What do you mean you don’t take custom orders???  Why can’t I just book you??

I get inboxed a version of this question almost daily – and I forget that some people are new to my page/biz and don’t know my story,  so i have added it to my first blog post. 

I’ve been toying with the idea of a blog for awhile. Not just because every business course/coach/guru says that I need one, but because I wanted a little place I can still connect with people and allow them to know me, to choose words with more abandon and less measure than a hashtag set, and to create a road map I can look back on  for the life of my little biz, and all my big ideas. 

So the nerd in me totally googled “what should I put in my first blog post?” and the answers were quite contradictory but I did find a common thread – I should answer the following two things – who the hell am I – and what can you expect to hear from me.   So here goes..   

Things about me…

Why the shop and not custom orders? Here is my why..

In 2017 Oscar had a tough year, and was diagnosed Aspergers/ High function Autistic with lots of anxiety issues. During that period my husbands work saw him having to work away weekdays. It was supposed to be for a few weeks – it ended up being 9.5 months. At the same time my biz kind of exploded and I somehow found myself having bookings for over 70 weddings.  Cue the perfect storm…  Deadlines and stock orders and therapy appointments and assessments, tears and meltdowns (and not just from Oscar!) between September and new years i went to 29 medical appointments with my patient and brave little guy.– it was a crazy ride.  My brides were beautifully supportive – and many dubbed me a super mum – but to be honest I just felt like a shit mum. 

I absolutely love what I do – the creativity, the hunt for new supplies, the amazingly women I have met and the beautiful images they have shared. I just needed a way for it to better fit my slightly complicated life. I had also discovered a pattern, that if a bride trusted me enough to choose the looks and florals from what I knew went together best in artificial form then the end result was also so much better than trying to imitate a fresh bouquet from a picture they had found from Pinterest.  So, even though I have had to turn down a CRAZY amount of custom bookings – the store just felt like the right answer. It allows flexibility to choose amazing materials and design what I have learned works , to work like a mad woman when times are calm – and have the ability to slow down when they are not and set up strong foundations to grow my biz at a sustainable pace.

When will you hurry up and add more designs???

Talking of pace – you may have noticed that I am off to a slow start – which is also intentional.  Aside from my Instagram – which I am actually finally getting into, I haven’t advertised in over a year including posting on any bride groups. I have more product to add and a few more things to get into place before I really kick things off. I have some exciting things going on behind the scenes which I cant announce just yet – but I can let you know that I have been really getting into home/vase arrangements and will definitely be adding some to store soon. 

So what can you expect to hear from me?

I promise I won’t ramble on quite this much in future posts – in fact a lot of what I want to share is some of the awesome content I am collating over on my Pinterest boards – I have wedding boards by colour and location ideas, bridesmaid proposal tips, and local food trucks info – and stuff I totally wish I had found/thought of for my wedding (i’m old, my wedding was pre-Pinterest gah!). (you can follow my Pinterest here…)

I also want to share some faux floristry tips for ‘diy’ers – as I am completely self taught and my early mistakes can save you from making some.  I’ll share any sale stock I have – as I plan to make some as time allows.  

And i’ll possibly share a little life – business and mojo material, mumming, and my next crazy to dream to buy a seriously bad old caravan and spend a year doing her up tiny house style (my husband is a carpenter and I am obsessed with pinterest – dangerous combination.)  Anyway – there you have it – my first “non perfect but done” blog post.

I told myself not to write anything self deprecating like “if you made it to the end well done” – but seriously, if you did, high 5 you!  Drop me a comment if you want to ease an introverts nerves, or or for fellow biz mums – i’d love to hear your ‘why’…

Amanda 🙂

p.s – I know my font sizes are a little weird – if any word press gurus wish to tell me why I can’t get them consistent although they are set the same that would be tops! Meh – technology hurts my brain.