“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” is a famous line from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet where she tries to rationalize her love for her dear Romeo even though her Capulet family would never allow her to marry a Montague. In a way she’s right. A rose, even if it had a different name, would still be beautiful. When it comes to love, classifications don’t always hold a lot of weight. But a lot of times, names go deeper than that. Parents pour over lists of hundreds of baby names, historical family names, or even choose to name their children after a loved one to honor them. Couples often take on a shared last name to represent starting a new family together. Businesses choose names that are clear and sometimes catchy. Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that names are usually special, thoughtful, and purposeful.
So why did I choose to name my business “The Flower Crown Design Studio?” Just a few months before starting this business, I got married. During our church’s pre-marital counseling, my then-fiancé and I learned that hundreds of years ago in our church traditions, the bride and groom would wear crowns made from wildflowers to symbolize the kingdom of heaven. The groom is a representation of Christ, and the bride, His church. Nowadays, the church has a set of gold crowns that they use for all the couples, then take back at the end of the ceremony. Our priest mentioned to us that if we wanted to, we could use flower crowns for the ceremony to bring back the old tradition, then we would be able keep them afterwards. I loved the idea of flower crowns, but not all of our family members were convinced since the fresh crowns aren’t the norm anymore. In the end, we decided to use our own set of gold crowns, instead of the fresh flower crowns, but the idea stuck with me.
Since my husband was the one to push me to start the business, and we started it in our first year of marriage, I wanted to name it “The Flower Crown” to symbolize us building our lives together as husband and wife. It was simple, clear that it was flower-related, and meant something special to me. Even the logo draws inspiration from our wedding. We got married in November at the beautiful downtown venue, The Century. If you’re familiar with the place, you’d know there are a lot of natural elements in the historical building like hundred-year-old brick, and beautiful wood floors that gave our wedding an earthy warmth. I wanted to include a natural element into the logo to match the vibe of our wedding, so we incorporated branches into the wreath. November is also pomegranate season, which is my husband’s favorite fruit. We had them incorporated into our floral centerpieces during the wedding, and I added a touch of it into the logo as well. It’s subtle, and it might be mistaken for a flower if you don’t look closely.
I love when couples come to me with special touches they’d like me to include in their wedding flowers. I had a bride request Dusty Miller greens included in her arrangements because “Miller” was her grandfather’s surname and she wanted to honor him. I had another bride incorporate a single lily in her bouquet to honor the groom’s sister, Lily, who had passed away. It may be over-looked by guests, and that’s okay. It is not necessarily for them. It is for the couple. It makes every part of their day important and meaningful. And on their wedding day, they’ll see all the thought behind each piece. It’s those special little moments that makes wedding days so magical. The same is true for me. My name and logo are all a reflection of myself, our marriage, and my love of personal details. Your details may look differently, but it will be meaningful and memorable to you. It will tell YOUR story.