It was my pleasure to be at Small Business 2.0 this year; an even greater pleasure to take part in the SEO panel and SEO forum session.

There were some interesting speakers there from BT Tradespace. Ivan Croxford had sage advice and hilarious anecdotes about managing reputation via the BT Tradespace platform and social sites more generally. Arena Flowers has long been an advocate of BT Tradespace, so please feel free to join our network there, or to watch our very own technical whizz, Sam Barton here talking about BT Tradespace and social networking for businesses, a very hot topic at Small Business 2.0.

Other presenters included Microsoft, with a focus on their search marketing offering with search engine/ decision engine, Bing. One of my favourites was friend of Arena Flowers, Dan Wilson, giving a very candid forum session on social media and some of its uses and pitfalls.

I’ve put up the SEO presentation I gave here, in case anyone is interested. I really enjoyed all the questions on the day and feedback about the panel and forum session. Thank you to everyone who attended.

For other resources, you can see Will’s post Arena Flowers at Small Business 2.0 from 2008 or have a look at our other posts about marketing and setting up an online business.

Thanks for asking us along, Dan. We already look forward to the next one!

P.S. Valentine’s Day is just over two weeks from now! Have a look at our Valentine’s Day Flowers for inspiration.

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2010 is no different as the BHF recently launched their fund-raising pack for Red for Heart campaign, which includes  National Wear It Red Day on 26 February,  and – if you’ve received a delivery from us over the past week or so – you may well have noticed their flyer distributed with our flowers & gifts.

In the New Year we’ll be revealing our special BHF Valentine’s Day bouquets, exclusively available from the BHF Flowers website. But Arena Flowers aren’t the only ones going Red for Heart for National Heart Month this February, so don’t be surprised if you see people sky diving in top-to-toe red.  Or wearing their red pyjamas to school. It’s all in aid of the British Heart Foundation. And we’d love you to join in as National Heart Month is the time to think about your heart and help us fight the UK’s biggest killer.

Be part of Red for Heart by doing anything you like to raise money. Challenge your office to wear to a wear red day – the boldest outfit wins! Bake red cakes. Paint your face red. The only rule is, you’ve got to have fun. So apply for your free fund-raising kit, full of great ideas, by clicking the banner below or call 0845 241 0976 and be part of Red for Heart.

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This is my third post on Flowers…uncut, but my first as an Arena Flowers employee.  I’ve been a friend of the company since the early days and have written some guest posts on brand reputation and making the most of off-line advertising.

The temperature in London has dropped; it’s started snowing, however things are definitely hotting-up at Flowers HQ.

It’s just over a week until Christmas; we’re busy and bustling, getting out flower deliveries.  We know you are all in full swing too with Christmas shopping and Christmas parties.

This can be a stressful 10 days coming up and we at Arena Flowers want you to feel good this Christmas, so we’ve put together a Top 10 Guide to survival over the next week or so:

1) Going to a Christmas party and hoping to meet Mr. or Miss. Right? Well, you are clearly going to need some mistletoe.  The tradition of kissing under mistletoe is believed to have originated in Scandinavia where mistletoe is associated with peace and love.  Mistletoe is also thought to promote fertility…so use wisely!

2 ) Hosting a Christmas party? Why not coordinate your floral arrangements with your decorations? The Christmas White Bowl is a fantastic table piece. Made with white roses and white candles all kept in place with wonderfully fragrant pine fronds and cinnamon bundles (it almost smells as good as it looks). Our florists also add pine cones and waxed apples for a traditional Christmas touch. This all sits in a wonderful glass bowl wrapped inside with aspidistra leaves.

3) Recovering from a party? Try a lavender and vervain tea with some honey for sweetness. Vervain is known for its soothing effects and lavender for relaxation.  The honey should give you a natural energy boost.

4) Spending Christmas day with family? Why not send them flowers in advance? A lot of effort goes into making Christmas day magical, how best to show your support if you can’t help in person than by sending Christmas flowers in advance?  Try the Festive Fun bouquet. The bright gerbera and traditional warm tone roses contrast with sparkly silver thistles. With just the right amount of greenery, this is a beautifully balanced bouquet.

