Beautiful Expressions Blog

Today I have spent the day organizing my weddings for 2010. Some of these weddings have been booked since August of last year! Revisiting each one has been exciting! I picked out the types of flowers to use, coordinated the colors, and visualized each wedding! The flowers for my 2010 weddings are vibrant and fun, elegant and lush, and really FABULOUS! I can't wait to do my first wedding in April! I'm looking forward to being at some of Colorado Springs'  best venues this year, and excited to be working with some of my favorite photographers.

Beautiful Expressions is not only doing Colorado Springs weddings this year, but we have booked a few amazing weddings in Denver as well. I'm hoping to get a few mountain weddings too. 

www.kmclain.com

Finding new and exciting ways to bring flowers into a bride's overall wedding theme is what keeps me coming back for more. I absolutely love to come up with new ideas for a bride's flower and total wedding decor. The trends of colorado weddings seems to be that of elegance, with attention to details, and very collectic. I LOVE this trend. This summer I am doing a wedding that is incorporating tea biscuit tins into the centerpieces. The flowers are going to be peonies, ranuculus, and hydrangea to give an elegant garden feel. I love that as a florist, I can bring in different containers, flowers, and linens, and still creating a unified look. I found a vintage style board at www.dessy.com that I just loved! Enjoy!

We are so excited to announce we have been chosen to be a preferred vendor or  on "The List" for COUTUREcolorado. This is an awesome new blog that gives brides "one of a kind wedding inspiration" and the BEST vendors in Colorado! We are really looking forward to all 2010 has in store. I have some amazing weddings on the books already and can't wait to see where we will go this year. Thank you to all my wonderful and amazing brides!  

Spring is almost here and I can hardly wait. I love spring because the flowers that are available have amazing fragrances. Hyacinth and lilac are my most favorite this time of year. Unfortunately in Colorado, lilac has a very short season for us to purchase it.

Flowers that are available are sweet peas, ( love, love, love these...they are so light and romantic), tulips, daffodils, lilac, ranuculus, and hyacinth to name a few. These flowers can either give whimsy or elegance to your wedding. They offer so much-texture, color, and fragrance. The beautiful pinks, yellows, oranges, lavenders, and whites become more vivid by adding a touch of green with either viburnum or mini green hydrangea.

Spring in Colorado Springs can be so unpredictable. You'll want to plan your wedding accordingly. But one thing that is predictable in our ever-changing spring, is gorgeous flowers!

A few months ago a friend showed me this amazing campaign. It's called The 3/50 Project. The economy has been tough on a lot of businesses, but small businesses have taken a huge hit.  Thank you for all your support. We truly appreciate it!

                                                    
 

Christmas and New Years is a popular time to get engaged. Which in turn, becomes a busy time of year for me with consulations and proposals. I absolutely love meeting new brides, grooms, their moms, and their friends. Many come in with great ideas and others come to me looking for inspiration and ideas. I love both scenerios! Meeting with a florist should be done about 6 months before your wedding date. My availability is becoming limited. I have 1-2 weekends in each month from May to September booked. If you are interested in Beautiful Expressions doing your wedding flowers please call to set up your consultation. 

Flowers can be an accent to your wedding or the focal point. Either way you must budget accordingly. If a bride is looking for strictly personal flowers, the percentage of the budget is between 5-7% depending on the type of flowers she is wanting. If a bride is looking for personal flowers, ceremony pieces, aisle decor, and reception pieces, the percentage is going to move up to about 12-17% of the total budget. It is really important to come to the consultation with a budget in mind so I know how to guide you in flower selection and number of pieces you are wanting. The great thing about working with a florist is that they can come up with ideas to create a beautiful ambiance, maintain the intergrity of your vision, and save you money.

Although price is a determining factor in choosing your florist, it shouldn't be your only factor. All florists are not created equal. Here are a few suggestions of things to look for in a florist:

-How have they been reviewed by other brides-do they deliver what they promised, are they reliable, creative, and did they give the bride what she wanted.?
-Are they familiar with your venue?
-Are they easy to work with, flexible, communicate well, etc.?
-Do they focus on quality and creativity?
-Most of all-Did you feel like they caught your vision.

Happy wedding planning!!

As I sit here writing this, it's zero degrees with a -17 wind chill. This is cooler than I like for Colorado, but the snow on the ground and mountains is beautiful. Colorado offers so much variety in it's weather, which can be amazing and annoying all at once.

Christmas Season is here and I'm thankful for so much. A wonderful husband and precious daughter, all my family and wonderful friends, and my awesome customers. Please take time this year to count your blessings and bless others with love.

Thank you to all of you for a wonderful year and May God bless you richly in the coming year.

Some of my favorite things:
-Decorating a live Christmas tree with my family and listening to older Christmas music- The Carpenters, John Denver, Nat King Cole, etc. Thanks Dad!
-Watching Charlie Brown's Christmas while in my pj's, eating popcorn, and drinking hot chocolate.
-I love the smell of hot apple cider
-I love the way the lights on houses twinkle after it snows
-Driving around looking at lights and listening to Ashlynn squeal with excitement.
-Most of all I just love doing anything with my family this time of year!

    Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Ashlee and Dave! We had the priveledge of doing the wedding flowers for this amazing couple. Ashlee had a very clear vision of what she wanted, and it was amazing when all put together. The ceremony was at Colorado College's Shove Chapel, and the red rose arrangements in mercury glass vases and aisle decor were the perfect compliments to this amazing church. The reception followed at the Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs and the flowers didn't disappoint there either. Many blessings to you both and thank you for allowing us to be a part of your day!

I had such a great time being a part of the Garden of the Gods Bridal Show last night. This Colorado Springs venue is amazing! The sunset was so pretty going down behind the Garden of the Gods.What a great event!

I was able to see familar faces, connect with people I hadn't seen in a long time, and met lots of great new vendors. So honored to have been invited. The brides were awesome and I can't wait to create some amazing wedding flowers for these girls.