at winston & Main, expect art, a thoughtfully curated experience, and intention in every detail

Lessons from Flowers: 2020 Edition

Featured, Flowers, Small Business, Small Business

A bold and colorful bouquet created by Tabitha Abercrombie of Winston & Main, featuring local & seasonal blooms like dahlia & zinnia.
A modern cascade bouquet, created by Tabitha Abercrombie of Winston & Main in a workshop taught by Amy Nicole.
Red wedding details from Winston & Main, Malibu, California
A beautiful cascade bouquet in white, green, and orange for our Leap Day Wedding at the Ebell Los Angeles, as featured on Martha Stewart.
A lush, foam-free, tropical installation by Winston & Main for a celebrity event in Los Angeles in early spring 2020.


 
2020 started out so hopeful. I attended the Team Flower conference in Pasadena. The next week I took Amy Nicole’s Bouquet Bootcamp. I love education and I loved getting it in right at the beginning of what was sure to be a busy year. A profitable year. The MOST profitable year yet. (ha ha ha)
 

 
Photo: Rebekah Lemire Workshop: The Floral Coach
 
We did two beautiful weddings, a few brand activations, and one AMAZING celeb event (NDA be damned). We did our final design meetings for our spring weddings…
 

 
Photo: Brooke Allison Photo Planner: Events by Emily Kay
 

 
Photo: Miki and Sonja Photography Planner: Moxie Bright Events
 

 

And then the world shut down.

Bold pink bouquet featuring peonies, dahlias, spray roses and more from Winston & Main, Los Angeles, CA.
Creating flower arrangements in my backyard during the pandemic.
Tabitha Abercrombie created a makeshift floral studio in her living room during the pandemic by keeping the lights low and the AC cranking.
Iphone images of bouquets created by Tabitha Abercrombie of Winston & Main during 2020.
A beautiful elopement planned by Opus Events Co. with photography by The Hendrys and flowers by Winston & Main.
A beautiful elopement in Los Angeles, featuring a flower crown by Winston & Main, and photography by The Hendrys.
A bride and her beautiful Winston & Main bouquet, photographed by Heirlume Photography at The Bel Aire Hotel.
A beautiful Joshua Tree Elopement, featuring blooms by Winston & Main, and photographed by Michael Gomez Photo.
Getting married at home never looked so good- a bright bouquet from Winston & Main, beautiful photography by Faye Casaje.
A bold and local bouquet by Tabitha Abercrombie of Winston & Main, featuring dahlias, cosmos, and rudbeckia.
A bright & bold bouquet by Winston & Main featuring peony, dahlia, ranunculus, and zinnia for a 2020 elopement.
A colorful weekly delivery bouquet by Winston & Main.
A lush arrangement featuring local and homegrown garden roses, by Tabitha Abercrombie of Winston & Main.

Our studio building, aka The Original LA Flower Market, shut down, and I had a couple hours to take everything “valuable” out of my studio. To watch my vendors throw their product/profit in the garbage. Talk about a surreal and heartbreaking day. What IS valuable in your business/workspace/life when you have to choose what to take with you?
 

 
After a month at home without flowers, I tentatively dipped my toe back in, and started figuring out how I could safely get flowers (both locally and from my wholesaler). There was a veeeery strange period of picking up flowers 100% no contact- checking out my pull from a parking lot, and then putting it in my car before dousing myself in sanitizer lest any covid nasties were hitching a ride.
 

 

 
I arranged flowers in my backyard and turned my tv/guest room into a temporary cooler by cranking our AC.
 

 
I advertised my new delivery biz solely via instagram AND the response was overwhelming.
 
Clients, old and new, embraced flowers in a way that felt absolutely sacred. The joy I witnessed when I delivered flowers from a grandchild to their grandmother, who was isolated at home alone, was beautiful and heartbreaking and so very meaningful.
 

 
Photo: The Hendrys Planning: Opus Events Co.
 

 
Photo: The Hendrys
 

 
Photo: Heirlume Photography Planning: P.S. & Associates Event Planning
 

 
Photo: Michael Gomez Photo
 

 
Photo: Faye Casaje
 
There were elopement blooms too- in national parks, backyards, hotels, and homes.
 

 

 

 
2020 was an excellent reminder for me about just what I love about flowers.
An opportunity to come back to my WHY again and again, one bouquet at a time.
 

 
Flowers are magic and they have the power to transform spaces, people, and bad days alike. Flowers are a powerful reminder to be present, and they teach us to cultivate a more mindful relationship with ourselves and the world around us.
 
They remind us that joy is now.
 
This is one of the lessons I’ll be taking into 2021, and the busy season ahead.
How about you? What did you learn or relearn about your business in 2020?

Photography:
All photography by Winston & Main, except where credited otherwise.

Rebekah Lemire / The Floral Coach / Brooke Allison Photo / Events by Emily Kay / Miki and Sonja Photography / Moxie Bright Events / The Hendrys / Heirlume Photography / Michael Gomez Photo / Faye Casaje