yours truly as captured by darla roze photography

In case you have ever wondered just whose face is behind the scenes of Blossom Sweet, you're about to find out. My friend and local photographer extraordinaire, Darla of Darla Roze Photography, was gracious enough to take some head-shots for me this Spring to use as profile shots for work. Do you know Darla? You should! She's just about the most genuine gal in the world, and her talent is just as authentic as her sincere genuineness.

Anyway, I've had the photos for quite some time, but have been somewhat hesitant in sharing because frankly it feels weird to post photos of myself on the business blog. But, then again, I am the Owner and Head-Designer of said business, and I am so grateful to Darla for these images so I think it's only fair to share.

So now enjoy these photos of me, Melissa Nickle, Owner of Blossom Sweet. Yep, it feels weird even to say it. Ah well.

Photography: Darla Roze Photography
Hair & Makeup: Enizio


I'll end with this last photo which is particularly significant to me because it is me holding the vintage gold brooch which was my Great-Grandmother's, who passed it down to my Grandmother, who passed it down to me. These photos were taken less than a week before my grandmother was set to have a massive cancer surgery, and I wanted to incorporate the brooch in honor of her. And I'm ever so grateful to say that the surgery was a success!


Thank you again, Darla!

fix you

Let me tell you up front, this post will be somewhat of a sad "getting to know the artist" moment.

Last night I was driving home from Salt Lake after having been up there all day for a committment I have on Wednesdays, when the song "Fix You" by Coldplay played on a CD mix my best friend gave me for Christmas. My uncle and my Grandma had been on my mind the past three days, and especially the entire time this song played. My uncle has been fighting kidney, bone, lung, and brain cancer for about eight months now, and this song brought me to tears thinking about my uncle's pain as well as how sad my grandmother must be at this age and time in her life to have to sit by and watch as her first child approaches the end of this life, knowing that there's really nothing she can do to "fix" him. Right after the song was over I turned off the CD and decided to call and check in with my dad to see how my uncle was doing. He informed me that earlier that day, my uncle had passed away, and they were waiting for me to get back from Salt Lake to tell me.

I'd really love it if you would watch this video, which is of a performance on "So You Think You Can Dance" to the song "Fix You." It is one of the most beautiful and inspiring dances I've ever seen, and if you listen to the story of why it was choreographed, you'll see why it has meant a lot to me today. I wish I could embed it (its disabled), but since I can't please visit this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnguqsMQmg4

see the above photos here

I know this isn't a dance blog, or even a personal blog. But, it is a beauty blog, and it is an art blog. This dance is certainly beautiful, and it is absolutely art. I know I will see my uncle again, and this dance just reminds me that he is now free from being trapped in a body filled with constant pain, and although its still extremely sad, that fact makes me feel happy for him.

can you handle this?

As the owner of Blossom Sweet, I'm going to give you a peek into my personality as another "getting to know the artist" moment. After that, I'll tell you about last Friday's Utah Bride Blog post. Anyway, here is one of my personal facebook statuses a few weeks back (read the comments):

Haha! LOVE it. :)

So, I know that was random, but it leads perfectly into the next topic - a great little segue if you will. Last week's Flower Friday post on Utah Bride Blog featured different bouquet handle treatments/wraps. One of Blossom Sweet's photos was a part of the feature (thanks, UBB!). See the post here. My favorite, favorite wrap featured in the post is the one with the pearls wrapped around it. Gorgeous! All I know is that when this Blossom Sweetness gets married, my bouquet will have an out of this world wrap, believe you me!

Can you handle this?
[photo taken by Blossom Sweet of Holly #3's Portrait Bouquet]

P.S. Blossom Sweet had our first Monday wedding today (have you ever attended a wedding on a Monday? I haven't!) and it was beautiful. Watch for a few photos in the near future.

a little lake called powell: out of office

Time for another "getting to know the artist" moment.

