La Petite Fleur Blog

Amanda was one of the sweetest brides to date.  her and her handsome fiance, Marc, came to me with a couple of pictures of arrangements they liked.  We picked out our favorite elements and added a few of our own to come up with one-of-a-kind custom floral arrangements tailored to their event.  They get ready for their most important day at the always perfect St. Paul Hotel and had their ceremony and reception at the James J. Hill Library, appropriate since Amanda is a librarian. 

A note from the bride:

Dear Carra,
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!  We are so grateful that we found you!  You were absolutely amazing to work with when we met you in January and I can still say that all the way through November that continued.  Marc and I both agree that you made the wedding come to life with your amazing floral creations.  We thought we had an idea of what the flowers would look like, but there was no way we could have ever imagined the product you gave us.  People are STILL talking about the gorgeous flowers! I cannot thank you enough or tell you enough how great you were, easy to work with and most importantly–made me at ease throughout the whole process.  I can only hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did.  I’m thrilled to have met you and Marc is still pleased that you served beer at the consultation–his favorite part of the entire planning ; )You’re a dear and so is your entire family for pitching in on the big day!  I hope we get to work together again, because I love what you do. Many thanks to you and hope you have a wonderful (restful, you deserve it) Thanksgiving!   ~AmandaPS–I’ll forward along pix from Josh-the-photographer when I get them.PPS—SERIOUSLY, THANK YOU!

–
Amanda

I know it sounds weird, but I LOVE doing funeral flowers.  I used to shy away from funeral work thinking it was too depressing.  That was true until I took a Sympathy Celebration Floristry class under the instruction of Master Florist and my mentor, Aridth Beveridge.  She made me look at funerals as a chance to participate in one’s celebration of their life.  I try to incorporate something personal to each piece, whether it be their hobby, life’s work, favorite flower or color, a piece of jewelry, etc.  That way maybe the guests will see the flowers and reminisce about their loved one and experiences with them.

Melissa came to me to create flowers for her mother’s funeral, Dieta.  Dieta was an avid gardener and one of her favorite pasttimes was to feed and watch birds.   Her husband, 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 3 great-grand children all loved her dearly, as did many other people. 

This first piece shown below was on the casket was from her husband.  He wanted the script (or special lettering on ribbon that says the relationship of the person who sent the flowers had with the person) to read not only “Wife” but also “Best Friend”.  This made me cry, but also made me stop and appreciate the relationship I have with my husband, who is also my best friend.  I tried to make the flowers look as if in a garden and using her favorite flowers and bright colors.  I added a blue bird in a little bird’s nest- can you spot him?  There is a closeup in the second picture.

The vase arrangement from the grandchildren included a figurine that they had given to their Grandmother.  I arranged the flowers so they arched over the figurine, the Bear grass sheltering the figurine to symbolize the protection and love Dieta had over her family. 

I hand-weaved ribbon onto a little pillow in colors that complimented the rest of the floral pieces (shown in the final picture) from the great-grandchildren. 

Thank you, Melissa, for allowing me to be a part of your very intimate time. I hope these pieces helped show who Deita was as a person and make her Funeral service a little bit prettier. 

One of my brides, Cherie, was featured on the KNOT !  Looking good! She also sent me a nice little note that read:

Hi Carra,

Its Cherie. I know it has been over a year now, but my husband and I are now residing in Washington. He is about to leave for his first deployment, and I have been having a lot of people over to our house. Every time someone new comes into our house the first thing they see are our wedding photos on the walls, and the first thing I hear out of their mouths are, “WOW, what beautiful flowers!!” Just thought I would let you know!! Hope everything is going well for you.

Thanks again,

Cherie