We love good decor. You only have to have been to Get Hitched Give Hope any year to see that. And one major factor of decor is beautiful florals. You can keep your floral arrangements simple and keep it to bouquets and boutonnieres, or you can go all out and make your wedding a wonderland of flowers and beauty. The options are nearly endless, especially when you have talent in the likes of Anne from Floressence.  See what she is all about and what she is donating to Get Hitched Give Hope this year that will make all your floral dreams a possibility!

Tell us a little bit about yourself!! What do you do & what does your business specialize in?

Floressence specializes in custom designs for weddings and events. From our studio in historic Georgetown, we dream up different ways to play with flowers, taking our client’s likes and dislikes as inspiration. As the owner and lead designer, my obsession with texture is a fundamental influence on our designs. I love the initial impact of color and form that an arrangement offers from afar – but even more I love the oohs and aahs that pop out when a person gets closer and takes in all the little textural details that comprise the piece.

I’m really proud that over the years, we’ve consistently gotten great feedback on our customer service. Having been a bride at one point myself, I understand how stressful the whole planning process can be. It’s important to me to establish trust with my clients right from the get-go, so that they know they’re in good hands and can let go of any flower-related worries.

How did you get started in business? 

Next January will mark my ten-year anniversary as owner of Floressence. It was a very unexpected road that led me to floral design – but once I arrived, all the twists and turns made perfect sense.

After getting a fine art degree from the UW, I moved out to Boston for a few years, where one of my many jobs was working as a gardener for a small company specializing in flowering gardens. I got to know flowers from the ground up, literally. After moving back to Seattle, I had a tough time finding a job with any relation to the arts, and so through a temp agency I found work in the Involuntary Psych Unit at Harborview. After a couple of years there, I told a good friend one day, “”I need a career change!!!”" She mentioned that a neighbor of hers was selling her floral design business. I met with the woman and shadowed her on a couple of weddings, the fit felt right, and boom – three months later I took the helm as owner of Floressence.

Floral design has turned out to be the perfect synthesis of my experience with art, gardening – and all those years of playing office with sisters, growing up.

Tell us…. What are you donating to Get Hitched Give Hope this year?

I’m really excited to be donating $1000 worth of personal flowers for the winning bride’s wedding! It goes without saying that the designs will be custom-created for the bride’s particular vision.

Is this your first year with with us or have you participated with GHGH in the past??

My first experience of participating with GHGH was a collaboration:  in 2010, Christiane Zweifler of Flora Nova and I created the ceremony decor for the ballroom, including the massive baby’s breath garland adorning the pipe and drape around the stage. I was blown away by all the creative energy that poured into the preparations for the event. And then the event itself was another kind of mind-blowing… All those people so excited about participating, giving, sharing. Listening to the keynote speaker share her personal experiences of how GHGH directly impacted her and her family brought it all into focus. (Albeit a blurry focus, due to the major waterworks she inspired.) Truly, I’m excited for all aspects of GHGH this year!

Tell us your FAVORITE part of weddings!!

I’m always really excited when a bride approaches me with a concept for a dramatic, large-scale vision for her ceremony. Even though the ceremony is usually the shortest part of the overall event, it is often the aspect that stays most firmly in the bride and groom’s mind. I love dreaming big for that indelible moment.

The sense of completion at the end of a wedding set-up is also highly satisfying. I think back to the initial consultation, flash-forward over the intervening months of creative process and metamorphosis, and then hand the bride her bouquet with a true feeling of gratitude for the role Floressence has played in this event.

Do you have any insider secrets to tell our brides to make their planning (and enjoyment of their wedding) easier?

The absolute best thing you can do is work with vendors you trust. And then repeat to yourself, “I trust this photographer (florist, baker, venue coordinator, etc.)!” It will really help you let go of the tendency to micro-manage, which just causes more stress and takes time away from all the other fun, NON-wedding things you could be doing with your time!

Trust your gut, pay attention to how the vendor listens (or doesn’t listen) to you, check references, and then congratulate yourself on being able to put the work in someone else’s hands!

photo credits : Laurel McConnell Photography and Jenny GG Photography

Find out more about Anne and Floressence by visiting her website, connecting on social media, and chatting with her at her table on November 8th! (of course!!!)

Floressence

floressencedesign.com

anne@floressencedesign.com

Facebook.com/Floressence