The Power of Weddings: Two Shows At The TSFA Floral Forum
Weddings are a huge source of income for the floral industry. It is not only about the stunning design but how are you inspired to make it personal for the couple. It is not only about the end result but how does your business practices influence the success of your weddings. Read on to learn how this journey to TNSFA brings a wedding business and design program to their members.
This journey takes me to Franklin, Tennessee (right outside of Nashville) to present two shows for the TSFA Floral Forum. When I was invited to showcase wedding bouquets and a business program based on weddings my answer was of course YES. I have been to the Tennessee State Florists Association convention in the past and I know they have an amazing convention. The board works tirelessly and believe that education is the pathway to success.
My first show was about wedding business called “The Path to I Do”. I wanted to discuss the business side of weddings from advertising to completion of events. My stage style is one of conversation. I feel we all learn from each other if we dialogue about topics.
How to attract potential couples
The first items I spoke about was how to utilize opportunities to reach new clients. Without having clients, we can not a wedding division of our businesses.
I then spoke about the consultation process itself. We tend to forget that this is the most important day for our clients. We need to devote the energy and time to making sure it is the best experience for them from the moment the meet with you until the moment they say I Do.
Next, I spoke about the importance of a great contract. Everyone business who offers wedding design needs to have a contract. It does not matter if you do one wedding or hundreds a year. Take the time to write a contract to not only protect yourself, but also to protect your clients.
Below are a few of the contract items we discussed.
The Power of the Bouquet
The first evening was full of knowledge and the desire to be a more successful floral company. The second show was to focus on the wedding bouquet called “The Power of The Bouquet.” Wedding bouquets are a huge passion for me. It is the last item the bride will cling to as she walks towards her forever love. If done right it will showcase their love story and design of the wedding day.
I had an amazing assistant Pattie and FFA students working with me in the workroom. Such a great team to be part of.
Where do you draw inspiration from? Is it magazines, Pinterest, social media outlets, other designers? Inspiration is everywhere all you have to do is open yourself to the possibilities. Below are descriptions of what inspired me as I designed some of the bouquets for the show.
Inspiration: bleached dried materials from Knud Nielsen. I wanted to design a light and airy bouquet utilizing bleached materials. We enhanced the bouquet with wool garland.
Inspiration: Jaime and I were shopping and saw the most beautiful woman with stunning dreadlocks. I wanted to design a bouquet inspired by that strong and stunning woman. This bouquet was created utilizing different yarn textures secured to an orb containing lilies, roses, carnations, and color enhanced white plumosa. The bouquet trailed as she walked onto stage.
Inspiration: Movement was inspiration for this bouquet. The cymbidium florets and dried materials tend to have a static appearance. The lily grass is what provided the visual movement through the bouquet.
Inspiration: the never-ending circle of love. Love can be continuous and strong. The bouquet form was a Styrofoam circle wrapped with Oasis ribbon and bullion wire. The cascade bouquet contained garden roses, roses, stock, gyp, hanging amaranthus and aussie grasses.
Inspiration: Joining of two souls. The two rings represent the two souls coming together to unite as one. The bouquet was created utilizing two gold rings with florets of roses, dendrobium orchids, and salal as accents. The lace ribbon was utilized to soften the design.
Inspiration: Joining of a family. Today we have many marriages that may have a child on one or either side of the union. This design shows the unity not only of the two being wed but also included the existing children. This bouquet was designed utilizing four gold rings with florets of garden roses, cymbidium orchids, spray roses, hypericum, cushion pomps and salal.
Inspiration: Boho chic was the inspiration for this adornment. We utilized a macramé wall hanging as a base for this design. We secured it to a collar that would be worn down the back of a bride as she walks through a field of wildflowers. The floral was glued on with Oasis floral adhesive consisting of asters, pomps, spray roses and gerbera petals down the strings.
Inspiration: I found a candle holder while out shopping one day. There were two bells hanging from the bottom and I loved the idea of a bride walking down and her bouquet quietly chiming as she walked. The floral consisted of roses, craspedia, lisianthus, asters and eucalyptus.
Inspiration: The fabulous door knocker I discovered in a clearance section. We suspended an Oasis iglue from the bottom of the knocker to hold a bouquet of roses, lilies, delphinium, with a salal designed lotus on top and Oasis bullion wire hanging from below with floret adornment.
