquet II

Christmas Bouquet

This bouquet is the first one without a cone for the base. It is wrapped carefully in florist's tape, then with poinsettia fabric. The finishing touch is a pearl "bracelet" over the fabric, then tied with eyelet and pearl ribbon.

Perfect for a holiday wedding rehearsal, party or in your home.

Autumn bouquet

Autumn wedding, or rehearsal bouquet. Also beautiful for Thanksgiving in a vase or on a table.

Autumn Bouquet

Finished the autumn bouquet for the Holiday Bazaar at St. Luke's. Loved using the brown velvet.

New bouquet

This is a bouquet I made this weekend. Love the colors, navy blue with purple. My photos are not even close to Malcolm's.

Candy corn

First Day of Fall

Happy First Day of Fall! Here come the pumpkins, apples, cider, mums, trees dressed in their best dresses, crisp sunny days, apple cider donuts, football, sweaters, gorgeous country roads, black cats, candy corn, costumes. It's the most spectacular season of the year in my opinion.
Enjoy every minute.

French Knot

A good night. Mastered French knots after not making one for 30+ years. ahhh. Happy Day!

Felt bouquets

Spent the afternoon cutting out tons of felt leaves, flowers and perfecting my sewing. It's funny how it comes back so quickly, I haven't sewed in 20 years. Can't wait to start designing the bouquets, we can be as creative as we like with colors, buttons and trimmings. My first one will be a signature button bouquet in raspberry and black damask. It will be interesting to see what the girls choose to do.

Occasions to Celebrate

Autumn brings numerous occasions to celebrate. Be sure to fill your home with the friends and family you love, the special treasures in your life.

Labor Day
Grandparents' Day
Back to School
Octoberfest
Veterans' Day
Halloween
Thanksgiving

And don't forget football and tailgating!

Signature Seal

Our Signature Seal.

Seals for bouquets

We had signature seals designed that will go on each bouquet before it is shipped or delivered. They arrived today, beautiful. In black damask and raspberry, of course!


Discovery's liftoff just before midnight was breathtaking... sky lit up, it was picture perfect.

Mobil Travel Guide changing

Interesting in today's news.


Mobil Travel Guide will be no longer after October.. it will be Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes Awards. http://tinyurl.com/l6rgjz

So for next year it will be Forbes Four and Five Star awards.

September wedding bouquet

Jen's bouquet was shipped to NYC yesterday. Can't wait for her to see it. It was Josh's favorite, mine too. Elegant and chic. It was an honor to make it for her rehearsal.

Bouquets are photographed

Our Signature Bouquet... black damask and raspberry.

Bouquets photographed today. We drove up to Mt. Dora. What a charming town, I could live there. Old fashioned, great shops, restaurants, historic buildings.

If you are visiting Orlando, or live here, it's worth the trip. Less than 45 minute drive.

Thank you Malcolm Yawn!

Photo shoot

At last, Jane and I are going to Mt. Dora tomorrow so Malcolm Yawn can photograph the bouquets for our online shoppe. Can't wait to see the pictures, he's amazing. Excited that we are just about ready to launch the website. Happy Weekend to all.

Website Photo Gallery

The 2nd photo gallery pictures are selected for our website, all 42. It was relaxing sifting through pictures of gorgeous trees, pumpkins, gourds, fall settings, Thanksgiving tables, mums and scarecrows. My favorite time of the year.

When my kids were little and the trees started turning colors, I used to tell them they were wearing their "best dresses". They still remember that.

Autumn is a perfect time for gathering with friends and family.

Your Favorite Team Bouquet

Our first "favorite team" bouquet is finished. Love it... NY Giants' colors (of course) red, white, navy flowers, red ribbon tied around the stems, navy grosgrain overlay, white pearl pins.


Best part was I found miniature footballs today, placed them throughout the bouquet. It's classy and fun! You can see it soon, in our website's shoppe, as soon as the photographer is finished.



Great way to surprise your Groom or Father, or your new Father-in-Law, at your wedding rehearsal. You can keep it forever!

Autumn bouquet

Our first autumn bouquet is finished. Used fabric instead of satin ribbon to wrap the stems, it came out perfectly. Gold pins create a totally different look than pearl ones. Love fall colors.




Tomorrow our next bouquet....NY Giants' colors, our first "favorite team" bouquet. If you know any bride who is a football (or any sport) fanatic, or is marrying one, a team bouquet would make a great gift, fun addition to the wedding rehearsal. We will make them in any team's colors.




Here's to a great week ahead. Where did the weekend go?

Business plans moving forward, Autumn

We made a lot of progress this week.. almost ready to officially open Events, Occasions, and Celebrations. Got our business license, set up banking, busy making more bouquets to be photographed.


Hard to believe school will be starting soon. Think autumn, football, earth colors, pumpkins, and mums. For parties, apple cider, apple dunking like the old days, kids will love it.

Fall brings back memories of crackling leaves, fireplaces, crisp fresh air, scarecrows and candles.

