The Wedding Industry is Made of Small Businesses with Floral Designer Marie

Bride to Have Been

In today’s world, trying to get married has become... a hot mess. So, to all the COVID brides to have been, grooms and wedding professionals: you’re not alone. Welcome to Bride To Have Been, a StudioPod original podcast hosted by Emily Lewis, with the purpose of building a community by sharing the reality of this new normal in the wedding industry. Let’s keep inspiring each other and celebrate the thing we treasure the most: love.

From social worker to full time floral designer, Marie Crick was set to have a good year in 2020. But by the time the year was over she had lost half of her weddings. Still, when Bride to Have Been host Emily Lewis sat down with Marie to talk about her experiences navigating the pandemic, her concerns seemed to lie more with her brides. “We all got our fairytale weddings, and they just got screwed,” Crick told Lewis. She also noted that her clients really took her situation into account over the last year, going out of their way to support her and other small businesses. Meanwhile she found ways to pivot her business, focusing on a video series for couples looking to make their own flower arrangements and shifting her energy into individual flower deliveries. Still, as Marie says, it’s been a stay afloat kind of year.

Jump straight into:

(02:49) - On how Marie got into floral design - “I was working as a social worker with foster kids, and as you can imagine, it was just a little bit of a stressful job. And so I used flowers at the time as a hobby, and they were kind of a healing modality for me.”

(04:48) - Trying to become a full time florist - “I was just finding flower shops and trying to apply, and they weren't impressed with my portfolio.”

(12:40) - The trouble with Pinterest boards - “Sometimes I get Pinterest boards from brides and I'm like, that's not a real flower and that's not a real flower and that's been painted and that has a humongous filter on it from the photographer. That's not what it'll actually look like.”

(17:17) - Marie’s initial response to shelter in place orders - “I had a bride call me in probably April about her September wedding, and I just thought she was goofy.”

(24:37) - Feeling empathy for COVID Brides - “I remember my wedding a few years ago and it was so much work just for one wedding that actually did happen the way that I thought it was going to.”

(28:55) - A little silver lining - “Some couples are delighted that COVID happened because it's their excuse not to invite aunt Betsy who drives them up the wall.”

Resources

Follow Laurel and Vine on Instagram

Learn more about Marie’s Wedding Flower Academy

Follow wedding photographer Regina K. Popova on Instagram

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram, don’t forget to use the #COVIDBrideTribe, and feel free to send us your COVID wedding stories. Bride To Have Been is a podcast brought to you by GiftPod and produced at StudioPod. Edits were made at Nodalab and music was produced by GaryOAKland. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with all of your fellow brides.