5) Are you hosting the family Christmas? Dr Edward Bach was one of the pioneers of homeopathic medicine and he championed the use of flowers as natural remedies in his very famous Bach Flower Remedies, still popular today.  Why not try Bach’s Hornbeam remedy? It is used to combat feelings of tiredness before a large task ahead.  A perfect boost on Christmas day morning.

6) Entertaining kids over Christmas? Children love Christmas and there seems to be no limit to their energy. Why not take advice from the Victorians and get the kids’ creativity flowing by having them make some paper flowers? There’s a great video guide and some step by step instructions from the BBC and don’t forget to send us photos of your paper roses so we can compare them with the real thing!

7) Room for more? Complement a hearty Christmas meal with some refreshing mint chocolates and you don’t get any more fantastic than the Prestat mint chocolate box.  Plenty to choose from with peppermint creams and coffee mints.  These are truly luxurious, but don’t take our word for it, Prestat has been awarded the Royal Warrant by Her Majesty The Queen.

8) Saying thank you? What a better way to thank your hosts than to send them some cheery flowers.  The Yuletide gift wrap is a wonderful, vibrant bouquet of gerberas, lilies and our grand prix roses.  Or try any of our Thank You Flowers as a perfect way to show your appreciation.

9) Cheering up left overs? How about making some flowery garnishes to cheer up those inevitable turkey sandwiches and brussel sprout salads?  It takes no time to carve carnations from carrots or turn cucumbers into chrysanthemums.  We liked this handy guide to flower garnishes.

10) Treating yourself? Christmas is about receiving as much as giving and it’s important to put your feet up and relax in preparation for the new year ahead.  Why not treat yourself to this Christmas Faerie bouquet?  It’s an unusual and very elegant bouquet.  The dusty pink roses fit perfectly with the alstroemeria (also called the Peruvian Lily).
With a touch of festive decorations such as cinnamon bundles and sparkling thistles it’s really stunning.

Happy Christmas from all of us at Arena Flowers!

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June 2009 – Simon D – No Picture Received :0(
Simon likes to send tulips and in the past he has sent our 30 Red Tulips Gift Wrap, Tulip Sensation (a lot!), Spring Sunshine, Summer Surprise and Autumn Orange. Simon asked our florists to makes something nice using.. you guessed it ‘tulips’ with his £50 winnings.
Congratulations, Simon!

July 2009 – Kirsten – No Picture Received :0(
A loyal Arena Flowers fan since autumn 2007, Kirsten has previous sent our 35 Magnificent Orange, Red & Yellow Roses Bouquet, Sunset cube, Luxury Romance, Red Sky at Night, Mass of Pink Roses, and Lovely in Lilac. Congratulations, Kirsten!

August 2009 – Helen
A big fan of Arena Flowers since February 2008, Helen has previously sent our Pink Orchid, Bright & Cheery, Summer Surprise, Lovely in Lilac, A Dozen Yellow Roses, Pink Gift Wrap, and Big Balloon Birthday Gift Set. On being told of her win, Helen took the opportunity to tell us that Arena is always her first choice and that she never hesitates to recommend Arena Flowers to her friends and family. She has chosen the deluxe Strelitzia Tropical Arrangement with her winnings to send to her mum and dad, a flower connoisseur’s choice. Ps thanks for the kind words, Helen!

September 2009 – Brian
A frequent customer of Arena Flowers since 2007, Brian has previously sent our Two Dozen Red Roses, Pretty & Elegant,  Autumn Golds Bouquet, Autumn Orange, Tulip Sensation, Black Magic, Sunflowers Bouquet, Red Sky at Night, Mass of Red Roses, Mass of Fifty Red Roses, 35 Magnificent Orange, Red & Yellow Roses, Winter Tulips, Winter Roses, Freesias Cube, The One, Spring Sunshine, and 100 Tulips Special – phew! Brian will be sending a special deluxe version of our gorgeous new African Queen bouquet to a special lady in his life, and as he recently celebrated his birthday, it’s double congratulations to you, Brian!

October 2009 – Heidi Marie
A fan of Arena Flowers since April 2007, Heidi has previously sent our Pink Gift Wrap, Summer Surprise, and 35 Magnificent Orange, Red & Yellow Roses. Heidi has decided to send a special deluxe version of our traditional favourite Country Garden for Grandparents’ Day on behalf of her son Mitchell (pictured left with Heidi). Congratulations Heidi Marie!

