Peonies And Micro-Weddings: An Interview With Laura Union of Lux and Union Floral Design
“ I get to do really elaborate things on a small scale with micro-weddings. It’s kind of every florist’s dream.”
Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Laura Union, owner of Lux & Union, about the state of the union in her floral design business (yes, I said it, pun intended, and no, I’m not sorry about it.)
Lux & Union is a creative floral design studio based in Charleston, South Carolina. Specializing in wedding and special event designs, founded by Laura, a Charleston native, she prides herself on her knowledge of the low country- it's delightful traditions, charming people, and gorgeous backdrops. I met Laura while working together on Maura and Luke's incredible wedding at Runnymede Plantation; you can check out her amazing work in their video here.
So Laura, looking at your floral design business, what changed for your business going through COVID-19?
Well, everything. The main change is having to just be way more flexible and kind of venture into scary territory. And what I mean by that before COVID-19, as a wedding florist, you have everything confirmed a month out-- the client has paid in full, you know exactly what flowers you're going to order, you know everything leading up to the day. But now, with COVID-19 weddings, what's happening is two weeks later, a wedding client calls and says 20 people aren't coming and asks, "Can you cut three tables?"
“You have to look at it like a consumer because, well, I guess you don’t have to, but I choose to because I couldn’t stand to pay for something that I’m not going to need. Weddings are so expensive. So if I can help somebody save money, they’re going to feel better in general, not just about their flowers, but about the whole experience, I’m for it.”
So big changes I've made in my floral design business in this COVID-19 wedding planning era are pushing back finalizing table counts, guests count, and final payment to the absolute brink. Usually, two weeks out is when I have to know what we're doing. I know that helps couples out a bunch.
It's super scary for me because if, for whatever reason, their payment doesn't come in on that day, I can't guarantee that their flowers will be on time, but I just don't really have the heart to be like, I'm sorry. You know, you were having a 100 person wedding, and that's what you're going to pay for. So as a wedding vendor you in this time, you have to be way more flexible and be uncomfortable alongside your clients while they figure out exactly what's going on.
Shelby: What happens if there is a last-minute change in plans, are the flowers ruined?
Laura: Well, things have to change sometimes -- if it's too late and I've ordered flowers, and I find out a wedding client is down three tables, it's like, okay, well, I'm going to make you a really big altarpiece because you've paid for all these flowers and they're just going to die in my shop if I don't use them. Even if that adds a little work to the day for me, I mean, I can't decide if it's a good or bad business strategy to look at it as a consumer because it certainly doesn't benefit me to do it that way, but I just can't help but try to help. I'm really not in this to build an empire; I just love what I do as a wedding florist. I'm happy to help how I can.
What floral design wedding trends have blossomed in this COVID-19 era? Any that you love?
Yes! It's the most obvious one; tiny weddings! Things are way smaller now, but before COVID-19, I have always loved micro-weddings. There's something extra special about them. I don't know if it's because you're literally more intimately crammed into a smaller space, or it's like, "Hey, these are the 30 people that mean the most to us." At micro-weddings, there's something enchanting. Everybody gets to walk around with a particular title, has a great connection to the bride and groom, and feel really special that they're celebrating the couple. There's an energy about micro-weddings that feels charged with extra magic or something.
What's been REALLY fun as a wedding florist is usually when a couple is doing a micro-wedding, in addition to many other things, they're not looking to spend a ton, you know, they've chosen not to do a really big lavish wedding, but with COVID you still have clients that have a budget. They're just having to cut everything back.
So as a wedding florist I get to do really elaborate things on a small scale with micro-weddings. It's kind of every florist's dream. You get to use nicer flowers; you get to really make something extra ornate because it's the only piece they're paying for.
A wedding client may just put a thousand dollars into an altar, which is like, "Oh, that's a florist's dream," but with a huge wedding, with a ton of tables and all this stuff, they're just going to put a couple hundred in the alter. Cause you only use it for 30 minutes and blah, blah, blah. So it's been really fun to have tiny weddings with a normal-sized budget. And you know, as a florist, you don't have to spread yourself so thin because you don't have 25 centerpieces to make. So you get to really spend time and effort and a little extra bit of that budget on nicer flowers and a prettier display. And I just think it's the most fun. I don't know if every wedding florist feels that way. I'm a quality over quantity kind of a person myself.
Are there any particular kinds of flowers that come to mind that you're having so much fun playing with this next season that don't always get to make the roster?
Well, you know, peonies are such a popular flower, but they are really expensive. So it's fun to be able to incorporate those. There are lots of different varieties of peonies as well as garden roses, which look similar. There are standard roses, and there are garden roses. So it's fun to get to use those more expensive blooms. Even though, you know, for a normal-sized wedding that has a really good budget, you'd probably tuck them in there, but somebody who's doing a really small wedding probably expecting to have standard roses-- and I get to sneak in some peonies or something special. I love sneaking in things that a wedding client isn't expecting to see.
“Peonies are such a treat.”
Peonies are such a treat; they're just so expensive. And it's such a shame because it's such a great flower, both because they're gorgeous, but they're also really large, you know, you don't need as many of them, but you know, I could talk about specific flowers all day. I will spare you.
Have you always been interested in flowers, or was that something you fell in love with while working in your first florist job?
I have always loved them. My dad's mom was what's called a floral master judge. She made flower arrangements and was a judge at all of the floral shows, and it's I don't know a ton about it cause it's kind of an old lady thing, but it's a big deal in the old lady world.
My other grandmother, on the other side, always grew camellias and roses. I was around them as a kid, and I loved them. And before I ever dreamed of actually going and getting a job for a florist, I would joke that I just wanted to have a piece of land and grow flowers. I still want that, although now I want chickens and bees and cows.
Do you have a backyard or a mini garden for yourself?
I do! My family is from James Island, and I'm born and raised here - I have a house with a good-sized backyard on James Island- It's super shady, though. So we can't grow much. But just this past year, we started attempting to grow a few vegetables. Mostly out of spite-- my husband told me I couldn't do it. So, of course, I had to take on the challenge. My husband came home from work one day, and there was a garden bed with plants.
[Laughing] It was a lot of fun. We call it the spite garden.
“We call it the spite garden.”
What’s something you're bringing into 2021 that you didn't have coming into 2020?
You know, that's a really difficult question, but the only thing that feels different about this year is that I have sort of contentedly decided to sort of, how do I say it-- I'm just sort of letting things play out. Normally I have a plan. I have all of these things that I want to try to do, and I have expectations, and I just don't have any of them this year. It's been really liberating because I don't feel like I have a daunting financial goal that I have to meet. I'm just trying to help everybody who just so desperately wants to have a wedding. I am really lucky because my husband has a job that can support our household, and many people don't have that luxury.
“Normally I have a plan. I have all of these things that I want to try to do, and I have expectations, and I just don’t have any of them this year. It’s been really liberating because I don’t feel like I have a daunting financial goal that I have to meet. I’m just trying to help everybody who just so desperately wants to have a wedding.”
But I'm able this year to just sort of let it ride. I'm going to assume that this year will be like my second year in business, where I have a handful of really lovely clients. And you know, maybe next year we can go back to really like stacking up the weddings. But it's, to be honest, I'm taking this as an easy year. I'm going to do my best when I have a wedding. I'm not going to stress. If I don't have anything booked, it's just the situation that we're in right now. And I could drive myself crazy and make myself sick about trying to meet goals that I have no control over anymore. I don't know if that's a good attitude to have, but that's where I'm at.
Shelby:
I love it, though, because that really resonates for me as well! I keep joking and telling all of my wedding friendors, "I'm kicking it back to 2017!" I'm dropping the expectation of the momentum - and the pressure I put on myself of, "You're in your fifth year of business and, you know, coming into these milestones, you should be scaling to X and be bringing in Y amount of revenue for your Z year in business." I think as an entrepreneur - I've really struggled with beating myself up with these kinds of financial and goal-setting expectations.
