Florist Rebecca Nicholson from Raw Blooms Gin Gin has been named number one wedding florist in Australia at the Australian Wedding Awards in Melbourne this week.
Rebecca shared all the exciting details of her win and what she loves about her industry.
What is your business?
I specialise in Wedding and Event Floristry, but also offer seasonal arrangements and occasional flowers.
What was the award you won?
The awards night that we attended in Melbourne is hosted by the Australian Wedding Awards.
To attend this award each business must place first or highly commended for the region they operate in (our region is the Wide Bay and Fraser Coast).
From the regional awards there are over 500 other wedding businesses that are then invited and listed into each category for the Australian Awards.
The category we were invited to join was Wedding Florist.
I am so grateful to receive the title as #1 Wedding Florist in Australia.
What benefits will this have for the local community?
During the night there were many other businesses from all over Australia.
As each of them asked where Raw Blooms Gin Gin was located, I had great pleasure in telling them that we are a rural town located in South East Queensland.
There were so many people that didn’t know Gin Gin was a suburb, so it was with great pleasure to bring some more awareness of our town and community.
The Gin Gin community has always been so supportive and for that I am forever grateful.
How does it feel to receive this recognition?
The wedding industry can be a gruelling industry sometimes as it requires a lot of time and energy, along with many weekends worked away usually missing family time and away from our loved ones.
But it is an industry that also has so much passion and satisfaction as well and to receive recognition for the time and effort that is channelled into my floral designs and work is absolutely incredible.
From working in the wedding industry for some years now I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside so many other local businesses and from that made some incredible friendships.
We all bring a wedding day and vision to life for our couples as a team!
What is your experience in this industry?
I began my business in 2019 with the desire to channel my creative side into something that helps create happiness and everlasting memories for others.
I am a mother of two beautiful young boys, who have both helped teach me the importance of a work/life balance and to only wake up to do the things you love.
I am a home based business on the outskirts of Gin Gin, which allows me to enjoy my kids but also dedicate time to my designing process and allow me to focus on bringing each of my couples’ floral vision to life.
Why is the Bundaberg region an ideal place for this venture?
When I first began my business, the local florist had to unfortunately close the previous year.
I saw an opportunity for our local community to have a Florist and floral designer that was local and not have to travel all the way into town to purchase flowers.
From here I learned the ins and outs of how my business would work and what was unsuccessful.
I soon began weddings in 2020 where I fell in love with the designing and the joy that it bought couple on their special day.
In Bundaberg and surrounding areas, we are incredibly lucky to have so many talented and passionate wedding vendors.
There are many beautiful venues, photographers, videographers, makeup artists and much more right at our back door without the need to travel far away to say I do.
I also love that there are a few other wedding florists locally that are incredibly talented as well and we can channel our couples to where they need to be, as we all have different ideas and designs.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I cannot thank all of my couples, along with the Gin Gin and Bundaberg community, enough for your continued support over the years to allow me to share my floral designs.
A massive thank you as well to all of our local wedding vendors that I have had the opportunity to work alongside, as we all work together to be ‘a piece of the puzzle’ to create the end result for our couples wedding day!
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