Open Sundays Until Christmas!

Dear all our lovely customers.... We will be open on Sundays until Christmas for yous shopping pleasure! Please note the store will be staffed by a non-floral designer so any arrangements, bouquets, swags, wreaths etc. will either need to be pre-ordered or selected from our pre-made and grab and go items.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Workshop November: wreaths!

Here are some great photos of the wreath making workshop we had last night. I am so impressed by the beautiful wreaths everyone made! Such talent!Thanks everyone for coming out despite the first snowfall of the year! And thanks to everyone who attended our open house last Friday, it was a great time. Looking forward to our next workshop on December 8th: Holiday Centrepieces. There is still space so sign up by next Friday, the 3rd.

New Website Is Up

Hi everyone, as we work towards our personalised, customized website with photos of OUR work, our interm Teleflora site is up for on-line ordering. Please note there is a service charge through the Teleflora Site, so it is always better to call us at the shop to order from one of the staff and you will get the freshest, most seasonal selection. But, if you are in a bind, feel free to use the site!
www.squamishflorist.com

Voted Squamish's Best Florist

Thank you Squamish for voting us Best Florist!
We are so grateful for your continued loyalty and support and look forward to inspiring you, providing you with exceptional service and providing you with beautiful fresh floral creations!


The team at Billie's

Floral Workshops Fall and Winter Schedule

Workshops: See our newsletter here: http://us1.admin.mailchimp.com/campaigns/preview?id=1436882 or sign up for our newsletter here:

FLORAL BASICS CLASS-LEVEL ONE: Thursday November 5th 6-8pm $60
Learn the basics of floral arranging with our guest teacher from Vancouver. In this class we will demonstrate several ways to create simple, seasonal and interesting floral arrangements. We will discuss vase choices, floral care, seasonal flowers, colours and textures and we will create a floral arrangement for everyone to take home. This class is a proven success, we guarantee you will have alot of fun and learn new ways to enjoy arranging flowers in a creative and relaxing way. Includes wine and refreshments and your creation to take home.

HOLIDAY WREATH CLASS: Wednesday November 24th7-9 $75
Learn to create a beautiful evergreen wreath for your door using a base that we will decorate in your chosen colours with natural elements, Christmas Baubles, and dozens of other exciting tid bits ;) Includes wine and refreshments and the wreath you will bring home.

HOLIDAY CENTREPIECES CLASS: Wednesday December 8th 6:30-8:30 $75
Learn and discover several different ways to create Christmas centerpieces using fabulous containers, vases and trays. Learn creative ways to keep costs down and in some cases use year after year! Watch a few demonstrations and then delve into your own beautiful creation. Includes wine and refreshments and a centerpiece to take home.

PLEASE REGISTER BY 5 DAYS PRIOR TO THE EVENT SO WE CAN PLAN OUR FLORAL ORDERS ACCORDINGLY!CALL THE STORE, EMAIL US OR DROP BY TO REGISTER. 604-892-9232 squamishflorist@gmail.comPayment requested in advance, as we have to order the supplies and refreshments according to participation. If the class is cancelled due to low registration we will provide a prompt refund. Thank you!

Squamish Mom Entrepreneurs Website

Check out this website by two of my mom friends here in Squamish.

http://www.squamishmom.ca/

They did a profile of our shop when they first launched their awesome site!

http://www.squamishmom.ca/SM/AlannaVolp.html

Hello again!

Hello to all our dear customers! We had a very busy Thanksgiving week, and it was so beautiful and abundant in the shop. We had pumpkins, modern cornucopias and centrepieces with orchids and gourds. I love thanksgiving as it allows you to be with your family (this year it was just our little family of three and our cat Milla as our families are a little far away), enjoy a nice meal, and be thankful for the abundance that we have. Truly we are so blessed here to have such beautiful food, friends, community, nature, fresh water....

