Hi I'm Kelly- Part 2
As my business transitions into it's 10th Season I would say the most important thing to me is that it works for my family. You see, us Wedding Vendor folk have lives outside these events that we love to produce AND WOW is it a difficult thing to balance sometimes.
In 2020 I met my now Husband, Philip, in the middle of a dull and lackluster year for Wedding Florists. I had the opportunity to work, but not as much as years previous. It was at the beginning of Nevada Winter when we met, so I really didn't have too much going on. I could only explain, I work A LOT of hours when I work and it feels like it's never ending sometimes. He claimed to work a lot too, as an owner of a business too. Would this be a competition or a relationship of Ships passing in the night?
It actually became this beautiful partnership right from the beginning, where I would be an Independent Contractor for him and he me, when the need arose. We can schedule around each other's big jobs and it helped us learn about each other as Business Owners/Leaders too.
The Season of 2021 Phillip jumped right in building Arches for events, designing flowers for Styled Shoots on our "Date Nights" and as delivery/install crew at Events. Possibly the craziest thing is that he asked me to be a part of the business and lean on him as needed. He encourages me to move toward my dreams and to not apologize for taking on more events. He has asked to block a week for family vacation in the middle of Summer and also to limit the quantity I take. I feel those are acceptable requests, as 13 events in 8 days is although doable, a little nuts.
Our Event calendar looks a little different than years past; less events on days I have my Daughter and breaks in the middle of weeks that run-on. Hours of Operation for meetings that now set on weeks where I am uninterrupted to turn out paperwork faster. A Floral Affair no longer runs me 24/7.
ADVICE I HAVE AS A RECENT BRIDE
Decide who the wedding is for. That might be an off-putting statement at first. Quick answer, the Bride and Groom, but honestly, my first wedding was for my parents and family. I wasn't heard and I ended up making a lot of choices that made other people happy and not myself. For my second marriage-I never went into the relationship needing to get married and definitively didn't need a wedding- AND if I was it was for me.
Really decide what is important to you as far details go. Hone in on those parts. We had an intimate Ceremony on the side of the road with our girls. All I needed was the four of us, someone to marry us, and a Photographer. We asked Phillip's cousin to be our Officiate. The Guests were his wife and kids and a Buddy who flew in for our Party that night.
Question I get asked as the Florist are, "how many flowers do you need and how much should I pay for floral?" I try to tell my Clients that it is a personal thing and solely up to you. Real helpful right? For me, as the Florist getting married, I focused on the two people getting married and honestly what I could achieve in the hour of time I blocked out for getting ready. We had 4 floral items and I think they really provided the pop we needed.
I knew we were going to repurpose the Ceremony flowers at our party, but didn't know 100% going into what it would look like. Since we weren't having an immense amount of time to set up and we didn't know where we were getting married before arriving I had to base the design off of what I knew. I knew I wanted something tall and floral to not only blend in, but also give a pop of color to our backdrop. I think my shoes say it all when I say I didn't know I would be walking into hip height snow on my wedding day. Thank Goodness we brought Phillip's work trailer and ended up building a plank sidewalk to our spot. And for those wondering, there is totally wood under my Cheetah Skin Rug. It took me an hour to build out the Ceremony spot, shoveling/flattening snow, making sure the floral would stand up. The thing with Nevada is that the weather can change at any moment, and what once was peaceful can become breezy in a flash. By the time I finished the two tall arrangements I was rushed to get ready and abandoned some ideas for the Ceremony space, but honestly, I am overall very happy with what we achieved.
I always talk about how kids are the best and most unpredictable part of the Ceremony. They really are! Enjoy it, embrace it. Our girls (4&5) were super excited that morning when we told them we were going to OUR wedding. The ceremony was certainly written over their heads, but we exchanged bracelets creating Team Bride. Although they might not understand the words, they sure do understand the moment we became a team. They bounced back and fourth between Phillip and I as we read our vows. I can not tell you how much laughter there was. WHO knew that 4 foot sleeves would not only make a statement, but would be the saving grace against the cold wind.
Photography by Someplace Images
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