Sending out newsletters to our customer base forms an essential part of our efforts to build storng relationships with our customers. We believe that it gives us an opportunity to thank our customers for the support and appreciation they have given us through the years. Our newsletters contain useful information for our customers including reminders of key dates (in case you miss any), exclusive discount codes and special offers on a whole range of flowers, chocolates, wines and other gifts. If you are not subscribed to our newsletter yet, you know what you are missing. Not to mention the opportunity of winning £50 worth of free flowers! Subscribe to our newsletter today!

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Just a quick note to say that deliveries of gorgeous flowers from Flowers HQ to all our UK destinations (and indeed to all the European destinations that we cover) will NOT be disrupted by the Royal Mail strikes now or in the future.

Our deliveries, whether they’re made by our own full time drivers (such as Bart, pictured below with our 35 red, orange and yellow roses bouquet – on “Special Offer” at time of writing, bargain fans) or by one of  our two partners, are totally independent of the Royal Mail network so will be entirely unaffected by the strikes, however long they last.

Bart with 35 Red, Orange & Yellow Roses

Here’s hoping that the dispute is soon resolved to the satisfaction of both sides, and that ecommerce and online confidence get back to normal quickly; there’s no doubt that the words “postal strike” do strike (excuse the pun) a bit of fear into heart of consumer confidence and that’s good for no one.

Anyway, whilst the nation awaits a (hopefully) speedy resolution, we’ll keep doing what we do best.  Making beautiful bouquets of stunningly fresh flowers, as demonstrated by Judith, who’s also our head weddings florist, here:

Judith Luxury White Bouquet

Some more normal flowery posting next week (we know we’ve been a bit quiet – we’ve been busy beavering away on exciting projects!). More to follow.

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Carole is taking part in the 10k Race for Life run at Hampton Court on 27th September 2009 in memory of her friend, Janie Cassie who was her colleague at Raven Roofing & Building Supplies in Twickenham. Janie battled breast cancer for five and half years and passed away in December 2008. Carole is keen to raise as much money as possible to help fund research at Cancer Research and she is joined by her ex-colleagues and their families from her former company. Every pound raised through Race for Life counts and with Carole and entourage from her previous company participating in the event, we are certain that they will contribute enough to the charity to help them buy vital equipment used for research into cancer.

Now in its 16th year, Race for life is the UK’s largest women only fund-raising event, where women come together to raise money in support of Cancer Research UK. Hundreds of thousands of women of all ages walk, jog, run and have fun at the charity events across the UK, to help raise money to beat cancer. The event, held annually across the UK since 1994 has raised nearly £240 million and for 2009, an estimated 735, 000 women are expected to raise £60 million.

At Arena Flowers, we work with two of the biggest charities in the UK, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK and have also extended our support to other charitable organisations such as Global Giving. We are extremely proud to support Cancer Research UK through our flowers site and with Carole being a part of the event this year, we have a greater sense of accomplishment in being truly committed to supporting social causes. If you are interested in sponsoring Carole’s great cause, please feel free to donate by visiting here.

To learn more about our work with charities, please see our posts on good causes and fund raising.

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They have been working hard to develop their new website to support charities and good causes by putting them in one handy place where individuals or organisations can donate to vetted grassroots charity projects in over 70 countries directly, while staying in touch with their progress through a range of handy web2.0 tools – truly bringing fund-raising into the 21st century.

By visiting their portal on ArenaFlowers.com, we will donate 15% of your order of flowers, gifts, drinks and chocolate towards the work of GlobalGiving.co.uk – with donations divided equally between three featured charity projects which will be rotated each month to give a range of projects – large and small – a fair chance. Most of the projects on GlobalGiving.co.uk are in the developing world where a small amount of money usually goes a long way.

We will be supporting a variety of charity projects, so browse our current supported projects and track your direct impact on communities by sending your flowers and gifts with Global Giving in partnership with ArenaFlowers.com.

If you would like to learn more about our work with charities, you might like to see our posts about good causes and fund raising and you might also enjoy our posts about ethics and the environment.

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Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday Arena Flowers, Happy Birthday to us! Yes, believe it or not but Arena Flowers turns 3 years young today – and to celebrate, our Head Florist Andrew has created us this super-dooper birthday cake made from flowers!

