January 11 2021

Micro Weddings Give Macro Returns

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By Ian Tresselt Guest Blogger

Pop culturati lamented the lost weddings of 2020. Some couples postponed many times - looking at you J. Lo and A.Rod. Other couples proceeded with their fatal fetes. These created disastrous results for friends, family, and sometimes entire states! But some couples took the opportunity to change their approach. Enter the micro wedding. Some couples used technology to reach across the miles. Others kept their “minimony” to a few of their nearest and dearest - a celebration of intimacy.

2020 allowed for a re-imaging of what a wedding might look like. Couples were able to focus on what mattered (and matters) to them. They placed different priorities on the event. And, gave themselves the absolute freedom to celebrate...themselves! Imagine having that freedom as you plan your special day.

This is often lost on bigger ceremonies with gobs of gack and people. And before the claws come out defending OTT celebrations, this is not meant to be scree against them. Rather, a defense of micro weddings. They are here to stay. Micro weddings give you, and everyone involved, a more meaningful return on investment. The planning that goes into a micro wedding allows your priorities to shine. Because the format is so constrained, your “needs” and "wants" are clear. Optimizing resources to celebrate those needs will give you great returns.

McKenzie Elizabeth Photography

More extravagant weddings were not part of American culture until the 1820s and 30s. Before that, weddings were small family affairs. And, even in the early 1800s, big was not what big is today - a purchased dress and a bouquet. 1911 is a turning point. An Austrian Emperor married a Princess at a castle. It was one of the biggest weddings in the 1900s. Then in 1914, Joe and Rose Kennedy married in Boston. It was front-page news, complete with a photo. One Boston paper declared it the “wedding of the season.” And so it goes.

Wedding influencers decree that micro-weddings have fewer than 20 guests in attendance. Beyond that, it can be anything you want. A small guest list allows for deeper conversations with your vendors. Less transactional; more give and take. These are the people and businesses who will help make your micro wedding special. Your micro wedding can have as much impact on your vendors and community as it does for you and your guests.

Here are some ways you can maximize your ROI, by using resources that will have the most impact.

Keep It Local

Flowers, food, decor, and music play a major role in wedding celebrations. Think about how special these elements can be when only shared with your nearest and dearest. Working with local vendors gives you access to the freshest products imaginable. They are available and accessible to you. Think about how to use these local vendors to create intimate magic for your guests.

Florists who source products through local farmers can provide you with opportunities to learn about different flowers. You may not even know they exist, but can still meet or exceed your vision. There’s a lot more out there than a white rose. A spectacular ranunculus, parrot tulip, or even a wild bunch of lisianthus can blow you away. You are not required to decorate rooms or provide wedding party bouquets for your micro wedding. So, you can maximize your flower story. Think about installations, such as floral arches, chuppahs, or backdrops. Hello, Instagram moment. You can provide very special arrangements for all your guests to take home. People love flowers! You can give more time and attention to your bridal bouquet(s) or boutonnieres.

Often, local businesses have relationships with each other, through partnerships or promotions. Talk to your caterer about who they recommend for flowers and vice versa. While food remains complicated in the current pandemic, it is not insurmountable. Many local restaurateurs have pivoted to take-away models. They have the resources to provide pre-packaged, separated meals to your guests. With limited numbers, you can provide your guests with food that is far more interesting than your usual chicken or salmon yawn fest. Post-pandemic, when eating can be less distanced, think about the possibilities this can provide. Everyone can have a very special meal together!

While it is not time to party like it’s 1999, music can still play a vital role in the day. Many musicians and performers are out of work. Call local performing arts organizations to connect with local artists. Think about how special it can be to have renowned local musician sing you down the aisle, or a local band play you off to your honeymoon. Even beyond the constraints of 2020, working with local artists can provide you with a meaningful opportunity to collaborate on the day or evening. Artists are eager for work. Give it to them.

Keep It Seasonal

While your micro wedding might be on the fly, it’s likely an event that has been re-considered to optimize the health of your friends and family. So, you’re keeping the date but scaling it down a lot or a little. As you negotiate or re-negotiate with your vendors, ask them to celebrate the season. You’ve been to that one hot outdoor summer wedding. The insisted upon spring flowers are wilting and the food makes you sweat even more. Sayonara seersucker. Use the season to inform your micro wedding. Often larger weddings poo-poo the notion of where they land in the calendar, opting for someone else’s vision.

Think about the time of year. Think about what is in season. By doing this, you are again able to maximize the look and feel of your event. Seasonal food and flowers are at their absolute best, so you are getting more bang for your buck. Think about what you will wear that acknowledges the season while keeping it chic. Ask your few friends in attendance to dress for the season. Your vendors will relish working with you on a seasonal palette.

Keep It Special

Your micro wedding is an opportunity to celebrate everyone in attendance, including yourself. Except for some destination weddings that provide more extravagant “gifts” to guests, you often receive a small token to take away...if you even take it away. Think about how you want your guests to feel at your micro wedding. Since you can't give it to them, consider how it would feel if they were receiving a warm hug from you.

