Meet Chelsea Smith | Floral Preservationist – Specializing in Wedding Bouquets

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chelsea Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chelsea, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Starting and owning my own business was honestly not something I ever imagined for myself. Right out of college, I started working in the public relations industry, and eventually found my way into events/weddings. I truly enjoyed working for larger companies, having amazing co-workers and having more structure and direction provided for me.

In 2020, when events and pretty much everything for that matter were on pause, I decided I needed a hobby of my own. I picked up flower pressing (and the ukulele, but that hasn’t been as successful, ha.) and I really dove in head first. I became extremely interested in learning the different methods used to preserve flowers, and began making art with the flowers I had pressed. My intention was to stick with making fun art pieces for friends and family, and then sell them online at some point. I did a few art markets that were very successful, and was really enjoying it!

I had friends and friends of friends ask me often if I would preserve their wedding flowers, and I always turned the opportunity down with the thought that it was just too much pressure to preserve such special memories from someone’s big day. The more I was asked, I slowly became more open to it. I eventually agreed to take on a few wedding bouquet projects, and it just clicked for me. It was clear to that preserving a framing wedding bouquets is what I wanted to do!

I was still working in the wedding and events industry at the time, and pressing flowers on the side. After my husband and I got married, I moved out of the city to where he lived, and it was becoming very tiring to commute to meetings, events, etc. We knew we wanted to start a family, and working for myself from home started to sound more appealing. My husband owns his own company and was very encouraging for me to take the leap and go for it! He has been my biggest supporter and I’m so grateful. I made the leap, quit my job and haven’t looked back.

We welcomed our baby boy in December of 2023, and I couldn’t be more thankful to stay home with him and still preserve floral memories for my amazing clients!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It still sounds so funny to call myself an artist! Drawing, painting and sculpting, photography, etc. has always been what comes to mind when I think of art, and I’ve never been gifted in any of these categories. However, flower preservation is an ancient art form, so I’m slowly learning to embrace the title!

There are many ways to press and preserve flowers, and I have found the traditional wooden flower pressing method to be what works best for me and my business. Flower pressing is a slow process, and can take between 8-12 weeks for the flowers to be fully preserved.

The greatest challenge with flower preservation is that the outcome of the flowers is not always consistent. So much depends on the condition of the flowers before they are loaded into the press, which is often hard to control. In addition, certain varieties of flowers take longer than others to press, and others also undergo major color changes during the pressing process as well. It’s all normal when it comes to preservation, but you have to be prepared to make adjustments as needed.

I’m constantly learning new ways to press specific flowers, and have overcome many of the challenges I experienced in my early days of pressing flowers.

As far as my brand goes, I prefer to keep it approachable and somewhat traditional when it comes to the styles I offer. However, if a bride comes to me with a specific idea for their design, I’m always open to working with them to make their vision come to life!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh, this is a fun question! In my opinion, good food and live music is the perfect recipe for a good time! I live near the Denton area, so it’s pretty easy to hop over to Fort Worth, which I think has the best vibes for someone visiting Texas, or even if they are already from Texas!

If it was a kid-free weekend, I’d kick off the festivities by lining up brunch at Hotel Drover before heading out to explore the stock yards during the day. In the evening, we’d hit up Joe T. Garcia’s for dinner and margaritas and then head out to find live music and two steppin’ at Billy Bobs!

If the kiddos were included, we’d still do brunch, but find a fun aquarium or museum to explore!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ll never pass up an opportunity to give a huge shout out to my amazing husband! He has believed in me and encouraged me to work for myself since I told him about my love for pressing flowers. Being a business owner himself, he has given me great business advice along the way. He was the push I needed to go full time with floral preservation, and I’m forever grateful. My parents have also been beyond supportive of this path I’ve taken, and I can’t thank them enough. Being surrounded by people who lift you up and keep you going is invaluable!

Website: https://www.studio89designco.com

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