Last night it was announced that Beautiful Blooms Design “Global Terrain” won the Award of Excellence by the Philadelphia Flower Show. We were so thrilled and the visitors to the show LOVED the display.
We noted all the words that were used today by the guests to describe our design and here’s what we heard….Wow!, So Innovative, Incredible, Very Impressive, Beautiful, Amazing, Very Clever, Really Something, Interesting, Fantastic, Very Lovely, My Favorite Display Here, Gorgeous, It Looks Like Rain Above The Vases, That’s So Awesome and the list goes on. It was really fun to talk to people and explain all of the logistics, construction and flower details. So many guests took our postcards that I had to order more already and it is only day one!
In Part One I listed everything leading up to the actual installation of our design so here I’m going to continue with what happened starting with the first day of load in.
DAY ONE
Thursday, February 25th was the first day of the Philadelphia International Flower Show set up for Beautiful Blooms. As we walked in the doors, we were thrilled to see that our steel structure was hung and we were ready to go.
The first task at hand was to begin wiring the entire structure to mark where each vase would go.
Maggie and Amanda are ready with wire and are passing the precut pieces to Maya and Justin who are all up on the ladders wiring the sections where vases will be placed. All of the wire had been precut prior to arrival but still needed a bit of untangling.
John began dunking the vases in the water which had already been dyed and then Monika and I began cutting the appropriate flower in the coordinating colored water. We had over 500 of these so we got started early in the day and got a routine in place.
More untangling and cutting of wire. There was a lot of wire!
We had the buckets of flowers all lined up next to the buckets of water that went with each color. We had to be very very organized which is no different from the way we handle our events.
As the vases were filled with water and dye and then we put all of the same ones together on the cart to keep them organized neatly.
It may not look organized but I promise you it was!
John and Amanda work as a team to continue to get more wire up into the steel structure that has been raised 10 feet above the ground.
More vases are completed and placed on tables and carts.
Blue=Ocean (all three shades as water is deeper in certain areas)
Khaki/Ivory=Sand/Beach/Dunes
Light Green=Grass
Darker Green=Trees
Grey=Rock
White=Snow
Just to remind you our design is a topographic map so when you see the finished product this will all make sense.
Finally all of the wire is coming together. This takes a whole day to complete and everyone’s fingers are numb because it is freezing inside the Philadelphia Convention Center. We are as bundled up as possible to keep warm but we still need to be able to move.
I think the cold is starting to get to Amanda! Actually she is keeping up everyone’s spirits.
The wire is looking good! Each piece of this on Friday had to be pulled down straight and a small hook had to be tied on at just the right height. Quite the project.
Maya’s turn to get a little punchy now but hey she’s been wiring all day so I totally understand . I would be punchy too.
As Day One comes to a close Maya adds a few vases to the structure to show me how amazing it is going to look. I love it!
DAY TWO
Friday, February 26 arrives and we know we need to spend the whole day hanging all of the vases and creating the design. Today is the last day of the set up and we have quite a bit to accomplish.
The Ocean sections are being placed and we used thistle, delphinium and trachileum to create this area.
Now the sand section is being created from carnations and roses.
During the day, Jake keeps us organized and runs items back to the studio that we no longer need. We want to keep our space organized and figure it is better to clean up as we go. He also delivers flower arrangements from the Beautiful Blooms Boutique to happy customers.
We want to make sure all of the vases are full of water as we know our flowers will surely drink up a lot of water each day.
The Dunes get added with varregated bear grass and so does the Grass area gets started with Prada carnations. I love the way the vases reflect on our floor and create this unique dotted pattern.
I wanted to see what it looked like from below looking up into the vases. Very Cool. I also was cleaning the floor as I went to make sure every spec of dirt and all flower petals were removed.
The grass section is almost completed and fuji mums, hypericum berries and dianthus have all be added to this area. Then the Tree area gets added from Ruskus, pittosporum and boxwood. The final Snow section is created from carnations, babies breath and statice.
GLOBAL TERRAIN COMPLETED. We got done at 9:30pm and we were beat!
Tom happened to be over at Bill’s exhibit taking some photos so I asked him if he would take a few for us. Thanks so much Tom!
II am so thrilled with how the whole team pulled together to create our design for the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show. Team work is what it is all about and Beautiful Blooms has an amazing talented team. We are here to create amazing decor for any event or to put a smile on a friend’s face when we deliver a beautiful arrangement. Keep us in mind for all of your Floral and Decor needs.
