Life as a Floral Designer (kind of)

Wow! I never knew how hard it is to make floral arrangements. Well, the actual arranging is the easy part, but you wouldn't believe the amount of work that goes into the rest of the production! I agreed to help my friend, Jennifer, with her assistant's wedding. Hence, why she needed my help. You can't exactly make your assistant work on her wedding day!

In order for you to have a better appreciation of the process, I'll break it down for you...

First, you have to drive to at least 2 different wholesalers to check on your order and make sure the flowers that came in are wedding worthy. If they're not...back to the spreadsheet to refigure and redesign.  The worst part is that the prices of flowers fluctuate almost daily! You don't know how much you're going to make off an event until the day you purchase the goods. That would drive me insane!

Next up, picking up the flowers then unloading. Here's a peek of the beginning process. Who knew a garage could look so pretty! Ha!

After unloading the car, you get to unpack all the boxes and sort by flower. Did I mention you have to strip off all the thorns on the roses?! Warning, floral designing can be painful!

               
See all of these vases? They get to be washed by hand! Like I said, hard work my friends. Who thinks about that part when you're staring at the pretties? You'll appreciate it next time, won't you?

The work quickly becomes so worth it when you start to see the arrangements come to life. Look at this massive table arrangement...

Next up, peek-a-boo tulips...

Aren't the colors amazing?

Don't kill me, Jen!

Sometimes you have to get a little silly. Especially when it's late and one of you're biggest vases just got knocked over and broke into a zillion pieces. Oh yeah, and you don't have an extra!

 Here's Jennifer hard at work, the next morning, making the bride's bouquet. The jewels were the bride's grandmother's. Great idea!

Okay, all the arrangements are made except for the handful of items that must be created on-site. Now it's time to load up 2 SUVs packed to the brim. Now you say serious prayers that nothing will break during the transport.

The couple got married at the bride's parents' house then rented out a restaurant for the reception. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of her parents' house, but a majority of the flowers ended up at the reception anyway. 

This is the restaurant before its flower makeover...

Reception BEFORE

And...

Reception AFTER

The fun's not completely over until the next morning when you get to go pick up the vases that stay in your inventory. Then you go back to your garage and clean up what looks like a flower explosion! Too fun, I tell ya!

Seriously, it wasn't that bad, but I do have a newfound appreciation of this profession. Now I know why they charge big bucks!

Lots of pretty close-ups to share. I'll leave you with some eye-candy. Stop by Jennifer's website and see her work!

Random Act of Kindness #4

Yea! Today's RAK challenge is a pretty one. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to brighten someone's day with flowers. Now, I'm the practical type and typically tell my husband not to bother with flowers because "they just die," but if there is minimal cost involved, it really is a nice little treat!

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This RAK challenge doesn't have to cost much. You can go outside and find a few pretty, little flowers and put them in a common household item. Got an extra soda bottle? Use it!

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This is one of my favorite things to do in the fall on our porch. Carve out a pumpkin and place a pot of mums inside. Don't these colors play well together? How cute would this be with a tiny pumpkin!

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I think flowers can bring a space to life instantly. It's funny that this is a decorating tool we all have at our fingertips, yet for some reason, it gets overlooked unless we have company coming. So, today friends, pick a few pretties and place it on your coworker's desk or leave it as a surprise on a neighbor's doorstep! It's bound to brighten their day and make your heart smile at the same time...happiness all around.

If you're new and want to check out the other RAK challenges, you can go here, here and here.