Let Love Grow

As a painter and illustrator and lover of all things floral, I always knew one day I wanted to try my hand at flower arranging. When my brother-in-law and his fiancé began planning their wedding I offered to do their flowers for the big day and they agreed! I felt super unsure about how to do...well anything really. But with tips from FiftyFlowers and a few YouTube videos...I jumped right in! The day the flowers arrived felt like Christmas Day! My living room was filled with boxes and boxes of beautiful florals just waiting to be unwrapped and enjoyed. I was so impressed with the shipment of the flowers and loved how FiftyFlowers works with farms from all over the globe! My flowers had been on quite the journey in order to arrive on my doorstep. I soon fell in love with being a florist, if even for a week. With some help from sweet friends we put together 9 bridesmaids bouquets, a bridal bouquet, 2 garlands, and 7 boutonnières before the big day arrived. Seeing the bride's face when I showed her the flowers made all the hours of work truly worth it. I loved sharing my art talents to bring beauty to the most important day for her. The wedding was beautiful as weddings often go. It rained but that didn't matter. If anything rain is required to let things grow and perhaps with that even love. Not even weather can get in the way of bringing young lovers away from the joy they feel on their wedding day. As the day came to an end I had a plan set in place. I was not going to allow these lovely, perfect blooms to go to the dumpster just because they had served their purpose. To me, they needed to be enjoyed until they wilted. I had asked everyone in the bridal party if they would donate their bouquet to my cause, still graciously giving them the option to keep it if they wished. Many agreed and by the time we left and all was torn down I went back home with just about as many flowers as I had arrived with earlier that morning. The next day, after scrounging around for as many vases I could find, I managed to create 62 smaller beautiful bouquets with the salvaged flowers. That evening my husband and I brought them to a local nursing home and I can happily say that all 62 residents got to enjoy those flowers for almost a whole other week! What a gift to be able to share art and beauty with the bride and guests and with the sweet elderly folk as well. I hope this catches on and I will be able to do this with each wedding I work from now on. Because, like flowers, let love grow and grow too.

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