But before I get started, let me say that as of early tomorrow morning, I will be out of office and out of reach for the entirety of next week. I will have zero access to email, and very limited access to voicemail. If you do call, please be sure to leave a message otherwise I will have no way of knowing that you were trying to get ahold of me. Just know that I will get back to you by Monday the 6th.

And now, let me give you the WHY as to my absence:

For many, many moons, my family has gone to Lake Powell for a week of beach camping over the week of the 4th of July. Oh! How I love it!

Usually, we go with several other families and create what we affectionately refer to as "Tent City."

Exhibit A:
Last year, our tent city was the most massive yet - we had about 50 people in our camping party! What an absolute blast!

This year, our party is a little smaller - I'm pretty sure that due to some pregnancies, babies, missions, surgeries, etc., that most of our peeps can't come for this year's outing. They will be missed! But, I think it will be super-fun to spend time with just the fam + a couple close friends.

Haven't been to Lake Powell? Really? Sad day for you! It's gorgeous, peaceful, and so much fun - a piece of heaven on earth.

At Powell, there's a lot of this going on:


Tons of this:


And a lot of this:


A pinch of this:


And a smidgen of Classic Powell moments like this:


Looks fun, huh?!

Finally, here are a selection of photos we took during last year's trip - photos that merely scratch the surface of how beautiful Powell really is:


Peace out, Provo.

See you on the 6th.

sparse posting: the reason

Hey all, just wanted to apologize for the sparseness of my posting the past couple of weeks! I thought to ease your minds I'd let you in on the reason why. This will be another "getting to know the artist" moment.

I have been putting every spare moment into a project for my grandma, Orvetta Nickle. She will be turning 89 this year, and over the span of her lifetime she has written hundreds of poems and stories. The project I've undertaken is to type all of her writings and create a sort of heirloom book for my grandma and her family. The book is coming along swimmingly, but it is very time consuming! It will be a great thing for my grandmother's posterity which is now over 100 to have access such a collection of her writings.

For both organizational and ease-of-access purposes, I first created a blog where it was easy to divide everything into chapters and organize all the scans of her original handwriting as well as have a section for old photos. Let's just say the thought of making 100+ DVDs with all the digital files was daunting so I decided that a blog was the perfect way to make everything digitally accessible to any of Orvetta's posterity who wanted it.
Anyway, please feel free to take a peek at the project if you so desire. The address is:

orvetta.blogspot.com.

Many of her poems give reference to flowers and to beauty in general, and one of my favorite poems is included in that mix. I thought I'd share it here. For all those with daughters, I hope you love it!

Daughters
by Orvetta Nickle

I think when God formed the rose bud
And filled it with morning's dew,
When He arched the rainbow above me
And touched it with delicate hue,
When He made the freshness of springtime,
The softness of clouds above,
He thought of creating a daughter
To send to a mother to love.
For a daughter's the fragrance of summer,
That lingers the whole year through,
She's the sweetness of cherished moments
The delicate pinks and blues.
She is pure as the clear rippling waters,
The music the soft breezes play.
She borrowed her smile from the angels,
As they kissed her goodbye that day.
For there's a bit of heaven about her,
And heaven shall always be
Close to my heart - to have and to hold -
Because He sent her to me!


I'll be back to posting next week with a spotlight and a couple of portrait bouquets as two of my clients have their bridals next week.

Happy Weekend!
Post to you soon.

lucky: a special photo of the month tribute

As March is generally considered the month of luck, I have chosen to spotlight the following photo for the "photo of the month" segment of the b-log. Why does this photo represent "luck?" Keep reading to find out the specifics.


I often get asked the question, "How did you get started with your business?" Well, I'm about to tell you. Listen to my "lucky" story.

I worked in a flower shop for two years prior to serving a mission for my church in Southern Georgia, USA. While working there, I always had roommates and friends ask me to personally design for their weddings. Believe it or not, I always replied with a resounding "NO!" However, one special, sweetest of all faces finally got me to say YES, and I discovered that I loved wedding floral design. And once I got my first "yes" out of the way, there was no slowing down! Word spread quickly and I designed for several weddings in the six months before I left on my mission.

