Meet our staff

Just thought I'd give a little background of our great staff- The owners (me and my husband Paul), our design staff (Shannon and Becky), our front office (Ashley) and a lot of family and friends who help us out on  delivery days.  Because of my mom, our family has been in the floral industry for at least the past 28 years, I started designing back in high school along with doing any other task that needed to be done! My sisters in law, nieces and nephews all put in some time there and now help us when their schedules allow.  My mom tried to retire, florists do not retire-they are always in the shop! I met my husband Paul while I was working in Southern California, his background is in a different family business- restaurants, after owning our own Lamppost Pizza for 10 years he joined (rescued) us about 2 years ago.  You will usually see him on setups that require alot of lifting, late night pickups and generally keeping our office in order.

I'll introduce the rest of the family along the way.

 Along with myself, Shannon and Becky are the awesome design staff.  Shannon has been with us about 4 years.  Bouquets was the florist for her wedding 10 years ago, after attending the Portland Floral Design Institute about 5 years ago, she contacted me about a design position.  It was pure fate,as I was pondering the idea of adding a designer and someone who could help with the office work-she was the perfect fit and we are happy to have her with us.  Her designs are absolutely beautiful-not to mention she and her husband  have 4 adorable kids (future florists? perhaps!) 

Becky has been part of our staff for almost 11 years, a fulltime designer the last year and a half. I met Becky in one our local floral wholesalers, where she was my salesperson-one of the most important relationships a florist can have!  We became fast friends and soon she was helping me out on the weekends.  She has continued to help us as her kids graduated from high school, she got married (yes, we designed the flowers!) and we convinced her to join us fulltime. She brings not only her design skills but her vast knowledge of flowers and availability-afterall she has spent about 20+ years in the wholesale world. 

Ashley handles our  emails/telephones and administrative duties- every day is a different day for her.  She just joined our staff about 3 months ago and already is a valuable piece of our puzzle.  This really allows us, the design staff to focus on designing and not getting bogged down at the computer--trust me, our floral design skills awesome, computer skills not so awesome!  

Of course my mom, the one who introduced the crazy industry to me!  She visits a few times a month and helps with the handwork and various other tasks- she's been doing this longer than any of us- you will also see her in the delivery van- going on setups is always something she enjoys.

This is our core group- really we're all just like family and I love it that way. 

Phaelaenopsis orchids!

 

Phaelnopsis orchids- words really cannot express the beauty of this variety.

This display was created  on  the appetizer table in the entry of Vintage Villas-- the base has a variety of candles and river rocks. 

 

The cake featured about 2 dozen loose blooms--simple,elegant and sophisticated.

 

The color palette was soft blue/cream and green- The bridesmaids wore a beautiful blue gown accented with all green flowers. The bride carried a loose cascade of  phaelnopsis.

 

Here is a bigger shot of the entry area. These photos were taken by one of designers.

We hope to see the pro shots soon!

MIchael with Hooked On photo has just posted some awesome shots on his blog!

A direct complement

 

Blue and orange sit directly across from each other on the color wheel.

This makes them a direct complement-you cannot go wrong with this choice, very easy to look at, think Denver Broncos, Whataburger, you will find this color selection in many advertising campaigns. It will always photograph beautifully and flowers definitely confirm this statement.

 

These bridesmaids were encouraged to choose a gown  in a shade of blue.  I love the variety of styles and shades.  All of the bouquets featured flowers in shades of oranges and peaches.

 

The flower varieties included gerbera daisy,roses,tulips and orchids.

I love the offset square cakes, flowers just seem to be the finishing touch!

Thanks to Studio563 for the images.  

More Succulents

 

This bouquet belonged to a bride last summer-an outdoor ceremony/reception at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  Another great venue in the Austin area, we have so many unique venues-I'm glad I do not have to make the choice!

 

This centerpiece was placed on all 20 tables- there were tables in both the courtyard and gallery area.

