Boho Bride and groom

And the Winner is....

Vancouver Island Wedding Awards

Wednesday, January 13, 2021
By Nick Hepner

So a neat thing happened to us this past month, we entered the Vancouver Island Wedding Awards. Well I suppose that’s not the neat part. The neat part is that we won best overall wedding florist. And since we think that’s pretty neat we thought we would share our experience with you all.

We have had a fantastic 2018 wedding season with wonderful couples here on Vancouver Island and beyond. We also have had the opportunity to take part in a number of amazing styled shoots (more on that in another blog) on the island as well as off. This year was particularly amazing because we were able to innovate a new way of creating big beautiful uniquely shaped bouquets that hold their structure without having to use floral foam. This allowed us to stay true to our love of sustainability but also create some pretty amazing wedding flower master pieces.

After a great deal of procrastination our friends from Borrowed and Blue events kicked us in the butt and told us to enter the awards. So we did at the last min on the day of the deadline. You have the opportunity to enter a number of collages demonstrating your ability to show creativity as well as talent as designers, from multiple weddings and shoots. After a slight amount of needless stress our submissions were in.

The day of the Awards came around and one of our close family members and biggest Bespoke supporter was sick and in the hospital so any prep or excitement for the awards went out the window with supporting at the hospital. At the last moment we had time get some clothes and do hair and makeup in the car (managed to not have the dreaded mascara blink incident occur) and we were off.

The team who puts on the wedding awards work hard all year to produce the awards, this year the theme was under the sea. We were welcomed into the cocktail area where twist of fate was mixing up some amazing cocktails.

Finally it was time for the awards to start. It was lovely to enjoy spending time with friends and supporting others in the industry. Victoria truly has some amazing creatives! We had never been to the awards before and it was a slight surprise the winners gave a little speech after winning. But we didn’t think too much of it at that moment.

When our “category” of best overall florist came up I hate to admit I was texting my family member in the hospital to check up them but that’s what I was doing. And in some very far away distant land I heard “and the winner is…..Bespoke Blossoms!” we were in complete shock.

We had not expected to win as it was our first year entering. As I started walking up to accept the award I had the crashing realized I had to make an acceptance speech. Which I did, sort of. If any of you know me you would know I am never short for words. Well that night I was short, shaky and very un-me. After saying my thank yous (I think) I went back to my seat and was able to give the amazing news to our emergency room bound biggest supporter.

The other finalists in our category are all truly amazing florists and companies and it is an honor to be recognized amongst such amazing peers. Congratulations to everyone who had a fantastic wedding season.

Please enjoy the photos from our submission! Love Team Bespoke Blossoms #bespokelove #bebespoke