Happy Birthday to my blog!

Well it has been exactly a year since I started my little blog about the business I was just about to start. Back then, I hadn't seen a bride or booked a wedding, I was still thinking about setting up the studio and what colour to paint it.

Well what a difference a year makes! The studio still isn't completely finished *hangs my head in shame* but it only really needs some light fittings and photos for the walls. But rather than focus on what I haven't done, how about I focus on what I have accomplished in the past year? 

-I have been excited to meet lots of wonderful brides

-knowing that it would take a bit of time for my name to get out there and to build a reputation (and also because couples book their wedding vendors in advance, I was prepared that I probably wouldn't actually do a wedding in the first 6 months), I set a modest target of 20 weddings for my first year. I am happy to say that target was accomplished quite easily! :-)

-I exhibited at 3 wedding expos

-created facebook and twitter accounts (see the links to the right of the page if you would like to follow me on either site)

-I have met some great vendors that I would recommend to any bride: *waves to Julie, Lisa, Odette, Jean and Melli* (well, I haven't met Melli yet but I have seen her work and love it and hope to meet her soon)!

-I have had emails from aspiring florists telling me how much they enjoy my blog and how I am inspiring them to pursue their passion for floristry

-and had over 3000 visits to my website and over 3500 visits to my blog

It has been a great first year of business for The Kissing Tree. I have to say a massive THANK YOU to all of my wonderful brides, to the family, friends and fans who have supported me, and to those of you who have been following me through here, facebook or twitter. I wonder what is ahead in year 2?!

Mingara 'Getting Hitched' Expo Aftermath.....

I think I have finally recovered enough from the Mingara bridal expo that was held on Sunday, to actually write a post to tell you about it. So lets start from the beginning......... (get ready for a photo overload)

It all started on Monday last week when I had some Oriental Lilies delivered. Because the weather is so cold, these flowers need to come in earlier than everything else so that they have an opportunity to open. Well that is supposed to be the plan anyway.... more on that later.

These are the rest of my flowers that arrived on Friday...Clockwise from the top left hand corner we have: pink oriental lilies, white oriental lilies, white and cream roses, molucca balm, orange tulips, pink and hot pink and cream roses, white singapore orchids, pink blushing brides, white lisianthus, green hydrangea and some dusty miller foliage.

It was up to me to actually turn these flowers into something beautiful. My only problem was that my lilies weren't opening. So on Saturday when I needed to start making the bouquets, my lilies looked like this...

Aaaauuuuuugggghhhh! Sometimes working with lilies is an absolute nightmare. In winter, it is so cold that the flowers don't want to open, and in summer, they open way too quick and don't last well in the heat. If any of you have ever chosen lilies in your wedding bouquet and can't understand why they are such an expensive flower for bridal work, it is because we need to order two to three times more flowers than what you actually need in your bouquets to make sure enough flowers open in time. They are also a flower that usually needs to be wired for use in bouquets and wired flowers are more costly.

So I left the lily bouquets until last and just hoped for the best. These are what I came up with...

Bouquet 1: posy consisting of 40 cream roses and a frame of camellia leaves

Bouquet 2: posy consisting of 30 pink roses and 1 bunch of pink blushing brides, with a frame of vibernum leaves

Bouquet 3: posy consisting of 30 hot pink roses, 10 orange tulips, 1 bunch molucca balm and a frame of vibernum leaves

Bouquet 4: teardrop bouquet consisting of 30 white roses, 2 bunches white lisianthus, 2 stems white sinapore orchids and 1 bunch of dusty miller foliage

By the time I had done all of these I had a few more lilies open but not enough to fill the bouquets. I made up as much of them as I could and planned to wake up early hopefully to many more open lilies.

I woke up early and found that I had just enough flowers to finish off the bouquets. Phew - how lucky was that?!

Bouquet 5: wired posy of pink oriental lilies and magnolia foliage

Bouquet 6: I did this same one at the last expo and it was so popular amongst the brides that I decided to make it again for this expo. And again it got alot of special attention. This is a wired cascade bouquet of white oriental lilies, white singapore orchids and magnolia foliage

After only 4 hours of sleep and finishing off all the bouquets, it was time to head off to the expo. My poor hubby spent his day off work, helping me in my stall. He was such a great help, handing out my pamphlets and talking to people when I was already busy talking to other people. I was so proud of my gorgeous man and felt really lucky that he was there to help me out.

