Winston Flowers, a 74-year-old business with eight locations throughout the greater Boston area and New England and a new studio in New York, earned a major plug last week by appearing on “The Today Show,” a program with an estimated 4.5 million viewers.
The Wednesday, Sept. 5 show featured a segment on wedding trends for the upcoming fall season. Designers at Winston’s recently launched Long Island studio created a floral infinity wreath and seasonal centerpieces to illustrate sophisticated, sought-after matrimonial looks.
The infinity wreath, an increasingly popular choice with Winston clients (especially those who marry outdoors), featured ‘Juliet’ garden roses, ‘Free Spirit’ roses, ‘Blushing Parasol’ spray roses, ‘White O’Hara’ roses and coral-colored dahlias, accented with kiwi vine, crabapple, orange asclepiad, white astilbe, raspberry celosia, dusty miller and smilax.
“Given the nature of broadcast media, our team had exactly one week to prepare,” said Kate Evans, Winston’s director of marketing. “Fortunately, we had recently launched our ‘Late Summer’ collection, so we had autumn blooms in vivid oranges readily available.”
During the segment, WeddingWire’s Creative Director Jeffra Trumpower discussed trends with Today host Savannah Guthrie. Winston Flowers has a longstanding relationship with experts at WeddingWire and is often solicited for an anecdote, photo or mock design, Evans explained.
Two Winston designers, Lise Pellegrin and Ryan Hontz, along with delivery specialist Napoleon Mendoza, arrived at The Today Show Plaza, near Rockefeller Center, at 4 a.m. to unload the designs and set them up. They remained on hand to ensure designs looked perfect for their 8:30 a.m. television debut.
Congratulatory messages swiftly poured in from clients, friends and family members who saw the segment, Evans said. Winston Flowers also received calls from new clients who said they saw the designs on The Today Show.
“This type of exposure is priceless — and the timing couldn’t be more perfect us, as Winston Flowers has recently expanded its presence into New York,” Evans said. “We’re so delighted we had this opportunity.”
Katie Hendrick Vincent is the senior contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
