On 1/11/2011, the paperwork I had sent to the State of MD was approved and Little Miss Lovely, LLC. was officially recognized as a business and I was able to market my goods, products and services legally.
Little Miss Lovely has significantly evolved since that day. At that time, I was upcyling vintage wedding dresses, running a vintage clothing and accessory store on Etsy, and selling hand-made jewelry (many of you may remember “Ami’s Mermaid Jewelry” that I had started when I was 18 years old and would sell at local craft shows… the precursor to my love for selling creative wears). I had a blog titled “Little Lovely Bones” in which I would photograph old abandoned houses, write about products and fashion I enjoyed, and post DIY projects (some being flower arranging tutorials). It wasn’t until I was invited to participate in a bridal show that I realized I could take my business to the next level. I designed and decorated my booth at the bridal show with fresh florals and vintage items I had collected. It wasn’t until I realized that people started commenting on the fresh flowers more than they were commenting on the wedding dresses and jewelry that I considered maybe dabbling in floral design, too.
Fast forward a few months and I had signed up to take a college-credited floral design course at Wor-Wic Community College. For a few months, I would spent my Tuesday and Thursday nights learning about designing floral arrangements, the characteristics of certain flowers, and the products best suited for designing.
I grew up surrounded by flowers. My mom and dad has beautiful landscaping and gardens. My Nana Reist was president of our local county flower club and when she resigned, my mother took over as president. I vividly remember attending flower club meetings when I was about 9 years old. My mom and grandmother encouraged my sister and I to make flower arrangements and enter them into flower shows. I have a plethora of winning ribbons from my childhood designs. My Nana Penny used to (and still does) grow, cut, and enter her flowers into the county fair. I started doing the same several years ago started bringing home awards from the 4-H fairs. To further fuel my love of design, my Uncle Bill was a landscaper and would use evergreen trimmings to create wreaths during the holidays and sell them at a roadside stand. It wasn’t until I was out of college (having spent 2 years in nursing school before graduating with a communications degree specializing in broadcast journalism), started an office job, and a waitressing gig at Seacrets that I realized I wanted to be my own boss.
Somewhere in that process of evolution, I met and started dating Chaz. He was very supportive of my creativity, my drive, and my eagerness to want to create my own business. A few months into dating and I already had him helping me make dozens of pom-pom flowers out of tissue paper, rig pipe and drape backdrops, and deal with my creative projects that often took over the entire house. Without Chaz’s support and willingness to just step over my giant messes, I’m not sure Little Miss Lovely would have taken off the way that it has.
I spent nearly 3 years working out of our garage at our first house. In 2015, I opened a tiny 400-square-foot studio in West Ocean City. I’ll forever remember the long nights I spent in that garage studio and the friends and family who would stop by to keep me company, shop, or visit Sandi Doodle for some pets. In 2017, I moved to a bigger location (a whopping 700-square-foot) studio a 1/2 mile down the highway from my first location. This space was more of a working studio and less of a retail experience. By this point in time, I had provided the florals for over 200 weddings and new that wedding flowers were my main business venture. In 2019, Chaz and I purchased land in Bishopville and decided the build a home studio so I could spend less time driving back-and-forth to work and more time raising our daughter and being outside inspired by nature and growing my own flowers. I’ve been at my home studio for just over a year now and its so nice to be able to focus fully on wedding work, everyday flower arrangements, and our family.
In the past 10 years, I have serviced nearly 400 couples as their wedding florist. Some were big, extravagant weddings, others were weddings that I had to travel 18 hours to service, some were intimate beach weddings, and so many were for clients who I now consider great friends.
I am truly thankful for each and every client that I have met over the past 10 years. For your business has helped me continue living a dream, supported our family, and has instilled in me a passion for sharing love and emotion through flowers.
Please help me celebrate Little Miss Lovely’s 10th year in business! May 2021 bring us all joy, love, lots of flowers, and pave the way for many more years of business.
Thank you for your support and your business over the past 10 years! It truly means the world to me and my family.
With love,
Ami
Styling by Little Miss Lovely // Flowers by Little Miss Lovely // Photography by Sarah Murray Photography // Location — Assateague Island National Seashore // Model — Alana McGeehan // Gown by Nha Khanh for Rent the Runway // Jewelry & Accessories from Ish Boutique // Headband - Urban Outfitters // Cake by Desserts by Rita // Balloon from Party City // Dish ware by Royal China