"My business primarily caters to a handful of high-end clients, celebrities, prominent business people and the like. From my best clients my business grows from word of mouth referrals, and this is how I came to be hired to design the flowers for a high-society wedding at the Belagio Hotel. By happy coincidence, Dutch designer Els Teunissen was also working in Las Vegas at the time. With the help of her insight and connections, we arranged for the bulk of the wedding flowers to be Dutch flowers. And I'm certainly glad they were: In my 40 years in the flower business, these were the best floral specimens I have ever seen!"

Over the top
"The flowers arrived from Holland in perfect condition. The bride also loved cherry blossoms, so we ordered in 12 bales of them as well. But it was flowers from Holland that really made the job: the flower quality was really over the top! And they even made the Belagio Hotel's event management team take notice - and this is a grand hotel that can buy whatever they want! In fact, the hotel's event manager even brought another bride who was planning her wedding at the hotel into the room where I was working to show her the amazing Dutch flowers in my designs." 

Rich appearance
"For this wedding I created fairly traditional designs with a lush, Victorian appearance. The entrance pieces were huge urns of cherry blossoms, 12 to 15 feet tall, towering over the entranceway, while below there was a garden of Dutch roses, hybrid Delphinium, Hydrangea… beautiful specimens, all clustered around a pool of water. On the top of the grand staircase's banister posts I placed smaller urns, filled with hundreds of roses. Stunning! These round arrangements had a very full look, with no foliage between the flowers, so the texture of roses played against the hydrangeas, spilling over the urns and creating a wonderfully rich appearance."

Fringy edges
"While it may be that some South American roses cost half the price, the outstanding quality of these Dutch roses was worth twice the price! Dutch roses were the predominate flower choice for this wedding. Sweet peas, Bi-color roses, Lots of ivory to white colors for the bridal work, some pink roses with greenish edges. Some of the rose varieties were even new to me: mauve-colored roses with fringy edges. The volume and lushness of the roses and complimentary hydrangeas had a great impact – not only was the bride delighted, but even the groom was awed by the arrangements!"

Devotion to flowers
"Having recently participated in the 'Holland Trip', I knew the Dutch delivered excellent floral products. While in Holland, we visited Dutch breeders, growers, retail florists and the Aalsmeer Flower Auction. All very impressive. If there is one word I'd choose to sum up the Dutch floral industry professionals, it is 'devotion': the Dutch are devoted to producing the best flowers on the market today. Having seen this firsthand in Holland, and from my great experience with Dutch flowers for the Las Vegas wedding, I'd certainly go the Dutch flower route again in a heartbeat. In fact, when I hit another big job, it's a plan!"