The Premier Bridal Event 2013 took place on Jan. 20, but Royer’s brought the warmth and colors of summer to the Eden Resort in Lancaster.
In fact, Royer’s display – decorated for a summer wedding – recently garnered a “Wow! Award” from the event’s sponsor, Weddings Year Round Bridal Magazine.
For the display, which occupied most of the ballroom, we decorated a gazebo, archway, altar, centerpieces, cake. Royer’s worked closely with Eagle Rental of Stevens, Pa., which provided the hardscapes that we decorated.
Meanwhile, Royer’s also brought home a Public Choice Award from the bridal show. Our Valentine’s Day-themed centerpiece took first place in the Lancaster/Lebanon/Berks Division.
Below, you’ll find pictures of our Valentine’s Day centerpiece, of our wedding display, and of Cheryl Brill, Royer’s vice president of retail operations, with our awards.
For more information about how Royer’s can help make your wedding day truly memorable with flowers that complement your décor, click here.
Category: Flowers
Getting hip to the hop: Cable-11 visits corporate complex for Easter
Leave the hiding to the Easter Bunny. We love showing off all of the Easter activity taking place this month at Royer’s.
Visiting our corporate complex in Lebanon today was Blue Ridge Cable 11 News of Ephrata, specifically reporter Peter Taraborelli and photographer John Hershey. They spoke about hyacinths, lilies, hydrangea and other flowers and plants of the season with Barry Spengler, Royer’s vice president of operations.
Record attendance at Saturday’s Royer’s Kids Club event
There’s a spring in our steps after Saturday’s Royer’s Kids Club event, and not just because it involved hyacinth plants for Easter.
We’ve been offering kids club events for six-plus years but never had a turnout as big as the 517 children who joined us this time. Thanks to the kids and the parents who joined us.
This is our biggest year of kids club events ever, with three more to come:
June 22: Royer’s Stems Hunger
Aug. 17: Back to school
Oct. 26: Halloween/Bouquets for Books
Remember that it’s free for children ages 5 to 12 to join the kids club: just stop by any store or fill out the registration form on our website.
We look forward to seeing another big crowd in June.
Flower tips for any wedding budget
When it comes to weddings, tears of joy are one thing; crying over a broken budget is quite another.
Barry Spengler of Royer’s Flowers participated in Fox 43’s wedding week in February. He shared with host Courtney Laydon tips on colors and textures that can work with any sized budget.
“What I love about this is a lot of people think flowers and they think, oh my goodness, it’s going to be so expensive,” Courtney said. “But it doesn’t have to be, right?”
“If you have a little budget, that’s fine,” Barry said. “If you have a big budget, that’s fine.”
Getting the most out of your Valentine’s roses
Valentine’s season can last well beyond Feb. 14. In fact, by following some simple steps, your roses should provide you with a week or more of enjoyment.
All Royer’s arrangements arrive in vases that contain a mixture of water and flower food (FloraLife, in our case). You just need to make sure that there is enough water over time as roses are surprisingly thirsty.
Other tips for getting the most out of your roses:
For roses that arrive in a vase:
• If your roses don’t begin to open within a few days, remove them from the vase, re-cut their stems and return them to the vase. Although not necessary, cut the stems under water if possible.
• Keep the flowers cool: the cooler they are, the less water they will lose through their stems and petals.
• Add water in a sink so that any spillage will not damage a table or other furniture that the roses are sitting on.
For roses that arrive in a box or loose:
• Put water in the vase and add the packet of flower food that came with your delivery.
• Cut approximately one inch off the bottom of the rose to create a fresh pathway for water to work its way up the stem.
• Remove any foliage or thorns that may get stuck when the stems are placed in the vase.
• If you add any greens, make sure that any foliage is above the water. Foliage under water promotes unwanted bacterial growth.
By following those steps, you’re ready for the final, most important step of all: enjoy your roses!
Love comes to town
With less than one week to go until Valentine’s Day, roses arrived en masse this morning at Royer’s distribution center in Lebanon. We captured some of the many sights as employees prepped the flowers for use by the central design department, which will create thousands of arrangements for the holiday. Meanwhile, vans arrived from Royer’s stores to pick up still more flowers.
Local florist bests big delivery sites in Yahoo! ‘Savvy Spender’ comparison
Yahoo!’s “Savvy Spender” set out to review four of the top floral delivery sites: 1800Flowers.com, ProFlowers.com, Teleflora and FTD.
But at the end of the day — or approximately 2:40 of this video clip — it was a local florist that outshone the big online retailers.
“To see how a local florist compares to the online experience, we ordered a dozen roses from our neighborhood florist,” said Savvy Spender host Vera Gibbons. “It was by far the most impressive arrangement with the longest stems, the most vibrant roses, and beautiful accents.
“Remember, roses travel all the way from South America, and it takes a professional florist to rehydrate them properly.”
From South America with love
Come mid-winter in Pennsylvania, the thought of soaking up the sun’s rays and 70-degree temperatures in South America sounds like a great vacation.
But for Tom Royer, traveling to Bogota, Colombia, is work.
Tom is senior vice president and chief operating officer for Royer’s Flowers, which his grandparents, Hannah and Lester Royer, started 76 years ago. For the past 30 years, Tom has been making regular visits to flower farms near Bogota.
