A bright bouquet of organic flowers: Flame calla lillies, roses and peonies, by Bella Signature Design. Yum!

Here at Bella Signature Design, we use both green practices in our daily floral work, as well as offering organic and sustainable flowers when available or desired.

What kinds of practices, you ask?

• Only use floral foam when necessary: most brands of floral foam are not bio degradable and include carcinogenic ingredients such as formaldehyde and carbon black. The formaldehyde leaches into the water, and can off-gas.
• We never use liquid chemicals in our designs or cut flowers – no flower food, products to make them last longer, etc. We find that by hand-picking the freshest blooms, using quality suppliers and proper hydrating methods, our blooms last as long or longer than florists who dunk their flowers into chemicals.
• we try to use north american flowers first, to avoid the transportation of flowers from south america (where many roses come from). South american roses are also almost always dipped in fungicide!
• We have cutting rights in many local farms and gardens, and can get organic hydrangea, garden roses, tulips. calla lillies and dahlias, which also supports these local farms. Not to mention all the fabulous greens (and yet our work is still super lush!)
• we recycle all our packaging
• we email invoices, design proposal and about everything else we can. we pay business bills online.
• we turn our floral coolers off when not in use!

When most brides think of organic flowers, they envision wild-flower bouquets or lots of green. Bella Signature Design is known for it’s lush look – even when we do use organic and sustainable blooms. Any style, whether contemporary, garden, or superlush can use organic flowers, so don’t be afraid to ask your floral designer if they can use any sustainable or organic blooms in your arrangements!

Next green tuesday, more about organic flowers themselves!

We’ve lightened up our blog in honor of spring! What do you think?

For this week’s “Green Tuesday”, I wanted to start taking a closer look at green vendors. Over the following weeks we will be talking about how various vendors can be more “green” by either offering organic or sustainable products and participating in green practices.

And yes, this can apply to ANY type of vendor! For example, a DJ might be a vendor you wouldn’t think of in terms of “green or not”, but clearly Jojo at Seattle’s Bamboo Beats has given it a lot of thought. Check out their website page that explains their green practices. We love their green practices (not to mention that Jojo is supersweet and they are great dj’s!)
Thanks Jojo!

Daniela

to more cost effective smaller chocolates in gift bags, Totally Chocolate’s treats are creamy, chocoloatey goodness. I have to admit, having been born and raised in Germany with a ton of relatives in Switzerland, I am a total chocolate snob. When Dori from Totally Chocolate first called me and asked if i wanted a sample, I said “sure!” (because who turns down free chocolate?) but i wasn’t expecting much (sorry, Dori – you DID prove me wrong!)…A lot of american chocolate to me tastes like chocolate flavored candy versus rich, creamy chocolate. Literally the NEXT morning, this giant box of chocolates arrive at my studio’s door (you could have fit 6 shoeboxes in this box!) with a huge assortment of chocolates. Truffles, bon bons and cookies, oh my! Again, I was a bit skeptical , since you all know I am not a fan of anything too “weddingy” or ordinary, and some of the samples were a bit corporate looking for a wedding (but PERFECT for a team meeting or corporate event). However, the custom items had so many applications that I immediately started thinking of what you could do with a “custom chocolate mold” it can be anything you want!!

I was pleasantly surprised that the chocolate was creamy, rich and “totally chocolate-y” with none of that cheap chocolate aftertaste like candy bar chocolate can have. My absolute favorite were the shortbread cookies with chocolate (YUM!) and the plain chocolate. Check out their website, which has mostly corporate looking stuff, but you can use your imagination…which leads us to our contest: Totally Chocolate is giving away one free custom chocolate mold (a $100 value!) to one of our readers! All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post about a creative chocolate shape/design you would use and what you would use it for (Wedding favor, kid’s birthday party, corporate event)! Dori will pick a winner one week from today, Wednesday April 22nd. Comments left before midnight on April 21st will be considered (they must be appropriate or they will not be posted – nothing overly naughty please!)

Have fun!

Daniela

April is Giveaway month here at Bella Signature Design! This week we have some great wedding favor ideas – and of course, a great prize to go along with it. For some fabulous wedding favors, completely custom AND edible, check out: Totally Chocolate.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our write-up and contest rules tomorrow!

Daniela

The lucky winner is Dominique Cantwell! We put the total number of entries into random.org, and the number that came up was #8 – so the eighth entry wins (not counting the double entry by one reader). Congratulations – Dominique, please contact us with your email so that we can tell you how to claim your prize! Hm, what will she pick?

We have a few other fabulous giveaways schedueld over the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Daniela

If you are looking for our jewelry giveaway (which ends today – leave your comments now!!) click
here. Thanks to Adrianne at Turtle Love Committee for giving us this fabulous giveaway!

Just in! More giveaways scheduled for the next few weeks – looks like April is giveaway month at Bella Signature Design – Yay! We’ve got something yummy scheduled for Monday, so keep posted.

We aren’t the only ones doing giveaways this week – check out one of my favorite blogs, Pretty Lovely Things. This blog has a ton of eye candy and inspiration for interior design and pretty objects. I love going to this blog for inspiration ! They are doing a great pillow giveaway here.

Daniela

We are SO excited to announce a fabulous jewelry giveaway on Green Tuesdays! One of the companies we love love love is giving the Bella Signature Design blog a giveaway that is super fabulous! Adrianne at Turtle Love Committee (grooviest name!) has beautiful jewelry that is not only eco-conscious, but easy on the wallet too, which is especially fabulous given our current economic climate. Whether you still need an engagement ring, bridesmaids gifts or even a wedding band for him, there are some beautiful alternatives on Turtle Love’s website.

Details for our contest will be announced, tomorow, Wednesday April 8th, so tune in to win, as the winner will get to choose their prize from ANY instock item!!! thanks Adrianne!