Flower Course Collaboration

We had a successful collaboration with Nahla Al Mahmood founder of LalaBella Co. with the launch of her flower course series last year. She brought the logistics and we brought the flower power!

Rose and I were in Paris (at our own course…) at the time of the first Bahrain Boerma Flower course but naturally Supermom held the fort down! Check her out zipping around at about the 4:30 mark!!

Course No. 2 will be held at the upcoming Bahrain International Garden Show from the 25th to the 27th of February. Full details and a sign up form are here

The Case for Keeping Flowers Seasonal

One of my roles at the shop is to assist with the purchasing of our weekly flower order for events and to stock our shelves. For the most part, it’s one of the tasks I really enjoy—it’s pretty much online shopping with none of the guilt!

But, I’m not going to lie, there are weeks when it gets a bit tiresome… especially when you’re deep into a season and you’ve been seeing the same flowers on the market for months. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy seasonally available flowers like branches in Spring (think Cherry Blossoms and Magnolia branches) and vines in the Summer (sweet scented Jasmine, and funky Passiflora vines) and of course fluffy Peonies during warmer summer months (LOVE!).

I do think that part of my job is to vary the rotation of flower in store so our clients are constantly surprised and our florists don’t fall into a rut of deploying the same blooms week after week. But this can be hard especially when we have customers regularly requesting flowers that are technically “not in season”.  I know you’re expecting a lecture on why you should buy seasonal flowers, but it’s not meant to be. 

To be honest, there are few flowers that are truly seasonal anymore—with temperature-controlled greenhouses and international flights that can cross hemispheres in hours you can pretty much get most blooms at any time of the year these days. That’s not to say that the blooms will be great, flower heads will be smaller and shelf life shorter. But past all of that, I feel like we’re loosing the element of surprise that the change in seasons typically brings—especially in a two-season location like Bahrain (hot and hotter, amirite?!).

While I love peonies and ranunculus, I feel like seeing them for a brief period makes them all the more enjoyable and makes me excited when they’re truly at their peak and in season. So yes, I’m going to stubbornly continue to order with what’s technically in season. But know that I’m doing this for your own good! (And my mental sanity!!).

Oh, Hi There January!

This new years resolution was supposed to be: practice “The Art of Slow Living”. (Um, yea right!)

We have a pretty hard and fast rule in the store that New Year’s Day is a universal day off and our doors are shut (not that we don’t love you guys!!) but sometimes all you want is your bed and some quality time with family. Well, it seems the New Year had something else planned for us…

On Day 1 of 2016, we hit the ground running with giant cups of coffee, to set up a sweet Bridal Shower. Seven days later, at crazy o'clock (5 AM!!), we set off with even bigger cups of coffee to set up the wedding florals for the same bride. We got to collaborate with the amazing team over at YQ Art, and got our creative juices flowing by bringing to life the most incredible wild, organic flower wall. Guys, what a way to start the year! 

But as they say…no rest for the wicked. The next day, with sore feet and happy hearts, we headed off to put together two other wedding setups. The first, a dinner party at Bice and the second—in our home away from home—La Fontaine!

January, you’ve been tiring but great. The rest of 2016, bring it on!

The Start of SF Events / Natmed

A lot has happened in a year. 

This time last year I was making my way to Greece. Today, I’m back in Greece sipping on my delicious hazelnut coffee – this stuff is so addictive I’m packing my case full of it!! - but I digress. The point is, a lot has happened in a year. 

Last year, Greece-bound, I was sat next to a school friend on the plane (Hi Amy!) and went on a spiel about my “hopes and dreams”. I had just resigned from a job that was filled with a whole lot of stress and not much fun stuff, and now came the part about figuring what to do “next”. I talked her ear off about how my ultimate dream would be to work on something with my sister, and hopefully getting involved with wedding planning. For some reason, the thought of wedding planning has always filled me with a whole bunch of happy. Having parents that coincidentally own a flower shop made it feel like a no brainer. But first, I just needed to reel my sister back into Bahrain…oh and find someone to trust me with their wedding. No biggie!

Fast forward a couple of months, the stars had aligned - I’d lured my sister back and a couple of my closest friends were getting married. I’d known the Bride for a few years, and was old school friends with the Groom – Natalie and Ahmed soon to be christened Natmed. We were family, and there’s nothing like family to make guinea pigs out of! 

The months leading up to their wedding were hectic, thrilling, and exciting, and I’m so happy to be sharing some of the images with you in our wedding gallery.

Thank you Ahmed and Natalie for letting us bring your dream to life!