Photography by Anna Smith Photography

When booking your wedding flowers and going with small businesses like ourselves, you commonly speak with the owner throughout most of your correspondences. Many times in a consult (especially my bigger weddings) potential clients will ask, "Is there anyone that helps you?". A very good and valid question. The answer is absolutely yes. There just really is no way one person can pull off every floral order alone or sustain their sanity doing so. This is where Floral Freelancers come in. 

Exactly what do they do? 

Manpower. Some orders have many components and there are just not enough hours in one day to get them all done so we have help to get the wedding complete. This helps keep us from having too many late nights (although those late nights still happen), or being too rushed- all important for sanity. Those lush and elaborate installations you see? On the actual wedding day, the team is most crucial because those designs have to be created on site in a limited amount of time so all hands on deck are important. 

Can you become a freelancer?

You do not have to be a florist or have any special training to become a freelancer. Many things can be learned as you gain experience. Just as with any job, some can be more skilled at a certain project than others. We have some freelancers that are better with designing centerpieces and some that are skilled in crafting bouquets. There are some on our team that do not do any design work at all, just provide mechanical or operations work. 

Why would anyone want this job?  

I am sure many freelancers get asked if they want to go off on their own or why they don't start their own business. I think I can speak for many that the reason they choose to work for others is for many reasons. Getting to leave work can be a glorifying thing. Business owners tend to live and breathe their work because these small business are our babies. There is still creative freedom without the paperwork, numbers, and weight of a company. When you network and gain experience within the floral world, there is the opportunity to travel for destination weddings or for other florists. Flexibility is also a great bonus. You are not tied to any one schedule so you can work as you need. 

Freelancing certainly is not your typical line of work, but something to consider if you are looking to change things up or find an outlet for your creative flow. 

If you are reading this, it is likely you follow me on social media and know that we welcomed our newest addition to our family of now four. What joy! With the holidays now over, engagement season in full swing, and now newborn life upon us, I thought I'd take a moment in all the free time I have (insert LOL emoji here) to give you a glimpse of what we have been up to. 

Images by Charla Storey Photography; Swaddle design by Alli K Design 

Two is my favorite number. I do not have a particular reason why or magic story behind it, I just like the number. So when my first baby, Liem was born on February 10 at 22:22 (military time), I found that to be pretty neat. My second, Marigold was due on December 22, but waited until January 2 to even begin her way into the world. (Birth story to come soon!) All this to say, I find 'two' to be a recurring number in my life lately. Two weeks with two under two and my goodness have we learned and discovered a few things. Many have asked how we are doing and what life is like with two littles in our house. I can say there is more exhaustion, sometimes the days and/or nights are longer and the energy seems to continue to deplete, but the love and joy in our family is in overflowing. 

Change is hard

This is one of the biggest things I have had to grasp lately. I do not do well with change in general and there has been so much for all of us. When you have your first baby you're learning how to ebb and flow with one another, how to function on little to no sleep, and just your new role of being in charge of a tiny person. With your second you have already found the rhythm with one but now you have to figure out how to keep that going smoothly while adding in another beat and sometimes, it is just hard. It is physically demanding but also very emotionally intense, especially for your first born. Learning the boundaries and how to live around a new sibling is a lot to take in and as parents we really have to be mindful of his developing heart. 

Self-care is more important than ever

I learned this late into Liem's first year as I was working and stressing my tail off with breastfeeding and being a work from home mom. It is very easy to get lost in caring for someone else that you forget about yourself. The best advice I received during my struggles was "a well nourished and mentally-sound mother is the best care a child can have" and that has resonated with me since. I realized I was focused on the wrong things and was too exhausted to even find joy in the simple things of motherhood so I had to regroup. Now with two, I do not fight as hard. Not that I am not as intentional in my parenting or health choices, I just know my limits and do what I need to do to make sure I can be of sound mind. For me this looks like adding another day in the week where Liem will go to the babysitter (although I felt so guilty at first), choosing a nap over sweeping and picking up, and simply letting myself rest. I was in such a rush to get back in the swing of things, I forgot that I just grew a human and birthed her- my body is tired and needs to recover!

Another important factor to all of my self care is my loving husband. I have to make a note of this because you guys, Adam is a true MVP. I always get to shower and dry my hair everyday as I know this can be a luxury for some. He is mostly responsible for Liem right now as I get some healing, bonding and care time with Marigold. But he has already had both children by himself so I could run an errand and he actually dared me to go and leave him- that is some confidence because I still have a bit of fear of caring for both alone! What I am saying here is that it does take teamwork and the more of it you have, the more sane you both can be. 

