Fabulous Florals in Fort Worth!

Kelly Norvell of Bridal Blooms is an artist when it comes to event decor.  She is fun and thinks out of the box to come up with designs that are fresh whether the client is looking for traditional or modern.  She has a warehouse full of glassware and other decor items.  I have often said that I love to just spend time in there coming up with all sorts of ideas. If there is something that she doesn't have, which does not often happen, she goes and finds it so that her clients have the exact right look for their special day.

Whether their style is traditional with a modern twist...

Or a sweet sixteen with sophistication

  Or even, the perfect "English Garden"

All the way to Ultra Modern...

I had the opportunity to ask Kelly a few questions, and she was kind enough to give us the following answers:

PasP: Kelly, how long have you been in business?
Kelly:  have been in business since 1989.  Started part time while I was working for a full service floral and gift basket business.  I loved weddings and at that time there was no one servicing them.  My first wedding weekend was May 20 and I booked two weddings that weekend.


PasP: So, did you plan to be in the wedding industry, or did it "just happen"?
Kelly: I did not plan on being in the wedding industry at all.  I have a BBA in finance with a minor in horticulture but the horticulture came after 3 ½ years of college. I discovered the floral department at Texas A&M and was too far along to change my major. A&M is one of the few schools that has a floriculture department by the way.  Only endowed chair of floral design in the world.  I still keep up with my college professor and have sat on several committees with him involving the state floral association and education matter.  Quick little plug for A&M.

I really thought I was going into banking and investments.  What I ended up discovering about the finance and accounting part of the business is that I love the psychology of money and how people think about money…not the actual investment part.  In short, I love working with people and helping them achieve whatever it is they want to achieve.  Isn’t this what we do in the wedding industry? .  Already had a strong art and design background and grew up with a very talented artist and architect.  So the transition was easy and natural.  Just didn’t know it was going to be my livelihood!

PasP: I love that you love weddings! What is your favorite part of the wedding?

Kelly: My favorite part of the wedding process is being with the bride in the planning stages when she is very excited and is open to having me work our design magic to make her visions come true.  All brides have a vision…it is my job to figure out what that is and make it work.

PasP: What is something that makes you "unique" in this industry?

Kelly: There are so many people in the industry that do what I do now.  When I started it was just me, so I was very busy back then.  Now, there are more doing what I do but there is plenty of business for everyone and I think it ultimately ends up a personality match.   What I hear from bridal clients and other vendors is that I am very easy to work with, very flexible in design styles to fit the occasion and that I can work magic with budgets. The brides tell me they enjoyed working with me because I didn’t try to force my ideas on them.  Within the business, my employees tell me I have a great design eye with regards to mixing colors and textures and that I am a FAST moneymaking machine!

PasP: What would you say is your most memorable event?

Kelly: I have many memorable events and several very funny ones that should end up in a book someday.  Some of the more notable are of a huge wedding within a TV ministries, a Dallas cowboy wedding with the entire press and police force there (delivery was a challenge that day)  A Fort Worth ballerina and that crew and working with the former mayor (Kay Granger( while she was busy in office and planning her  son’s wedding.  Then there was the year of the chefs…Tim Love, Jon Bonnell, etc. They all knew each other, all had worked together at one time or another and were each other’s weddings.  There  was GREAT food at these events!  There have been many many others.  Sometimes the events you can’t get a clear vision on come out the most beautiful. The best weddings however or those with brides and families where you can feel the love and support….love the small intimate events in peoples home too!  An especially sweet story if of the bride who had lost her Father about 8 months before the wedding. Three years later I designed flowers for her Mother and her Mothers new husband who she met at her daughter’s wedding!. 

PasP: What words do you live by?

Kelly: “If you think something is too much trouble, you probably didn’t charge enough”  People in the industry will get that one. I think I have a bunch that I don’t even realize I use. 

On a more serious note however I do live by the Serenity Prayer every day and especially in times of high stress or uncomfortable situations.

Today I still do what I did in 1989 only with a lot more details and a lot more bling!  I see the same colors coming back around but with a twist somehow.  I read a lot of shelter and design magazines, color and design trend reviews and I have  a lot of interior design friends.  I still go to continuing education events and am involved in the state and national floral associations.  If I wasn’t doing this I would be designing landscapes or teaching design or both!    I go to the gym a lot so that I can lift those heavy iron candelabra from the delivery van to the altar and back again. I work on balance today too by doing things I love outside of work.  Hiking with Steve, cooking, reading and going to the gym are all high on my list. 

I can be a workaholic so I have to reign myself in at times. So happy to be among the next generation of wedding vendors that also love what they do and are very generous to the industry.