I am getting inspired about my garden again-perhaps because I can actually pull the weeds out easier! I have endless plans and visions for my tiny little space but this year I want to focus on building up the vegetable plot into at least twice its size-raised beds-with beautiful soil to grow lots of vegetables that I will actually harvest and eat. It seems to me it is hard to find time to garden in wedding season, but life is about balance, and it is really important to me to teach my little man Shem, where our food comes from, getting dirty and putting our hands in the earth.....

Shem doesnt like to wear shoes as you can see :) He just started walking on his own this past two weeks and it is-hands down-THE cutest thing I have ever seen. It makes my heart swell every time I look at him. Motherhood is the most incredible gift!

Furry Creek Wedding Flowers

Jackie and Mike had the most beautiful weather for their wedding at Furry Creek this past weekend. Check out their gorgeous photos from Adriana Durian photography.

http://www.adrianadurianphotography.com/blog/?p=862

Fall ...at last!

I seriously love fall. I didn't think I loved it as much as I do but oh the flowers! The colours are so incredible at this time of year, you just want to squish your face into all those beautiful hues. The golden rusty coloured disbud mums with the glowing copper echinacea centres....the burgundy smoke tree and amaranthus hanging so dignified! Oh and of course the peachy/fushia colour which is so hard to describe. I did a beautiful wedding a few years ago where the bride who owns an amazing tea shop called Bayswater Tea Company ( http://www.bayswatertea.com/ ) asked for her flowers to be eminent of these three words: cozy, fall, yummy. I used pale yellow creamy champagne buttery coloured roses with golds and coppers and fall leaves I picked from the trees around Vancouver, with chocolate brown and hits of greeny/burgundy hydrangeas that when they start to dry turn sort of a verdigris colour....ahh heaven.

If you love nature, flowers and poetry, read my favourite poet ever: Mary Oliver. Her poems describe how we feel about flowers, colours, nature. Total bliss!

So bring on the hot chocolate, the scarves, hazlenut latte's, chunky sweaters, brown boots and gourds! And feel free to bring us golden sparkling champagne or crisp white wine into the store at any time, we will add some extra oomph to your bouquets, always in exchange for wine or chocolate ;) (learned that one from Cheryl)

Blackberry Wine anyone? (a great book by the author of Chocolat)

Summer Sale on Now at Billie's Bouquet

SOLAR LANTERNS..... two varieties in store, white and green

ALL STOCK 25% OFF!

Funk out your patio or gardens and create that beautiful ambiance as fall approaches and dusk falls earlier. All lanterns are 25% off. Hurry Stock is selling out quickly!!

POTTED ORCHIDS-FRESH WITH LOTS OF BUDS IN A VARIETY OF COLOURS....

ALL 25% OFF!

Summer's Bloomin

Here are the lovely flowers for the lovely Sonja and Shane who got married this past weekend at Totem Hall. They did an amazing job of the decorating. They turned the room into an evening in the park. The brilliant fushias, and lime greens looked amzing and we are so happy that everything went perfectly with all their hard work.

The next batch of bright and bold colours were the most fabulous couple, Stacey and Kelsey. Wow, what nice people and so laid back. I had a great time putting their flowers together, the striking summery hues would have been gorgeous on their river beach ceremony location. Thanks for being so super wonderful you two!

Here is another beautiful bouquet we made for an early morning wedding this past Saturday, bling was present in the rhinestones and gold wire we incorporated into the flowers, all in very Eastern hues, this power punch of colour was a fun hint of what colours are coming soon for autumn.

July Weddings

Hi all, I write this on a hot Sunday evening, exhausted from the past two weekends, having done full florals, decorating and day of consulting plus a little bit of planning for two lovely couples.
Check out some photos of the flowers we did over the past couple of weeks....



Nathalie and Brendan-your wedding made my summer, I hope you move to Squamish so we can spend more time together! Your wedding was so smooth and calm and I really enjoyed getting to know your wonderful family and all your friends. You are a really special couple and I felt your love for one another right from the first time I met you two in Whistler at the wedding fair last fall.

