A Ride To Remember – Event Details

Join the Alzheimer’s Association and ISU Football Coach Paul Rhoads, on Sunday, June 3, 2012, as he hosts his 3^rd annual A Ride to Remember motorcycle event to raise money for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. A meet & greet as well as registration will take place at Jack Trice Stadium. Coach will lead riders as they make their way around Central Iowa.

The Ride to Remember Route will leave Cyclone Stadium in Ames at 2 p.m. and wind North to Dolliver State Park in Lehigh. Then take another route back South to Ames’ Inis Grove Park at 2500 Duff in North-Ames. Enjoy a nice meal before you head home.

Des Moines Area Bikers, Join the Boesens in The Ride TO The Ride that morning!

Why not start the fun early and ride as a group to the event in Ames? Join the Boesen family at their Boesen the Florist location on Beaver in Des Moines at 11 a.m. on Sunday morning for The Ride TO the Ride!

Ride TO the Ride route will be North from Beaverdale. Along the East edge of Ankeny, Cut over to Highway 69 at Alleman and North up 69 to Ames – 30 Miles.

Registration

A registration fee of $25 per person includes: meet & greet with Coach, BBQ tailgate, and event t-shirt.

**PLEASE NOTE IF YOU ARE REGISTERING MORE THEN ONE PERSON, YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE THE BILLING INFORMATION FIRST, THEN YOU WILL BE PROMPTED TO COMPLETE THE NAME AND SHIRT SIZE FOR THE OTHER REGISTRANT.**

Click to register now!

To register by phone or if you have questions, contact Tanya.Dunn@alz.org or 515.440.6383 x107.

Sunday, June 3, 2012 – When AT Jack Trice Stadium

Additional Information:

Inis Grove Park (click for information)

Watch A Video of Last Year’s Ride (click for link)

Link to Photos of Last year’s ride

Affordable Getaways
Destination weddings are definitely rising in status. During this slow economy, brides are getting creative when planning their weddings. Besides having the venue and accommodations tied into one, a destination wedding is a perfect way to get a luxury wedding on a tight budget.

While many still follow traditional settings, popularity is growing in how destination weddings are bringing new styles and traditions.  Depending on where you want to go, having a destination can help with choosing colors, themes and food for your reception.

Things to Consider

• Do you want only immediate family and friends to come with you, or a bigger wedding party?
• Can all of your guests manage to pay for the traveling costs?
• Do you want to give a second reception back home for friends and family who could not travel with you?

In Iowa, there are several beautiful and unique venues for outdoor weddings or places for a unique reception while creating that “getaway” feel:

• Living History Farms
• Prairie Meadows
• Blank Park Zoo
• White Oak Vineyards
• Des Moines Botanical Center

For more helpful tips in planning your wedding day (and shower), make sure to download our free Wedding Days ebook – only from Boesen the Florist.

Billy Balls

Billy Balls aka Billy Buttons or Craspedia are fun trendy new addition to add to your Wedding day floral arrangements. These unexpected blooms add pop and flair with their brilliant yellow color, round shape and texture. They can be incorporated into a rustic or mod theme. Recently, it has become very popular to use Billy Ball flowers in the groom and groomsmen boutonnieres especially when paired with a softer colored vest or flower.

These flowers are a great addition to your wedding day, especially for all those brides planning a grey and yellow color scheme or something different with the sunshiny hue.

Arrangement Additions 

Don’t be surprised to see some bouquets made up of more than flowers. Brides will continue to add bling to their blooms by incorporating brooches into their bouquets.  You’ll also see a lot of pearls and lace as well as feathers, natural earthy greens, fruit, grasses, ferns and herbs.

Very Vintage

The vintage look and feel is continuing to inspire everything wedding from rings to dresses, photos, centerpieces, and flowers. Brides are pairing rustic and feminine by choosing soft colors like ivory, cream, white, and light pink in big, full blooms such as hydrangeas, anemones, gardenias, and peonies. Many are incorporating the trend through use of burlap and mason jars.

Royally Inspired

Brides across the globe are still in awe of Kate and Will’s big day. No doubt their royal celebration will be a huge influence for many brides for years to come.  The royal couple’s neutral/natural wedding color scheming is also be emulated. Some brides are giving a special nod to Kate and her royal style by choosing dresses for their big day with long sleeves and lace detailing. The latest edition of the Twilight film has also inspired many brides to choose long sleeves for their big day.  Who would of thought brides would be getting inspired by a vampire movie?

