Monday: The Weekend Cleanup
Monday mornings in the studio are fueled by caffeine and the remnants of the delicious baked goods Vince made for the team the week before. The first task is always to assess the mountain of flowers and inventory that has returned from the weekend events. Dana and Jorge sort and count while Shay starts on the seemingly endless washing of vases. Any salvageable floral is repurposed into decor for the office so they can have a second life here. Our management team takes the day to have meetings and work on planning for the upcoming week. By the end of the day the studio is a clean slate – at least until tomorrow!
Tuesday: The Great Flower Marathon
Tuesday is all about processing flowers. The flowers arrive from the wholesaler and the floral team gets to work counting and organizing each box by type, color, and event. It’s a multi-event week so it’s all hands-on deck for processing. Jorge, Pam, Mary and Jacek meticulously groom each flower and give the stems a fresh cut so they can live their best life until the party. Before you know it, we’re knee deep in foliage and the floral cooler is now a jungle packed to the brim. Vince is brainstorming new designs; Kirsten is working on floral recipes and Dana is packing votives and vases. Kara and Emma take a break from planning and accounting to help with ironing the drapes for this weekends events.
Wednesday: Building the Foundation
Wednesday is when the parties really start to form. Foundations are made for the floral containers and arrangements are made for our mid-week deliveries. Vinyl and graphics are being applied for the Mitzvahs and the new custom floral ceiling installation for this weekend’s wedding gets the finishing touches out in the warehouse. We take a break for our weekly pipeline meeting where we go over new inquiries and details of each upcoming event then it’s back to the circus! Vince and Emma are meeting with a new bride and her family this afternoon while the rest of the team is in total design mode.
Thursday: Creative Chaos
By Thursday, the studio is in full creative swing. Tables are covered in flowers, glue guns, spray paint and graphics. It’s a miracle anyone finds anything in the chaos, but somehow, spectacular centerpieces and creations start to emerge. There’s a constant soundtrack of upbeat music, laughter, and the occasional expletive when someone inevitably burns themselves with the glue gun or pokes themselves on a missed rose thorn. Meanwhile, Kara, Mary and Jorge are on site at Morgan Manufacturing preparing for our first event of this marathon week: the Chicago High School for the Arts Kerfuffle Annual Fundraiser.
Friday: The Final Stretch
Friday is the day for finishing touches. Bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages are crafted with attention to every detail. This is also when the team practices their Tetris skills, packing every last vase, votive, cylinder and candle onto carts and flatbeds with precision. There are so many flowers they have ran out of room in our cooler! They’ve resorted to turning the a/c way up making the entire studio the perfect climate for thriving blooms while the humans bundle up. Last minute Amazon packages arrive and the team runs through their checklists to make sure everything is ready to go for the big weekend! At the end of the day Emma and Vince meet at the Chicago History Museum to set up a party for the Jewish United Fund and Jorge delivers flowers for a rehearsal dinner at The Dalcy.
Saturday: Showtime!
Saturday is game day. The entire team is out in the field. We divide and conquer based on the skills and designs needed for each event. With the help of our delivery crew, Lex Logistics, we kick off the day at 7 am orchestrating a dance of carts and flowers from in the studio onto each delivery truck. The first to begin is a wedding at Morgan Manufacturing with Jamie Boton. The next truck is on its way to the Chicago Cultural Center with Lauren Bowles and our very own SaVANnah makes her maiden voyage to Ravenswood Event Center to meet Beth Chiet. It’s a whirlwind of activity: arranging flowers, setting tables, and making sure everything looks perfect. They work in sync like a well-oiled machine, even when faced with unexpected challenges, like a typical Chicago weather change or a mysteriously missing tool. The satisfaction of seeing their hard work come to life is worth all the stress and hard work. By the end of the day, they’re running on adrenaline and sheer determination and somehow Vince miraculously makes himself available at every party to personally meet each client.
And thus, the week in the studio of an event and floral design business comes full circle. A blend of chaos and creativity, exhaustion and exhilaration, proving that in this line of work, every day is an adventure.