From “Married at First sight” to your aisle: Chicago’s premier wedding florist

MJM Occasions featured on Married at First Sight Season 18!

FLORAL DESIGN

1/24/2025

We’re absolutely thrilled and still pinching ourselves! As a local Chicago business, we’re always proud to be part of our city’s vibrant wedding scene, and recently, that pride reached a whole new level! We were beyond excited to have our floral artistry featured on the hit reality TV show, ‘Married at First Sight,’ filmed right here in our beloved Chicago.

Being featured on the show, especially in season 18, was an absolute dream come true. We poured our hearts into creating stunning arrangements that complemented the unique atmosphere of the wedding, and it was such an incredible experience to be a part of this special Chicago wedding and see our creations come to life on screen – and on national television!

Seeing our arrangements enhance such a special moment for the couples was truly an honor, and we’re so excited to share this exciting news with all of you!

How was this all even possible ?? Let’s start from the very beginning...

I honestly did not think this was going to take place. I was contacted in early June and the wedding(S) were happening in August. For those who are new to wedding planning, a lot of vendors (photographers, florists, caterers etc.) are all booked a year in advance. Now some couples aren’t aware of this and end up booking vendors anywhere from 6-8 months out, sometimes with even less time.

SO, to be asked to create the floral designs of 5 really big and important weddings just 2 months out, was a bit crazy ! At the end, I’m really glad the show decided to bring on another florist so that MJM Occasions did not have to design for all 5 weddings. We ended up designing for only 2 of the 5 weddings.

If you check out the timeline below, we really only have TWO WEEKS to plan and execute such beautiful and grand weddings.

it takes a village

Seeing as how this was just our second year in business, I knew I was going to need ALL the help I could get. I already had a few floral mentors but it was peak wedding season in Chicago and I needed a few miracles to pull this off.

It started with an amazingly supportive husband, a beautiful mom, 2 lovely sisters, and 2 wonderful floral friends. I then needed advice, AND supplies from my floral friends. See, I strongly believe in COMMUNITY over COMPETITION and I’m so glad that I do because this wouldn’t have been possible without the following Queens...

Mentoring...

  • Kathleen Drennan... ‘Little Bird Bloom’

  • Alyssa Lytle... ‘Flowering Minds’

  • Jennifer Grasseschi... ‘Coaching for Creative People’

Mentoring & Supplies...

  • Melissa... ‘Trablume Floral Studio’

  • Natalia... ‘Prairie Honey Floral Studio’

  • Nancee... ‘Blooming Occasions’

  • Melissa... ‘MKuzma Designs’

Moral Support & Day of Set-up...

  • Linetta... ‘glasHAUS’

  • Julia... Spokepockettefarm

The Prep

For those who don’t know, there is A LOT of prep that happens before flowers magically appear at a wedding. When I tell people I’m a florist, they usually say something like, “Aww that’s SO cool !” or “So pretty !”

They don’t see the late nights, the cut up fingers, the hours of cleaning thorns off of rose stems, the washing of so many buckets & vases, the melting of old candle wax, the bruised knees from crawling in and out of a van etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do and the smile on a bride’s face on the most special day of her life, is priceless !!

Below you see a huge pile of flowers that all need to be processed. This takes hours depending on how many people you have helping you.

Every flower needs to be processed in a certain way. Did you know that it’s best to keep tulips in their wrapper AND in a dark cool place ? If not, they keep growing !! Fresh cut tulips are geotropic and phototropic, meaning that their growth is affected by gravity and light, respectively.

Or that some flowers give off a sap that may be dangerous to other flowers when placed in the same bucket ?

When you hire an experienced florist, you’re not only paying for the flowers themselves, but the experience and wisdom that will ensure a wedding day full of beautiful long lasting flowers.

Prep not only involves flowers, buckets and vases. It also involves overall planning and logistics.

As a former educator/coordinator this part also gives me SO much joy ! Planning and being organized is extremely important. You need to make sure things run smoothly and on time. You also need to make sure your team is informed, prepared, and that they have everything they need.

It starts with...

  • Timeline/Plan

  • Zoom meeting

    • Makes sure everyone knows each other if they haven’t worked together beore

    • Go over supplies, assignments, schedules, etc.

    • Answer any & all questions

    • Summary and final check-in until the big day

  • The day of set-up everyone is added to a group text

  • The first person to show up will confirm arrival and find point of contact and load-in entrance. They also let everyone else know any new info (ie; elevator is out of order, use south entrance instead etc)

  • There are 2 binders with complete instructions onsite as well as the team lead to answer any questions that come up

NOW... just because there is a lovely plan/schedule layed out, does NOT mean that everything will run smoothly and go as planned. I ALWAYS make sure the team knows this during the Zoom meeting. The doors might be locked, the linens aren’t there yet, the freight elevator is out of order, there is another event going on in the space etc, etc, etc.

My goal is to have as much as planned as possible, so that when hiccups do happen, they’re not as bad and we can pivot when and where we need to. If my team and plan was already chaotic, and then more chaos comes our way, it would become an even hotter mess. I make it a priority to make sure my team is good to go, and in good spirits !

Behind the Scenes

I must admit, when it comes to documenting my work and my team, I’m not the best, BUT I’m definitely working on it !!

As the business owner and lead, I’m usually so focused on making sure everything runs smoothly, and delivering the highest quality service that my mind blanks when it comes to documenting anything. I’m so glad that my little sister loves to take pics and document things because if it wasn’t for her, none of these pics would be here.

Please check out some cute behind the scenes

The Final Results

I have to say that not ALL went as planned. I learned SO much along the way, and I’m so grateful for having this opportunity !

There was a point where I wanted to just say ‘no thanks’ to this opportunity. I felt I wasn’t ready, that my business wasn’t ready, that I could embarrass myself on national tv !!!

BUT, I sucked it all up and said, YES !

Because my Dreams are BIGGER than my FEARS...

MJM Occasions is a husband and wife team offering floral design and videography to Chicagoland couples.

We are a boutique studio and we pride ourselves in only working with one couple per weekend and only 20 events per season.

We care deeply for our environment and we run a solar powered home studio. We also use supplies that are reusable, recyclable, and compostable.

Inspired by what you saw?

Contact us today for a consultation

Let’s bring your dream wedding flowers to life!

MJM Occasions