Wouldn't it be fun, different, cost effective to serve beef stew, chili, muffins, homemade soup and cobbler at a get together with friends.

Have a great weekend!

New bouquet finished

Finished a new bouquet for a September wedding this morning. Love it, why is it each one is my favorite until I make the next one. Then that one is.

Etiquette and Weddings during the recession

Great tips from Emily Post's great, great granddaughter.

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=8172257

July 24, 2009 A New Day Has Come

Greetings! A New Day Has Come. The curtain is just about to go up on Events, Occasions and Celebrations.


People have asked "why would you start a new business in this economy?" Easy question. One day I woke up, literally and figuratively.


My other business, Joyce Steele and Associates, that was hugely successful, for over 15 years, was disappearing. It was obvious much of it wasn't going to come back any time soon, if ever. At first it felt like what happened after 9/11 in the meetings' industry, but within a short time, it was obvious the scope of this was unprecedented.


I had several choices - 1. Do something new. 2. Sit and wait to see if my business bounced back. If it didn't, move in with the kids. I never told them that part. :) At that time, I asked my sons if they were interested in being a part of the plan. Fortunately for me, and for customers, they said yes.

This new business had to be rooted around what I had spent over 25 years learning. My "professors" include the best meeting planners in the country, the best-of-the-best hoteliers, vendors, peers and just plain long hours, hard work.


The last remaining option was to write a book about the past 25 years in the hotel and meeting industries. Clearly, it would have been a best seller.


It was critical that I maintained the flexibility to continue working with the customers who have been so amazingly wonderful and loyal to me over the years, should they have meetings for me in the future. It was also important for this new company, as it grows, to offer job opportunities for others, too.


One other big requirement... I wanted to continue working from home. After 16 years, am totally spoiled, proud of it. Caution, it's not always for the faint-of-heart.


I love taking certain kinds of risks, challenges, learning new things, then sharing, helping others by using what I've learned. Some may think I'm obsessive when it comes to details. To me it feels much better than being disorganized.


It wasn't hard to decide what the new business would be. I'm a firm believer that doing what you are passionate about makes life so, so much better.


It's true not everyone can work at a job they are in love with, and can't wait to get to in the morning...I'm one of the fortunate ones. It's one of the advantages of having your own business, doing what you love. Along with being able to do the laundry any time you like. More on that some other day.


Much of my adult life has been spent learning and loving the hospitality industry and meeting planning profession. A dear friend of mine, from The Sagamore days, recently told me he considered me the person who wrote the book on networking. It is all about who you know, more importantly, how you treat them once you meet them. Life has taught me that lesson over and over.


So.... with fewer corporate meetings taking place, some of my wonderful clients losing their jobs, we talked about planning events, occasions, celebrations, name sound familiar?


As a gift, I had made a wedding rehearsal bouquet for my oldest daughter a few years ago. The next one was for my son's "bride". I gave it to her at her wedding shower. My son said "you should make them and sell them." Then one day a resort sales manager called on me at my home office, and saw one I was making. She loved it, I offered to make one for her wedding. Before purchasing more flowers and ribbon, I called my mentors, hotels, resorts and asked them what they thought of the idea. Everyone thought it was fabulous. Just what we were hoping to hear.

Enter Keepsake Bouquets.


Our first bouquet traveled to Aruba, we now have brides in Philadelphia and California who want to carry one. After researching, we feel it's safe to say there probably are no other companies who make "wedding rehearsal bouquets." Remember the hats made from paper plates stuffed with the bows and ribbons from the wedding shower? There are not a lot of them around anymore.


A dear, special friend and client of mine, who will be getting married in September, just got her "hat". It was beautiful and funny, all at the same time. But who says she cannot carry a bouquet, too, at her rehearsal? She's going to. It will be on the way to her in New York City, soon.


Recently, there was an interesting article about wedding rehearsals, how they get very little attention. We all know there has to be one, everyone shows up, amidst laughter, hugs, they practice, find out where they will stand, who will go first, how fast they should walk, then are off to the rehearsal dinner.


We're convinced our bouquets are a simple, affordable way to make the wedding rehearsal even more special and fun. The photos of the rehearsal will look even better with one of our bouquets in it! They can be whatever you want them to be.


Over the past 8 months, putting our company together, there's been so much to learn. We could not use Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" on our website's flash. That set me back for a few hours, and is part of the reason it is the title of our first blog.

It took me days to find a replacement song that was perfect, we could purchase. That song is "Alice in Wonderland". We hope you find it as enchanting and uplifting as we do.

Time is flying by faster than ever. Take time to make memories. They don't have to be extravagant. Get lots of pictures, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will thank you.

Use simple things to make life a bit fancier. It's good for your spirit.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us, taken the time to listen to our plans, answer questions and encouraged us to move forward.


Here's to YOU, YOUR events, YOUR occasions, and YOUR celebrations! A New Day Has Come.


With warm regards,
Joyce