Week 13

 This week is my last week until January! I can’t believe my internship went by this fast!

For my last week we spent most of the time preparing for our weddings in Boca and in St. Petersburg.

We spent the beginning of the week by getting in a ton of flowers for the weddings. We got about 40 boxes of antique hydrangea in for our weddings, which filled up a good part of the cooler! We also got in some other fun flowers like pincushion proteas, spray roses, and some green little balls that I can’t ever remember the name of.

Assorted Flowers:

Later in the week we started putting all of the centerpieces together for the feasting and round tables. I got to help make the large arrangements, which are getting easier to make the more I practice.

We start by putting in the hydrangea stems to get a good base and shape going. This is really the most important part for the arrangements. The first one or two I made looked a little lopsided but I finally figured out a method so I could if my round shape was coming together or not. Everyone seems to have their own method of designing and building arrangements but it really just comes down to finding out what will work best for me. I love that there isn't just one right way to design. Janet and I spent most of the day just working on all of the round table arrangements. The next day we moved on to working on touch ups for the rest of the arrangements and got them ready to move out into the trucks for Saturday.

Sylvia and Tiffany worked on Manzanita tree arrangements for our second wedding and on some beautiful centerpieces for the second wedding. We finally used all of those hanging votives that I made for the kings dinner a few weeks back! I was glad to see them get used on the Manzanita trees.

Manzanita Trees:

Saturday I came into the studio early and started working on getting arrangements into the trucks and got ready to head out to Boca again! We arrived at the main tent area first and started placing arrangements onto the tables. Once we were done placing arrangements Ian had me set out large ferns onto the front stage area. To finish off the stage Athena and I did some draping across the back of the stage area to cover up some of the mechanics of the tent setup. I really love the impact that just a few plants can give to an empty space. Once we finished setting up the last little pieces for all the tables drove over to the beach to setup the area for the ceremony.

We had two large centerpieces for the ceremony and a little bit of draping to dress up the musicians and singers area. Once we placed the centerpieces we covered the aisle in burlap and sprinkled rose petals down the aisle just before the bride and groom were scheduled to come out. In the heat and humidity you have to wait just before the ceremony starts otherwise the petals will all blow away or wilt. My job was helping Athena with all the draping. We had to find an area to be able to secure the draping so that it wouldn't all blow away in the middle of the ceremony. We ended up using a lot of zip ties and corsage pins to get everything to stay in place where we wanted it to but in the end it all looked amazing as usual. Once the ceremony area was finished we had to go back to the tent again so that we could place an aisle of hurricanes down the field to direct the bride and groom into the reception. Once we had the hurricanes placed I helped light all of them and make sure we had everything in place.

I loved the color scheme of this wedding all the colors really played on each other very well and created a very fun, warm atmosphere.

Boca Wedding:

As I mentioned before this week will be my last week until January. School will be starting up again then and I will be back for another semester of adventure in the wedding and flower industry. I am so thankful for everyone at Botanica to give me the opportunity to stay longer and gain even more experience in addition to my education. I am so excited to come back soon. Until then I will be in Utah and in Montana!

Week 12

Balls, Balls, and more balls! In one sentence that is the best way to describe this week.

Carnations!:

Tuesday we got in 3,000 carnations and started working on the Pavillion event scheduled for Saturday. We started making small carnation balls and worked up to the larger sizes.

The small ones used about 35 each:

Medium ones used about 60:

And large ones used about 300!:

We worked on all these carnation balls for the next three days. Some of the carnations that we had gotten were so tight they didn't fill up a lot of visual space. To help get them to fluff out more Sylvia showed me that if I gently tore the calyx open a little bit I could get the carnation to fluff out to about double the size it was. (The calyx is the green part of the flower holding in all the petals).

Next thing on our to-do list for the week was making 100 boutonnieres! This meant looking at red carnations for the next few hours. Practice makes perfect! I’m getting a bit faster at making boutonnieres than when I first started.

Thursday we moved on to making arrangements for the Hower and Bauer weddings. We all had fun keeping those names straight all week. “Is this for Hower or Bauer?”

Tiffany had me start out by making simple glass cubes with a few rocks and a single rose bloom in them. They are for all the cocktail tables at the wedding.

Cocktail Cubes:

Janet and I then moved on to making all the arrangements for the feasting tables at the wedding. We chose a variety of different sizes for all the flowers we had and split them up into sections for the collections of flowers.