I think everything turned out beautifully, the Edgewater Lodge is the perfect venue and the speeches were amazing. Thanks for seating us with the guests and your father to boot, we felt like part of the initmate day, and I am so grateful for that. Looking forward to seeing some photos and seeing you two in the future!

This is just a photo of a very summery and pretty bouquet we made up this week for a new baby boy. We had sent her several blue arrangements already so thought this time we'd go a bit more natural and fresh.

Michelle's modern bouquet in a biedermiere style with white mini callas and hot pink garden roses that smelled so heavenly!
Michelle and Ben's wonderful wedding here in Squamish was full of hot pinks and whites and chocolate browns. My favourite part might have to have been the cake! Absolutely stunning!
We are looking forward to some playdates with our little guys, very close in age. Congrats you two! It was a beautiful day!

A passionate, sexy and modern bouquet of black callas and white freesias, for an outdoor wedding down by the ocean at Furry Creek.

And....finally, below are Naomi's flowers. I have been looking forward to doing her flowers all year! First because I just adore Naomi and she always cheered me up when I ordered my latte's next door becaues she always took the time to genuinely find out how I was. She is so earthy and real, yet always happy and a little goofy! Our style is so similar, and when I was making her flowers, I felt I was in heaven! This is what I wished I had for my own wedding flowers! Unfortunately when I made my wedding flowers I wasn't as skilled as I am now and so, I got to live vicariously through Naomi's flowers.

Naomi's bridal bouquet was a challenge for me. Not from a design perspective because I had been thinking it over and we had even done a little trial. It was more from a technical perspective so it utlised all the techniques I have learned over the years. I can't wait to hear how it all went. I hope she loved everything!

Store Life

Some photos of Store Life......making it look full and gorgeous is my favourite thing to do after the store closes, I go in, blast Buddha Bar and get into it.

Isn't summer sweet?

Our little pod of terrariums gently blowing in the breezes off the ocean (its more like gusts of wind through the back of the store, blowing all sorts of debris in through everywhere)

Look at our beautiful store :)

This was a fun wedding, free, white, feathers. So my style and she got married at the North Vancouver Outdoor School too. So cool, she probably rock climbs, kayaks, skiis, kiteboards, ice climbs and moutain bikes.

4 weddings today-oops I mean 3!

It's a busy weekend at Billie's Bouquet! I had four weddings, made four weddings, thats right, but oops, I actually only had three! Read on for the juicy and (sad) details....

The girls working hard, in the 32 degree heat-that's hot for Squamish! Looking lovely ladies! Look at all those boutonnieres and corsages and try not to look at what the counter looks like when we make them! Its so fun cleaning up after 12 hours on your feet....

Okay my first BIG screw up, and hopefully last of this sort anyway. Thankfully, it didn't affect anybody negatively except me and my poor amazing staff Cheryl and Lynne who stayed late and made beautiful bouquets for the bride Cheryl, only for me to discover that her wedding date is September 25th-not TODAY! So needless to say, these pretty blue and white flower bouquets were the dry run, (along with 75 white roses worth of petals, bouttonieres and corsages and a very specific toss bouquet) for the real wedding. I guess this is the biggest mistake yet, and I feel pretty bummed about it.

On the other hand, I had so much fun making flowers for the other 3 weddings we had today:


Evelyn: Squamish Railway Museum Roundhouse: beachy theme, bouquets of succulents, roses, orchids, rolled calathea leaves, lipstick plant greens, shells and beachglass-Thanks Evelyn for the funky, creative freedom!

Sue and Heath:Furry Creek: lime green, orange and white. Love this palette, fresh, citrusy and summery. Hope you are all having an amazing feast as we speak. Tight, compact, designed florals, with orchids, roses, GORGEOUS orange pom pom dahlias..... lovely.