Emma Weiss Photo

In larger weddings, it’s easy to lose the spirit and intention of the day. Because weddings that preceded yours “want” you to do all these activities, it can be daunting. You’ve made sure your guests have had a good time. You’re a host(ess) with the “most-est.” Exhausting! But, what about you? Your micro wedding assures that the few people in attendance truly love you. You can breathe and focus on yourself while acknowledging the connection you have with your tiny posse.

The day begins long before the ceremony. Use your local vendors to make it special. Breakfast delivered to your door. Flowers only for you to enjoy in your home. Lotions and potions to make you feel special for the day.

And, as for your guests, you have the opportunity to make it all the more special for them. Imagine a spring wedding where your guests receive a fabulous boater hat made by a local maker. Or, a winter wedding where everyone receives a beautiful scarf made by a local artisan. While nothing needs to be as extravagant as these examples, the opportunities are endless. Use local makers to help you give your guests a memorable gift for joining in your special day. Because you are not shopping en masse, you can be deliberate about your choices. You can even be specific to the individual.

Keep It Clean

You do you. No shame for shouting expletives or dirty dancing at your ceremony. Micro-weddings have a smaller carbon footprint. Keeping it local in all forms saves on transportation, waste, and risk. While this may not be your intention going into your micro-wedding, it is a guaranteed outcome. Once your micro-wedding is over, there will be little left. Local vendors have connections to other organizations that can enjoy those remaining bits. Local florists can repurpose flowers for hospitals, nursing homes, and the like. Food rules abound in the current climate. But, at some point, local restaurateurs and chefs can donate any remaining food to local food banks. You can do all these things too.

Micro-weddings can be a cost-saving alternative. But regardless of what you spend, your ROI will far exceed that of a gathering with more people. With every decision considered, your outcome will be better for you, local vendors, makers, artists, and the environment. You're not thinking small. You're having deeper conversations with yourself, and the people who will help you make it special. These conversations will pay dividends in returns.

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January 07 2021

What We Do in the Winter

Tags: Farmers

Procuring locally grown flowers is hard enough when conditions are optimal in our region. Winter really tests our mettle. Not only do we persist, we thrive! It takes some changes - for us, for our growers, and for our customers.

Hendricks is our main winter supplier

Supply, logistics, products, expectations all shift. It's only natural - a rhythm that brings new and wonderful flowers, foliage, branches, berries and more into our shop. It also brings, to borrow from Future Islands, a craving for what has gone away - the local variety of spring, summer and fall field flowers.

Ellen was a guest blogger for Botanical Brouhaha (and was interviewed on their podcast). She detailed all of her challenges and what life is like for a local-only florist when the fields freeze. Read all about what we do in the winter.

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December 26 2020

Regal Moth

Tags: Bugs

This handsome chap is a late bloomer.

Like a lot of us, the regal moth has a troubled youth. Known as a hickory horned devil before transitioning, this moth usually hangs out around nut-producing trees that we don't use in our arrangements. So, it's a minor mystery how it showed up at the shop.

Compare with our friend giant leopard moth.

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December 14 2020

2021 LoCoFlo BookClub

Tags: Nerdy AF, At LoCoFlo, BookClub

The ocho, nerds!

Our book club is super casual - just drop in. Meetings are Monday nights at 7:00PM (dates below). The over/under on resuming the LoCoFlo BookClub in person is sitting on June 21. So, we'll be online for at least the first half of the year. Email Ellen (ellen@locoflo.com) for the link. We will let you know when the book club will be back IRL at the studio We’re always looking for more flower friends to join the fun!

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• Feb 22 2021 Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement by Monica M. White
• Apr 19 2021 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
• Jun 28 2021 (new date) All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson
• Aug 22 2021 Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
• Oct 18 2021 Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
• Dec 13 2021 Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
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September 17 2020

We Got Big Gomphocarpus Physocarpus

Tags: Flower Profile

Hairy balls are, by far, our most talked about flower at the shop. Of course they are. Just look at them! They're hairy balls!

Gomphocarpus physocarpus is their botanical name (that's a mouthful). Their alternative names aren't any better: monkey balls (pass), bishop's balls (way worse), nailhead (why), balloon plant (not bad, but there's already a balloon flower).

Hairy Balls. Accept them. Celebrate them. Love them. They are a type of milkweed. The balls are full of seeds (of course). They burst open at the end of the plant's life and the seeds fly away on silky strings in the wind.

Monarch caterpillars munch on the leaves. We find them all the time in the shop and keep them in our terrarium for the metamorphoses. We name each caterpillar Gregor. (Second Kafka reference in the blog if you're keeping score at home. Or was it Breaking Bad?)

When John Waters was promoting his hitchhiking book, Car Sick, he gave a reading at a neighborhood bookstore (he also lives just a few miles from the shop). We thought, who loves hairy balls more than John Waters. So we walked over to the bookstore with a hairy balls bouquet arranged in an old motor oil can.

The pope of trash thanked us with a post card:

Your flowers were beautiful + rude and great!

That sounds about right.

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