Hello lovelies,

Uh, it feels very familiar blogging. It's like I'm reconnecting with an old friend that I used to know back in 2012.

For those of you who have stumbled across this website/shop/blog post, I will give you a little context.

My name is Joelle and I've been working in events — mostly weddings — for the past 15 years. I started a blog called My Lovely Wedding when I got engaged, which eventually made money and I was officially a 'blogger'. I guess you could say I was one of the original influencers before Instagram and TikTok came on the scene. I had thousands of views and I organically grew my Facebook page to 280k followers. I hate to think what I could have done if I had carried on or got my face behind a camera. I used to write daily about weddings, decor, vendors and I documented my story of getting married in Dubai. I eventually cut back on blogging and focused more on styling weddings. I tried to set up a side business called The Lovely Flower Co. which was dedicated to styling, but everyone just came back to My Lovely Wedding, so eventually I just adapted and kept my brand name. About 7 years ago I decided to add floristry to my skillset and I went to London and did an intense training week — it was money well spent and it was the first time I had a break from being a mum of two, ever! It felt like a beginning. It did take me about a year to really feel comfortable using the word 'florist' — I felt like I had to earn that label/title, or whatever you want to call it.

I love weddings, I love table decor, playing with colours and creating set-ups. I love setting the table, having a theme and making tabletops look good. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, all my events and weddings were cancelled. As we all remember, it was a really tough time worldwide. I lost all my income and for the first time in a long time I felt completely lost.

BUT this quiet time gave me an opportunity to create something new. Along with my old friend Mona, we created an online flower shop called 'The Lovely Flower Shop'. It was all things floral, all things lovely, a bit quirky, and we created some beautifully crafted gift boxes. Our flowers were whimsical and wild, but it wasn't profitable. Fresh flowers die, overheads were big — even though we started it at home in my kitchen — and we were learning as we went. Eventually we had to shut it down. I would never use the word 'failed' because I think we both learnt so much and it kept us busy, sane and creative during a hard time. I also got to spend a lot of time with Mona, which I'll treasure forever.

So here we are. It's September 2026 and the past 6 months have felt so much like Covid. The war did exactly what Covid did — stopped events, postponed weddings and disrupted so many industries — and compared to previous years I am not very busy with new weddings for 2027. Before jumping into something new, I gave myself time to just 'wait and see'. That waiting lasted a few months and then I realised that I needed to do something.

This is the something.