Sam wanted something chic, natural, and elegant for her wedding.  I loved the textures of this bouquet and the succulents, I died!!!  These succulents are my most favorite colors or soft silver gray and purple.

Flowers use: stock, dahlias, spray roses, succulents, tulips, ranunculus, and seeded eucalyptus.

Photography credit: Petal Pixie

When my cousin Kimberli contacted me I was so excited, she is the mother of the groom! She was planning on doing the flowers herself and then decided at the last minute that it would be worth the money to just hire me to do them, smart cookie!

When I asked her what she was looking for her only response was, “Everything you design is beautiful! We love your natural and wild designs.  The only flower type we want are succulents, we love succulents!” I love when clients trust me to design something without a lot of restrictions.  I was able to use flowers that helped create a very natural and wild feel.

Flowers used are: peonies, ranunculus, air plants, succulents, roses, poppies, scabiosa, anenome, billy balls, queen anne’s lace, stock and jasmine vine.

Photography Credit-Petal Pixie

It is official!!!!!  We are booking clients in Northern Utah, Southeast Idaho, Sun Valley, and Jackson Hole!  WHEW!  That is a lot of ground to cover!  We are sooooooo excited to be doing this!  What is even more exciting for us is this; we have decided to NOT charge extra travel fees to these areas!  Yep you read that correctly! When you hire Petal Pixie for weddings in any of these additional areas you will be charged the same delivery and set up fees as our SLC, Park City, and surrounding areas!  Currently our delivery/set up is 10%-20% of your subtotal depending on venue, event size, and time of year.  We feel this is a fantastic deal for those brides who felt like it was out of their reach to have a Petal Pixie wedding.  If you are a bride outside of this area don’t you worry!!!  Petal Pixie loves to travel and we can source our product anywhere in the United States!!!  Travel fees and compensation are determined on a case by case basis.  :) So whether you are in California, Washington, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, New York, or wherever we would LOVE to work with you!!!  And when I say LOVE…I mean LOOOOOOOVE!!!!

On a more personal note….I bought a camera!  Wahoo!  So now I am going to be trying my hand at a little photography and food styling.  Below is an arrangement I made a few weeks ago and photographed in my new back yard.  And yes those are huge pine trees!  They line my whole backyard and I love them!!!

We chose to do two different centerpiece designs.   First is a tall traditional design composed of roses, china mums, stock, and varies greens.  The second centerpiece was gold candlesticks and a small pave arrangement.  We accent all the centerpieces with candles and rose petals.

We kept the bouquets classic and simple with deep red and white roses, white ranunculus, hypericum berries, carnations, fern curls, and white callas.

Photography- Claire Marika Photography 

I was contacted by Folk Magazine late last year to contribute to their publication.  They asked me to design a table that would provide inspiration to their readers for the holiday season.  How cute is my sister-in-laws house!?! I love their table and fireplace.

I designed an arrangement using pomegranates, roses, ranunculus, veronica, pine cones, and a variety of christmas pines and greens.  I accented with santa red napkins and white plates with pewter silverware.

Photography and Calligraphy-Tonya Peterson Photography

This garden style bouquet and centerpiece was created with garden roses, ranunculus, anenome, hydrangea, stock, jasmine, geranium leaves, dusty miller, pierres, and plumosa.

Photography by Alixann Loosle Photography

Flowers used: white ranunculus, white stock, white china mums, orange poppies, queen anne’s lace, and jasmine vine.

Photograph by:  Tonya Peterson Photography

Ashley wanted a color pallet that reminded her of a sunset.  We paired oranges, peaches, lt pink, ivory, and navy blue to create the florals

Flowers used were: succulents, thistle, roses, protea, stock, dahlias, and a variety of fillers and greens.

I was also honored to help Ashley and Dan as their Day of Coordinator.  This was my first experience doing something like that and I loved spending time with them throughout their wedding day.

Photography by David Newkirk.

When I decided to attend this workshop I was still working on what I wanted my brand to be.  Not only that but how I was to execute it and fit all the pieces together to make something memorable.  Joy did not disappoint.  She talked to us a lot about branding and what makes a good brand.

I was really inspired by a specific thing she said, “Be who you want your brand to be.”  I always felt like I was forcing my brand I was trying to fit in to a mold that would please everyone I worked with.  When I stepped back and took a look at who I am my brand kind of fell in to place.  I took a look at my wardrobe, the way I decorate, the movies I watch, and music I listen to, and pretty much everything around me. Once I stopped fighting whom I really am my brand just followed closely behind.  I don’t have to pretend anymore.  I will probably never have long flowing locks with an ombre color job.  Or be able to pull off the really cute trendy clothes you see in stores.  But I am ok with that.  I am happy with who I am, how I look, how I dress, and what I represent.  And let me tell you that is a big deal.  I have spent a better part of my life trying to fit in.  Trying to be a part of a specific crowd.  I was constantly losing myself by trying to fit in.  And the truth is, I didn’t need to fit in, I just needed to be in love with me.  I am not 100% confident all the time.  But I have a crazy loving man who everyday tells me I kick ass and am amazing.  And I don’t know about you, but that does great things for a girls self esteem.

