Musings of a Florist :: visit flirty fleurs on Tuesdays and read a variety of musings by me – Alicia Schwede, editor of the blog.
I’ll be sharing some thoughts of what I’ve learned, what I would do differently, and what I’m thankful for on this flower filled journey I’ve been on since 1998.
Crazy Stressful Flowers
This morning as I cleaned up the aftermath of the flower arrangements I designed for the wedding that took place yesterday I fell into deep thought. I asked myself, how do I feel about designing weddings these days… For years wedding design is where almost all my energy went, but these days my time and energy is spread across multiple parts of the business – teaching, writing, social media management, growing and selling dahlias, etc etc. If anything, it seems many people quit the weddings once they start taking on multiple different industry projects – so I asked myself, where am I at this point in my career, how do I feel. Well, I can say I still enjoy much of the process – meeting the bride, coming up with the floral plan, still get nervous when the flower order comes in – did I get all the flowers I ordered?? The moment of zen when designing lots of centerpieces, the moment of stress when it is time to load up and transport the flowers. The top moment for me is always when the bride sees her bouquet.
Did this wedding go exactly to plan? Of course not, by Thursday afternoon it was clear the café au lait dahlias were going down .. even in the cooler. So a panicked text to Diane over at @jellomoldfarm to see what she might have as I live closer to her farm and would prefer to go there over driving to Seattle, she said come over in the morning and we’ll figure it out. So the photo here is in hoophouse and Sweet Nathalie came to the rescue taking the place of most of the café au lait dahlias. Stressful? Yes. Thankfully it worked out fine and with plenty of time to spare.
So I thought to myself – how does it feel to feel that kind of stress, the stress of fixing things as they come up. I decided it is being in these situations that makes me a better teacher, it is how I can continue to connect with students when I talk about working with clients and how to deal with emergencies. It’s how I remember the stress they will encounter at points in their careers. It helps me to remember what it’s like to be in this crazy business.
So there you have it – my deep thoughts as I scrubbed buckets, hauled out the compost, and swept this morning.