One of those trips comes every year in advance of Valentine’s Day, which is the floral equivalent of the Super Bowl. Royer’s may be the only local florist in the United States that visits South America in order to check on the quality of the product that will wind up in its customers’ homes and workplaces.
“It’s a product of the way we do things,” Tom said. “We’re very detailed about a lot of things we do. Flower-buying is just one of them.”
Up until the 1970s, Royer’s grew its own roses (and many other flowers) in greenhouses at its headquarters in Lebanon. But when the oil embargo hit and the price of crude oil spiked, it became cost prohibitive to operate those greenhouses.
At the same time, Colombia was offering a better product. Bogota sits on a plateau, giving it year-round fall temperatures that are ideal for growing flowers.
Back in the early days, Tom remembers, construction of a bridge was cause for celebration in Bogota. Roads leading to the flower farms would wash out. Today, much to Tom’s delight, Bogota is a modern city.
Then as now, the purpose for going to Bogota is simple.
“We want the best possible flowers we can find,” Tom said.
By visiting the farms, Tom can inspect the latest crop in the field. He makes sure that the farms cut the flowers at the right maturity. He always carries his measuring tool to ensure that he’s getting the right length and head sizes for the flowers that Royer’s buys.
Tom’s work doesn’t end in Colombia. After several days on the farms, he then flies to Miami, where the flowers will arrive via cargo plane from Bogota. Until the flowers clear customs, they will be stored in refrigerated warehouses. Tom will inspect the flowers again to make sure that they fared well on the flight.
Finally, the flowers will be loaded on a refrigerated tractor-trailer destined for Royer’s distribution center in Lebanon, which will receive a quarter-million roses and slightly more carnations, among other flowers, just for Valentine’s Day.
With so much fragile product involved, Royer’s has its schedule down to a science. Flowers can’t arrive too early, lest they wilt before the holiday. They can’t arrive too late or Royer’s won’t have enough time to create all of the arrangements that will be needed.
When the tractor-trailer arrives from Miami, it will be unloaded immediately, the flowers cut under water to maximize their moisture intake. Vans will arrive from Royer’s stores, which have employees geared up to make arrangements. Many more arrangements will be made at the Lebanon complex to supplement what Royer’s stores can make, the demand being so great.
“The goal is trying to eliminate any product issues when the flowers arrive in Lebanon, because we cut the schedule tight,” Tom said. “We have it very well orchestrated.”
It’s that tight schedule – and Royer’s control of it from farm field all the way to consumers – that ensures the best quality possible.
The big online retailers can’t say the same thing. They don’t actually make their arrangements, instead contracting out that work. The result is much longer lead times – and a commensurate variation in quality – when compared with Royer’s.
“And from a competitive standpoint, we have to do that better,” Tom said. “That’s the way I look at it, is that we have to be better than anyone else. We have to have fresher stuff. It has to be much nicer.”
‘Bouquets for Books’ returns Nov. 2-10 to collect new children’s books for public libraries
It is said that libraries are not made, they grow. Royer’s Flowers & Gifts wants to continue growing the children’s book collections at area libraries.
Our annual “Bouquets for Books” event will return Nov. 2-10 to collect new children’s books for public libraries in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
For each book, donors will receive a free bouquet, up to three per family per visit, while supplies last. Used books will not be accepted.
For more information, including library wish lists, visit www.royers.com/bouquetsforbooks.
In its first six years, Bouquets for Books has collected more than 10,000 books.
4 Occasions Where Flowers Make the Perfect Gift
The gift of flowers is always a welcome breath of fresh air for the recipient. Flowers make excellent gifts for many different occasions and can be the perfect choice whether you’re giving a gift to a casual acquaintance or a close loved one. Here are just a few times when flowers make a great gift:
Birthdays
Who doesn’t love to get a bouquet of flowers on their birthday? A bright arrangement of flowers is a celebration of having someone in your life. When it comes to birthdays, flowers make a thoughtful gift for a co-worker, but they’re equally special when they come from a close family member or friends. When you’re not sure what to get someone for their birthday, think flowers.
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is the time that florist sell the most flowers. Of course, roses are Valentine’s standard, but you aren’t limited to them for this occasion. If your significant other has a favorite flower, a gorgeous bouquet of his or her chosen blooms is every bit as romantic as standard red roses.
Retirement
Coming to the end of a career is a major achievement, and flowers are a good way to mark the occasion. Let the retiree know how highly you regard his or her accomplishment by giving the retiree a bright bunch of tulips or a mixed arrangement featuring daises, carnations, and more.
Anniversary
An anniversary is a time for you to show your loved one how appreciated he or she is and to celebrate your ability to stick together as a team through whatever life throws at you. It’s not just women who can receive flowers on an anniversary. Flowers can also be a special gift for a man, especially when you choose flowers in yellow, red, and other less feminine shades.
There’s hardly an occasion that can’t be made more memorable with flowers. To order flowers and for help selecting the perfect arrangement, call Royers Flowers & Gifts at (717) 273-2683. We have a huge selection of top-quality flowers and can add on vases, gift baskets, and more. Contact us to place your order today.