Laura:
Yeah, it's awful. And like the worst part of it is like, it'd be one thing to beat yourself up about it if you dropped the ball, but this [global pandemic] isn't anybody's fault, and there's literally nothing you can do about it. Like, I've already got people for this coming November that are kind of thinking about canceling. And it's like, that is so far from now. And I would probably wait, so I can't blame clients in this position sometimes. I mean, maybe as a couple, you just want to get on with your life and have a courthouse wedding or elopement. So I will, like you say, we're going backward this year. And the part of me that wants to have a farm-- thinks that this is wonderful; there's too much speed in the pace we live our lives. There's too much pressure. I've always believed that the world needs to slow down a little, and this is certainly not how I would've had it happen. But I think in many ways, it's good for some people to take a breather; recollect, go with the flow for a little while and liberate themselves from a rigid schedule-- and then get back to it when it makes sense to do so.
Shelby:
That's so beautiful. This time in our lifetimes can be a little heart check. I know I tend to be a very fiery-natured person. I'm perpetually chomping at the bit for the pace of life to resume to what it was before COVID-19. Like, "Okay, I sat around this summer, and I picked up my hobbies -- I wrote, I painted, I created, and now I'm ready to go." And it's like, COVID-19 is a VIBE -- it's about being in the interim of the unknown and doing your best to stay in it, with as much ease as is humanly possible, anyway.
Laura:
Well, and it's very hard to do nothing. I mean, as Americans, we're all wired to wake up and be productive. And so it's really difficult to say, well, I've answered all my emails, I guess I'm going to go for a walk...I feel guilty! I don't know about you, but the daytime is like a no-no to have free time-- because there's daylight and you should be mowing the lawn... doing something productive. I have read so many books in the last year and a half, which I'm thrilled about, but the other half of me is like, this is just a testament to how little I've done. I guess it's that constant devil and angel on your shoulder. But I think that's the world we live in right now.
Shelby:
I mean, what if we lived in like a Latin American culture in South America where they have siestas every day, you know? What then? American culture is so about the PUSH! Drive! Success! Profit! Minimize loss!
We're so achievement-focused versus, in your case - you enriched your world from reading and going into stories; who knows what that could show up as in your creative work with floral design when your imagination is fed?
Laura:
Well, actually, totally unrelated. I wrote a book last year during the quarantine. But I don't know what else to with it. [Laughing] I had the free time, and I love to tell stories. So I just wrote them all down, and well... there's something I did. My dad has always joked that I was born in the wrong country and I should live in Italy, where they take four hours off in the afternoon to go for walks. I always respond with, "Dad, that sounds perfect to me! I don't know why you're making fun of me!"
“My dad has always joked that I was born in the wrong country and I should live in Italy, where they take four hours off in the afternoon to go for walks. I always respond with, “Dad, that sounds perfect to me! I don’t know why you’re making fun of me!””
How do you emotionally cope with wedding cancellations? What practical stuff keeps you feeling calm?
Shelby:
You mentioned the wedding couple in November that's already contemplating canceling their wedding. This is a new trend we're all having to maneuver as wedding videographers, photographers, planners, entertainers, and florists. So how do you emotionally cope with cancellations? What practical stuff keeps you feeling calm? You said you tend to be a little nervous sometimes. So what has worked for you, from one neurotic squirrel of a human to another?
Laura:
Well, I always start my day with a cup of coffee or tea, and I start my day with some prayers, and I really like to focus on things that I'm grateful for. Which sounds kind of hokey. I tend to scoff at people that act like, "Oh, I'm just so peaceful, nothing's wrong, I'm so blessed." I laugh at that, but it really helps to wake up in the morning and be like, okay, look where I woke up, look who I woke up next to, you know? I love my husband. We have these great dogs. I have this beautiful house. I have all of these weddings that are still booked. It gives me some security to start my day with. It helps me to mentally go through all of the good things I have going for me. I can snap out of any impending anxious funk that may be on the horizon. Starting my day from that place of thankfulness, THEN figuring out what fires-I-need-to-put-out really helps me.
Another thing that helps me with those entrepreneur anxiety feelings; my husband and I always take our dogs for a walk at the end of the day. Somehow that walk resets everything. When I'm in a bad mood, moving and that fresh air work wonders. Even when my husband and I might be in a tiff and might be mad at one another -- we go for a walk, and it's like, "Okay, what do you want for dinner?" our walks totally diffuse the tension.
Laura, I can’t thank you enough for being real and sharing your experience as a fellow wedding friendor through these crazy times.
