Working As a Florist Offers Fresh-cut Fun
Flowers are the universal way of saying, “I’m sorry,” “Thank you” and “I love you,” but spend one day behind the scenes at Blush Floral Designs, and it is easy to see there is much more to them.
As the wedding and event coordinator at Blush, which is located on 575 E. 1400 North, Heather Ketterer is in charge of making bridal bouquets, placing flower orders, making photography plans, filling daily floral arrangement orders and dealing with mothers of brides.
Ketterer’s day starts at 9:30 a.m., half an hour before the store opens. She said her first activity is making colored bouquets while she listens to background classical music. “This is the kind of job you enjoy going to every morning,” Ketterer said. “It’s like my sanctuary. I have never woken up and thought, ‘I don’t want to go to work.'”
In a typical day, Ketterer said she cleans the cooler that is filled with vases of flowers, sends out wedding invoices, orders flowers and table linens and designs dozens of flower arrangements. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, a large delivery truck filled with a variety of flowers, most of which come from South America, pulls into the parking lot of Blush, and it is Ketterer’s job to pick out the flowers Blush will need.
“I look at the orders first to see what we will need,” Ketterer said, “and then I just pick out whatever catches my eye.”
After scooping up bunches of flowers in every color, Ketterer brings them inside and begins clipping the stems and placing them in warm water. Contrary to popular belief, flowers actually survive better in warm water rather than cold water, Ketterer said. After the flowers are all processed, Ketterer said she goes to work creating orders that have been called in.
The most interesting orders Ketterer said she receives are when the person giving the flowers is adamant about remaining anonymous.
“People will say, ‘Don’t tell her even if she begs,’ but then when we tell the person receiving the flowers that it is anonymous, they are usually like, ‘Oh, I know who it is,'” Ketterer said.
Ketterer said she became interested in working in the floral industry after she was asked to help open a new flower shop at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Olympics. Ketterer quickly learned the basics of floral arranging, and when Ketterer moved to Logan with her husband, she said wanted to continue working with flowers.
Although Ketterer enjoys her job, she said the only thing she dislikes is when she is unable to please a customer.
“I hate disappointing anyone,” said Ketterer, “like when a bride comes in with a budget and you have to tell them the arrangement they love is too much (money).”
Contrary to typical images of “bridezillas,” Ketterer said most brides actually don’t know what they want when they come and are open to suggestion.
“If the brides don’t know what they want, I help them figure it out,” Ketterer said. “Some of them don’t even know what colors they want, but that’s what makes this job fun.”
During “wedding season,” which just ended, Ketterer said she has made floral arrangements for up to 11 weddings in two weeks. Despite the hectic schedule, Ketterer said the most stressful thing when working on a wedding can be the bride’s mother.
“Even the most stressful experience I’ve had dealing with a mother was a good experience because it turned out to be the prettiest wedding I have ever seen,” Ketterer said.
Blush Floral Designs offers an array of gifts such as bath and body products and gourmet food. Shane Richards, the owner of Blush, said Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are typically the busiest days of the year for them.
“Those are definitely our biggest days for business,” Richards said. “We are usually here till 8:30 or 9 p.m.”
Richards said he is first and foremost a horticulturist and that he became involved with flowers and plants because, simply put, “They’re fun.”
“I love working outside with plants, but I hate the hot summers and cold winters,” Richards said. “So I mostly work outside in the spring and fall and spend a lot of time here in the summer and winter.”
During the busy holidays at Blush, Richards said all five of the the employees at Blush come in and work together to get things done quickly.
“We all have a really good time,” Richards said.
Ketterer is usually the only one working until around noon, when a part-time employee comes in to help with the flower orders and cleaning up the store.
“They have school and other jobs, so they usually only work part time … but there is plenty for them to do,” Ketterer said.
There is a lot of waste that comes from working with plants, and Richards said cleaning can be the hardest part of the job. There is always organizing to be done and coolers to be cleaned, she said.
The employees at Blush Floral Designs are currently preparing for the annual Bridal Faire held on the USU campus Sept. 29. Some members of the Blush staff will be there along with other florists in the valley to give future brides a taste of what they have to offer, Richards said.