Let's face it, searching for wedding vendors can be overwhelming. Thankfully Amy Young -- owner of…read moreLeaves of Grass -- made our process simple and fun. Amy is gracious with her time, talented in ways that can't be taught, incredibly affordable and budget conscious, thoughtful, kind, warm, and committed to going above and beyond. I started to get butterflies in my stomach when she delivered our bouquets -- beautiful doesn't even begin to describe Amy's work.
Let's start at the beginning. After a glowing recommendation from Ashley Power, Power Catering Events, I emailed Amy shortly before Thanksgiving 2013. She replied to my email on the same day and we scheduled an initial phone conversation for later that night. We instantly hit it off! Amy's sustainable, eco-friendly focus was evident when I mentioned we were interested in using individual potted succulents for our centerpieces, and as a favor (longer lasting and more tasteful than jordan almonds) for each guest at the end of the night. She jumped on board and we ended up chatting for nearly an hour.
I followed up on our call by sending Amy my pinterest pages, wedding gown pics, and other ideas I'd found on the web. Due to the holiday season and her busy schedule, Amy was unable to quickly create our invoice, but she did stay in touch through December sending three color palette options. By the end of January Amy sent us our eight page invoice -- one page of numbers, followed by seven pages of color images and text describing some of the options included in our invoice (both add and deduct alternates). Very thorough!
Fast forward to our October 2014 wedding -- after we sent over 50 emails back-and-forth, had one site visit walk through, and an additional meeting in my apartment -- where Amy was a behind-the-scenes genius. She took the vision we discussed and ran wild with it, exceeding our expectations at every turn. Instead of the simple, lower budget spray roses and dusty miller arrangements for the bridesmaid bouquets, Amy outdid herself creating mini versions of my bouquet. She delivered two boutonnieres to my husband, giving him a choice between two lovely succulents.
Our centerpieces were arranged on a variety of cigar boxes and overturned glass vases. Each table arrangement was unique and contained a variety of textures, colors, and sizes. This encouraged our guests to mix and mingle, as they made mental notes about which plant they wanted to take home. (This worked all too well, and at the end of the night we realized there were no plants left for us!)
Amy's influence on our wedding didn't end with our succulent and floral arrangements. She painstakingly listened to me as I described all of my diy projects. With the patience of a saint she sat with me as I unraveled one of my paper garlands and pulled out the box of hand-made bracelets for each guest. She worked with our caterer to style the venue with all of our personal touches -- arranging our guest book and card box display, the post-ceremony diy bracelets table, site signage, window garlands, and votives. She put in serious leg work to set up little arrangements that complemented the 1920's decor of our venue.
We highly recommend working with Amy, and will certainly reach out to her in the future for any special occasion needs.
**Please excuse iPhone photos -- will post professional pics once they're ready.