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Flowers are at the centre of wedding celebrations and photos which creates a lot of pressure! In 2021 I made the leap into designing and delivering flowers for weddings and learned how the perishable blooms have to survive hours of photo shoots in extreme outdoor environments, transportation through the mountains, and a lot of handling by people who are new to handling flowers. I've taken the opportunity as a flower farmer to land on a collaborative approach to wedding florals which is somewhat unique. My goal with this blog is to help set expectations so all of our on and off farm wedding flowers can be both beautiful and fun. (living our 'happi life' values) Rachel and Forrest September 2024 Here's a look at the process behind a wedding from September of 2024. First a note from the bride:  "Meredith went above and beyond for our wedding florals! Her attention to detail and creativity are top-tier! We loved the experience of visiting the farm and picking out our flowers. We cannot recommend her enough!" Rachel and Forrest Rachel had found us at happilife.ca and completed the enquiry form and uploaded and inspiration pic. She had set out a fair budget for everything she wanted and was flexible to work with the local seasonal flowers we would have in bloom. A one-hour conversation was enough to know we wanted to work together. I put together a detailed quote with her inspiration pictures and notes, then with all the details nailed down they put down a deposit to secure their date. apricot lisianthus A week before the big day I started looking at what was in bloom and potential colour combinations. The original design called for white with possible pink touches BUT these apricot Lisianthus cried to be in a wedding bouquet. I sent Rachel a pic and she had a resounding YES to shifting to this in-season palette. Lisianthus generally bloom a first flush in August and a second flush in September. The rose-like blooms are also very tough. first look at flowers Flowers need to be harvested in cool early mornings (or evenings) and are cut right into clean buckets of water. Sometimes I add a little preservative depending on the weather and types of flowers. They then get 'conditioned' or hydrated for a minimum of 2 hours in a cool shaded location. I laid out all of the flowers I harvested for the wedding and the whole family showed up to have a look at the process. I'm a bit protective about making sure the couple gets clear input on the design decisions, but most couples are happy to have a key person to bounce decisions off of. And its fun to create with others. In the flower field After reviewing flowers and vases, we visit the flower field. Occasionally people want to add something I missed harvesting, or delete a bloom they don't love. (It won't hurt my feelings). Next we get down to business designing the most important focal pieces for the wedding couple. Here's me at my fussiest making sure the size and style work for the main bouquet, and that everything of course is picture perfect. I try to wrap the bouquet right away to secure it - although flowers like to do there own thing and move around! if there's time we'll design at least one other wedding party floral and one centrepiece or bud vase grouping. I also have a DIY option where the wedding party create all of their own flowers if they have time. It can save a bit of time and money on my end, but I highly recommend to let us handle packing, delivery and set up the day of the event. Of course I can also manage the full design process based on your input. ceremony flowers reception flowers Many couples I work with are trying to get a really stunning wedding and still manage the costs. One way we did this for Rachel and Forrest was to move the ceremony flowers to the head table and the seating chart while cocktails were being served. I'm happy to do this but I have to account for the extra time on site, which can be a few hours. For a full wedding like this plan for a budget starting at $3,000 including tax. I will look at 'a la carte' ways to keep the flower budget lower if needed, but if you want a full story board quote, and farm design and local delivery think about $1,500 as your minimum starting point. Also if you want more flowers, or to bring in your own designer I'm happi to talk! Just know that if you ask for specific flower varieties like ranunculus 'almandine' and snowdrops in August, or peonies in September, I'll likely reply: "we have a wide variety of colours and types of seasonal blooms that we will use to create your beautiful unique design based on your vision." Working with seasonal farm fresh flowers is not less expensive or less work BUT it is far more sustainable for the planet; and I happen to think locally grown flowers have a unique quality that is a perfect match for our beautiful relaxed brides!

Hi I'm Meredith! I'm a flower and colour addict. I also love writing and gardening and editing pictures and music and teaching and learning. This blog is an exercise in self-expression and deep diving into research; and a way for me to develop a stronger relationship with you our (current or potential) client and friend. 'The Arena' September 2024 This is me in the flower field we call 'The Arena' because it was at one time a giant horse training area and the sandy loam soil is magnificent for growing flowers. It's truly my Happi Place and I love to share it with people. (Well really a few people at a time with me overseeing the precious plant babies.) The HappiLife Mission and Vibe Every sign on our little farm has been created by hand by different amazing friends, family, artists and always supported by husband Doug's artisan building skills. I often feel I'm channeling the old farms and barns in the Ontario countryside where I grew up. Something about a rustic sign painted on old wood with a sense of whimsy and humour creates a more serene frame of mind. Building this flower farm from a horse farm that was is pretty rough shape when we bought it has been a labour of love. It's a tough dream that involves working long hours outside and reinvesting every penny into our farm systems. I came close to quitting a couple of times. (Between a pandemic and a hip replacement, and mortgage and insurance inflation you get the idea of how challenging this has been.) But this is truly the search for a "happi life" filled with purposely supporting our planet and our community. We feel so lucky to live in this place filled with awe inspiring beauty and just the nicest people. In 2025 we're excited to invite people in to our new sweet little Happi Place Barn venue to celebrate special occasions. The Happi Place Barn - 20 X 30' Venue for Workshops, tours and weddings and hopefully lots of live music Lots more to come (: Now that I've caught the blogging bug, I can't wait to share all about growing flowers and the fun things (and hard things) we are up to at HappiLife Farm . Yours in Flowers, Meredith. Subscribe to our email !

The world of collecting precious dahlia tubers is a little out of of control! I admit to being bitten by the panic buying bug in the past, and fallen down the rabbit hole of thinking I could store thousands of tubers without a climate controlled solution. In my 6th year in the dahlia game, I now have a really lovely small collection of tubers grown on our farm in a spray free environment; tucked away in the cold room in (reusable) vermiculite in reusable plastic bins; and on sale for only $10 ea. Generally my goal is 10 to plant and 5- 30 to sell based on the productivity of the variety of the tubers. (I'm fine tuning that formula each season by the way.) My goal is to stay local, small and sustainable, and the tuber sale helps support the labor and costs of growing and processing fussy dahlia tubers. Each plant grows to be 3-4 ' and becomes a 3 ' wide bush that needs staking, and blooms beginning of August until frost. There's a learning curve but it's beyond worth it. Start with a few! You can become fully addicted and dig them up and divide them, propagate them by root shoots - heck start your own flower farm. Most people just want to pop them in the ground in May, water with the rest of your garden, harvest armloads for your friends and home, and then say good-bye at the end of the season. The 2025 'Pretty in Pink' 5 tuber collection available at happilife.ca I've organized over 30 dahlia varieties by colour (there are tens of thousands of named varieties by the way) and included one extraordinary collection of vigorous 'Pretty in Pink' tubers. I have over 60 other varieties in development to plant our dahlia patch. I'm going to tuck the extras of these once I've carefully inspected all of ,my stock in the spring (along with some reliable producers) into the 'Happi Surprise' collection packs. Setting up shipping is off the list for now, and I'm committed to selling for pick up at various dates and locations throughout the spring in the Sea to Sky. That way we get to meet, and I can meet the goal of reducing flower carbon footprints and hopefully the diseases that spread with mass harvesting and shipping. I've put a Dahlia growers guide to download at happilife.ca . There are lots of great resources out there, but I wanted to focus on the unique needs of our intense weather conditions. Hopefully you will find some tips that add to your growing knowledge. Like this first blog post (blogging has been on my wish list for many years) growing living things is a journey. I hope we can grow together with flowers that are good for people and good for the planet. Meredith