Flower Market alleviates Houseparties anxiety with expert bouquet advice

For any University student attending a Houseparties ball, Marie DePinto is the fairy godmother of flowers.

DePinto, who works at The Flower Market off Witherspoon Street, offers motherly wisdom to girls on boutonniere selection and helps boys decide whether to buy a corsage or a bouquet — corsages are out, she says: relics of the '70s.

"Irises, Gerber Daisies, and Orchid buds will fall apart," she said. "But a rose will hold up for you for the entire night."

DePinto, and the other employees at The Flower Market have been working non-stop to prepare the 500-plus orders — not including emergency walk-ins — for boutonnieres, corsages and cut flower arrangements placed by undergraduates attending this weekend's Houseparties.

The Flower Market is one of several floral emporiums in town — catering to students requests for House Parties. At least three shops are located east of campus on Nassau Street.

The Flower Shop is an oasis of lilies, tulips, roses. Tucked neatly away in an alley just off of Witherspoon Street, the aroma of freshly cut freesia envelopes passersby.

Duck inside the Flower Shop and you will find bouquets of rosebuds peeking open amidst clusters of delicate baby's breath. Buckets of Casablanca lilies stretch their lengthy, ivory petals.

"Don't get the pollen on yourself," DePinto warns a visiting student.

Keith Wadsworth, who works alongside DePinto, stood over a mountain of green as he trimmed and pruned a daisy arrangement with his magic wand — an exact-o knife.

"It's a rough place," said Wadsworth, a middle-aged, light-haired man with cheeks flushed the color of carnations. Friday, the tiny store will be packed wall-to-wall with students picking up their Houseparties flowers.

His fingers covered in makeshift band-aids of dark green flower tape. The number of orders placed for Houseparties weekend is on par with the number placed on Mothers' Day, Wadsworth said.

DePinto might expect visits on Mothers' Day from those she calls "our own children" across Nassau Street.

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"We tell the parents we're like their second family and we'll take good care of them," she said.

Tuesday, DePinto was busily preparing for Houseparties weekend. The five-foot tall, bespectacled woman made suggestions for coordinating a white rose with dark blue delphinium in response to one undergraduate's request for an atypical boutonniere.

After four years of University formals, customers grow to trust and depend on DePinto for guidance. Pictures of her steady customers and fans from the University hang in the Market.

Some frequent customers bring their parents to say hello on graduation, Wadsworth said.

A good flower salesman, Wadsworth says, has to know all of the social conventions that go into giving flowers as presents. Red roses are for the bold and romantic. Tulips mean "just friends."

"The girls tend to read a lot into the flowers," Wadsworth said. "The boys aren't picky," he said. "They just say, 'Oh that's nice. I trust you.'"

If two are going together and they are not a definite couple, the Flower Market suggests a decorative arrangement of daisies or tulips in any color.

Arrangements range from the traditional to the wacky.

The most outrageous request Wadsworth remembers incorporated whiskey bottles and Pez dispensers into boutonnieres.

Students rely on DePinto to remind them about placing orders for Winter Formals, Casino Nights and Houseparties. DePinto has kept a record of each event on a calendar for decades now. She has advised students for seven years at the Flower Market on Witherspoon and the Flower Basket — now Micawber Books — on Nassau Street.

"I tell the students who come in here that I'm the Social Secretary for the University," she jokes. "They believe me."

DePinto never forgets a face, or the color of a date's dress.

"We treat the kids like they're our kids. We love them all," she said, eyes welling up with tears. "When they graduate, we have the box of tissues out."

The Flower Market is currently preparing flower arrangements for a wedding of two University alumni next week. That couple first bought flowers for each other at The Flower Market—for Houseparties.