What is a wedding and floral designer?
A wedding and floral designer is involved in the wedding from start to finish. We design every detail and help with the look and feel of the entire wedding, from the invitations to the end of the reception when the couple says goodbye and leaves for their honeymoon.
What do you love about doing this work?
Sharing in a couple's big day. Their wedding day is the biggest day of their lives as a couple and it’s so special, seeing people’s reactions to their special day and how much joy and love are shared.
Tell me about I Do Insure and what led to developing it.
It was a concept my husband, John, and I came up with about three years ago. We’d been thinking about how everyone insures their houses, cars, pets, lives and health — everything, really — but they weren’t able to insure their wedding day.
A wedding day is incredibly special — and also can be incredibly expensive. I’d seen horrendous things in the past, including where the venue burnt down the day before the wedding.
People lost so much money and started their married lives with a huge financial burden. Insurance helps give a couple peace of mind and security to know that if things go wrong on their wedding day, they would be fine.
What are some of the wedding disasters you have seen while being part of the industry?
Wedding disasters involve every aspect of the wedding. It’s not one wedding where everything goes wrong, but at least one thing inevitably goes wrong.
Whether it’s a minor thing that people brush off, or something major like a cake falling over, a DJ not arriving and a replacement having to be found last minute, a bride’s dress getting burnt and needing to be replaced, a groom’s suit not fitting when he takes it out the bag; the list goes on. This is why we thought I Do Insure was so important.
What advice do you have for couples planning a wedding?
Enjoy the process. Take stock of what is going on, don’t be too stressed about it. Everything will happen the way it should on the big day.
It’s easier if you hire professional people and a planner to assist with your wedding. If that seems like a big expense, just categorise everything step by step and follow your budget and your plan.
The pandemic must have had a huge effect on your work; what have you learnt from it?
Covid-19 flattened the wedding industry. The impact financially is unbelievable, suppliers closed their doors, there have been many cancellations and postponements, couples have gone through enormous stress. Plenty of people have had to delay things.
We’ve learnt to understand the process and what couples are going through and get them to understand what the suppliers are also going through. Often couples think all the work happens on the day of their wedding, but there are hours of work that go into preparing.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
I didn’t have a specific thing I wanted to be — maybe a sportsperson to represent my country, and I did, in athletics.
I got into the wedding industry because it’s our family business. I love doing flowers and have built from there. My husband has driven the whole process and has been there every step of the way. Without him, I don’t think I’d be in the industry.