Consisting of our ethically sourced Grand Prix roses, our signature Cherry Brandy roses, yellow and orange spray chrysanthemums, eucalyptus and creamy white hydrangea (all topped off with oranges, limes and kiwi fruit, making this a truly edible cake!), a celebratory flower cake has now become a tradition at Flowers HQ since our 1st birthday back in 2007.

Of course, there’ve been a lot of changes since those early days of Arena Flowers, and these ‘Then and Now’ pictures tell only half the story and make an interesting trip down memory lane:

Since our last birthday we have vastly expanded our product range and bespoke portfolio, partnered with an increasing number of charities and expanded across Europe with our international sites. And that’s all in just the past year!

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal customer base and friends for your continued support, custom and feedback to enable us to expand and establish ourselves as the UK’s leading, fastest-growing online florist in the UK and beyond…

If you’d like to learn more about how it all began, you may like to read this, this and this blog post.

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Although couples are insisting on committing to their 2009 wedding plans, the economic downturn has nonetheless brought with it a whole gamut of challenges for those intending to marry this year. Partner up the recession with the fact that the average cost of a British wedding topped £20,000 for the first time in 2008, shows that deciding when to scrimp and when to splurge on a such a monumental day isn’t going to be easy.

As the wedding season has approached, we’ve seen a significant increase in wedding flower enquiries in recent months, and with those we’re seeing more emphasis laid on price: “We’re looking for something cheap…” , “Could you advise us on the cheapest flowers…” etc. This nature of enquiry can automatically put any florist into defence mode, as any floral designer worth their salt knows that “cheap” is a relative description and doesn’t normally equate for very good (or even appropriate) flower arrangements.

Wedding Flowers on a Budget

If there is a budget involved (see below for more advice on setting wedding budgets), a wedding florist can then easily come up with flower choices and designs that will fall within that budget. According to last year’s figures, the average cost of wedding flowers in 2008 reached £381, accounting for just 2% of the overall average UK wedding budget of £20,000 (Source: Sky News, November 2008). But in most cases, wedding flowers normally take up 10-15% of the final wedding bill – thus proving every wedding is different with an array requirements and preferences.

The task of choosing wedding flowers is a personal, expressive and emotional experience, which is why we always recommend brides drop into Flowers HQ for an informal chat to discuss their requirements in person with our wedding florists, who will source the right wedding flowers for you – not only suiting your pocket but also of exceptional quality too.

Credit Crunch Wedding Flowers

While 10-15% is a good estimate for your wedding flowers bill, you can modify many floral elements to determine the actual amount you will spend on your wedding arrangements. Factors such as whether or not your preferred flowers are in season, the number, size and complexity of the arrangements all influence your final cost estimate.

In economically hard times, creativity comes to the fore, as brides are find ways to spend their wedding budget more wisely, and discovering “cheap” wedding ideas that help them save money. Here are just a few budget-friendly ideas to help you on the way to beautiful, economical wedding flowers that won’t cost you a king’s ransom.

Easy Peasey. Flowers in season are often less expensive and easier to source. For a list of common flowers for each season, visit our wedding flowers tips page for our guide to seasonal flowers. Don’t forget that flowers over peak / holiday periods such as Valentine’s, Christmas and Mother’s Day will cost more.

Simple things. Because the time taken to create your flowers will be factored into your wedding flowers bill, go for less elaborate bridal flowers which are less labour intensive.  For instance, a hand-tied or free form bouquet takes less time to create than a wired or teardrop one. For extra savings, bridesmaids can carry a single flower in a flower wand instead of a bouquet.

Filler thriller. Use more, cheaper foliage and greenery, baby’s breath, wax flower, soft ruscus etc which will pad out flower arrangements. Use flowery blooms as an accent to the arrangement rather than the main ingredient.

Bargain hunt. Shop around for end of line / discounted glassware in charity shops and budget household stores for vases. This way, for the price of renting / paying deposit on breakages, you can keep, sell on or recycle. The Christmas sale period is the perfect time to purchase candles, fairy lights and other decorations at huge discount.

