May 8, 2017

Meet Mary Ellen Fairbanks of Cameron & Fairbanks Floral Design

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Ellen Fairbanks.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Mary Ellen. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My background stems (ha!) from the fashion industry, starting as an assistant designer in NYC. I made my way to Boston in the early 90’s and have been working at a large retailer in Framingham as a product manager/senior technical designer for the last 21 years. I’ve traveled the world, worked side by side with my team, planning the next “ladder plan” for style, color, and fabrications.

My form of relaxation from the fashion world was to grow flowers. One flower arrangement turned into weddings four years ago. When I didn’t have any more hours left in the day or vacation time, I thought, it’s time. I retired from the corporate world two years ago and have been loving every day of it!

Our walk- out basement became my studio, half of our 2.5 acres has become flower beds and still getting larger. I occasionally raid the woods and my neighbors when I need something extra special!

I just love helping a bride with her vision, from the color palette, her style and how she wants her guests to feel when the door opens and she walks down the aisle to cutting the cake.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our biggest challenge this year has been turning brides away because we only create one wedding per day. At this point, don’t know how to fix this one!

Please tell us about Cameron & Fairbanks Floral Design.
Cameron & Fairbanks is an in-home/garden design studio for weddings and small events. We are known for our naturalistic and free-style nature when it comes to creating florals. Our approach to creating the wedding with the bride is what we believe sets us apart from others. Our goal is consistency and our reviews speak to what we are most proud of.

“Mary Ellen was absolutely fabulous to work with from start to finish! She was incredibly responsive and helped me create such a beautiful look and feel for my wedding while staying within my budget the best she could without sacrificing quality. She was willing to meet with me at my venue to go over my vision and figure out what worked best with my venue, time of year and look and feel I was going for. From the conversations I had with her to her attention to detail, you can tell she really takes pride in her work. Plus, she works with the flowers in season and actually grows many of her own flowers at her house (how many florists can actually say that)!! I got so many compliments throughout the night on the flowers and everything looked even more gorgeous than I could have imagined. To top it all off, she was so sweet and easy to work with. I cannot more highly recommend her for any of your floral needs and if I ever need flowers again for any occasion, I would hire her in a heartbeat.”

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
In the summertime, as a family we would take the eight hour drive up to New Hampshire, from New Jersey to visit my very favorite Aunt Elie and her farm, where she had horses, farm animals and rolling hills for us to roam. I remember taking the wagon with my brothers to collect flowers and berries, so my mom could make us blueberry pancakes. I still have the memory of how everything smelled!

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