About a year and a half later when my return home was fast approaching, I thought a lot about what I wanted to do when I got back to "real life." A wedding floral business was on my list of ideas, but not exactly at the top. Although I loved it, I knew how much work it took, and how stressful it could sometimes be. So after a good amount of thought, I decided against pursuing a career in the wedding industry.

Fast-forward to when I returned home. I remember this day vividly. It was a Saturday, and I had literally been home less than a few weeks. I was watching Saturday morning TV with my youngest brother when the phone rang. I answered it and heard, "Hi Melissa. I heard you do wedding flowers and my daughter is getting married. She goes to Utah State and is only in town during the weekends, and her wedding is in three weeks. Can we please come meet with you today?" I don't know what made me say it, but I heard myself saying, "YES," once again. So we set up a time for a couple hours later. And so it began...

The appointment rolled around, and in walked a mother and soon-to-be bride whom I had never before met. They came in and set down and I asked the mom, "So how did you find out about me exactly?" She proceeded to tell me that she had been in line at an elementary school that week to vote in a local election, and happened to be standing right behind a certain mother of the bride for whose wedding I had long ago designed. Apparently they got to talking and as she put it, "I just randomly asked her if she knew anyone who did beautiful wedding flowers - wait - that's not right. I was prompted to ask her if she knew anyone who did beautiful wedding flowers. And she just raved about you!"

The consultation went well. The wedding went well. I felt so happy with what I was doing. I realized that no matter how much work it took, I wanted to do what I loved so much. So without looking back even for a second, I officially founded Blossom Sweet less than two months after returning home, and it has been a fast-track to success from then and there. Do you see why I am so LUCKY!

I don't know what you believe, and if we don't believe exactly the same things, that's okay. But I hope you can appreciate the fact that I believe in a very real sense that I was pointed towards taking this direction for my life - I feel that I am supposed to be doing exactly what I am doing. I feel that the phone call I received that random Saturday morning was one of those meant-to-be type of occurrences we occasionally experience in our lives. I have been blessed with success and opportunities more rapid and wonderful than I could have ever hoped for. I have worked so hard for what I have achieved, but at the same time, I feel like success was handed to me. And I am so grateful!

So that's my story; that's how Blossom Sweet came to be. And that's how I came to pick the feature photo for March's photo of the month. It's one of my favorite photos from the very March wedding of which I have written about today. Isn't she such a cute little flower girl? I'm glad she somehow got ahold of the bride's bouquet because I love this picture. :)

It is a photo that to me represents luck, represents success, creativity, a love of beautiful things, and most of all, it represents blessing.

elements used in the bouquet:

• standard callas
• asiatic lilies
• stephanotis
• roses
• israeli ruscus
• peacock feathers
• pearls
• chocolate-brown satin ribbon

Finally, this is a cute little button I designed that is always displayed the sidebar of my personal blog {author of quote unknown}. I think it fits this post rather nicely. Feel free to snag it if you want, I won't mind. :)


Happy March!

getting to know {me}

When selecting vendors for your wedding, there are many important things to consider, not the least of which is in regards to the personalities of the vendors themselves - it is important to choose vendors who demonstrate expertise in their field AND with whom you can simply get along!

That being said, I've decided to implement a new series of posts on the Blossom Sweet Blog, "Getting To Know The Artist." I anticipate that these posts will be somewhat infrequent and rather lighthearted in nature, but I think it will be a good way for all of you to get to know me on a personal level just a little bit better.

For the first installment, I thought I'd let you know that I love to play the piano in my spare time. I will own a baby grand in my lifetime. I promise you that! Music is my preferred channel for feeling and is among my most favorite pastimes.

So, that was the first official "getting to know the artist" moment - it wasn't too painful, right? :) And before I sign off for the night, I thought I'd share this little clip from "The King and I" just for fun {since it goes along so nicely with the new series of posts and all}. Looking forward to having you "get to know me" a little more from here on out!