Today, we continue our vendor spotlight series with Tulip, an Atlanta-based floral and event design company. We talked to co-owners Heather and Eva to learn more about how the company started and some of the highlights of being a part of this industry.
Wedding Belles: Tell us a little bit about your company and how long you have been in this industry.
Tulip: Tulip was born 15 years ago when Heather and Eva met at an industry networking event. In many ways we believe Eva’s purse is to “blame” for all the wonderful things that happened in the past 15 years. It (=the purse -now semi-retired for not so gentle use) caught Heather’s attention, sparked a conversation and led to us being business partners, “the tulip girls”.
Eva is born and raised in Germany. With flower shops dotting every corner of her hometown, flowers have always been a huge part of her life. With a natural appreciation of all things floral and loads of creative ideas in floral design, she found her calling by creating stunning events and out of the box floral and event design.
Born and raised in Georgia, Heather is a home grown natural. She went to school for Interior Design and has a wonderful talent of creating the perfect event illusion and stunning atmospheres by choosing thoughtful compositions of colors, shapes and textures. She has been a part of the Atlanta event industry for 18 years.
First designs were created in our “studio” – Eva’s kitchen table while still holding full time jobs and working around the clock. We quickly outgrew Eva’s home and moved into warehouse space in the Old Fourth Ward District, (pretty shady area at the time), so that we were glad to be able to upgrade to our current location in Grant Park after only a year.
Wedding Belles: What led you to the weddings and events industry?
Tulip: We both enjoy getting to know our clients, listening to them and hearing about their vision for their wedding celebration or special event of any kind. Then being able to create and design just that dream setting for our clients in a short amount of time, is a wonderful and gratifying experience.
Wedding Belles: What is it about your job that makes you excited to go to work?
Tulip: Not one day or one event is the same, but the outcome is always beautiful. Meeting clients, being able to be creative, think outside the box, tackle new challenges, work with beautiful florals, colors, shapes and textures, pulling it all together, seeing new venues and adopting to new trends in an industry that is always on the move to create another WOW.
Wedding Belles: When you think back, what is one wedding that stands out over the rest? Why?
Tulip: There are so many incredible families that we were allowed to be a part of their wedding day! There is a family that stands out as we got to work with them twice. For each daughter, the father built a dream setting for a ceremony backdrop on his family farm that they since converted into a wedding venue. For his first daughter getting married, it was a custom “Chapel on the hill” with a horse drawn carriage, for the second, he rowed her in on a Winchester row boat to “The Lagoon”. They were so open to all our suggestions, creative ideas and we got to incorporate so many personal touches.
Another rather recent event was to create a statement piece for a special event for Oprah’s network. We created the illusion of a bougainvillea plant growing across the entire front /back of a rather large bar.
Wedding Belles: What do you wish couples knew before they came to you?
Tulip: Having access to pinterest, partyslate, etc. obviously has changed our business in so many ways. With access to such a wide spectrum of ideas and inspiration, it is usually easy to pick up on our client’s style once they create their own inspirations boards, but It can also lead to false expectations. It is super helpful if our clients share their budget with us. It helps us to have a guideline on what our creative minds can dream up, what is doable and feels comfortable to them. Knowing what is most important to them and being able to adapt to other creative ideas, helps us to maximize what we can do for them.
Wedding Belles: What is your favorite flower to work with?
Tulip: That is a tough question as there are so many pretties to work with but obviously, we are partial to tulips. Their way of being just a little uncontrollable and doing what they do, is so appealing. Did you know that tulips – even cut – still grow about an inch every day?
Wedding Belles: How much does seasonality affect availability and prices?
Tulip: When designing for our client’s events, we only suggest blooms that we know are readily available to us and are in season. Everything else will just set us up for failure. There are blooms that are obviously pricier than others: Peonies and garden roses for example. Using those blooms for a bridal bouquet or cake flowers where you know they are being photographed can help keep you in budget.
Wedding Belles: If you had one tip for couples, what would it be?
Tulip: Hire a professional event planner – It will make your day smooth sailing from pre-planning to a worry-free wedding day.
Interested in getting a quote or booking Tulip for your wedding? Check out their website here for more information and contact them today!