Can you believe it is almost 2021?! As much as everyone is ready to leave 2020 in the past, we wanted to reflect on some of the amazing things that happened in 2020 at Life in Bloom. Thanks for following along this year with the few (but stunning) weddings we had, our emergence back into landscaping and some incredible life events.
Start to the Year
The beginning of 2020 was great, we produced two gorgeous February weddings: one at Mae District and one at The Langham. We even produced an event with the most centerpieces in Life in Bloom history for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. The event was at McCormick Place with over 500 centerpieces!
Hardships
March brought the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hearts broke for our clients who, one after another, had to make the difficult decision to postpone or cancel their weddings. April of 2020 was probably one of the most emotionally challenging months of our lives.
Fortunately, we got creative and found some fun ways to keep ourselves busy and devoted ourselves to using this time to better our company all around. From a brand perspective down to our systems and processes. We spent those spring and early summer months fine-tuning the way we do everything! And of course, we still found plenty of excuses to play with flowers.
Life in Bloom Landscapes
In April, as wedding after wedding got postponed, we knew we needed to do something to keep cash flow going and keep our employees busy. So we went back to our roots. Nearly 9 years ago, when we started Life In Bloom, we began as a company that offered two services: 1) Floral Design for events, and 2) Container Gardening.
When the events side of our business really took off in 2014, we turned our focus and attention there. But with restrictions on events, we knew it made sense to breathe some life back into that branch of our business again. And boy was it refreshing! It gave us something to look forward to and allowed us to play with flowers in a new way again. Thank you to all of those who reached out to get us through a challenging time! We are looking forward to more container gardening in the years to come!
Flower Truck
In June, we teamed up with Northern Caravan Co. and sold flower arrangements and plants out of their brand new caravan along Southport Corridor. All proceeds were donated to Black Lives Matter organization. It was fun to see so many people and brighten their days with fresh cut-flowers again. Even Clark got to join in on some of the fun!
Late Summer & Fall Weddings
In late summer and fall, we produced 7 gorgeous weddings. Spirits were high, masks were on and flowers were plentiful! We produced 3 tent weddings and worked at the following venues for intimate weddings: Deer Path Inn, The Fairlie, Loft Lucia and Ivy Room’s courtyard. The Ivy Room intimate wedding has already been featured on Martha Stewart Weddings!
Natalie Rose Jung
Tim & Rachel welcomed Natalie Rose Jung to the world on August 6th, 2020. And within 10 Days of being born, Natalie helped out on her first wedding install and she did great! She provided some much needed encouragement and constructive criticism.
Becoming parents has been one of the most fun adventures that we have embarked upon yet. We can’t wait to watch her grow and spend much of her early years waddling around the floral studio learning flower types and proper techniques and mechanics 🙂
When it Rains, it POURS
After nearly 6 months of no events due to Covid-19, on August 8th, we finally had a wedding. But we didn’t just have one wedding; we had three! When it rains, it pours. And all while Tim & Rachel were in the hospital waiting to bring home Natalie Rose. With both of them out the entire week, our team still continued to execute perfectly!
Our first of three weddings was a simple drop-off of personal flowers (bouquets and boutonnieres) for a client who chose to get married this year but postpone their reception to next year. Then we had a 50 person wedding at Loft Lucia full of ombre colored floral runners and the most gorgeous rooftop wedding ceremony you have ever seen! All the while, our other team was setting up a small courtyard wedding at The Ivy Room for an intimate 10-person wedding, which ended up being featured in Martha Stewart Weddings!
Here are some I-phone photos from our Loft Lucia Wedding. This wedding is being submitted for publication so we cannot yet share the professional photos. Also, check out the rendering we did before hand… It’s such an incredible feeling to see the vision brought to life so well!
Tented Weddings
As mentioned before, just ten days after Natalie was born, we had a very elaborate wedding install at a private residence in the North Shore. This client LOVED flowers and we were so excited to be able to bring their vision to life and to get to do what we love again! Photos of the wedding (by Studio This Is) are below and you can see more of their wedding here.
The second tented wedding was in September in Indiana. This wedding was originally supposed to be at Morgan Manufacturing, but with the uncertainty around Covid-19 restrictions, the couple opted to host their wedding at the bride’s family property just outside of Indianapolis.
Our team drove 3.5 hours to the property, did their thing, and drove 3.5 hours back, all in one very long day. But it was very worth it for the sweetest couple ever and to be able to produce one of the most unique and original floral palettes we’ve had the chance to work with! (Dried pampas grass, bunny tail, feather reed grass, bleached ruscus, bleached fern, panicled hydrangea, mauve and taupe blooms, and more). We are still waiting for additional photos from the professional photographer but for now, enjoy these previews:
Professional Photos by: Shannon Lee Miller
While team #1 was in Indianapolis that day, team #2 was up in Lake Forest for another tented wedding at another private estate. The historic property was gorgeous and while it rained on and off for much of the day, it did not stop us from doing our thing, and luckily the rain stopped right before the wedding started!
The ceremony was held in an intimate garden setting on the opposite side of the property from the tented reception. The reception consisted of all rectangle tables full of chinoiserie vessels and punches of citrus all beneath a ceiling of smilax and delphinium. While we do have professional photos back of this wedding, it too is currently being submitted for publication, so unfortunately we cannot yet share the beautiful photos by Brittany Bekas. So our amateur work-in-progress photo will have to suffice for now:
Last Wedding of 2020 at Fairlie Chicago
Our last real wedding of the year was in October at a newer venue in the city called Fairlie Chicago. The couple really embraced the colors of fall and let us go crazy with some really fun floral installations including a chuppah, a floral chandelier, and the most gorgeous suspended escort card focal you’ve even seen! It was the perfect end to a strange but beautiful year, and yes, Natalie got to help out (just a little bit) on this wedding as well! 😀
2021 Preview
With 2020 in the rearview mirror, here is some of what is on the horizon for us in 2021. SO. MUCH. PRETTY. Enjoy and see you all next year!
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