Feasting Table Arrangements:

My last design job for the day was making pew markers for our third wedding, the Webb wedding. To make the pew markers I used hydrangea, peach and white garden roses, and some ranunculus stems.  Making the pew markers was almost like making a bouquet. Instead of spreading all the flowers into a circular pattern I placed all the flowers towards the middle and down the sides so we could easily tie them onto the pews.

Pew Markers:

Friday I learned how to make a kissing ball out of hydrangeas. I used about 3 antique hydrangea stems to cover the little foam ball. It’s really a lot harder than it looks. The tiny little hydrangea stems have to be small enough to go though the mesh covering over the wet foam but big enough to be able to stick through the foam. Once I finally figured out how to get the entire ball covered with foam I tied a little chocolate brown ribbon onto the ball for the little flower girl to hold on to for the wedding. 

Kissing Ball:

Once I finished the kissing ball I moved onto making more boutonnieres for the Webb wedding.  Like I said before practice makes perfect.

Webb Boutonnieres:

Saturday! I came into the studio early and started packing up all of our flower arrangements for all of our weddings. I got to go with Sylvia, Tiffany, Ian and Byron to Boca. The Webb Wedding was being held in Boca. It’s about an hour and a half drive there but it’s definitely worth it every time we go out there. This wedding setup was so gorgeous! The ceremony was being held in the church first and then the guests would move on to the two outdoor tents behind the Boca Grande Hotel.

Boca Grande Wedding:

We also had an event this week called Just Merry that helped with a little bit. I didn't get to go out for the delivery but I loved the arrangements that were made for the event! So I thought I would include a few pictures that Zoe took from the event.

Just Merry:

Also, here are some pictures from Zoe at the Pavillion event. This is where all those carnation balls ended up. I thought it looked really great with all the lighting and pure white furniture. I'm sure it was a great party!

Pavillion:

Overall we had a very successful but busy week. We have three weddings coming up next week. One of them will actually be in Boca again so I’ll be heading out there again next week! 

Next week will be my last week for a while. I finished up all my internship hours, so I'm headed back to Montana for a little break. But thanks to Ian and Zoe my school (BYU- Idaho) is going to let me stay for another semester! So I'll be back in January ready for another three months of helping with amazing weddings! I am so grateful for Botanica providing me the experience to work in my dream career. I never thought I would be able to work in such an amazing work environment. I couldn't ask for a better group of instructors or a better job! 

Week 11

This week started with all of our flowers coming into the studio for the weeks events. We spent most of Tuesday getting them all counted and marked for our event.

One of the events we had during the week was called Sun and Fun. Ian had me make two differently styled arrangements for all the tables at the event. I made the arrangements with spotted leaved surrounding the small globes first then I moved onto the silver boat arrangements.

Spotted Leaf Arrangements:

Silver Boat Arrangements:

I came in on Wednesday and made some touchups on the arrangements the day before.  They needed a bit more greenery to cover up the foam bases. While I was working on making those touchups with Janet we had a photographer from the Tampa Bay Times Business Journal taking pictures of us for an article about Zoe. The article was published online on Friday and Janet and I were in one of the pictures they decided to use!

Here is the link to the article: http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/print-edition/2012/10/26/rnc-lessons-learned.html?ana=fbk

Picture Of Janet And I:

 

Janet and I finished all the arrangements and put them back in the cooler. Next on our list for the day was picking up a vase at the Oxford Exchange and dropping off a fresh hydrangea arrangement the same day. Luckily the Oxford Exchange isn't that far away from the studio. We picked up the vase from the studio and ended up taking more pots for succulents back too. So while Athena filled the large vase with orchids and moss branches I filled pots with succulents and mossed them. We boxed everything back up and took it back to the O.E.

Oxford Exchange Delivery:

Thursday was delivery day for the Sand Pearl Hotel and Clearwater Yacht Club. So most of the day Janet and I spent driving all around town. On our way to Clearwater the large arrangement for the round table would not stay up so I had to climb in the back of the van and hold it the rest of the way there.  All I can say is that its days like this that makes me love my job! Never a predictable day!

In The Back Of Melva:

Friday was the craziest day of the week! We started out the day by heading over to the vault and loading up all the couches, pillows, and other decorations into the trucks and van. We took the first load back to the studio and unloaded the trucks so the boys could go back for another round of loading.

While they were gone we pulled more products for our events coming up next week. Once I helped with what I could Ian taught me how to make a pool float arrangement for the Junior League Party we had scheduled later in the day.