Just survive

A piece of advice, or motto even, that follows you through your entire parenthood. I think our parents can say that is what they did with us, and sure there are so many more resources we have nowadays but sometimes there just aren't answers and we have to just survive. Forget housekeeping, I'll just leave that at that. Lately there have been a lot of shows. Yes, shows. Those that know us know that we worked very hard to have Liem screen-free and while he is still limited, we have found that sometimes we just need our busy guy to sit still and be occupied for a few minutes so in comes the shows. Especially since our Texas weather has been so frigid lately and limiting our outside play time. Some days routines are slightly off, but we roll with it. Some days our meals consist of just berries and cheese, but we roll with it. Just survive, just survive. 

You know more than you thought you did

When we were in the hospital with Marigold, we reminisced our experience as first time parents with Liem- how timid we were, how little we knew, and just how foreign everything was. This time around we knew the different things to ask and what was really of concern and what was "normal". It was refreshing. And maybe I can say that your skin is a bit thicker. You can understand what is a true cry that needs you, or when it is just baby knowing no other way to communicate so you just let her release for a little bit. Diaper changes are autopilot mode and you know the tips and tricks to dressing a wiggly newborn. Now I like to call us "seasoned parents". 

GRACE 

And finally, grace upon grace. Allow yourself this and soak in it. Nobody is perfect and nobody requires you to be, thank goodness we get to be human and leave all the perfection to our Father. Sometimes you will stumble as we already have and it has only been two weeks. But you will just get back up and get back to dancing. 

Is life crazy with two? Well? Is life ever not crazy? All I know is that I would never trade this for anything. Are there times I miss going out on a whim with friends or impromptu date nights? Absolutely, but this is where I am at and I love it. The cuddles, the bisous (kisses), the tantrums, I will take it all. These kids keep me on my toes and teach me so much everyday, I am honored to have been placed in their lives as their Mommy. 

Down here in the South, we love our bridal portraits. Simply put, bridal portrait sessions are a Southern tradition in which you get to basically try out your wedding day look! It's typically a month or two before the wedding, and you will get all dolled up with a hair and makeup trial, wear your bridal gown, veil, jewelry, and so on, and of course, carry a portrait bouquet! A lot of the time, couples will print a few of these photos and use them at their reception. 

What I love about bridal portrait sessions is that they're basically a dress rehearsal for that aspect of the wedding day! It gives you a great opportunity to connect with your hair and makeup artist and nail down your wedding day look, at the same time as being a nice private, relaxing time as opposed to what happens on the wedding day - which is almost always chaos! You can also let loose with a little more creativity than on your wedding day. For example, for a bridal portrait session, you can go anywhere for those photos, while and on the wedding day, you'll be limited to nearby locations. Having a portrait session done also makes the timeline of the wedding day easier, because those bridal portraits have already been taken.

So why do I love bridal portraits sessions and think that you absolutely must book one? From a floral designer's perspective, it's a great opportunity for me to play with your color palette and really figure out what you want. I typically design a smaller version of your wedding day bouquet, and it's like a preview of what you're going to get - unless you want to get creative, and do something a little more fun or different for the portraits! For example, on my own wedding day, I had a soft, feminine bouquet in blush tones, but for my bridal portraits, I chose to incorporate a lot more color to have some fun.

Even better, if you want me to style your bridal session in a larger capacity, I can do that through my Design + Planning Consultations. This is a particularly great option for a bride who wants a more pampered, boutique style experience and needs help tying it together. We can go as over the top or as low key as you wish - the beauty of portrait sessions is that we have so much flexibility. Take a look at Deanna's bridal portrait session as an example- I styled it very simply with a bed of rose petals, and it took her photos from basic to a little more interesting.

Take a look at some of Kemmerley's bridal portraits from my friend Charla Storey Photography - and now you'll see why you absolutely must have bridal portraits taken!

Wedfully Yours is now booking 2018 wedding dates for floral design and coordination packages in the Dallas area, and floral design packages in the Lubbock area. Get in touch today to see if we still have your date available!

Photos by Charla Storey Photography

Hello! Can you believe the new year is approaching soon? Every year seems to fly by faster and with that said, for any of you that have recently gotten some new bling or will be soon ;) we are now booking weddings and events for 2018. We have had some of the most lovely clients this year and cannot wait for the new brides to come.

