Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Gregory, Carrie Buonfiglio.
Erica and Carrie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
We started Lilac and Lily out of our shared love of event work. We both came out of a retail flower shop environment with the desire to pour our hearts and souls into wedding work. We thrive on the creative process that begins sometimes a year or more in advance of couple’s big day. Our goal is to provide our customers with gorgeous wedding flowers (of course!), but also to give them a very enjoyable, efficient experience throughout the entire process. Our style of design has evolved over the past six years as we have grown into our own “look,” and our customers now reach out to us for our signature style of design that involves plenty of gorgeous greenery and texture paired with romantic focal blooms. Some of our very favorite flowers include peonies, ranunculus, anemones, helleborus, garden roses, and dahlias (just to name a few). Our chosen color palette often involves neutral shades with hints of blush, champagne, and peach tones. And as seen in our work, we love to throw in a pop of plum or burgundy! You will usually find us designing for weddings at one of our local Northshore wedding venues. We work frequently at the Crane Estate, Misselwood, Tupper Manor, the Beauport Hotel, the Willowdale Estate, Glen Magna, Turner Hill, and Moraine Farm, along with other locations, including downtown Boston venues as well. Our events range from intimate dinner parties to grand ballroom celebrations. We are inspired by so many different aspects of our environment. We love living and working in New England where the seasonal changes bring life and variation to our designs. We work out of a delightful little home studio, and spend many hours dreaming up and designing gorgeous creations for our clients (as well as schlepping flowers, washing buckets, and all of the other fun aspects of floral design)! We are beyond blessed to be living this dream and are eternally grateful to our clients who entrust us with a huge part of their dreams for their wedding day.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We started this company in 2013, and though it felt like a huge risk, it grew quickly in leaps and bounds. We were fortunate to build some very important relationships early on with local caterers, wedding planners, and wedding venues. Word of mouth advertising has been our go to, and as we finish up our seventh wedding season, we look back on these past years with amazement and a huge sense of gratefulness. Don’t get us wrong – there have been many stressful days and some late nights. Many valuable lessons have been learned along with way. Owning a small business in itself is a skill to be built and developed. We continue to learn and grow each and every day, and our goal is always to give our clients the best experience possible. We also both juggle the role of business owner with the role of being a homemaker. Motherhood can especially pull you in a million different directions. It is often a struggle to balance things perfectly, but our particular partnership makes this easier. We intentionally built this business together, knowing that our joint passion and investment would enable us to serve our clients and love our families to the best of our ability. As a team, the two of us are able to bounce ideas off of each other as we work to create design schemes for our clients, and this brings so much much energy and life to our business. We spend hours together, laughing and talking about nothing and everything! Our families breeze in and out of our workspace and jokingly ask us “do you have a wedding this weekend or something?” Our studio is a very happy place, and you will often find two bull mastiffs lazing around (for all of you dog lovers out there)! All in all, we both feel extremely fortunate to be living our dreams through this business and to be doing it together.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
We are a floral design studio, specializing in weddings and events. We are best known for our romantic style of design, our feminine color palettes, our use of interesting greenery and textures, and our selection of beautiful vessels and props. We love that each one of our events clearly reflects our design style, with heavy influence from each and every client. We work closely and frequently with a number of local wedding venues and are able to offer a lot of insight into how the flowers will be experienced at a wedding or special event. It is very important for us to not only provide beautiful flowers but to help bring the entire vision to life. We do this by understanding the particular venue, the flow of the event, and the overall feeling that the client is going for.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc.?
As with many industries, floral design experiences its fair share of trends. Looks come and go, but we have settled into a style of design that seems to resonate strongly with our local clientele. We always stress the importance of designing with your particular venue in mind. We work at many timeless, historical properties in the Boston area, and our goal is to make a very beautiful, yet tasteful impact. Our color palettes may be subtle, but within each design, there are layers of shades and textures to delight the eye. One of the most positive changes we have experienced in the overall floral industry is the movement toward support of other designers and businesses in your local area. Where there used to be a feeling of competition and wariness, there is now much more support, openness, and downright goodwill toward those who are on this same flower journey. We are absolutely thrilled by this progress in what can be a very competitive industry.
Pricing:
- Our clients invest an average of 5-10K into their wedding flower budgets
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilacandlilyfloraldesign.com
- Instagram: @lilacandlily
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilacandlilyfloraldesign/
Image credits:
https://www.aodell.com/
https://carlymichellephotography.com/
https://elizabethladuca.com/
https://lisarigbyphotography.com/
http://servidonestudios.com/
http://kellydillonphoto.com/
https://shannoncroninphotography.com/
http://www.zevfisher.com/
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
