After a year in flux, the events industry has come storming back this year in a way that we haven’t seen in our lifetime and Life In Bloom Floral & Event Design experienced its busiest year to date. We had the opportunity to add some fabulous new members to our team, we added some really fun new pieces of inventory to our already stunning collection, and with it came a new office. Today, we are excited to take a look back at this past year, and to share some exciting news pertaining to the growth and development of Life In Bloom.
CHALLENGES OF 2021
After a year of small gatherings and “micro-weddings”, cancellations and postponements, trying to guess when events would be allowed to resume was a real struggle as we always had to be prepared to go from zero to sixty at the drop of a hat. Whether that was staffing or ordering, we were constantly waiting until the last minute to minimize risks/losses from any last minute postponements. And when things finally returned to “normal” in May, it was GO time! We went from having 2 small events in April to having 14 large events in June. Fortunately, we had just hired two rock-stars in Tori Terzakis and Erin Sellers to join our team. As Rachel and Erin McLoraine were buried in two years’ worth of weddings crammed into 8 months, Erin and Tori took on a majority of our new business during those busy months… all while being trained and learning completely new systems!
And then in late summer came the “Great Flower Shortage of 2021”. With the cancellation of events, many floral growers switched to planting other crops in 2021. That coupled with the fact that there were more events than ever happening in such a short period of time on a global level, the supply chain was completely out of wack! And it wasn’t just flowers. The shortages extended to designer foam, design trays, spray paints, and all other types of materials that we’ve never once thought twice about being readily available. I honestly have so much appreciation for all of our wholesale reps who worked so hard over the last several month to deliver the best they could. Fortunately, our horticultural expertise really came in handy as we made creative switches and reached out to more obscure growers to make up for many shortcomings of our usual channels and in the end, there wasn’t one supply issue that we were unable to fix through creative thinking. And THAT is what you get when you hire a team of professionals!
LIFE IN BLOOM FLORAL & EVENT DESIGN ACHIEVEMENTS
Despite all of the challenges, it was quite a successful year for the entire Life In Bloom floral & event design team! In total, we produced 86 weddings so far with two left on NYE). Baring no surprises on NYE, it is safe to say we will have had 88 THRILLED clients! We worked with a handful of new planners and vendor partners this year and I am extremely excited for the future of the Chicago Events Industry. We do our best work when we collaborate, and there are so many valuable partners that helped make our events so spectacular this year. Frost, Festive Frog, Elegant Event Lighting, Luxe Productions, Blue Peak Tents, Northern Decor, Bowery & Bash, BBJ Linen, and Tablescapes to name a few.
EVENT RENDERINGS – “BEFORE & AFTER”
One of the elements of our design process that we take great pride in here at Life In Bloom is our photo-realistic renderings. And with so many wonderful events this year, it was fun to see some truly spectacular visions come to life! Sometimes the vision changes a lot from initial concept to final execution, and that’s okay. But it sure is fun to see a perfect before-after translation. Check out some of our favorites from this past year, below!
Life In Bloom Floral & Event Design 2021 Photos
Before we look back, it’s good to look forward. And there is so much to look forward to about this coming year including our biggest event to date happening this April! We cannot WAIT to show you all of the work that we have been doing behind the scenes! Additionally, we are excited to announce that we are adding two new full time employees to the Life In Bloom Floral & Event Design team. Luke and Lily (our summer intern) will both be joining our creative production team starting early 2022. If you haven’t met them yet, we can’t wait for you to meet them both on some job making magic happen!
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