Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Childs.
Hi Chelsea, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It honestly was a skill/trade I was thrown into and because life happens I just rolled with it my mind set since I had my first job at 14 was to provide for myself and family. So a dear friend and who I now absolutely call a mentor in many ways hired me back in 2017 for her floral business just as an assistant to help her be better organized and help with her books and emails. Well turns out she needed more hands in the designing area of her business, she was getting bigger faster and so just kinda threw me into the Wild West that is the wedding industry. I watched and learned and listened to everything she had to offer and picked it up quickly because my that was my natural tendency for my life I may not be someone who creates from thin air but I absolutely can keep up and learn what you need me too. During this time, my father was battling stage 4 brain cancer so I was living with my parents, helping out at home while learning what I didn’t know at the time was a skill that would absolutely come in clutch for me to make a income and still be at home with my Dad as much as I could to help him and my mom. Few years went and I parted from floral shop I was at (on great terms that later I would see was a blessing in disguise) we are still very close as friends and I help her and her husband any chance I can as a freelancer or just warm body in the shop any time they ask me. However, I did find myself kinda jobless and not sure where I wanted to go but also knew I was needed at home with my Dad. My mom is a school teacher with limited days off especially with pay and my sister at the time lived and worked out of state. So I pulled together all my knowledge together, winged it and through word of mouth I started doing lower budget weddings on my own out of my parent’s garage. I took any weddings, baby shower, wedding showers, birthdays, corporate event I could get my hands on. It allowed me to be at home working with flexible hours that brought in an income for myself to pay bills and help out with extra bills that were needed for the care of my Dad as the only income at this point my parents had was my mom’s teaching salary.
I did this hard and hustled as much as I could working other jobs along with flowers, dog/walking and sitting, nannying (in which I’ve been doing since I was in high school) freelancing for any florist looking for extra hands all the while learning flowers from everyone I was around. Let me be clear I knew nothing about designing of flowers when I was hired back in 2017 and let me tell you though it seems like a beautiful job to be surrounded by blooms every day and it is but it absolutely work.
It’s been a love-hate relationship as I am a one-person team from the beginning to the end set up to tear downs. My focus in comparison to other major talented florists I am so lucky to know and admire and who have put in the hours and work to be in a certain pricing bracket and creative level, I tend to handle couples who are wanting to keep it on a scale that doesn’t break the bank for them. Young couples getting married for the first time or older couples may be getting remarried and have already had a big big first wedding. Couples that still want to have a beautiful grand wedding with a vision for pretty florals but don’t know where to start. I can help them achieve it (to the best of my ability lol) within a healthy price range for all parties.
So cut to 2020 and after the year of Covid where weddings were not really a thing most of them getting pushed back to 2021, I worked enough and saved enough to stay at home with my father who was put into hospice and passed away that year.
Though it was the most difficult thing I’ve gone through, it gave me the confidence in a way to just “do it” shamelessly, scared and full of fear but doing it anyways because I had seen a life come and go before my eyes and wasting time was no longer an option. 2020 gave me time with my Dad at home that I wouldn’t have gotten working a normal 8-5 job. So for that alone, I’m proud of myself and the choice I made. With some help from other creative friends in my life doing their own small/local business I’ve gotten a bit more professional in my work. With social media and logos and business professionalism I don’t only just use word of mouth even though it’s helped me this far. Entering the vast and crazy world of social media was scary as I did not and sometimes still don’t think I’ve earned that right yet to have a whole “business” page for myself but I’m working on that little voice in my head telling me you aren’t good enough. I’m better at capturing my own work to showcase it and putting together reels because we are in the era of Tik-Tok. Knowing my creative worth when I’m pricing out a wedding is something I struggled with and still do. I would do a whole wedding just to see the happy couple say “I do” and have the best day of their lives not really thinking of me and payment and my own credit in the process. So knowing that I can still do all I can to make sure the couple or person or corporation is happy and pleased with whatever lending hand I can give flower power to and yet still give myself the nod and self-worth financially in the process is okay.
