My Grandma Jean loved to pick, press and preserve wildflowers, often displaying her floral finds in small gold and silver frames dotted around her bungalow. Nan was the only person I'd ever known who pressed flowers and it was very endearing. It reminded me of our many childhood nature walks with her, discovering forest floors blanketed by bluebells and snowdrops in the beautiful countryside of Surrey, England, where I grew up.

​

Sadly, Grandma passed away on New Years Day 2023, aged 99. I was fortunate to be able to travel back to the UK for her funeral in February and admired the sea of colourful flowers that paid tribute to her life at the funeral service. Not wanting the flowers to go to waste, I later arranged many of the blooms into bouquets to display around my parent's house and remember thinking how sad it would be to eventually throw away such beautiful and significant flowers, once the bouquets were past their best. It was then that I decided I would like to take some of her flowers home with me to Whistler, BC to have them as a cherished keepsake.

 

I borrowed some old books from my parents and tried my hand at pressing flowers for the very first time, packing them carefully in my suitcase to bring back to Canada with me. The pressing was a success and once the flowers were dried, I created my very first floating floral frame with the pressed flowers, in honour of my Grandma. I completely fell in love with the flower pressing process.

 

Grandma would have celebrated her 100th birthday in June 2023 and continuing her flower pressing legacy by launching Flora & Frame exactly a century after she was born is hugely honouring, humbling and heartwarming. I love the feeling of keeping her memory alive in this way and hope she would be proud of my flower-filled endeavours.

 

Living in Whistler and already working as a freelance wedding make-up and hair artist, Flora & Frame feels like the perfect sister business to run alongside my wedding beauty business. With the stunning mountains of Whistler being one of Canada’s most popular wedding and event destinations, I'm so excited to now offer bouquet preservation and framing for bloom-loving brides, as well as anyone wishing to preserve their special occasion and commemorative flowers for a lifetime.

​

Below is a photo of my Grandma from my wedding in 2010 and the flower frame I made with her funeral flowers.