It was a great day. There was over 1200 people that came through and I got such a positive reaction to my stand. People were just so lovely and saying the nicest things. I've even had quite a few enquiries already!

Thanks to everyone that came in. You made the expo a great success.

I ended up giving away the natural stem bouquets which left me with the wired bouquets to take home. And can you imagine that when I looked at them today, 2 days after the expo, they still looked pretty good? Flowers love this cold weather. Take a look.....

Look what I found on the White magazine website

It's the wedding bouquet I did for Juliet!

I did Juliet's wedding last year. It was the first wedding that I did at home - and it was all a big secret. One of the disadvantages of being a florist, is that the bosses I previously worked for told me that I wasn't allowed to do weddings from home. It's pretty common practice to be told that. If someone wanted me to do their wedding, they had to come in to my work and ask for me.

That never did sit right with me as I didn't want to turn away family and friends. What was I supposed to say if my best friend asked me to do their flowers? No? I don't think so!

So when my wedding photographer asked if I would like to make the flowers for Juliet's wedding I was very hesitant as I wanted to stick to the rules, but then thought - well why shouldn't I? It was weird having to do it all in secrecy from my boss, but I didn't want to get fired just for trying to get more experience under my belt.

Juliet and I met a few times and she was so fun. She chose a posy bouquet of cream roses, white freesias and blue hyacinths, framed with camellia leaf. For her bridesmaid and gorgeous flower girl, she chose smaller posies of cream roses and blue hyacinths.

You can see some photos of Juliet's wedding in the link here (photos by Delisser photography).

Juliet doesn't know it but I owe her (and my photographer Julie for introducing us) alot of thanks for getting The Kissing Tree off the ground. Being told by my bosses that I wasn't allowed to do weddings from home, in my own time, is what got me thinking about being my own boss and not having anyone else place their restrictions on me. And actually making Juliet's bouquets, seeing how they turned out and how happy Juliet was with them, gave me the confidence to go out under my own name. So thanks Juliet! I'll always remember you as the very first The Kissing Tree bride.

The Weekend Summary

I'm finally back after a busy weekend.

I've got lots of photos to show, so first I'll start with Jenny's wedding which was on Saturday.

Jenny had white freesia posy bouquets for her and her 3 bridesmaids. They smelt absolutely gorgeous!

All packed up and ready to deliver: And on Sunday I was an exhibitor at the Diggers at The Entrance wedding expo. It was my very first expo so I was a little nervous, especially when everyone kept telling me about the few hundred people that were queued up outside waiting to get in. I needn't have worried though because it was easy. I had fun, spoke to alot of brides and met other exhibitors who were also at their first expo so I was in good company. Here are some photos from the day. Me all set up at my first expo:
And here are some close ups of the bouquets I made
and the photo of this purple one looks a bit dodge, but its because I was holding the bouquet on a bad angle towards me. It makes the bouquet look like it's a weird shape but I promise you that it was actually round. Thanks to everyone that came to see me. I really appreciate your support. Now I need to start thinking of ideas for next months Getting Hitched expo at Mingara. If you have any suggestions.... let me know.

Congratulations Delisser Photography!

Last night I attended the magazine launch of the new 2009 edition of the Newcastle Central Coast Wedding magazine.

Now when I was planning my wedding, this became my bible. It has so many vendors listed in the one place and I found it very helpful.

All of the magazine advertisers are invited to the launch so I dragged my hubby along and we actually got a lift up to the party from our wedding photographer - (who I have since become friends with) - Julie from Delisser photography and her husband Grant. This is the first time I have advertised in a magazine so I was pretty excited.

We had a bit of sparkly, some lovely canapes and then the formalities got underway.

One of things that I didn't find out until last night was that there is alot of secrecy about the front cover of the magazine. All of the photographers are invited to submit a random selection of their work that may be featured throughout the magazine. On the launch night, the front cover is revealed for the first time and the photographers find out who gets the prestigious front cover position.