I am also in the process of expanding my little flower business into a mobile flower business. An idea that came about with some girlfriends over a bottle of wine at dinner one night as ideas do. Blooms & Bubbles” this idea of having a cute little trailer that you can come and grab a pre-wrapped flower bouquet or pre-made flower crown even maybe make your own flower bouquet and also grab a glass of champagne or beer on tap. With a little backdrop for selfies, of course, has been something I feel could only add to anyone’s event. So this is something being prayed over and currently in the works so fingers crossed.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely has not been easy for one I knew nothing about how to even promote or price out a fair packaged wedding or flowers in general that also included me making some kind of income from it. I felt like I was an imposter and if I’m being honest, I still do. So in comparison to all the crazy talent that Houston has (but also knowing that there is room for everyone at the table).
Learning and hustling on my own fully during a global pandemic with no real sign of how that was going to look like coming out of it or the shape of the world and any Industry for that matter but mainly during the final days of my Dad’s life here on earth. He’s from an era of a stable job stance, income insurance benefits, 401(k)s. and I’m his oldest daughter so though he absolutely pushed me to follow my dreams, him and my mom both, I was his kid and he wanted me to be okay and steady so me failing and not making him proud was massive pressure and some days still kinda is.
Also, the idea of a total flop of flowers for a bride on the day of the wedding wether the entire look is absolutely not what was envisioned or flowers dying on me mixed with I’m running out of time because it’s just me doing it all. That hasn’t happened yet (THANK GOD) but it’s very much a reality. There isn’t any do-overs for flowers and wedding days you gotta bring your A game 150 % every time and for someone who still feels very green, I worry all the time that and if this is something I should even be doing
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So I’m a little bespoke European trained floral artist. I do weddings, showers, birthdays, corporate events, parties, etc. I don’t know if I’d widely known but I will say what I’ve done so far has hit the mark for whoever hired me to add some beautiful blooms to their gathering and for me that’s what I’m proud of. Getting to help make the space and event just a tad more fun and pretty because we are not promised a lot of pretty days and the world is rough and hard and ugly. So if I can just be a helping girl in the community achieve that. . . I’ll take it.
I think what maybe sets me apart is I don’t necessarily strive to land the big accounts. The big weddings and corporate events are very very nice and I will absolutely do them for the freedom to be as creative as I want to be without a limit on a budget. However I feel there is a window for weddings and events that still are just as important but don’t have the pockets to pay for the luxury of unlimited flowers. My parents are and were blue-collar workers. My dad was a mechanic. My mom a teacher I worked three jobs in college and still do some days today working odd end Jobs when I can just to keep the money coming in to help out when needed. I get that work ethic for my parents. Mainly my father. So I have learned to still be creative in a space where my budget isn’t a big one and yet creativity in itself doesn’t have a price tag on it so it’s something I’ve learned to do despite the freedom of a big budget
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think the wedding industry will only get bolder and bigger in the coming years. Weddings will always happen, events to be thrown, parties to be held and flowers always bring a beautiful touch to each category.
I hope to be able to lend a hand in that somehow to the best of my skills but for me personally, I would love to have a one stop shop destination where you can come to a space of mine and in this space, we can cover all your needs. Flowers, space, food, decor all for an affordable package versus bringing in 15 different vendors on top of paying for the venue alone. But my dream would be for it to be a small space where events and parties and birthdays could be held in a a intimate gathering of families and friends and I will be able to add flowers to the occasion and still can be sourced outside for weddings to help keep that dream alive.
To give back to my community as much as I can, to have a safe place for other creatives, whether new or have been a small business owner for a while, to come and dream and create themselves over a glass of red wine or morning matcha and maybe a little whimsical floral pop arrangement in front of them to at the very least make them smile.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Porter House Portraits
Chelsea Childs