To make the pool float we used two pieces of Styrofoam with taped wire handles on the end to weave fishing twine through. Then I used wood picks to secure wet foam on top of the Styrofoam. The next step was covering the Styrofoam with greenery. We lined the base with monstera leaves and then other greenery pieces to fill in empty space. Then we placed huge philodendron leaves in. I helped spray paint some of the leaves gold to give the arrangement contrast. Then it was time for flowers! I added snapdragons, roses, and lilies.  

Making The Pool Float:

                           

When the boys came back with the truck we loaded up for the Junior League Party which was being held at the State Attorney’s House. We started by unloading everything to the house and set out all the couches, lanterns and other pieces where they needed to go.

The last part of our install was getting the pool float secured in the center of the pool. Ian had to roll up his jeans and wade into the pool on one side and tie it off while I maneuvered the other side of the float and pulled it into the center of the pool. I ended up climbing over a couple of black railings and straddling one so I could tie it off and secure it. It had to be tight enough to stay in the center of the pool and not be loose and hit the back wall. We finally got it to float where we wanted it to and tie it off.

Junior League Party:

We finished up the week by cleaning up the studio during the day and getting ready for our 3,000 carnations coming in on Monday! That’s a lot of buckets! And guess who gets to clean all of them? Ian tells me it’s definitely the less glamorous part of a floral designers job but it needs to be done. This week coming up is going to be crazy but should be fun like usual! I will keep you all posted!

Week 10

 This week we were busy pulling all kinds of things for both of our weddings coming up for the weekend. I didn't think my job of cleaning and prepping candles and vases was ever going to end! Everyone ended up tackling the job and then it was time for the fun part…flowers!

Each wedding we do requires a specific recipe for all of the arrangements and bouquets. I helped to set aside each recipe on the work bench so that we could start putting together all of our bouquets. This week I got to make the brides bouquet for the wedding in Boca Grande. I was so nervous! I have never made a hand tied bouquet so I ended up spending quite a bit of time on it. The bouquet had hydrangea, garden roses, ranunculus, and English Ivy. I really learned a lot from making the bouquet.

While I was designing the bouquet I was having a hard time fitting in the smaller ranunculus stems and some of the last few garden roses. Athena and Tiffany showed me that if I just simply loosened my grip on the flowers I could place them in and then tighten my grip when I felt like the flowers were placed correctly. Loosening my grip helped me to adjust and move the flowers and get them to sit where I wanted to. I’m really glad I got the chance to learn how to build a hand-tied bouquet. Hopefully I will be designing more in the next few weeks.

The Brides Bouquet:

Once I was done with the bride’s bouquet I got to move onto the junior bridesmaids bouquets. The junior bouquets had hydrangea, dahlias, and ranunculus. They we’re much smaller than the bride’s bouquet and went much faster for me.

Junior Brides Bouquets:

On Friday the boys and I went to a venue called the Vault to set up draping and furniture for Ian and Zoe’s show. The Vault used to be an old bank so it really has a huge old bank vault towards the back, which I think it would be great in a party for a VIP area. Although in our setup we just draped off sections for the different areas of the show.

The Vault:

Saturday! My favorite day of the week finally came and Athena and I headed off to Boca Grande which is an hour or so away from the studio. Once we got there we drove to a cute little cottage on the side of the Boca hotel to deliver the bouquets and corsages to the bride. It was so fun seeing the bouquet I made go from the studio, to the bride.

Personals: (Bouquets and Corsages)

We walked across the little cottage to the hotel where the dinner would be held after the ceremony and set out table arrangements and.

Boca Grande Hotel:

Once we delivered the personals and table arrangements we moved onto the beach setup for the ceremony. The bride and groom wanted an archway facing out to the beach. We took curly willow and secured some around cement posts. We took two of these posts and buried them in the sand to secure them. The wind is so strong on the beach you have to make a strong foundation first to make sure nothing comes apart mid-way thorough a ceremony. To complete the archway we took more bunches of curly willow and curved them together to create the arch.

The Arch:

We also had flowers to secure on the arches but we had to wait just before the ceremony to secure the flowers on. In the direct sunlight and wind the flowers would wilt quickly if they were put out right away.

The Archway Finished:

Time For The Ceremony:

While Athena and I were in Boca Grande the rest of the Botanica crew was busy setting up another wedding at the Ringling Museum. I came back with Jordan later that night to pick up our product after the wedding. This place is so beautiful! Especially with all the candles lit up at night.

Ringling Museum: