Tis the season. Wedding season that is and if you didn’t already know 2022 is on track to be the biggest year for weddings since 1984. A major wedding decision is deciding on florals. What color flowers? What types of flowers? How many flowers? The questions are endless. To ease all of your wedding floral worries, our team got the opportunity to chat with Lauren Bercier, Co-Founder and CEO of Something Borrowed Blooms.
A rent and return wedding flower company that specializes in creating premium silk flowers that customers are able to rent for their wedding weekends. Something Borrowed Blooms is changing the traditional wedding industry by allowing consumers to rent premium florals saving them a cost of 70% compared to a fresh florist.
As tradition goes, you go to a good college, get a job and then start working but after Lauren met her husband who is a serial entrepreneur, she knew that if he could run his own businesses so could she. While both raising families and working full time, Lauren and Co-Founder Laken decided that they wanted to take more control over their destinations in life. With Lauren coming from a background in PR and Laken working in a corporate environment, they knew they wanted to start a business together.
With the urge to create something that was revolutionary, different, and something that was going to bring about a positive change for consumers, Something Borrowed Blooms was born.
Inspired by the genius concept of Rent the Runway, an online store that allows modern women to rent higher priced dresses for a fraction of the cost, Lauren and Laken knew that they wanted to reinvent that concept to a different industry. “You know when you hit that season of life where everyone (and I mean everyone) around you seems to be either getting engaged or you’re going to a wedding every other weekend,” the Co-Founders noticed that brides were on the search for less expensive floral arrangements in order to keep budgets down.
Something Borrowed Blooms offers more affordable, sustainable, and convenient floral options for brides. Introducing a brand-new concept to such a traditional and a lined wedding industry while also changing the consumers mindset would be difficult, but Lauren and Laken knew that SBB offered something unique and different that would entice the modern couple.
With 16 different collection sets, SBB offers the best sustainable option for brides while still getting high quality premium florals.
We asked Lauren what the process is like for creating new collections and if customization options are available. “On staff we have an amazing Creative Director, Molly Workman, who leads the charge of creating new collections. Molly is a former wedding dress designer with floral design experience.”
Lauren stated that the company often looks to “bridal fashion, trends and colors, while also gaining inspiration from florals seen in media.” “It’s a balance between evergreen and trends, crafting collections that future couples will want to use years down the line but also creating media inspired collections based on popular shows like Bridgerton.” Although you are not able to customize your own collection, brides are able to “mix and match among the collections to create a floral arrangement that best fits their wedding,” Brides also have the option of adding additional florals to the arrangement once they receive it if that’s something they would like to do.
Once you rent or are thinking about renting from SBB you have the option to join the private Something Borrowed Blooms Facebook group. A community of brides who share tips, photos, and ideas of florals they’ve used from SBB or are thinking about using. It adds a fun and unique community aspect of inspiration when it comes to helping future brides decide on florals.
Lauren emphasized on the fact that “florals will tie your whole look together- like icing on the cake. You can incorporate floral elements to bring your vision to life, delicate & dainty, bold & fun, moody & romantic - these statements are made with florals.”
On top of owning and operating her own business, Lauren is a full-time mom with 2 sons. We asked Lauren more about how she effectively manages her time while still creating moments for herself. “The key is to try to balance it all, but also give yourself grace to know that it’s never going to be perfect. Knowing that some seasons are going to be heavier on work, others heavier on family and that’s okay.”
Lauren praises her family and friends for all the help they’ve provided along the way as well as her Google calendar. “Planning and scheduling out time for work and family, blocking out my calendar during important family time or just down time has made all the difference. Being intentional with your time is important, when I’m at work I’m 100% at work and when I’m home I’m 100% at home.”
When Lauren first started the company both of her sons were under the age of 2, while she was packing and arranging florals with a baby attached to her hip. “Be okay with knowing that you will need help and that you can’t do it all on your own,
I am extremely blessed and fortunate to have a husband, parents, babysitters who are hands on and don’t mind stepping up when needed. It has been a journey, but fun to see how it’s evolved along the way.” Raising 2 sons, now 7 and 9, Lauren is extremely mindful of showing them how to love the entrepreneurial spirit of ana ambition woman.
“It’s fun to see how they view the business and me as a business owner. With a team of 30 women, raising them to love and appreciate women who are driven and successful is important to me and something I’m most proud of.”
Although it’s one of the most special days of your life, planning a wedding can be more than stressful. With the opinions of social media, family, friends, etc., it’s sometimes hard to figure out what you truly want. We asked Lauren what tips or advice she would give a bride who is currently going through the amazing yet demanding wedding planning process. “Don’t let the pressures from society or your family and friends sway you from what is more important to you. Do what you want to do and do things that feel special and meaningful to your partner, the best weddings insert the personality of the couple and what’s important to them.”
“The amount of money you spend does not indicate the value or preciousness of your special day. Own the memories, rent the flowers!”Launched in 2015, Something Borrowed Blooms has grown significantly and is only continuing on an upward trajectory. We spoke with Lauren more about what she feels like has been the best accomplishment for SSB so far. “Growing our incredible team over the last 6 years makes me the proudest. Promoting from within, allowing team members the opportunity to grow with the company and creating a culture where team members can grow as professionals while witnessing their love and dedication to the brand is amazing. As you make the shift from scrappy startup mode to sophisticated expert hires you realize everyone starts to level up.”
“Positive feedback from brides never gets old and it's amazing to see how our team responds to that.”
Another major accomplishment for SBB was raising venture capital. “Less than 3% of venture capital is invested in women owned businesses. Something I’m proud of and passionate about is giving a voice to women entrepreneurs who have not considered raising VC dollars - showing them it’s possible and out there, you must have a solid business and seek it out. If you can SEE it, you can BE it.”
Lauren spoke with us more about what her expansion goals for Something Borrowed Blooms looked like and obviously total world domination is in the cards. Not to mention testing other markets such as home decor, events, etc., while also hoping to successfully capture 10% of the wedding market share.
“If you lined 10 brides up in a room and gave them the option to rent from Something Borrowed Blooms, guaranteed one of them would say yes.”
Growing up Lauren wasn’t exposed to female entrepreneurs and founders so stepping into this new chapter of entrepreneurship was scary, but she knew that she could and would be successful. Lauren’s advice for other women who are looking to start their own business is “To just start. Even if you’re scared to take the first step which is probably the scariest, you need to just start. You can’t let perfection get in the way of progress, have it within you to know that you’re going to start something and then continue to get better and progress”
“Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress”
Check out Something Borrowed Blooms so you can own the memories and rent the flowers!