Color Combos and Popular Patterns

• Black and White
• Gray and Yellow
• Aqua and Orange
• Tangerine
• Grapefruit
• Neutrals (including rustic detailing such as burlap)
• Bright Color Combinations
• Ombre
• Chevron

Mother’s Day is traditionally a beautiful Spring Sunday when we take the time to focus on Mom, taking her out for a nice brunch or dinner, giving her gifts and flowers, and letting her “take it easy” for the day.  But in the over 40 foreign countries who also observe some sort of “Mother’s Day”, the traditions can be very different!

• Argentina – While “Dia de la Madre” is observed in most of South America in May, it’s celebrated the second Sunday of October in this southern-hemisphere country, most likely so it coincides with the traditional springtime ‘motherhood’ festivities.  Argentinian mothers are lavished with dinners, cards poems written in school by the children, and a day of their husbands cleaning, cooking and looking after the family.
• Japan – “Haha no hi” was very popular by the 1930′s in Japan, but was banned during World War II, along with most every western custom.  In about 1949 that the celebration started again, mostly to comfort those who had lost their sons in the War.  Children entered drawings of their mothers into a contest.  Today, Mother’s Day is held the second Sunday of May, with children giving their moms red carnations, scarves, handbags and handkerchiefs, and making traditional dishes their mothers taught them to cook.
• Yugoslavia – Mother’s Day here is tied to a three-day series of holidays for the whole family.  Children’s Day (Dechiyi Dan) is the first, three days before Christmas.  The Sunday after this holiday is Mother’s Day (Materitse) and the Sunday following that is Father’s Day (Ochichi).  While these sound like sweet holidays, on each day the “honoree” is bound until they provide something; the children must promise to be good, the mother must give the family treats and candy, and the father much promise more lavish gifts and clothing that are usually the family’s Christmas gifts.
• France – With the birthrate at an alarmingly low rate in the late 1800s and early 1900s, France implemented La Fete de Meres on December 19, 1920.  Medals were awarded to mothers of large families, with the coveted gold medal going to those with 8 or more children!  Inspired by American soldiers in World War II and their immense outpouring of love – and letters! – for their Mother’s Day, the government established the National Day of Mothers on May 25, 1945.  Today, traditional gifts include flower-shaped cakes, candies, perfumes, cards and flowers.

However you choose to honor your mother, let Boesen the Florist be part of your Mother’s Day celebrations!

Your Mother:  The woman who soothed your nightmares, washed your smelly socks, baked you a cake for your birthday, and eased you through your traumatic teenage years.  Buying her flowers and taking her out for brunch never seems sufficient – and yet, she’s perfectly tickled and happy with that show of affection!

Where did Mother’s Day start?  Originally, “Mother’s Day” wasn’t focused on human mothers, but rather was a celebration of goddesses. The earliest historical record of worshiping a “mother” deity is the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was considered the mother of all pharaohs.

Europe adopted a different kind of observation in later years.  The fourth Sunday of Lent honored “Mother Church”, or the church in which one was baptized.  By a clerical decree in the 1600s, England included mothers in the observance, calling it “Mothering Day.”  Household servants and track workers got to go home to visit their families, giving all a one-day reprieve from Lenten fasting, as it was traditional to have a family feast with Mom as the guest of honor.  She was showered with cakes and flowers with all of her children around her.

The first traditional American Mother’s Day was celebrated May 10, 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia.  Anna M. Jarvis was carrying on the work of her mother, who used Mother’s Day as a way to reunite families and neighbors who had been estranged by the Civil War.  Carnations were handed out to all the mothers attending the 1908 celebration, and even today white carnations are used to honor deceased mothers, while pink or red ones pay tribute to those still living.

No matter what type of flower you give or how you honor YOUR mother this Mother’s Day, Boesen the Florist has a design that will truly make Mom feel your love and appreciation!

Join us here at Boesen the Florist as we partner with Iowa State Football Coach Paul Rhoads to support the Alzheimer’s Association of Greater Iowa for the 3rd annual A Ride to Remember on Sunday, June 3, 2012. This event will raise money for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. Meet us at the Boesen shop on Beaverdale on June 3, 2012 at 11:00 and we will make the trek up to Ames together for the ride. Registration as well as a meet & greet will take place at Jack Trice Stadium when we arrive. For more information visit the registration site here and don’t forget to ask us about upgrading to VIP status for the event!

Did you know?

One in eight older Americans has Alzheimer’s disease. 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and payments for care are estimated to be $200 billion in the United States for 2012.

The giving and receiving of flowers has been a tradition for many generations.  It used to be that your local florist knew your name, your wife’s name, and her favorite flower – so YOU didn’t have to worry about remembering!  But as time has progressed, local brick-and-mortar flower shops have become more and more scarce.  People are turning, instead, to 1-800 and online “warehouse” ordering to send flowers to their loved ones.

The lure of what seems to be a larger selection is what sucks people in to these call centers.  They think they are calling a HUGE floral warehouse with dozens of people standing around, just waiting for their order to come in so they can build it and send it immediately!

