I didn’t grow up loving fresh-cut flower arrangements. In fact, I’ve always mostly thought they were a poor choice for a gift because they die so quickly and they make more work for the receiver who has to water them and care for them.
That is until I met florist, Lauren Sorden of Blue Posy Floral Design.
You think I’m kidding or exaggerating, but I’m not. For our first six months, to one year of HeartStories Girls Night Out, I would cut wildflowers and drop them in little Edison bulb vases on each of the tables. Voila! We had flowers! But when Kelly Simants temporarily joined the team to elevate the entire experience, my wildflower dreams quickly transformed into the fresh-cut professional floral arrangements. They were stunning, but I knew they weren’t sustainable without a long-term floral partner.
That’s when I met Lauren.
Not only did she begin creating stunning displays for Girls Night Out, but I also watched her teaching floral workshops for in-home GNOs. In her photos, I saw rooms of laughing girlfriends arranging flowers in pumpkins, mason jars, and anything else she dreamed up. She gathered women around flowers, but it was a beautiful image of connection. It was creative, joyful and fun. Almost immediately, we hosted her as our Featured Guest for a floral-arranging girls night out and it was a sell-out success! The ladies loved it.
We couldn’t squeeze enough chairs in the room.
That’s when I learned to love flowers. Because now, they’re so much more than dying plants. They’re a tangible reminder of life, creativity, joy, laughter, and fun. Since that first class, we’ve been creative with hosting different versions of her floral workshops for Girls Night Out, at least once a year. And they always sell out. As soon as we decided to host another one of her workshops in March, I started researching, because I wanted it to be unique and unlike anything we’d done before. When I saw floral crown workshops, I knew this was exactly our kind of girls night activity! (And, of course, because I wanted to tie in the fun of St. Paddy’s Day, we’re adding clover to the crowns.)
Because it wasn’t just about the flowers.
