At the beginning of this year’s wedding season I was on the hunt for an outrageously talented as well as super excited new team member to add to the mix.  I was looking for someone passionate and ready to learn everything that there is to learn about this crazy industry.  I wanted someone with their own sense of creativity, someone who would learn from me, but also be able to put their own spin on things.  I found my girl! Maria is her name and Weddings are her game.  Maria is part of the design process as well as the event set-ups here at The Vine’s Leaf, but she will also be a weekly contributor to the newly remodeled blog! She will be posting on whatever it is that is inspiring us over here,  whether it’s a fun Lover.ly Board, a recent wedding that we have done or our most coveted bloom of the moment.  So here she is FOLKS…the amazing Maria Melissa!

I remember when I was the one reading blogs like this. The young dreamer at my laptop waiting to see what The Wedding Chicks were going to post next, clicking from vendor to vendor and planning weddings in my head. I was the girl with the parents that had the big expectations of me going to Med School or becoming a Lawyer.  At the time, a free lance creative style job was not in the cards, so I never considered the wedding industry as a career for me.  It was always a big dream, a “What if?” type of thing, until I decided to just go for it, 100% and to never give up or look back.  Which is exactly why you are reading this today :)

As a kid, I was a hopeless romantic. Every two week high school “relationship” excited me at the beginning and broke me when they ended. And with every new boyfriend came a million new weddings planned in my special “Future Weddings” (notice the “s” at the end of wedding) folder on my computer’s desktop. Planning weddings for myself was not only a hobby of mine but a way to bring hope to my kindred spirit after a break up. They included everything: vendors, venues, flowers, accents, accessories and a dress, a Vera Wang that I’m still in love with today. I was such a weird kid! I took a floral design class as a last resort my senior year in high school. I figured it would be easy and that there would be no way to fail it; I was partially right. For me, designing was a piece of cake– others in my class suffered. As big headed as I can be in my mind, I wondered how something so easy for me could be so difficult to others. Either way, from that point on I was smitten…my passion for weddings paired with my new found love of floral design had created a lover of all things beautiful…I fell head over heals in love with the wedding and floral industries, immersing myself into every aspect.

After multiple attempts at pursuing some sort of college education that I was interested in and passionate about, I moved to Texas to attend Wedding Planning classes (and partially to run away but that’s another story). Soon I realized after shadowing my teacher/wedding planner that though wedding planning was amazing, I wasn’t as passionate about it. I knew I wanted to work in the wedding industry but I didn’t know exactly what my role would be.  All the while, I still continued to follow wedding blogs and continued making floral arrangements as a hobby.

As funny and ironic as life is, I found The Vine’s Leaf and Aly when she became a Handpicked Vendor on The Wedding Chicks years ago; I swore to myself that she was the florist to bring life to my many weddings I had planned for myself. After randomly responding to her search for an intern, here I am now, The Vine’s Leaf’s new(ish) intern! Every day of work with Aly is amazing. She’s constantly challenging me and preparing me for nothing less than the best. I’ve learned so much in these short couple of months and can honestly say that I enjoy looking at my work B.A. (before Aly) and finding things I could have improved or done differently. My dreams are coming together piece by piece and way faster than I’d anticipated. And although I’m very much still following wedding blogs and planning a million weddings for myself, it’s such an awarding feeling to know that I’m now also writing behind the blogs I used to follow.

I look forward to chatting with you, entertaining you and hopefully inspiring you along the way!

xo, Maria