The reality, of course, is much different.  When you call these “warehouse” florists, you are getting a call center.  ONLY a call center.  There is no flower warehouse.  Just lines of cubicles filled with people answering the phone all day.  Most of them probably couldn’t tell you the difference between a daffodil and a daisy.  Once they get your order and your money, whoever you spoke with has nothing to do with you or your order again.

What happens when that order doesn’t get to the right place or at the right time?  What if that order gets lost in the shuffle and doesn’t end up anywhere?  Who carries the responsibility to make it right?

When you call your local florist, you KNOW you are talking to a knowledgeable person who knows plants and flowers and values YOU, the customer!  If you aren’t sure what type to send or what colors to use or what’s in season, you can rest assured that the person on the other end of the line will have the perfect suggestion!  Your local florist is just that – a florist who cares about your satisfaction!  A florist who recirculates your dollar in your community 8 times as opposed to only a possible 4 times with a call center.  YOUR money goes back to work in YOUR community to help keep other local businesses – run by your friends, family, and neighbors – in business!

Next time you need to send flowers, call your local Boesen the Florist!  Local florists work and live in your community and CARE about the reason you’re sending the flowers in the first place!  You can rest assured that if anything goes wrong and you aren’t completely satisfied with the quality of your order, Tom Boesen will stand behind his work and will do everything in his power to make it right for you!

Gone are the days where flower girls are expected to skip down the aisle tossing flower petals all about. In fact, some churches and venues are no longer permitting flower girls to throw petals. Many venues with hard flooring instead of carpet view the petals as a hazard that may cause someone to slip, trip and fall. While tossing petals is still very common for flower girls these days there are other options both floral and non for your special attendant.

A popular and lovely way to incorporate flowers into the girls look is with a floral crown or some other form of headpiece. What girl doesn’t like a crown?

Some brides are upset when they realize their flower girls won’t be able to throw petals down the aisle. A fun alternative is to have them carry pomanders or balls made out of flowers with a ribbon string. Also think about seeing if there is another area perhaps at your reception were it may be permitted for the little ones to toss a few petals, after all it is tradition right?

Some other non floral options include having your flower girl cary a sign announcing “Here comes the bride” or “Please turn off your cell phones”. These are both fun ideas but if you ask me a flower girl needs her flowers whether they be in her hair, on her wrists, or carried in a basket.

We recently received this wonderful comment on our Facebook Page from a satisfied customer!  We’re so pleased to have been a part of this great occasion!

Flowers I ordered for Mary for our 50th anniversary were beyond what we expected and made our celebration very special. I visited the Beaver store to place the order and the personnel there are very professional in their guidance to what I ordered!

Happy 50th Anniversary, Ted and Mary!  We wish you many more happy years together and hope you will consider Boesen the Florist for your future celebrations, as well!

It’s Prom season!  Undoubtedly, your teen (especially teen daughter) has been thinking about and planning for Prom since, oh, the day after Homecoming!  Most boys will have a date already lined up and most girls already have a dress picked out, if not hanging in their closets.

Boesen the Florist has teamed up with The Bloomin’ Blog to answer some important and frequently-asked questions regarding Prom corsages and boutonnieres!

1. What is a prom corsage?  The corsage is a small floral design typically worn by a girl on her wrist or close to her collar as an accessory to accent or match her prom dress.  The girl’s date will usually bring the flowers for her and there is much production around the pinning on or placement of the arrangement.
2. What is a boutonniere?  This is the small flower arrangement worn by the guys on the lapel of their tuxedo or suit coat.  Again, his date usually will get the boutonniere for him and it typically matches the style and colors of the girl’s corsage.
3. Do the corsage and boutonniere have to match?  Not necessarily.  Although it is common practice for the guy’s tie and/or cummerbund to match his date’s dress, there is no rule about this.  Usually the couple will match colors and styles, as it looks more stylish and put-together that way.
4. What wrist do you wear your corsage on?  Like wearing a watch, it’s commonly recognized as proper etiquette to wear it on the left wrist, although comfort is most important.
5. When do I need to order my prom flowers?  You can order your flowers any time!  It’s probably the best idea to order earlier rather than later, to make sure you will get what you really want.  Common practice – and courtesy – says at least two weeks before the event.
6. What do I need before I visit my local florist?  First – and most important – is a picture of your dress.  You can try to describe the color and style, but it’s best just to show it to your florist.  Be sure to bring along any pictures from the internet or magazines of styles you like and would like to use.

Your LOCAL florists at Boesen’s will work with you, personally, to create the perfect flower arrangement for your personality, your dress, your dancing style, and your dreams!  Call today to talk to one of our consultants!