BRANDI HIGGINBOTHAM’S LOVE affair with flowers began in high school. She was working as a bagger at a grocery store — a perfect after-school job because it paid enough for her to attend football games on Friday nights. But then she was offered a position as an assistant in the floral department. Within a year and a half, she was managing the department while attending college, and it was clear Higginbotham had found her passion.
“I was in awe of how flowers made people feel and what a big role flowers play in so many milestones,” she says. “We see flowers used in weddings, funerals, ‘pick me ups,’ proms, homecomings, graduations, and more. I think there’s something that can be said about how flowers are so universal and are often seen used in monumental moments.”
Eventually, it became clear that Higginbotham’s career with the grocery store ended with her current position, so she started taking on small weddings and events on the side while she plotted her next move. Then, in June 2017, she officially launched her own full-service floral business, Lee Floral Design. “Those small weddings and events opened the floodgates,” she says. “I left my retail position of 11 years, stopped attending college, and put my heart and soul into LFD.”
Since then, Higginbotham has channeled her “loose, organic, and full of texture” design aesthetic into stunning arrangements for her clients. Each project begins with a mood board that acts as inspiration for all of the items she will design, from boutonnieres to centerpieces. For the big day itself, Higginbotham and her team provide delivery, set up, take down, and rental items such as vases and candle ware. Along with wedding and event floral design, Lee Floral Design also offers workshops and other unique services, like floral subscriptions, dried wreaths, and evergreen wreaths. “I firmly believe in growing — personally and in a business sense — so we are continually evolving and trying new and exciting things,” she says.
When she first set out on her own, at the time Higginbotham says her actions were “the scariest and most out of character thing I have ever done.” But the risk has been well worth it. “Lee Floral Design is more than just a floral design business,” she says. “It was born from a burning passion. A passion for florals and a desire to be different.”
Keep Growing! Follow the journey and learn more about LFD at leefloraldesign.com.