Jesse: Garibaldi Springs Golf Resort: classic, beautiful, romantic. My camera battery was dead by then, but her flowers were entirely purple and white dendronbium orchids , thanks Mandy and Cheryl for making such gorgeous bouquets and Lynne for helping me be so organised. Hope the Gelato remotely made up for all your hard work.

This is a picture of the orange tiger lilies that just wouldn't open. Its so funny, we had fresh orchids dying right, left and centre and we were doing every trick in the book to keep them alive, meanwhile we use ripe bananas, with full of ethylene gas in the 35 degree sun to speed up the death process to force the lilies to open! The things we do for our brides.

We're on TV!

The lovely (and extremely tall) Emily from Shaw Cable came to the store a few weeks back to film us talking about our big white weddings, and I had fogotten all about it until our neighbour, Greg from Gelato Carina said we were TV stars the other day!
It wa pretty cool to see us walking extra quick, trying to look normal, doing every day flower shop things, when really we were all super nervous! And of course a little insider tip in case you do see the 4 minute feature, I had to stand on a 10" block behind the counter to look remotely close to the tall 6'3" Emily! They made me twirl flowers around slowly with my fingers like a shopping channel assistant :)
I liked my interview, I got to talk about how passionate I am about making beautiful flowers for people and what is so great about being a florist. I noticed all sorts of things about my face though, and my co-workers noticed hair, expressions, of course, I am sure no one else did!

Just in case it works again: http://start.shaw.ca/Start/enCA/Videos/FeaturedVideos.htm?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bA0BB5630-EAFE-4F8B-9D52-78105E5D8967%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fstart%2fenCA%2fvideos%2ffeaturedvideos.htm%3ffvPgID%3d%7b7B256BB5-A9B3-491E-9372-4A46356CA42C%7d%26fvTitle%3dSea%2520to%2520Sky%2520Express%26href3D171C4BD6BC%3dmms%253A%252F%252Fprdmediax1.shaw.ca%252FStart%252FShawTV%252FWhistler%252FESS1022.wmv&NRCACHEHINT=Guest&fvPgID=%7b7B256BB5-A9B3-491E-9372-4A46356CA42C%7d&fvTitle=Sea+to+Sky+Express&href3D171C4BD6BC=mms%3a%2f%2fprdmediax1.shaw.ca%2fStart%2fShawTV%2fWhistler%2fESS1022.wmv

June 25th /26th weddings

This past Friday, Marie, Mandy and I set up the flowers for Catherine and Vic 's wedding at the most beautiful Vancouver Club. What a venue! I have never seen such a classy and elegant wedding, from the creamy linens, to the gunmetal velvet loung chairs, to our stunning flowers of course, a mound of fluffy white and creams in roses, peonies and hydrangeas.

Here is the behind the scenes that most brides will never know happened. I order 215 white peonies for this wedding adn 205 white hydrangeas, and over 500 white roses. When I checked the cooler Wednedsay morning, 100 of the peonies were pink, there were only 100 white hydraangeas and half the roses were yellowy cream. I swear the entire Fraser Valley farmland was searching their farms and their friends farms and possibly even their grandmothers gardens for white peonies! We were able to get the peonies up at a huge expense from the courier companues, but there was nothing we could do about the hydrangeas and roses so we just made do.

I tell you it was a very stressful week! To top it off, I had the van all loaded, everything all timed adn ready to go, my latte in my cup holder and off we went Friday morning, early as usual to prevent the stressful pressure that comes from leaving set up's to the last minute. There was an accident on the highway and we were stuck for 45 minutes not moving. I admit that I did actually get out of the van and run up the highway to the flagperson to yell and scream that the flowers were getting hot in the van and why weren't they letting our side move when the other side had been moving for 30 minutes. I am sorry to that flagperson!

So needless to say, it is a much needed day off today, thanks to my faithful staff who support me getting some sleep and cuddling with my sweet little baby.

Catherine, if you read this, you will know the crazy story behind your flowers, if not, ignorance is bliss right!

Peace,
Alanna