Allow me to introduce you to Emma from Sassy Blooms - a bespoke wedding, event, funeral and private commission florist who works with mainly British flowers. She describes her floristry style as 'sassy, romantic, and a little bit wild.'
I worked with Emma on an event we planned for the owners of Stanford Hall, an exclusive venue in Leicestershire and the guests were absolutely wowed by her stunning floral designs. From the images of that event included in this post, you will be able to appreciate exactly why.
Having worked in a corporate role outside of the industry for 25 years, I fell into venue styling initially, and started doing some work for friends and family, which then led to some styling work. To expand my creativity, I decided to take a three day ‘Introduction to Wedding Floristry’ course at a local flower school, and totally and utterly fell in love with floristry. So much so, that I resigned from my job and trained to NVQ Level 2 equivalent, and decided to set up the floristry business off the back of this. That old cliché of ‘finding your calling in life’ certainly happened to me, albeit in my 40’s, and I haven’t looked back.
That no matter the subject, flowers always create a positive emotion, and that we create something that has meaning. We get to be such a big part of a couple’s happiest day when they get married, and one of my favourite moments is the look on a bride's face when you deliver the bouquet.
Every gift bouquet has a meaning to the sender and the recipient, and even with tribute flowers, we get to create something, usually with a personal meaning, be it the flower content, style or colour, which has some representation of the life of the person. Its an amazing honour to be able to create something beautiful to accompany that person on their last journey on this earth, something that also gives comfort to the relatives.
How many jobs can say, whatever you do, you are providing a product which creates smiles, love, happiness, joy and also comfort and reassurance. Best job in the world!
Winning both the Muddy Stiletto’s Best Florist In Leicestershire and Rutland Award, and the Highly Commended Award for the East Midlands in 2018 from the Wedding Industry Awards, in our first complete year of trading. I don’t think that’s bad at all!
If it’s a delivery day my day usually starts with taking a flower delivery, usually around 4.30 – 5am. I then have to process the flowers, which means getting them all out of the boxes, cutting, conditioning, stripping stems and putting in water with flower food, which for a big order such as a wedding can take 2-3 hours to process.
If it’s a wedding we’re working on, I’ll just crack on with making up some of the flowers, usually the centrepieces and any other venue flowers before we start the bridal flowers, we always leave these till last to make sure they’re super fresh.
I may also have to work on the packaging, ready for delivery, which is another job that can take an hour depending on what we have to deliver.
Other parts of my day might include social media planning, usual admin stuff, and flower ordering, the bain of my life. Its boring, tedious and takes an absolute age, there’s no quick way to do it.
And of course I always manage some collie cuddles and love from the Sassy Blooms security team, our three border collies Basil, Parsley and Pepper.
Developing some new product lines (bridal flower packages), working with some new venues, and developing a new business providing professional training for florists. Its top secret at the moment but we are hoping to launch this before the end of the year. I realised when I trained to be a florist that there’s a real lack of on the ground business training, and that’s something I want to be able to offer to others and share my knowledge and experience.
Thank you Emma!
To find out more about Emma's beautiful jaw dropping floral designs, head over to Sassy Blooms. You can also follow her on Instagram and Facebook where she shares examples of her latest beautiful work.
and to see some of the other fabulous wedding, party and event suppliers I'm happy to recommend to you, head here.
Until next time,
Val x
Photo credits: Captured by Megan Wilson
Mark and Louise Gamble are the husband and wife team behind Covertec Structures, a high-end marquee company based in the heart of Leicestershire.
May 11, 2020
In my experience, food can make or break an event. Catering for a crowd requires a great deal of skill. As well as a delicious, well-executed menu, you need service staff you can rely on to create a fabulous dining experience for your guests.
Mar 18, 2020
I really enjoy working with suppliers who go the extra mile for our clients and excel in delivering an impeccable service, time after time.
Nov 22, 2019