Top 10 Moments of the Last 10 Years

To celebrate The Flower Lounge’s 10th birthday, I’m picking out my 10 most memorable moments of the last decade and explaining how each one has helped to shape and turn us into the thriving business we are today, even if we still have to pinch ourselves!

 

  1. The Award that Meant the Most

I love to be able to say we’re an award-winning florist: I’m proud of each and every one of our hard-earned awards. Picking the one that meant the most was tough, so I’m picking two instead…Wedding Florist of the Year from the Wedding Industry Awards and Retail Florist of the Year from the British Florist Association. It was amazing to be recognised as the best of the best in both areas of floristry work.

 

  1. The Wedding that Wowed Me

Again, it’s a tough category to pick from as I love each wedding I’m lucky enough to work on, but I think I’m going to go for Frankie and Tom’s ethereal, romantic and dreamy wedding at Colshaw Hall. Frankie was such a pleasure to work with and each consultation resulted in us having a really good giggle; she picked some amazing wedding suppliers that were a joy to work with; and the white and green palette with a very soft peach/blush accent featuring all my favourite flowers and foliage including roses, ranunculus, sweet peas and eucalyptus was simply stunning.

 

  1. The Importance of Online

When I first launched The Flower Lounge in 2009 there was no such thing as Instagram! In the decade that followed, the online side of my business has become increasingly important, in fact, the homepage of my website (designed by We Are Life) is the online version of my shop window, and it has to look beautiful, at all times! I’ve also loved connecting with customers, suppliers and floristry friends through social media, it has meant even more people can get to know The Flower Lounge.

 

  1. The Transformation of the Shop

Making the decision to refurb the shop in 2018 was a huge moment for us, and it truly changed everything! The direction we were heading in as a business, the type of products we were offering, our brand and who we were as a business. Lucky for us, we had the amazing interior design team at Morgeous (who are currently making ‘Your Home Made Perfect’ on BBC2) to help us through the process, and the final design is both functional and beautiful, displaying our products to perfection and transforming in an instant to become a functional, floral workshop space.

 

  1. The Event where we Excelled

This would have to be Molly-Mae Hague’s Pretty Little Thing Launch Party. This recent event was hugely anticipated by the media following her success on Love Island, and we were thrilled to be asked to do the flowers for such a high-profile event at Rosso. Our flowers were everywhere, from The Sun to the Metro to the Daily Mail, providing a great platform for The Flower Lounge.

 

  1. The Very First Workshop

You may not realise, but my workshops have been running for as long as my shop! I’m so passionate about delivering them, as I love everything to do with floristry, and passing on those skills to those who want to learn is a passion and a privilege. I’m also very lucky that I met Mark, a talented and award-winning freelance florist who helps me run Flower Lounge Workshops. We worked together for a long time in a previous job, and when I opened The Flower Lounge, I knew he had to be involved in my workshops. Our first workshop was a Christmas Wreath workshop (which we still run together a decade later!), which has proved to be massively popular with the people of Didsbury, selling out every year.

 

  1.  The Realisation of My Biggest Achievement

I’m so proud to have kept the business running for 10 years. I opened The Flower Lounge in a recession, and it has been a decade hard work, with regular 15-hour days and weeks without a day off, just to keep the business going. It has, however, all been worth it! With the support of our amazing customers and my incredible team, The Flower Lounge has turned 10 and we have so many exciting things planned for the future.

 

  1. The Moment Where I Had to Pinch Myself

Seeing our floral creations on not one, but two, covers of OK Magazine when we were asked to do Corrie Star, Tina O’Brien’s wedding. It was amazing to go into our local newsagent and see our flowers on the front of the magazine. Tina was lovely to work with and the planning process was very enjoyable!

 

  1. The Team That Make It Happen

Over the last 10 years my team has grown and evolved, and I’m now lucky enough to have a team that complement each other, bringing different floral skills and passions to The Flower Lounge and working cohesively to achieve great things. My team are the best support I could ask for - Grace, Emily, Rachel, Mark, Helen and Steve – thank you!!

 

  1. The Future of the Flower Lounge

One of the things that has characterised The Flower Lounge over the last 10 years is that we have always looked forward, making grand plans for the future and setting ambitious targets for ourselves. And I think this forward thinking has been one of the reasons we have made it to 10, so, in the same spirit, I’m very excited to share our plans to launch a new and improved flower subscription service and our aim of running classes for florists to further their skills. Watch this space!

Top 10 Moments of the Last 10 Years

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