Today is the 2nd anniversary of the popular floral design blog, Flirty Fleurs. My friend Alicia is one of the founders of Flirty Fleurs and I’m thrilled to feature her and her fabulous new book, Bella Bouquets on Planner’s Lounge today.

Alicia, what inspired you to write and create Bella Bouquets? How is the book helpful for event planners and designers?

I always wanted to write a book, it just took me awhile to decide what I’d write about. I realized everything starts with the bridal bouquet. Once that is decided the rest of the design quickly comes together.

I designed this book with floral designers & wedding planners in mind and anyone else looking for floral inspiration! The bouquets are broken into color sections and each bouquet includes a list of flowers included in the design. Plus, I designed many of the bouquets using the current hot flowers – garden roses, craspedia, fern fronds, succulents & more. I’ve received a considerable amount of feedback from people who use the book during consultations and they all say they are thankful for the color breakdown and the list of flowers in each bouquet.

How long have you had Flirty Fleurs? Can you tell us what it is about and how planners might benefit from reading it?

Flirty Fleurs just turned two years old!

Planners and all wedding professionals seem to find that many of the topics we tackle on Flirty Fleurs are both insightful and relatable. We spend countless hours scouring the web for the latest trends, new varieties of flowers, and amazing floral and event designers to feature. We share our passion with the hope to inspire, educate and most importantly to create dialogue among our colleagues in the wedding and design industry.

We maintain a section on the blog called Floral Inspirations for Weddings. On this page, planners will find a list of floral designers across the country, a flower guide with information on seasonality and color options, a lot of floral design inspiration photos and other interesting articles. We blog Monday thru Friday and always bring forward fresh topics and inspiration!

Do you have plans for more books?

Yes, I have a few ideas in mind at the moment. One book I’m working on will go into more depth about each flower type and then show a selection of photographs of each flower in use. I’m also working with a few other designers who would like to bring a book into the market. It’s fun to help my peers!

In honor of their second blog anniversary today, we are giving away one copy of the fabulous Bella Bouquets book! Simple leave a comment below with the name of your favorite flower. We will randomly select one winner on Monday, May 7, 2012 and will announce it on our Facebook page, on Twitter and in this post. 

Update: The winner of the Bella Bouquets book is Carissa McCune!  Congratulations Carissa!

You can purchase your copy of Bella Bouquets on their website.

Photo credit for both images: Revert Photo