Fleur Biz: Restructure

How formal does that sound? Ok fine, maybe just the last word. I know it is very corporate of me.

Alright so here is the deal, clearly I am a small business owner. If we haven't met, hi, I'm Kimberly. I am awful at punctuation and I don't have any plans in the near future to work on this skill so sorry in advance. I take a million and a half awful and awkward photos of myself holding flowers and 99% of the time crop my face out. That's my face below. So there ya go, don't expect to see much of it again. Oh and I am the owner of this weird little floral company called The Dainty Lion. And no there is no special meaning behind the name (more on this topic at a later date). And yes I understand that is a terrible answer. 

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What is up with all this rambling? 

 

The rambling is a direct result of me needing to make my life easier. Being a business owner is hard. Being a florist is not always fun and pretty flowers. Spending every moment of my life being consumed by my business is not healthy. I miiiight look like a 16 year old but I am quickly approaching 29, thinking about babies more than I thought I would and decided I need to get a handle on everything before I have more real life responsibilities. That gives me roughly 1-1.5 years  to get my shit together (/before baby making- not baby birthing- just so we are clear on this mom because you are probably reading this). Anyways, THIS is a way to hold myself accountable. Publicly. On my own website and on my own terms. haha Let's consider it my no bullshit policy on owning my business {instead of it owning me}  and loving it all while having a life and enjoying it. 

I LOOOOOOVE my job. So much so it would probably make people uncomfortable if they really knew how much. Somehow I made it this far without really creating a structured business with schedules and all that jazz. Yay for creative brains! To sum it all up I am going to be mostly thinking out loud about various aspects of my business, creating structure for myself and hopefully growing this thing into what I always wanted it to be. Who knows maybe someone will feel relief that they are in the same boat or MAYBE someone will have figured this all out a help a sista out. jk I got this.

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First up. Going back to basics. 

If you are like me chances are you began your business with all these wonderful ideas and hopes of what it would become. And then as you started booking jobs you lost some of your focus because WHO HAS THE TIME?? Personally, I found it incredibly difficult to juggle e-mails, proposal writing, flower market runs,  managing and creating content for social media, consultations, meetings, event prep, actual design days, actual event days, clean-up, eating regular meals, getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night, trying to keep up with the cool kids ANNNND I haven't even mentioned the business end of things. I focused all my energy on my creative side which led me down this wormhole. So yes, this girl needs to revisit the core of what I want my business to be and that will be first on my list. 

 

Phew. The into is over. More to come soon.

 

 

 

Bernardo Winery Bridal Shower

Dreamiest shower of all time.

To La Lune Events knows how to design one heck of a party. I mean Christy is just insane when it comes to design. Not only did Lindsay have Christy but one of her best friends Brittany to plan her one of the most thoughtful showers. 

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Photography: Jen Wojcik Photography // Planning + Design: To La Lune Events // Flowers: The Dainty Lion // Calligraphy: Designs By Laney // Rentals: Adore Folklore + Hostess Haven // Venue: Bernardo Winery

Moniker Warehouse

I really really love this shoot. A lot. Every vendor involved brought it. So much color, so much pretty. Featured on Inspired By This. 

Photography: Plum and Oak Photo //  Florals: The Dainty Lion Floral Co. // Rentals: Pow Wow Design Studio // Dresss: Elle Bridal Boutique // Videography: Audry Alba Films // Invitations + Paper Goods: Samantha Louise Designs // Catering + Cocktails: Waters Catering //Planning : Samantha Louise Moments // Candles: Often Wander

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Pretty good stuff huh? A forever favorite. Also, can we talk about what an amazing talent Plum and Oak Photo is? 

Floral Tidbits

There are always so many floral happenings going on. If you follow us on Instagram @thedaintylionfloralco you have probably seen most of these BUT I figured I would start to show more behind the scenes action too.

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After our Dunes shoot (check out previous blog post) Michelle Lillywhite Photography, Samantha Louise Moments (dreamboats I tell ya- both of them) and I teamed up to showcase this stunner of ensemble from Show Me Your Mumu. We were hoping to have the dress for the dunes shoot but the postal service decided to throw us for a bit of a loop. Luckily Mrs. Lillywhite suggested we do a quickie shoot the next day- since the dress was currently sitting on her doorstep as we were 3 hours away playing in the sand.  So from sand to sea we adventured and in my opinion made some extra special magic. Green Wedding Shoes featured this lovely session. 

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Alley photos before bouquet makings.

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Ooooooook. If you haven't checked out Jarrod J Photo yet, you should. He is the real deal people. I LOOOVE the photos he took of this sweet little number whipped up.

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Flowers have magical powers and I can prove it. I was at the flower market for a meeting and as I was about to leave I had the strongest feeling that I needed to go back inside and purchase the most rad flowers I could find and make something spectacular. I then decided to call one of my favorite people Kate from Beau and Arrow Events to ask if it was alright if I stopped by. I told her that I randomly decided I NEEDED to make a bouquet and asked if she could snap a photo (keep in mind I had never before called on her to take a bouquet photo for me) and because she is the best she obliged. Come to find out she had just gotten engaged two days earlier and I was the first person to see her ring in person! Ta-da the bouquet was meant for her. It drew me to her. Flowers contain actual magic = point proven.

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I've said it before and I will say it again, if you find a good photographer (or in my case a number of great ones) hold on tight and never let go. By Amy Lynn Photography is one of the first photographers I connected with and SHE, well she is still one of my most favorite ever. She ran around North Park with Samantha and I while we were being giant weirdos, frolicking and not caring what anyone thought of us.

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Alrighty, well this might be enough random blogging for now. Do check in again because this will probably become a thing.

Dunes Photoshoot

THIS project. I just love it so much. After traveling just a few miles short of the Arizona boarder we found the most magical dunes along the side of the road which seemed to be patiently waiting for us. Through the heat we created, walked countless steps along the sand- carrying heavy furniture, digging holes, hoping the flowers would hold up. After a long day in the desert sun, after we had packed up all their cars we lost a set of keys and had to dismantle the truck carrying the furniture in the dark. Tired and hungry we found the keys and drove to nearest In-n-Out and scarfed down absurd amounts of food. It was all worth it. I learned that I wouldn't mind being stuck in the desert with these folks either.

Featured on Green Wedding Shoes! Planning + Design: Samantha Louise Moments Photography: Michelle Lillywhite Photography Flowers: The Dainty Lion Dress: The Dress Theory Jewelry: Simply Kasia Paper Goods: Samantha Louise Designs Hair: Fox and Parlor Rentals: Witty Rentals Make-up: Shelby McElroy

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Samantha Louise Moments dreamed up and created this entire ceremony structure all on her own. Talk about talent. When Samantha has a vision it is best to let it happen because it is going to be glorious. And my goodness was this creation a beaut.

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