What is even more exciting is that we are expanding our services to Lubbock, Texas! If you are looking for floral design, event coordination, or wedding planning in Dallas and surrounding areas or Lubbock, we'd love to hear from you. 

We specialize in organic, natural floral design and while we love to play with color, a classic neutral palette also has our creative juices flowing. Textures are some of the most important elements of our design and we will try to source and incorporate as many interesting elements as we can to make your wedding design unique to you. We stand firm in the statement that flowers are the largest design factor for your event and we would love to be a part of it. 

Event coordination is also something we offer to couples looking to relax and enjoy the best day of their lives. Whether you have DIY-ed every detail or hired cream of the crop vendors, let us execute the plans you have carefully made and ensure your wedding flows with ease. We can promise you an incredible difference to not having a coordinator. 

  We work with clients of all budgets and sizes. We understand every couple has a vision and we feel it is our privilege to bring it to life. 

Want to book an appointment? I'd love to take some time to walk through everywhere you need flowers, hear about your vision for the wedding, and put together some gorgeous ideas for you. 2018 wedding dates are booking quickly, so please click the box below to check your date!

Our precious friend, Kara Stout photographed our whole party! 

When they say a first birthday party is for the parents and not so much for the child, it is entirely true. I enjoyed every single bit of planning for this day, maybe my most favorite event yet and even though Liem may not remember, it filled my heart with so much joy to celebrate his first year of life with our family.

There are so many ideas for children's parties, we had a lot of fun brainstorming. But we knew we had to go with The "Little Dumpling" theme since it had some special meaning behind it. Liem is half Vietnamese, so we call him our little dumpling and when I found a graphic with a dumpling sitting in a soup spoon (one of his first favorite toys), we knew that was it. 

Aren't these invites created by Pink Paper Champagne so adorable?!

Liem is obsessed with balloons. He loves to point them out and is just so enamored by them. He saw them for the first time at a life celebration and couldn't forget them, so on his birthday morning, I filled his room with balloons! He woke up so starstruck; that morning was exploding with cuteness! When the balloons lost their helium, I created this fun install on our fireplace. He loved that too! And the banner is made of the monthly photos I took of Liem, which started out so fun styling a flat lay with seasonal greens... but then he became mobile and it became a battle! Twelve month photo is still pending as I type this...

The desserts have to be my favorite part of this whole party. My friend from Layered Bake Shop created this ridiculously adorable cake, complete with no grains or sugar. How is that even a cake, you ask? She used arrowroot flour and maple syrup as substitutes, it was delicious! Then one of my best friends who loves to bake made hands down the coolest panda macarons and cookies. Not only were they super tasty, but seriously, panda macarons- all the heart eye emojis! I took a stab at baking myself and made some cake ball dumplings, let's just say baking is not profession but they are pretty cute right? :)

You can't have a dumpling party without a full spread of food and of course, dumplings! 

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Liem loved the spotlight. He also loved his own special smash cake (also sugar-free). He had never had "frosting" before so it was quite a treat! After we sang, our sweet pastor gave a beautiful dedication pledging our family and friends to helps us raise Liem in God's everlasting love. It was so special. 

We couldn't have raised this guy this far without Liem's village. They have been there with us since his day one loving on him, praying for him, and supporting us when times can get tough. I printed out pictures of each our guests holding Liem when they met him the first time to take home. I loved going back through those photos! 

We then played a traditional Vietnamese game for first birthday parties. We bring out a tray filled with items to represent different professions and the guests take guesses on what the child will choose. Liem chose a thermometer so I guess he'll be a doctor :)

Liem is one lucky boy to receive all of the fun and thoughtful gifts he did! That ball tracker, was and still is a hit! 

In the first year, there are so many "firsts" so I can see how this celebration can be important to a parent. Time seems to stop and fly by at the same time, it's hard to keep up! I am certain that having children is by far one of the most exhilarating joys I could ever experience. When I reflect back on the year, I can definitely say there are moments I have forgotten just out of pure exhaustion, but so many precious memories that will be etched on my heart forever. I am so thankful God has put me in this little dumpling's life to be his Mommy! 

To all of the friends and family that came to celebrate with us, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are grateful everyday that we get to call you all family. A special thank you to my amazing industry friends that contributed, it is such a sweet perk to have you all in our village!