Let’s go outside. Find a venue such as a park or garden that is already lush and beautiful – a springtime wedding in a garden will require little in the way of floral arrangements, while a traditional church may be breathtaking on its own. Also consider that many venues come ready decorated in the lead up to Christmas, so holding an earl-mid December wedding may provide you seasonal flowers for free.

A problem shared. Find out from your venues whether any other weddings are scheduled for the same day. If the two events can share decorating expenses, you’ll save a lot of money.

Recycle arrangements. If you can’t share your arrangements, transfer the flowers from your ceremony to your reception. Save more money on head table decoration by displaying the bridal bouquets on the head table.

Don’t Do it Yourself!

Floristry looks easier than it really is, so if you really can’t afford a florist, make sure you find someone with at least some skill and experience with flowers. We can provide flowers wholesale at discount prices for brides wishing to create their wedding flowers ‘in house’, but don’t forget you’ll need somewhere cool to store them safely and keep them fresh.

Making of the arrangements should be left to the very last minute, so best not leave them to a stressed-out, sleep deprived bride-to-be! If you don’t know what you are doing and don’t enjoy working under pressure, don’t try this – even if the temptation of saving some money is far too much to resist!

A good budget compromise would be to ask your florist to create the key arrangements such as the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets which are important to get absolutely right, then purchase additional matching stems for your own vase displays and other ad hoc uses such as buttonholes, hair flowers etc.

Jilted at the Alter?

With sterling still relatively weak against the euro (therefore inflating wholesale prices) as well as diminishing footfall, local independent florists are increasingly falling victim to the economic downturn, leaving distressed brides empty handed for their big day with little time to make alternative arrangements.

If your wedding florist goes bust, first off – don’t panic. Most florists will be able to stock your wedding flower requirements within 4-5 days, depending on how often they visit their wholesalers. If you are based in the London area (and your wedding doesn’t fall on a holiday / event day such as Mother’s or Valentine’s Day) we’ll be more than happy to pick up your order (we get fresh flowers in direct from the Dutch auctions nearly every day).

In many cases we’ve been known to slash existing quotes, and can sometimes provide wedding bouquets with just a day or two’s notice. So, even with times as they currently are, there are good deals to be found by the frugal bride. If you’re just starting to plan your wedding, our short list of 5 steps to a debt-free wedding might just be of some use…

Easy Steps Towards Recession-Proofing Your Wedding

1. Establish Your Wedding Budget
Choose a reliable method to keep track of all expenditures – there are now lots of websites that offer free budgeting services. If possible, keep your wedding fund separate from your personal accounts, so you can easily determine what’s being spent on the wedding. Don’t forget to call in all those favours: contact old mates, colleagues, family members and even the bloke down the road who you lent that jump lead to last winter, who may be able to offer their services.

2. Wedding Wedding Gifts.
Continuing from the above, barter your way to the wedding you want by asking wedding guests to offer their skills and services as a wedding present. If there’s a hairdresser or keen photographer on your guest list, time to bend their ear and put them to work! Chances are they’ll probably bring you a pressie anyway on the day, too… ;)

3. Beware Hidden Costs
Set aside 5% of your budget for those extras that are bound to sneak in one way or another. If you absolutely cannot exceed £20,000, aim to spend £19,000. When last minute costs such as VAT, fees etc come up (and they will), your reserve funds will save you from debt. Similarly, look out for deals and discount rates often offered during low season, midweek or during the day which can trim significant costs from your wedding bill.

4. Super Skinny Me
Serve three courses instead of five (saving on catering and waistlines). Have two bridesmaids instead of four (saving on dresses). Invite 100 guests instead of 200 (saving on just about everything). If you’re struggling with whom to cut from the guest list, cut out children and anyone you don’t know personally, and you’ll see that guest list rapidly streamline itself!

5. More Wine, Madame?
Don’t crack under pressure of the up-sell! That diamond-encrusted designer dress, the fancy five star hotel suite, the vintage champagne – they might seem like good ideas at the time, and it’s easy to get carried away, but they all add up. It’s important to understand which details are truly most important to you.  Be strong, prioritise what you want beforehand and you’re less likely to face a nasty surprise later.

Similar Posts: If you liked this post you may find our credit crunching post Lessons From Flowers – Tulips & the Economic Crisis interesting as well as our oodles of wedding related posts!!

