Midway Madness

Nearly a year ago, I found myself two days away from the due date of my second child in the midst of the largest wedding of my career to that point! Liz had exquisite taste and I was thrilled to get to work with her...despite the timing! With my large belly, I delivered the flowers for bride, groom, and their attendants to the ceremony site at the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, and then lead a caravan of cars up to the lovely Inn on the Creek in Midway, Utah.

My fantastic husband hefted boxes of supplies and bucket after bucket of flowers. He then ushered our three year old daughter around the property and snapped photos of my work for my portfolio while my amazing assistant, Melissa and I put together the 9 table arrangements, laid out the boutonnieres and corsages for the parents, and organized the flowers for the cake. The stellar staff of the Inn helped us coordinate decorating when the other vendors finished their work, and then we had such a tasty break for lunch at Granny's before a lovely drive home through the bright summer day.

It was a very long July 31st...but I think everything turned out so well! I was able to breathe a sigh of resignation when I experienced some contractions during lunch, but then our sweet Olivia waited until Monday during a planned inducement to arrive. (Thanks, sweetheart!) Liz was such a dream to work with and she had such faith in my promises that I would be able to deliver the vision she had for her gorgeous deep purple and sage green wedding. I learned so much about preparations for a wedding on location, organized timeframes, and planning communication with my staff. Add such beautiful supplies and flowers, and I was so honored to be able to create this work. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!



For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Bright Yellow Loveliness

Spring hasn't quite sprung yet, though the sun is shining, so today I want to put some of my own sunshine on the screen. A lovely bride, Lauryn, chose classic flowers of hydrangeas, dahlias, freesia, ranunculus and Queen Anne's lace in lovely shades of butter yellow and cream, accented with ribbons in grey.

It was a rainy day at the intimate reception hall at the Kaysville ponds area, but yellow brightens any event!


The bouquet was obviously done in advance, as were the toppers to a selection of frosted glass and black iron hurricanes that she used in strategic spots in the room, but the flowers on the cake had to be done on location. It made for a dramatic day of delivery, design and eventual downpour!



Thanks again, Lauryn, for such a wonderful and beautiful collaboration!

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

Where are your flowers from, and when are they cut?

Have you ever stopped to think about the timeline that your wedding flowers face before they end up in your manicured hands on your wedding day? It’s really quite an interesting ride!...and it might explain why so many florists do business the way that they do. Care to take a ride?


Whether you choose roses grown in Mexico, tulips out of Amsterdam, daisies from Washington, or lilies from the coast of California, all your flowers follow a certain route. Growers use regular growing seasons as well as greenhouses to harvest flowers at their best. Most growers at this point are so familiar with their flowers that they’ve cheated Mother Nature and can grow their stock in waves that can be had no matter what time of year you want them. Those flowers are the readily available, standard flowers that you see everywhere…as mentioned…roses, lilies, daisies and more. More unique flowers that may not be used as often, such as lily of the valley, peonies, amaryllis, and hyacinth, don’t have the same year-round schedule. If the flowers you want are rare, you’ll be subject to their regular growing seasons as well as higher prices for their rarity.


Once a flower is cut on the farm, it is taken to the processing plant, gets inspected, is bunched, and is packaged for shipping. Shipping can take a few days depending on the buyers who paid the most to get that wave of flowers…prices at the grower varies too depending on how many wholesalers are buying big numbers of product before it dies in the fields. Delivery also depends on schedules, distances, and truck availability.


Once they arrive at their destination city, the flowers are hauled in to wholesale locations. I personally use two wholesalers local to Salt Lake City, but also know of half a dozen more just in the valley. All of these locations have standing orders of regular flowers that are sold to retail locations and florists on a pretty predictable schedule. The flowers are bought in bulk to keep their prices low and margins high. Some wholesalers also sell to the public, and so have to stock extra flowers for walk-in traffic…the generic as well as some more rare varieties. A good percentage of these products wilt while waiting, hiking prices.


Once the flowers are received in bulk bunches at the retail locations, designers create arrangements that will optimize their use of the flowers they’ve received. Creating about three or four arrangements over and over again also cuts down on work time…which is why you see so many repeats on their shelves. Faster, cheaper, and easier…with a good margin? Now you know how retailers stay in business when they have to pay for coolers, store space, and advertising!


Interesting, right? It's quite a road between the place where they sprout and the bouquet you sniff lovingly on your wedding day. Flowers travel the world, and I love being a step in the voyage.

For more flower fun visit my Florilista website!

CODE GREEN!!!

What a fun weekend! My husband had a wedding to photograph in Manti, Utah on Friday, and I was so pleased to get to go along for the ride. I thought it was going to be a work-free event for me, but as we were pulling out of the driveway, the bride, Betsy, called me with a flower emergency. Betsy and Garrett are from out of state, and had this first event in Manti on Friday and another event in Mapleton on Saturday. There had been some apparent miscommunications, and although the Mapleton event would have some lovely flowers ready to go through a local florist chosen by her mom, the Manti event had been forgotten! Betsy wanted flowers for her grand exit from the beautiful Manti Temple, and she wondered if I could help in any way. I grabbed a handful of fake flower bouquets that I have created over the last year for just such emergencies, but we also took a few minutes to stop at my wholesaler on the way out of town. I knew she wanted cream, pale pinks and sage greens, and I was able to find some roses, lilies, snap dragons, and freesia that fit the bill nicely. For the first hour of the drive, I arranged her bouquet. There were a handful of flowers left over though, so for the second hour I made a groom's boutonniere, two mother's corsages, and even a tossing bouquet.



Needless to say, she chose the fresh flowers over the stock bouquets I offered. Betsy and Garrett are also having a reception in Virginia, which we will be photographing in two weeks, and I smiled when Garrett's mother asked if I was going to be in town early enough to do those flowers as well. He he he. I'd love it!