Well last night as I was standing next to Julie, the cover was revealed, I heard Julie gasp and then the MC announce that Delisser Photography had won the front cover! Julie was genuinely surprised but to be honest, I wasn't surprised at all. I have always raved to people about how gorgeous my wedding photos are. Julie and her husband are an extremely talented team and they are so deserving of this accolade. I don't know how the publishers picked which photo would go on the cover because that particular wedding that Julie and Grant shot had so many breathtaking photos. Congratulations guys!

So it turned out to be a very fun and successful night in the end. We even noticed that two photos from our wedding were in the magazine!

Newcastle Central Coast Wedding magazine is released in stores today.

*These are the 2 photos from our wedding that featured in the magazine!

Another studio update

We have the studio workable! I'm so happy with the way it turned out. Here are some pictures of what it looks like so far: As you enter the door: Looking over towards the work area:And if you are standing over at the windows looking back towards the entry:

Still on the 'to do' list:

* Couch has been ordered and we are waiting for it to arrive

* Order the fridge

* Order the work bench

* Put up the shelves we purchased

* Put up the mirrors we purchased

* Install new light fittings

* Add skirting along the walls

* Decorate with pretty wedding / flower photos

Yes!!!

Before: The Undercoat:

Finally finished:

Finally the room is painted. Finally! My husband will paint the ceiling on Wednesday and then we can put the paint brushes away. Yes!!!!

I've been on a bit of a shopping spree over the last few days and can't wait to show you my new purchases for the studio. I'll be back soon.

We have a winner!

Today is painting day so we had to pick a colour to paint the studio. It's been doing my head in for weeks. As a florist, I am quite good with colours, and that's why I was so frustrated and surprised at my indecision. We really liked white. It opened the room up and made it look spacious. But white can look a bit harsh/ stark and we really wanted more of a warm colour to invite people in and make them feel comfortable, something that would provide a subtle backdrop. So the final decision........... we went with a latte type colour. You wouldn't believe just how many latte colours there are! And the funny thing is, I bet no one will ever notice or care about the colours of my walls. Oh the things we get hung up on! lol This is it - Tapestry Beige.

The Studio: Undercoat

Gone are the ugly bricks in the studio, only to be replaced with the ugly undercoat.

After being knee deep in dust, dirt, gap filler and paint, the undercoat application is finally finished. It took a bit more paint than what the paint man told us we would need and you can see the colour change where we have had to stop and buy a new tin.

Hubby is trying to keep my spirits up because I hate putting in so much effort for something that still looks so bad. I can't wait to see an improvement.

Tomorrow we are going to buy a paint colour and start painting for real. It will take a couple of coats and I think we will have it done by the weekend. How exciting!

The Studio

I have the perfect space to set up my studio for The Kissing tree. It's almost as if the room was built solely for this purpose. It's just one big room in the downstairs area of my house, and we have no other use for it as all of the living areas and bedrooms are upstairs. It is now the home of The Kissing Tree. The space is just so ugly at the moment and I can't wait to pretty it up. First job is to paint those walls. I'm still undecided between a white blank canvas, or a warm light coloured latte. But I have to make the decision quickly as my husband is ready to start painting. This is a very ugly BEFORE picture: Stay tuned for more updates about the studio transformation.

And so it begins

Welcome to 'The Kissing Tree'. My name is Dannii and I am the owner of The Kissing Tree. I have been a qualified florist for about 3 years now and have worked with some of the Coasts most experienced and successful florists. The idea for my own florist business has been in my head ever since I started three years ago. The goal was to have it up and running by my 30th birthday, and with only 10 days until that occurs, I am slightly behind schedule. As a florist I found that I would always get excited when a bride came in to my work to discuss her wedding flowers. It wasn't just the flowers that I wanted to know about, but the whole event. I just love weddings. All that love and happiness was a great contrast to my least favourite part of working as a florist - funerals. So it was only natural that when I was ready to start my own business, I would combine the two things that I loved. And now...... I'm ready.