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I tried to avoid the totally obvious and compiled a list of the ten issues (good and bad) that we hadn’t really expected when we set up our little online flower shop nearly three years ago.  If interested, head on over to the post to have a look at the Arena Flowers post. (PS Trevor promises he’ll fix the typos I made shortly!)

If you enjoyed the post, you may also enjoy some of our other posts relating to the early days of Flowers HQ.

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No sooner had we announced the Cancer Research UK site than we received a call from the UK’s favourite heart charity, the British Heart Foundation, which had been on the look-out for something similar to support its own fund raising efforts.

We were more than happy to oblige, especially given our previous happy experiences working with the BHF around Valentine’s Day and the good fit of hearts and romantic flowers.  So we put our creative hats on and got to work with the lovely ladies in the BHF marketing team to create a BHF Flowers website that reflects the established brand and messaging of this popular charity.

As with our Cancer Research UK partnership, 20% of the gross order value (excluding any delivery costs, which we seldom charge anyway) is donated to the British Heart Foundation, plus 100% of any donation amount (you can add a donation in checkout).  We’re working on ways to allow gift aid too.   To find out more about how we work with the UK’s leading charities, and how we can afford to donate a such a significant amount from each order, check out our blog post announcing our work with Cancer Research UK.

And in the future? Whilst we could do loads and loads of these partner charity sites, we’d prefer to keep the offer narrow and relevant to our flower and gifting business so there are unlikely to be many more (if any!).  But what is certain is that we’re very proud to be working with two of the UK’s most worthwhile charities.  Please show them your support too!

If you found this post interesting, you might also enjoy our other posts about good causes and fund raising and you might also enjoy our posts about ethics and the environment.

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With an estimated 20% of the UK population suffering from hay fever this summer, watch any weather report from now through to September and you’ll see the emphasis increasing on the ‘Pollen Count’ as the allergy season progresses and airborne allergens attack their hypersensitive victims. We all know somebody who suffers from hay fever, and you may even have thought twice about buying flowers for them over the years.

But why should a seasonal dose of rhinitis stop you from receiving or indeed sending flowers? Truth is, if their allergies are particularly severe, many flowers are going to affect the recipient negatively but, in general, the more dangerous flowers are the ones with the most pollen. So a good guideline for sending flowers to a someone who may potentially explode into an itching, weeping, snotty mess is to avoid choosing flowers that have visible pollen.

Flower No-No’s(e)

Asiatic and Longiflorum Lilies are some of the most dangerous flowers for allergy sufferers, as parts of them are covered in powdery pollen. Songstresses Tina Arena and Britney Spears (pictured, left) are both alleged to have a lily allergy.  As the story goes, knowing of her allergy,  chart rival Pink once sent Britney a bouquet of lilies when they were feuding.

However, Lilies can be a good choice for allergy sufferers, as it is easy to simply remove the stems of pollen from each flower. Just try to find a non-allergic chum to do this particular job, as it will probably have the most robust nose and eyes and running at the earliest opportunity!

Another type of flower that is particularly bad for allergy sufferers is tree flowers / blossom. When choosing a spring flower arrangement, be careful not to include almond, cherry, apple, or any other kind of tree blossom.

Top Flowers for Allergy Sufferers

Andrew, our Head Florist here at Flowers HQ recommends chrysanthemums and gerberas, with new hybrids coming onto the market bred so that the parts of the flower that used to produce pollen now produce extra petals. But watch out for regular chrysanthemums and daisies as they can be highly allergic.

Another great choice for the allergy sufferer is roses. Not only are roses the most popular cut flower to send, modern roses used in floristry don’t have much of a negative effect on allergies. The reason for this is that their pollen is too large in size to be able to become airborne and truly infiltrate the respiratory system. To allergy-proof your bouquet arrangement, choose roses with little or no smell as these will contain the least pollen.

One of the best kinds of flowers for allergy sufferers are orchids and exotic flowers. Very few types of orchids cause any pollen-related allergies, and so are quite safe for those allergic to most flowers. It is important to note, though, that some orchids may cause a slight skin rash on sensitive individuals.

If in doubt, do contact us first before placing our order.

