06/07/2026
Yesterday I created two of the most luxurious bouquets I’ve ever made in my floral career.
A backstory: before flowers, I was a freelance makeup artist in the wedding industry. (🤯) I worked countless weddings, and ironically, that career ended because of the very thing that drives so much of the wedding world: perfection.
Every vendor knows the pressure. The expectation that everything be flawless. If it wasn’t, you could often see it all over a bride’s face. I’m a creative through and through, but chasing perfection took the joy out of it for me. The week leading up to a wedding and especially the day of filled me with anxiety. Eventually, after the fun makeup craze of 2016 faded and with AI’s unrealistic expectations became the norm, I stopped enjoying it altogether.
Fast forward to now. I grow flowers for many reasons, but one of the biggest is the freedom to create. I never intentionally set out to work weddings again. In fact, because of my past experiences with weddings and all the emotions that came with the day of, it was never part of the plan.
This bride to be sent me the third photo as inspo, and I immediately noticed that nearly every stem in the bouquet was a premium flower that I could never grow in Nebraska. I had never worked with anthurium, Phalaenopsis or Oncidium orchids before. She ultimately decided she’d rather have lilies than the Phalaenopsis orchid, which brought a small sense of relief, but I was still nervous. These flowers are stunning, delicate, and certainly not cheap.
Me being me, I decided to make two bouquets for her to choose from. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure trying to recreate the feeling of such a beautiful inspiration photo while still making something uniquely hers.
And then she saw them. 🥹 Her reaction completely shifted something in me.
For the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t reminded of the wedding industry that once crushed my soul & confidence and ended a career I loved. Instead I was reminded why I became a creative in the first place.
I still dont know if I’m ready to take on full service weddings, but I do know bridal bouquets have officially earned their place on my services list. 💐
