I'm so excited to start this new series, you guys. The plan is that every Friday (or every other, depending on whether or not I can get people to participate) :) I'll be sharing with you a lovely person I've had the pleasure of working with since we started offering our vendor aprons in the shop.
First up is the insanely talented Jacin Fitzgerald. You guys can all thank her for the creation of our apron line since she was the first person to ask if we could make her a custom apron with her logo embroidered. You're welcome. :) Jacin was also one of the first people I connected with in this online world, through the #TWIPS group on Twitter, way back in 2010. Feel honored to call her one of my best 'real life' friends now too.
{L: original apron, R: version 2}
SO without further ado, heeeeeere's Jacin:
Tell us a little bit about Jacin Fitzgerald and the evolution of your business - from where it started to where it is now.
For the past 14+ years, I have worked and traveled my way across the United States and abroad – I’m a big “you only live once” kind of person and take every opportunity I can to travel and gain new experiences. I grew up working for my family’s hardware store (but my favorite part was designing the front window displays seasonally) and that instilled a strong work ethic in me from a young age. Watching other family members manage their own businesses was always really inspiring to me as well, and helped me to learn the importance of a healthy work/life balance. I landed my first official job in the events industry straight out of college in 2003 assisting with weddings and large-scale festivals for an oceanside venue in Newport, Rhode Island and from there I continued on my path in events management, from coordinating a national regatta series for Sailing World Magazine to functions for a private school in Sydney, Australia, to strategically-placed marketing events of all kinds across the United States for a pharmaceutical agency. Through all of my work and travels, though, I felt like something was missing and realized it was the creativity and personalization that went into the weddings that I started out with in the very beginning. I went on to open my company (initially called lovely little details) in 2009 and have not stopped working since then in order to build the reputable and seasoned wedding planning company that it has become today. An eternal optimist at heart, I’ve always been a “glass half full” type of gal and take this view into every event – I really and truly love my job and will never stop feeling thankful for each client who trusts me to join them on their journey to “I do”.
Let’s talk about your floral design skills (incredible). Have flowers always been a part of your life? Do you have an all time favorite arrangement you’ve designed?
I feel like this is the most cliche answer ever but as a kid, my grandmother (Mimi) had the most incredible garden. It was full of wildflowers and it was always so beautiful. I remember going out to the garden with her to help with the watering or weeding and just really enjoying that time together. My family on my dad’s side has always been really into gardening and I guess I’ve just always been around flowers. When I started my company in late 2009 I was only doing the planning/design side of things but I always gravitated towards the blooms. I started attending flower workshops and (we lived in San Francisco at the time) would head to the flower mart 3-4 mornings a week at 4:00am to walk the market and see what was in season, how much flowers cost, etc. I wanted to learn anything and everything I could about the flowers before I started offering floral design to my clients. I had one client trust me with their wedding flowers and from there all of my clients started asking me to include this as an add-on service and basically haven’t looked back from there! As for a favorite…. I don’t think I do - they are all so different and special based on the client we were working with, but I can say my favorite kind of arrangement is the one where the client trusts me 100% to do my thing - I love to use foraged vegetables / fruit whenever I can because I really feel like it adds interest and life to the centerpiece.
If you could redesign the food pyramid without any dire health consequences how would it look?
I’m probably a bad person to ask because my version of “whole” 30 is the “half” 30 - so I eat healthy during the week and enjoy my favorite foods on the weekends (or Thursdays… or Wednesdays…). I love love love to cook - my favorite magazines are Bon Appetit over Us Weekly so that kind of translates into my eating habits, I guess :).
What is your favorite 90’s jam? (Sorry if I just dated you)
You didn’t date me haha - it’s just impossible to choose! Let’s put it this way - 90s song most likely to show up on a playlist? “It Was A Good Day” - Ice Cube - ha! :)
What’s in your apron?
Pens (including a nice one in case the client forgets it for her sign-in book), safety pins, bouquet ribbon pins pinned to the outer pocket, a timeline, backup cell phone charger, and a little tape measure. Depending on the day of course.
Thanks so much for kicking off our 'Friday Five' series, Jacin. Looking forward to sharing more of my favorites with you in the coming weeks. Have a great weekend, everyone!
