As the year draws to a close, we look back over the months and realize how amazing this year has been for us. We had the privilege of creating wedding floral bouquets and wedding ceremony and reception decor for many wonderful couples – many of those weddings have already been featured in our blog posts.
In addition to creating wedding floral designs, we have had several highlights that made this past year so memorable.
1 – The Knot Best of Wedding “Hall of Fame!” – After receiving The Knot Best of Weddings 4 years in a row you are inducted into the Hall of Fame. We can only thank our sweet couples who took the time to leave us a review and help us win this honor.
2 – A Winter Styled Shoot – We have done styled shoots before, but never in the winter. In the middle of January we collaborated with a couple of other vendors (Old Oaks Vintage Rentals and Personal Touch Sewing) to plan several vignettes which were photographed by Lynne Peters. Part of that planning was making preparations for typical winter weather in the middle of January as we did hope for snow. We were blessed with a beautiful mild day and no sign of snow, but hey we’ll take it!! Several of the photos have not been published yet as they are being submitted to wedding blogs for publication.
3 – Another exciting highlight that happened in January was a trip to Hope Flower Farm in Virginia where I had a 2-day floral intensive with the famous Holly Heider Chapel. I learned so much from Holly. We had so much fun foraging together on her farm and creating in new and exciting ways. My favorite arrangement is pictured below – my first attempt at a Hogarth Curve which will be published in a Floral “How To” book by Florist’s Review.
4 – We were absolutely thrilled to be chosen again to be among the volunteers designing for the Congressional Club’s First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington D.C. We were privileged to not only help design all the floral decor but to also get to attend the luncheon this year. Even though it was disappointing that First Lady Melania Trump was hospitalized and couldn’t attend and be the key speaker, Vice President’s wife Karen Pence filled in and gave a wonderful speech and tribute to our First Lady.
5 – In May we took part in our first styled shoot/tasting at Pear Tree Estate which put us on their preferred vendor list. We tried out the new “pillow” mechanics (which I learned at Hope Flower Farm) for our 36″ tall trumpet vases as well as the low compote vases on the tables. It worked well and more importantly made delivery easy. We have some of these tall designs booked for the 2019 wedding season.
6 – This past summer I entered my first design contest (not counting my college ISFA entry). The contest was sponsored by Alexandra Garden Rose Farm along with Florist’s Review Magazine. I was blessed to be among the first 100 entries and for that received a free box of beautiful pink Constance garden roses to use in my design submission. I didn’t imagine winning… but much to my delight and surprise I found that my entry won not only 2nd place but also the Reader’s Choice Award!!! The winning photo was taken by Racheal Schirano.
The prize for winning 2nd place is 1,000 stems of garden roses … the prize for winning the Reader’s Choice Award is 1,000 stems of garden roses!!!! I feel like I am in a beautiful dream as the boxes of fragrant beauties keep arriving. Thank you Alexandra Rose Farm!! I am loving this magical experience and hope to try each and every one of the varieties they grow!
7 – A few months ago, I was contacted by J. Keith White, AIFD and asked if he could use my winning bouquet photo (in a cropped format) for the Florist’s Review magazine’s January issue – American Trends Forecast article. It is a surreal feeling to have one’s photo right alongside these famous designers…Laura Dowling is a former White House florist. I am completely humbled that my creation was chosen for this honor even if it was only for a very small part of the article .
8 – We were invited to participate in another styled shoot just a couple weeks ago. I love the opportunity to have creative freedom to design something to enhance the vision. We received some beautiful photos of our work by Brooke Zitnik. (see below) The styled shoot will soon be featured in “CHI thee WED”, a Chicago wedding blog.
9 – And last but not least we received notice that for the 5th year in a row we have been selected a “Knot Best of Wedding Vendor.” Again it is only possible by the many couples who take the time to leave us reviews.
From the bottom of our hearts we sincerely thank each one of our couples for entrusting us with the opportunity to help make your special day beautiful!!
We are so excited for 2019 and are looking forward to some new floral adventures which we will be posting about soon. If you have recently become engaged, we would love to have the opportunity to hear about your vision and prepare a floral proposal for you.
Call, text 309-212-6570 or email us direct at fancyfloralsbynancy@hotmail.com
XOXOX, Nancy