Hypo-Allergic Wedding Flower Tips

Traditional bridal gowns don’t normally include pockets for hankies, so the last thing a bride needs are snail trails up her lace sleeves from a runny nose. If the bride or groom is known to suffer pollen allergies, here are some simple tips to keep in mind when choosing wedding flowers which will help minimise hay fever symptoms:

1. Wedding Venues
   The best strategy is to avoid airborne allergens completely by holding your wedding ceremony indoors during the peak allergy season, especially if the main culprits are tree and grass pollen. So, no posing around in country meadows for those arty post-ceremony wedding photos, then!
2. Wedding Flowers
   Allergies to flowers are mainly due to their pollen count rather than fragrance.  Flowers begin to release pollen due to the aging process, so using Arena Flowers, the freshest flowers available, will prevent this problem. As for bridal bouquets, buttonholes, and other wedding flower arrangements, there are many flowers that don’t trigger severe allergies (see above for some suggestions).
3. Other Wedding Day Triggers
   Although many people may not realise it, hay fever symptoms do not always come from allergic reactions, but instead can be caused by everyday non-allergic triggers — and not just during the allergy seasons but at any time of the year.  So beware of perfumes and hairspray, sudden changes in temperature and even cooking odours.

Allergy-Free Artificial Flowers

If you want an absolutely 100% allergy-proof alternative for hay fever sufferers, then artificial flowers are the product of choice. No-nonsense and low maintenance, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new Artificial Flowers section added to ArenaFlowers.com — due to popular demand.

We will be adding more flowers to this section throughout the year, so let us know which artificial flowers you would like to see in the future.

Click to see our full range of allergy-free artificial flowers.

By following some of these simple guidelines, we hope you enjoy a pain-free summer this year, and don’t forget to consult a GP or pharmacist if symptoms persist!

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Sadly, I couldn’t find a pyramid or a sphinx made of chocolate, presumably because the Egyptians design their confectionery around good taste and what sells, rather than around the desires of idiotic British tourists looking for the most stereotypically shaped edibles possible.  However, they do make “Cuttlefish Flavoured Crisps”, which the team reported as tasting “surprisingly good”.  In this photo they’re being held by Henrique, one of our CS team who has been manning the phones and keeping us all amused at Flowers HQ for just over a year now.

Having failed to get comedy Egyptian chocolate, at least I was able to get some very tasty Baklava with an Egyptian motif to share with the different teams and here you see Stefanie with CS’s box.

Stefanie is a bit of a polymath, not only working on customer services for our English websites, but also answering calls from our German website, Arena Blumen.  In addition, Stefanie speaks fluent French and is currently helping translate our site for the forthcoming launch of Arena Fleurs (website still under construction).  Impressive stuff!

That’s it for this episode of comedy chocolate (find V, IV, III, II and I here).  Over and out!

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Something that I think I should clarify at this juncture is the definition of a ‘toy’.  We are a florist not a toy shop so by toys I mean something that is a fun addition to our flowers and which in particular makes use of the cool possibilities that the Internet has to offer.  Here at Flowers HQ we strive to be at the cutting edge in everything we do and to maintain that position we feel it is important to be as innovative as possible with the user experience.

To date this strategy has meant that we have built many fun (but useful) accessories that are used on and off our site every day.  These “toys” allow our customers to format the way their message appears on the message card and to include a glossy photo or video message to send to the recipient.  Customers are notified by text for free as soon as their order has been delivered.  Visitors who don’t want to send real flowers can send virtual flowers using another fun toy we’ve built, our free Facebook “Flowers & Fun” application.  And if you want someone to send flowers to you, you can “send a hint” from the product page (anonymously or not, the choice is yours!).

And so to our latest toy…

As a gifting company the majority of our flowers are being delivered to someone to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, new baby, or a wedding.  These are all events that recur and if you are anything like me the dates in question will be up on you when it’s already too late.  Enter Arena Calendar Reminders!

So how is a calendar reminder a toy and how is it new I hear you ask?  True most people have access to a calendar and the idea of being forewarned of an impending date is hardly new; other flower and gift companies also offer reminder services.  But, like with everything we do at Flowers HQ, we’ve tried to improve on what everyone else has to offer  – if we’ve missed anything, please let us know in the comments!