Hint: always look in the clearance section and let your mind wonder what it all could become.
Inspiration: The strength and line of chopsticks inspired this bouquet. I tied and glued chopsticks (color enhanced gold) to create the armature for this bouquet. Callas and lily grass were utilized in this bouquet because of the dramatic lines they enhanced.
Inspiration can come from every aspect of life. All you have to do is be open to the possibilities. Take the time to design something new.
A great show has many moving parts and I thank all of those mentioned below for your contributions:
ChicagoStyle Weddings Designer Challenge
To photoshoot or not to photoshoot—that is the question for today. This post will show you the outcome of industry leaders coming together to create one amazing editorial shoot. This is the time to design for you and your team. Show what lies within yourself.
A local bridal magazine, ChicagoStyle Weddings, invites a team of wedding professionals to create to photo spread for the magazine. Then the voting will begin to select crowd favorite. Our challenge was to be a bit different than the others. Our setting was not a ballroom… it was a moving glass boat down the Chicago River! This was going to be challenging but oh so fun. YES, let’s do this!
We all worked together to create the look we were going for. It was going to be a play on elegant tropics called “Modern Tropics.” The color palette we selected was to be mixed metallics, white, ivory, shades of peach and toffee.
Floral tablescape design
The first item we completed was the tablescape. The palm fronds and aspidistra were color enhanced with rose gold. The pampas grass gave the centerpiece drama and softness all at the same time. We displayed the floral on top of an Accent Décor Biltmore stand to provide height without blocking the fabulous view of Chicago as we sailed down the river. The floral consisted of orchids, pincushion protea and roses.
How to design floral for a photo shoot
When designing a photo shoot remember every angle counts. Make those little moments pop by grouping items together. We chose to group mixed metallic votive holders along the table. Some held candle and others held florets to base the design.
All hands on deck
The deck of the ship was to have two functions for the shoot. One function would be the ceremony and the other function would be the cake display. We designed a moon gate that would consist of coordinating floral from the centerpiece. The Quintessential Cake designed the most beautiful cake we adorned with fresh floral and Coqui Paperie created stunning signage that was hung from our moon gate. Overall, the look was breathtaking.
Behind the scenes note: we could only have the gate up when not moving as it obstructed the view for the captain. So, it was moved many times during our shoot up the river and held up perfectly.
Bridal bouquet design
The bridal bouquet consisted of orchid florets, pincushion protea, roses and color enhanced foliage with a pampas grass collar.
Always bring extra floral!
Always bring extra floral to a photo shoot to enhance other items. Nothing is a better to accent than floral.
Remember when you agree to take part in a photo shoot design something different and unique. Take this moment to be creative and create something beautiful with your team.
Design for the love of design!
Thanks to the incredible companies that made this photo shoot possible:
Color & Candlelight Are Magic
Saying I Do in a foreign land. Working out of my studio in Chicago is one thing but working in a hacienda in Leon, Mexico is completely another adventure. What does it take to complete a wedding design in an unfamiliar location? How will it all come together? Will the end result be everything the bride expected? Read on to learn more about the answers to the above questions.
Leon, Mexico is my next stop on my floral journey. I am to design a wedding to take place at Templo Expiatorio Diocesano del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. The marriage celebration was to take part at Hacienda Los Rincones. Two amazing and picturesque locations. I could not wait to get started. The bride specified color and romance were important to her. It was going to be fabulous to be a part of this wedding.
We land in Leon after two flights, thunderstorms, broken luggage and a desire to design an amazing wedding. Jaime and I brought many of the hard goods needed from Chicago with us. We placed orders for the floral/foliage at a local supplier in Mexico ahead of time. One thing I can tell you when designing destination weddings is: as prepared as you are you MUST be able to shift items quickly. Most of the items were as expected and some were not. The show must go on!
Our design location was in a guest room at the venue. We stored all the completed items in the room while we designed outside with an amazing view. Something to be aware of is that August in Mexico is HOT. Ensure all your floral has adequate water sources as well as yourself.
Candlescapes were important to enhance the evening. Nothing beats the glow of candles. I utilized some of the large gold pedestals to hold floral arrangements while the rest were adorned with pillar candles. The smaller gold candle holders were utilized as accents for the tablescape.
An Oasis European holder was used to design the bridal bouquet. I enhanced the back of the holder with a satin ribbon and pearl pin treatment. The boutonniere was a garden rose with satin ribbon wrap and Oasis bullion wire accent.
