January 2020
4 months into working at a flower shop, I convinced a lifelong girlfriend (we met in second grade) and her then fiancee to allow me the opportunity to design their wedding flowers!
There were many obstacles to overcome considering I am located in Arizona and the wedding was in Pampa, TX. Located in the Panhandle of Texas, Pampa is the largest town in the area with a population of around 18,000. If you live in that area, going to Pampa to shop and eat is a solid trip that beats driving all the way over to Amarillo.
I had to figure out the logistics of getting to a wholesale, transporting the blooms 3+ hours away, find a workspace, and cool storage! Thankfully, I have family in that part of Texas. I was able to fly into Oklahoma City, hit up the Oklahoma Flower Market, and design at my grandparents' home.
My sweet couple wanted sunflowers and roses in their wedding. We agreed upon a bouquet inspiration picture, and I went from there! I fully got to experience the weight of designing, arranging, and setting up an entire wedding on my own.
January 9th: 24 hours Before Wedding
I arrived in OKC where my grandma and her bestie swooped me from the airport. We had a quick lunch, and headed over to the Oklahoma Flower Market to pick up my order. Once we got back to that rural area in Texas, I began working on the wedding design. I was up until 1am the following morning processing, making chair ties, a garland, and boutonnieres.
January 10: Wedding Day
My grandparents live about an hour from Pampa. I woke up early and headed over to the venue! My list for the day was long. I had the bridal bouquet to make, toss bouquet, a one-sided vased arrangement, mason jars to fill, and general floral decor duties. I worked tirelessly all the way up to the hour before the ceremony.
Here are the photos from this historic day:
I learned a lot from this opportunity! I will forever spent more time making sure the baby's breath is nice and round in the vases!!
I have grown so much in my garland making since this wedding day! I really enjoy making garlands. They are tedious work, but worth the effort when completed. I had never made a garland before this. These are my first of many garlands!
Cascading Bridal Bouquet in a traditional foam holder. I do not make bouquets in this mechanic anymore! All bouquets are hand-tied. Making this I learned that less is more!!! I have thought time and time again how I would do this bouquet differently. Even though I would change the length of stems and the amount of blooms used in the design, I am still proud of the result!
Sticking giant sunflower stems into that little foam floral holder is tough!! I was so worried the bride would walk down the aisle and have flowers fall out of the holder. Thankfully, I used enough floral adhesive and spray floral adhesive that the bouquet even withstood pictures outdoors in the windy Texas Panhandle. The stems bent and wavered in the wind, but they did not break!
Toss bouquet and cake decor.
One-sided Vased Arrangement for the ceremony space!
I ordered more flowers than I needed, but I was happy to have extra material to work with to add floral to the entire venue space! Another Note to Self: give yourself at least 48-72 hours to make a destination wedding happen. Having a longer period of time to work prior to the wedding would have ensured better quality control, and given me more time to tweak my designs.
To this day I am thankful to have had the opportunity to share my gifts in honor of my best friend's special day.
This opportunity in 2020 sparked the fire for where I am at today. I knew that if I could accomplish that wedding, I would be able to do ANYTHING!