But what is keeping me in this place where I am being my brand is this, I am being as authentic as I can possibly be.    I am working on things that feel the most like me.  I am working hard to reach my dreams.  Which to some might sound silly.  But to me this is my calling.  Being a floral & event designer is what I was meant to be.  I wouldn’t feel complete unless I was working with brides and creating the most beautiful wedding that is authentic.

Be authentic!!!  Oh man girls I could post and post and post about self worth and being your best self.  And maybe I should since it not only helps you but me as well.  But I have to say it again, BE AUTHENTIC!!!  Before you start planning your wedding just sit down, think about what you really love.  Do not get on Pinterest and be bombarded with barn weddings and mason jars.  Don’t get me wrong Pinterest has its place in the planning process but find out what YOU really want and what YOU really love first.  Don’t be afraid to be a little quirky, eclectic or modern.  Don’t be afraid to mix those colors together.  Be fearless and be authentic!  Find vendors that can relate to you that have similar styles and personality.  Because those are the people that will make magic happen.

So to recap all this amazingness from the past few days; remember to make time, be kind to your body and soul, and be authentic!

{Images by Kelly at Intertwine}

Weekly I pull out my journal of notes and review the things I learned from those four days at Serenbe.  I like to take a look at the details that really struck me and see how I have implemented them into my life.  One of best discussions we had that hit me the hardest was when Joy talked about how we are taking care of ourselves.

Sometimes this industry can really take a toll on your soul and self worth.  I know for me I am constantly comparing myself to those around me and those I see on Instagram and wedding blogs. I was putting a lot of my energy into worrying about others, comparing myself to others, and being jealous of others. I realize now that these actions are not healthy at all, in fact they are down right unhealthy!  But deeper than that I realized that I was my own worst enemy, I was so full of negative energy I wouldn’t want to hire myself!

For the last six months I have really worked hard to clear out the negative energy in my personal and professional life.  I seem to have slipped off the radar in a lot of aspects.  I made lists, looked at what was brining me down, and what adjustments I could make to shift everything to a more positive energy.  I made some VERY drastic changes to my life that had a lot of people scratching their heads.

First, I realized that my soul was craving the country.  If I have learned one thing it has been this.  I can only handle the hustle and bustle of city life for about 3-5 years before I can’t take it anymore.  I guess you can’t take the country out of the girl.  So I made the choice to move outside of SLC to live in the country.  A lot of people were shocked!  I would get things like, “What about your business?” and “How are you going to still do flowers?”  The truth is this, I can do flowers anywhere in the world.  Heck I can plan and design a wedding anywhere!  Yep, I just said it!  If you think that you have to choose your vendors primarily on location you are misguided.  I can source product anywhere in the world.  I can have flowers and inventory shipped anywhere in the U.S. and if I travel out of the U.S. I have a network of amazing wedding professionals who I can lean on for guidance.  I will talk about travel feels and the inner workings of making it happen next week!

Second major change for me was to quit my full time day job.  By day I would work in the accounting field and on the weekends and evenings I was working in the wedding industry.  That leads to lots of time off and lots of hours.  So I took the plunge and decided it has to be one or the other.  I either have to have the faith that this is my career path and that God will provide and bless me or not.  But I won’t know until I try.  So here I am, full time self-employed business owner.

So with moving and shifting to full time wedding designer I still felt really run down and off.  So I started researching diets, exercise programs, all that good stuff we always do when we want a change.  Should I go Vegan, Paleo, Clean Eating, on and on and on.  There are so many choices it makes my head spin!  So for me I started with a health coach who has been helping me adjust and re-wire my mental association with food.  It has been awesome!  Now for me it isn’t about being on a “diet” it is a full on lifestyle change.  It has been a little tricky because I am such an emotional eater but I am learning and moving forward and to me that is the most important. Currently my diet consists mainly of lots of veggies and lean meats.  I minimize my high carb and dairy.  I also am working toward not eating anything processed.  That one is hard for me; I am kind of a junk food junky.

Along with diet I have started doing Yoga, Pilates, going on walks and meditating.  I used to be the type of fitness person who if I wasn’t sweating and wanting to throw up after a work out I didn’t think I did it right.  With research and following my instinct I came to realize that isn’t being kind to your body.  In fact that is the most unkind thing you can do.  So I refocused and found activities that spoke to me energetically. These activities are still challenging but they don’t add any extra stress or anxiety to my body, which helps me feel better.

The workshop really helped me realize that my body and soul is my source of income.  I can’t be creative, fun to be around and on my A-game if I am hungry, tired, or unhappy.  Like any successful athlete they have to practice and take care of themselves.  It is the same for being a creative.  I can’t expect a high level of productivity if I am not fueling myself correctly.   I had to find the things that were making me feel blah and replace them with things that make me feel A-M-A-Z-I- N-G!!!

How cute are all these adorable farm animals from my trip to Serenbe?  I can’t wait to have my own little farm with animals.  Thanks again for Kelly at Intertwine for the images.  So grateful for your friendship and willingness to share you talent!