Next time you place an order on our site you will be asked if you want to set up a reminder for this event.  Setting reminders is not compulsory and if you don’t want to set a reminder, you can skip over it in a heart beat.  But if you want it, it’s there.  In the example below I have set up a reminder for my wedding anniversary (don’t want to forget that one!).  I have set the frequency as annual (monthly or weekly being the other options available), added a date and the number of days notice I need and, of course, a description of the event (so I know what I’m reminding myself about!).   Pretty simple.

Setting up the reminder in the checkout

This event is automatically added to My Reminders in My Arena and then (in this case) 10 days before my anniversary I will get my first reminder email (we also send a reminder email on the actual day).  Also, because I’ve given Arena my UK mobile phone number, I’ll also get a free text message reminding me to get my act together.  A load off my mind.  The reminder text message will be sent at 10am (rather than at midnight) so that we don’t drive our customers into a rage by waking them up with a late night text message. Once set up I can, if I want to, go and edit the event in My Arena.

The reminders section looks like this:

Important to note that you don’t have to place an order to set up reminders, you can log in to My Arena now and set up as many reminders as you like.  Flower buying is not compulsory either.  Worth noting that we’ll never sell the data you put into your reminders to others either.  This is a tool to help our loyal customers and that’s it.

The geeky bit: A year from now I will get an email looking like the one below.  The big feature in the email is of course the date and like with all our toys the date is made in a special way.  Rather than making hundreds of different images to cover all the possible date/month combinations, we make the graphic dynamically at the time of sending the email using a server side script that combines a blank calendar icon (the white and orange image) with the date of the event.  Clever huh?!

Arena Calendar Reminders is the latest addition to what we call “My Arena“, the console that we’re gradually building to make life easier for our regular customers.  Customers can use it to view all past orders, messages and purchased items, as well as to check on the status of current orders.  Customers can also save addresses that they use regularly so that they appear automatically in checkout and don’t have to be re-entered.   My Arena also captures all your previous messages so if you’re feeling lazy next time you want to send a birthday message, you can just grab a previous message, formatting and all.

The key with with My Arena is that we’re trying really to make life as easy as possible for regular flower and gift senders, without slowing down checkout for people who are just passing through on a one off sale.  Hopefully we’re getting there.

Interested? Go check out Arena Calendar Reminders for your self now.

If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy other posts in our “Matters Webby” category, where we talk about all the toys and bells and whistles that we’ve built into our service.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

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But it doesn’t stop there, it is actually only Great Britain, Ireland and Nigeria that celebrate Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday of lent and, in fact, most of our international cousins consider May to be the month of Mothering Sundays with the most popular date falling on the second Sunday of May.

It is generally believed that Mother’s Day is celebrated internationally around the world on a variety of days through the year because the event has a number of different origins. For instance, in Iran the day originally commemorated the birthday of Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter. In Canada, Mother’s Day was introduced in the mid-19th century as a call to unite women against war.

With our burgeoning portfolio of European ventures in the guise of Arena Bloemen (Netherlands), Arena Blumen (Germany), and Arena Bloemen Belgium, as well as our international flower delivery service, our development team now consider Arena mums all year round, not just for Mother’s Day.

To help them, and you, here’s a comprehensive list of the countries we serve, and their respective Mother’s Days for the next twelve months…

May 3rd: Hungary, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain.

May 8th: South Korea (Parents’ Day)

May 10th: USA, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, India, Jamaica, Japan, Latvia, Leichtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

May 15th: Paraguay.

May 26th: Poland (”Dzień Matki”).

May 27th: Bolivia.

May 30th: Nicaragua.

May 31st: Dominican Republic, France, Mauritius, Morocco, Sweden, Tunisia.

June 14th: Luxembourg.

June 28th: Kenya.

August 12th: Thailand.

August 15th: Antwerp Province (Belgium), Costa Rica.

October 12th: Malawi.

October 14th: Belarus.

October 18th: Argentina.

December 8th: Panama.

December 22nd: Indonesia.

Between 30th January – 1st March: Israel.

February 2nd: Greece.

February 14th: Norway.

March 8th: Armenia. Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine.

March 14th: UK, Ireland.

March 21st: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

March 25th: Slovenia.

April 7th: Armenia.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to know more about Mother’s Day, check out Will’s rather excellent blog post on the moon’s influence on when we celebrate Mother’s Day in the UK.

Post from: Arena Flowers - Flower Delivery London & UK

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