Vendor Spotlight - The Flower House
Meet Kirbey, a mother, a lover of flowers, and owner of The Flower House. Kirbey was always fascinated with flowers and once she was introduced to the design world she knew this was her calling. Scroll to read our interview with her and see how talented she is!
How did you get into weddings?
”I started in the floral industry in my early twenties. I had just graduated college and had always had a strong desire to work with flowers, but no experience to speak of. After a lot of rejection, I finally found a shop in Evanston that was willing to give me a shot and taught me basically everything I know. I worked at the shop for about four years until the schedules of my young kids prompted me to re-think things a bit. To this day I miss working in retail flowers. The customers and the day to day hustle bustle is something I will always love and miss. However, having small children, opening up my Event & Wedding Design Company is what's best for me in this moment of my life. So, with that in mind, The Flower House was born. I have now been in business for a little over two years and have been loving every minute of it!”
Collaboration with Sue McCleary of PassionFlower
Photo: Amanda Dumuchelle Photography
Most memorable moment?
”When I had to walk a customer through what he should say to his soon to be ex-wife on Valentine's Day. I was working at the shop, and Valentine's Day is always filled with characters. Good and bad. But this guy will always stand out to me. I basically sat on the phone with him for at least ten minutes (which on Valentine's Day in a flower shop is a LIFETIME), and talked with him about "sending the right message". The jist of it is he wanted her to have something on the day, but didn't want her to get the wrong idea, and so on and so forth. It still cracks me up to this day. The things people will tell you over the phone when they're ordering flowers is truly amazing.”
What are your three favorite aspects of a wedding?
“1. The Bridal Bouquet. There's something so special about a bouquet. I love to make them more than any other part of a Wedding. I almost always save them for last so I can really take my time and appreciate them. 2. A Flip- I LOVE when I get to flip a room from a ceremony space to a reception, in usually about an hour or so. So many people I've met hate flips. It's chaos, you have to stay during the ceremony, and it to just overall more work. However, there's something in that chaos that I just love.
3. Large Installations: I've had the opportunity to study with some truly amazing designers over the past few years, and they have truly given me a passion for large scale installations. They are my passion when it comes to this job, and if I could, I would do nothing but the big stuff.”
Photo: Sullivan & Sullivan Photography
Favorite wedding tradition?
”My favorite wedding tradition is cutting the cake. What couple doesn't want to start their life together digging into a slice of cake?”
Dream destination wedding?
”Wine Country. If I could convince my husband to move, I'd do weddings in Napa all year long!”
Francis Son Photography
For more information or to book Kirbey visit her website here!