Recent Floral Work

Over the years, I've done quite a bit of floral work for weddings, showers, holidays, birthdays and other events. There was also a time when I would fill the house with flowers each Saturday morning, tucking arrangements onto every bookshelf, table and counter. These days, my focus is elsewhere and when we host parties of our own, I prefer to keep floral statements simple. 

But occasionally, I get to pick up a floral project or two and I'm reminded of just how much I really love to design an entire floral scheme, go to market and select the blooms and transform my kitchen and dining room into a studio workspace for the day. 

Through experience, I've come to know what works for me. I usually work alone and because there are limitations that come with that, pre-planning is essential. I inventory, order and assemble all my supplies well ahead of time, as well as prep my workspace. There are times when I've shipped the floral to my doorstep because a client or I wanted something very specific, but I always try to get downtown to the flower market to hand pick fresh blooms and greenery when possible. I work against a written schedule and keep the house quite cold when I'm designing. Music and coffee fuel a day that starts before the sun comes up and depending on the scale of the project, can even go into the wee hours of the next morning. 

This most recent project was focused on my Mother In Law's Retirement dinner at a favorite local mexican restaurant. We took over the bar for the evening and dressed it up a bit with some table floral. Lighting was dim so it was important to choose varieties that would not only compliment our setting, but most importantly would add color amongst all the brown wood in the room.

 I mentioned recently that I've picked back up my old habit of bringing weekend flowers back into the house. It's good practice and keeps the creativity flowing. But event floral can be an entirely different beast.  Thankfully, this larger project exercised that languishing skill set. Most of all, it was reassuring to know that I could rely on my background and past experience and pick it right back up when needed to take on an event from time to time.