On A Personal Note
How a year of heartache shaped + prepared us for brighter days.
I've found myself taking a few extra deep breaths sitting here writing this to you to help calm my racing mind. There's so much I want to share with you on since we last met each other in this space. We, like so many of you, had high hopes and aspirations filled with beautiful intentions set for 2020. Instead, many of those moments were filled with sacrifices, isolation, heartache, injustices, loss, and change.
With months and months of my calendar suddenly wiped clear, I had more free time on my hands than I had ever had before. I spent a lot of this time focusing on the pain points the pandemic brought to light, not only as a small business owner, but also a global citizen of the world. I kept finding things that I had ignored, skimmed over, left in the shadows, and not paid mind to before. I made the commitment to immerse myself in various thought leaders, inclusion and diversity leaders, and minority-owned business founders storytelling. I forged incredible friendships with women who were committed to this life-long goal of building an affirming, equitable and just brand. I had spent so much time working IN my business that I had skipped over the part of working ON my business. I wanted to take this opportunity to share the commitment that our team made in hopes that you find yourself making the same commitment.
“We are committed to practicing in a way that is anti-racist, anti-oppressive and engaged in social justice. We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusivity. We strive to create an accessible environment that honors difference and respects all persons. We remain open to feedback on how to make our practice safer and more accessible for everyone.”
While this type of learning is difficult and often embarrassing, it has brought about an immense amount of hope and light. I encourage you to surround yourself with storytelling this year - especially since staying connected is something everyone is struggling with amid the global pandemic. Storytelling can create other worlds and ideas. They can make us laugh, cry and teach us empathy. You never forget a good story.
Our friends at The Wild Mother introduced us to a beautiful online community called the Conversation Workshops OK. They do the most beautiful job with storytelling along with offering a wealth of resources along with an incredible online course. We encourage you to check them out!
As the Remi Gals and I look back on 2020, it's hard not to think about all of the incredible wedding stories we were suppose to be a part of. However there are so many good moments and milestones turned favorite stories that we want to share with you all from this past year.
As weddings and events continued to cancel and postpone at the peak of Coronavirus, we never thought we would find such a blissful moment amidst all the chaos. Waking up to being published in Vogue was definitely a rose in a year that was full of thorns. Actress Debby Ryan and Twenty One Pilots' Joshua Dun planned their wedding in just 28 days! Their planner called the Remi Gals 3 WEEKS before the couple said “I do” and asked if we could do the flowers for their super secret New Years Eve wedding in 2019. I love a good challenge, so the answer was obvi yes.
FRONT PAGE BABY!
We were so lucky to be on the cover of not one, but TWO wedding magazines in 2020. It's not all about the glitz and glam, but who doesn't love a little recognition for their hard work?! Nothing beats opening a fresh box of magazines and seeing your work on the front COVER!
GETTING PERSONAL
Keeping in our theme of storytelling, I wanted to share the article I was asked to write by Floral Kin a few months ago. Floral Kin is a digital storytelling platform for floral professionals focusing on community, culture, and shared experiences. I had never imagined sharing about myself in this way before but I've learned a lot about the healing powers of vulnerability over the past few months. Reading so many stories written by my dear friends and mentors in the industry brought a sense of community that wasn't possible in the midst of our current pandemic. You can read the whole story by clicking the photo below!
"This won’t be my typical story full of the frills and thrills of my love of flowers (although the love is very real) but rather the story of how flowers were my lifeline. "
LOOKING AHEAD
I can already feel how important storytelling will be for me again this year. When I think back about where I was at pre-pandemic and where I'm at now, I would not go back. I've learned so much about myself and my inspiring Remi Gal team within the last year and even the first week of this year. I'm beyond excited for what this year has to bring (and not just because we have weddings on the books for Hawaii, Italy, France and more this year). We're resetting our core values and mission statement, bringing on a group of talented new interns and freelancers, have some major shop updates *hint Valentine's Day hint* and are implementing ways we can be more of an advocate and inclusive to our beloved minority community.
Sounds like we're going to have a busy year, but we can't wait!
