If you call our awesome (if I can say so myself) team of customer service reps, you may talk to Lily, our customer service manager and now… an experienced floral designer! 🙂 I got to talk with Lily about her first official floral design experience, so read on to hear her story…
Lily was recently approached by her boyfriend’s mother to create centerpieces for her retirement party. Having worked primarily in customer service and with little background in flower arranging, Lily was hesitant to take on the job, but excited to have a reason to try her hand at some floral design, and see for herself what our DIY brides experience when doing their own flowers. The evening dinner event was expected to draw 75-80 guests and she knew there would be about 12-13 tables. Lily immediately got to work selecting some beautiful flowers. Her flower order consisted of Purple Pink Hydrangeas, Purple, White and Bicolor Purple White Lisianthus, Yellow Craspedia Billy Balls, Lavender Limonium, Pink Dahlias and Green Hypericum Berries. A great mix of color and texture!
Retirement Party Flowers – Photo By: Logan Hall
To save money Lily decided to head to the thrift store for some inexpensive vases. Lily said, “One of my pet peeves with centerpieces is when you have to move them out of the way to have a dinner conversation with someone across the table, so I looked primarily for short vases, which resulted in a collection of small fish bowl type vases. I spent $22 at the thrift store and went home with 13 table vases, 1 large entry way vase and at least 5 additional vases to make small pieces for the cake table, sign in table and reception area.” With a little vinegar and water she shined up her vases and enlisted the help of her sister and one friend to have a flower arranging afternoon!
Lily and Boyfriend Transporting Flowers – Photo By: Logan Hall
“I think it’s important to have some flexibility when working with others, I had a clear image in my head of how I was expecting these low centerpieces to look, but once my sister and friend began arranging the flowers I quickly realized that they each had their own version of the centerpiece. Instead of stopping them, I let them each work with the flowers however they wanted.”
Lily and Sister Unpacking and Arranging – Photo By: Logan Hall
“In the end, we created amazingly beautiful and completely different pieces! Each piece had a base of 3 hydrangeas, but other than that they were completely different and the variation was beautiful! I was glad I didn’t impose my version of the centerpiece upon them, because what they came up with on their own was so much more than I imagined!”
Sister Placing Centerpieces on Tables – Photo By: Logan Hall
“I had a blast arranging the centerpieces. I can honestly say it was a fun afternoon shared with two amazing people. I wouldn’t even describe myself as a ‘crafty’ person and I really had no trouble putting together these pieces. I think it helped to work with a large focal flower like the hydrangea and fill in around it. The country club looked so much more vibrant with the bright floral arrangements all around and I received amazing compliments on the flowers all night!”
Retirement Party Arrangements – Photo By: Logan Hall
“At the end of the event we let the guests take home the centerpieces, and since the vases were inexpensive we didn’t have to worry that we would never be seeing them again, plus it made the end of the night so much easier as we didn’t have to worry about transporting things back home! I think I’m ready to do some event planning! :)”
Sign In Table Flowers – Photo By: Logan Hall
Lily’s story goes to show, that you don’t need floral design experience to create beautiful arrangements! Remember, our customer service team is here to help, so if you have any questions, or want to talk with Lily about her flower arranging experience, call us at 1-877-507-6737 or chat in at FiftyFlowers.com!
A special Thank You to Logan Hall for all the awesome photos! To see more of his amazing work check him out at LoganHallPhotos.com.