Time has come to set up the colorful and glowing reception! We used bright color fresh floral such as hydrangea, roses, garden roses, orchids, and alstroemeria. The foliages utilized for the wedding were seeded eucalyptus, plumosa, and salal. We accented with permanent botanical orchids, sheer ribbon and candles.
Tall centerpieces were designed for some of the tables. I placed the floral on candle stands the venue had on site.
Groupings of candles and pedestal floral were displayed on other tables.
The estate tables held long floral chandeliers designed upon a wood board. The board was placed upon glass vases the venue had on site. We then hung candles form the board to achieve the chandelier design aspect we were looking for.
The newlyweds sat at an ornate table we adorned with cascading floral and candlelight.
The bride carried a colorful bouquet consisting of orchids, roses, garden roses, hydrangea and assorted foliages as she walked towards her forever love.
Life takes us all on a different journey, but the final stop should always be love!
From Chicago To Puerto Vallarta With Love
Planning a wedding for clients is a passion of mine that I take extremely seriously. I had thought that the years of working on other couples’ weddings would make the planning of my own wedding easier. Although it did prepare me for organization and design, it did not prepare me for the obstacles that lie ahead. Oh, and we also decided to go to a different country to do it all. Read on for the highs and lows of planning your big day.
Some say planning your own wedding is a magical thing…. I will say yes, it is magical, but there are sure hurdles to jump to get to the “I Do.” Jaime (my husband) and I knew we wanted to be married in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We did not realize just how hard it would be to find a venue. We went with family and friends on a scouting trip that took us to 20 venues until we found the perfect site for our wedding. Our wedding was to be held at the Hard Rock Hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Now it is time to start the planning!
How scout a venue for your wedding
When you go on a scouting trip have a list of criteria in hand and appointments made at various venues. Below is an example of our list:
Beach location for our first ceremony and welcome reception (we had two different ceremonies)
A covered location for our formal ceremony that would be private
A reception room that can be transformed into our formal reception
A room to design our wedding floral in once we arrive
Accommodations to fit our guests needs
Availability to hold 3 days of events on location
A team on location that can be utilized to help plan the events
Sourcing bilingual wedding invitations
Now the location was set and it was time to work on the details in Chicago. Our invitations were to be done in English and Spanish as our wedding was to unite the USA family and friends with the Mexico family and friends. We made sure every detail was completed to make everyone feel welcome. The amazing paper goods were designed by Charmant Invitations. We hired Rose Photos to travel with us from Chicago to Mexico to capture our events in photos. Having the best companies will also result in amazing outcomes.
Sourcing wedding flowers in Mexico
Once Jaime and I arrived in Mexico, we realized the floral product we had shipped did not make it through customs. Our once plan of cascading orchids and other floral was to be altered in a moment to plan B. We had all of the hard goods packed in our luggage so at least that was safe. Now the hunt began to find flowers and foliage for our wedding. We discovered a local wholesale house and purchased what they had in stock and completed our items at Costco.
A friend in need…
Never underestimate the power of friendship. Being a floral artist, I have many fellow floral artists as friends. One of my best friends, Frankie Peltier, AIFD and his husband Shaun arrived early to Mexico to help us prepare for the wedding. It was amazing to have Frankie help me design as Shaun and Jaime went on errands. Memories to last a lifetime!
Flowers for our big day
As the guests arrived the resort was filled with love and floral. As the formal wedding day arrived it was time to set-up the reception. Drapes were hung on the walls, lighting was ready, and our floral was complete. We used Oasis wire to create the designs. It was important to mix the hard and soft to complete the ambience. Frankie payed homage to the venue by creating music sheets out of design wire.
How to dress a wedding party
Our groom’s ladies were dressed in white and held bouquets of white floral with Oasis decorative wire armatures and pearl accents. Our flower girls wore white and carried pomander balls of orchids with gray pearls. My daughter and Jaime’s mother were to walk us down the aisle/marry us were dressed in black and white carrying a white cascade bouquet of phalaenopsis orchids, roses, tulips and Oasis decorative wire armatures and pearl accents. The groomsman wore black with a rose boutonniere. Jaime and I wore shades of gray with white orchid boutonnieres.
Our wedding day was magical and something we will always remember. It is not the troubles that should be remembered but the love and friendships will always fill our hearts.