About Arlene
When Arlene took her first after-school job in a neighbor's flower shop at 14, she immediately fell in love. She began to see flowers as growing art with which she could create evocative sculptures. Arlene studied in a variety of floral boutiques throughout the east coast in the early days of her career. During these years, Arlene developed a keen eye for the principles of event lighting, linen service coordination, décor staging, and ceremonial design. While her meticulous attention to detail allowed her to gain the respect and following of many regular local clients, her heart longed to leave shop design in order to focus on weddings and events. In the summer of 2001, Arlene left daily shop design to start her own venture focusing on high quality flowers and avant-garde techniques to create a well-respected wedding and event design service: Arlene’s Designs.
Over the years, Arlene has been honored to work with local and destination couples from a rich variety of backgrounds. From Christian cathedrals and Jewish chuppahs to Hindu mandaps and civil celebrations, Arlene works with clients to gain an appreciation of their cultural needs and personal visions for their special day. When you become an Arlene’s Designs client, the focus of our entire team is fulfilling your dream.
" Arlene's flowers stole the show at my wedding reception!! We didn't spend a fortune on flowers, but Arlene assured us that she could work within our budget and give us something beautiful. She certainly knocked it out of the park! From the floral accents on the cake, to our bouquets, to the table arrangements, her designs were stunning. We felt like we received a lot for our money. Her taste is impeccable, and she was very easy to work with. Everything arrived at the correct location on time. I would definitely work with her again in the future."
~Review from www.weddingwire.com
" Arlene is the best florist in town. She doesn't have a retail storefront, which allows her to focus exclusively on wedding floral and decor. She is a pleasure to work with and you can tell that she works hard for her business. She met with me at the venue where we were having our wedding and walked through the venue with me and my wedding coordinator, talking about different ideas for the floral. In communicating with her prior to our meeting, we told her some of our preliminary ideas for types of flowers/colors/mood, and she showed up to our initial meeting with a bouquet of sample flowers so that we could see exactly what we were talking about--no other florist I met with was able to show me actual flowers! Arlene had some truly wonderful ideas and understood what type of mood/style I was trying to get across with my floral arrangements. She was very respectful of my budget and told me how we could make it work, when other florists either provided me with proposals that were significantly above my budget, or told me that it would be impossible to do what I wanted with the money that I had to spend.
In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Arlene designed a prototype of one of the centerpieces that we had talked about so that I could see it and make sure I loved the idea. She set a whole table with candles, floral, lighting, etc., which really let me see what I was going to have. On the day of the wedding, Arlene was there early, and she assembled many of our centerpieces by hand on-site. I have had so many guests raving to me about how beautiful the floral arrangements were, and how unique the whole look was, which I must credit to Arlene. She is so easy to work with, and is truly a master at her craft!!!"
~Review from www.weddingwire.com