They were designed in low,square zinc containers. They featured a variety of succulents and were placed on a single monstera leaf. The candles were eco friendly soy votives accented with galex and rafia.

 

Thanks to Jeff Loftin--Jeff Loftin photography for these great images. If you visit our studio you will see these in our gallery.

Succulents

 

Look at these cute/masculine bouttonieres-so simple,yet so fun.

 

This is the bridesmaids bouquet that accompanied the above bouttonieres--it has a variety of green flowers including spider mums,button mums, and a variety of succulents.

 

Yes, that is babies breath around the collar--it was a special request from the bride. The wedding party flowers were picked up from our shop on the wedding day, even though this was not a floral extravaganza,you  still can showcase a little creativity.

 

Fall is right around the corner

A few of our favorite fall flowers!

Mango miniature calla lily accented with orange orchids and hypericum berries.

One of the more pricier flowers in the fall (well, really anytime) but nothing compares!

We only met one timeThis bridesmaids bouquet was designed to complement a chocolate brown gown.

The bride provided us with a few inspiration photos via email before we met to get an idea of her style. in the planning process- thanks to Barbara at Barbarasbrides.com for the connection.

A beautiful bridal bouquet filled with all of falls best blooms- dahlia,pincushion protea, orchids,berries and various shades of fall roses.  One of our favorites! Thanks to Pam Hults at AlaVie Photography for the awesome photos.

Saturdays!

Saturdays:  Most Saturdays at our shop are filled with the hustle and bustle of delivering the weddings that we've been designing over the past few days.  It is the absolute greatest feeling to put the flowers in the van and head off  to one of Austin's wedding venues. At this point, we have taken an idea, sometimes just a simple idea and designed and executed it into someone's dream- this is one great job! I'm not going to lie and say it doesn't come without its challenges, but overall it is one  great experience.  Wait til I show you some of our Saturday deliveries! Oh, yeah-we design flowers for Friday and Sunday weddings,too. Last year, I delivered a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday wedding. I guess Tuesday is the only day we haven't delivered a wedding, but the season is just now getting underway.

AWEC get together

I got to spend part of my St.Patty's Day at the uniquely Austin Green Pastures restaurant thanks to AWEC- this is a local group of Wedding and Event Coordinators, and every quarter they graciously host a social get together for a wide and talented group of wedding vendors. It was a perfect evening on the Green Pastures lawn. It was great to see Tanya the hardworking event coordinator from Green Pastures as I entered through the front! door! Usually we hit the service entrances so coming in the front door was really  a nice treat--it was great to see alot of familiar faces and a few new ones also!

Spring tangerines

 

What a difference a splash of color will make-

tangerine (I think it looks more like orange sherbert,yum!) linens

accented both the tables and chairs.

The flowers were tulips,tulips and tulips!

 

The ceremony overlooked Lake Travis-the gorgeous Vintage Villas.

The wisteria on the gazebo was dormant so we accented it with wreaths and fabric-the aisle featured petals

and a few accents on the chairs.

 

The wreaths added the splash of color to the gazebo- orange tulips and orange gerbera daisies

added the color with accents in whites and greens.

 

The room looked bright and colorful in the spring evening.

Thanks to Lisa Shepherd of aimage for the photos.

Spring break is on its way, not to mention SXSW and Rodeo- Austin. Austin is going to be one busy town the next few weeks and if our wedding calendar is any indication, our town will be filled with out of town guests here to enjoy our little piece of the planet.  Spring break brings a bevy of brides ready to set appointments, brides taking bridal portraits and weddings to deliver! Enjoy,be safe  and make some great memories!

See you soon!

SB

Welcome to our new update website/blog!

Welcome to our blog-we are so excited to add this to our website.  Stay tuned for recent events from our designers.  We (really,they the web designers!)  have spent the past several weeks/months updating our website. Hope everyone enjoys the new look,can't wait to post some recent photos for you.