The Feel Good Wedding Podcast by Polka Dot Wedding
The Feel Good Wedding Podcast by Polka Dot Wedding
#19: Eco-Friendly Wedding Flowers: Your How To Guide With Kris McKee Of Kris McKee Floral Design
Like most industries, there is a growing trend from florists, wedding planners, and couples looking to make their weddings more sustainable. The big question is, where do you start? According to Kris McKee of Kris McKee Floral Design, to go down the sustainable route, you need to make ethical choices in the flowers and construction techniques you use to make your presentation. The good news is you don't have to break the bank or sacrifice beauty to be successful.
Kris McKee is a former nurse, and an independent florist with a strong focus on creating designs that are beautiful, original, full of personality, unique, and, most importantly, bring joy. She is also committed to creating florals with a sustainable focus that prioritizes the negative impact on our environment.
In this chat, we discuss:
- Why Kris became a florist
- How a nursing career shaped how Kris runs her flower business
- The sentimental value of flowers
- Understanding the language of flowers
- How to make sustainable flower choices for your wedding
- How bad is floral foam for the environment?
- Ways to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding
- How to have a wonderful flower display and still keep to your budget
- Tips for choosing a florist for your wedding
- Great ways to donate flowers after a wedding
Links & Vendors Mentioned:
Find Kris:
On her website: Kris McKee Floral Design
On Polka Dot Wedding: Kris McKee Floral Design
Kris on Instagram: @kris.floraldesign
Find Dorothy & the Polka Dot Wedding team:
On Instagram: @polkadotwedding
On the website: polkadotwedding.com
For full transcript and show notes visit: polkadotwedding.com/podcast
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This podcast was produced by Polka Dot Wedding.
The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders custodians of the land and pay our respects to Elders past & present.
Dorothy 00:01
If you’re looking for a wedding podcast that’s not just fun but goes a little deep, then you have found it.
We’re the Feel Good Wedding Podcast by Polka Dot Wedding and my name is Dorothy and I am also known as Miss Polka Dot. I am the founder and editor of Polka Dot Wedding and I have been writing about weddings for 16 years. The Feel Good Wedding Podcast dives a little deeper than the stories.
Of course, we tell the stories. We tell plenty of them, but we’re also talking about vendor advice, we’re also talking about business advice, and we’re also diving a little deeper beyond those stories. We’re diving into the mistakes and the I-wish-I-dids and the problems and the qualms that these couples have, and that vendors have to. We’ve got so much in store. We’re jumping into season two and we can’t wait to have you along for the ride. Keep on listening and we’d love to hear from you, so make sure you stick around.
The Polka Dot Wedding team is honoured to conduct our work on the land of the BoonWurrung, WoiWorung, Eora, and Kuring-gai people. We honour the traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of the land and we pay our respects to elders past and present.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Feel Good Wedding Podcast.
I am thrilled today to be joined once again by our speciality blog editor, Mary, otherwise known as Miss Rose. Mary is turning to a very special guest today about something crucially important to weddings moving forward. Mary, can you tell me a little bit about your guest and the subject you’re chatting about today?
Mary 01:32
Hi, Ms Polka. Thank you so much for having me back. I’m so excited to be diving into our interviews and chatting with our guests yet again. I was lucky enough to speak with Kris McKee of Kris McKee Floral Design, who is one of our wonderful directory members. Kris had such wonderful advice and words of wisdom around sustainability within the wedding industry, specifically when it comes to wedding flowers. She gave me some terrific thoughts about how couples can choose their flowers and work with their florist to be eco-friendly. Not only that, she also gave me some wonderful tips on how other floristry businesses can practice sustainability when it comes to creating wedding flowers. This is a really important issue and I’m so excited to share Kris’s talent and wisdom and our fun chat with you and our listeners.
Dorothy 02:17
I’m really passionate about this subject, so I’m so excited to get into it. Let’s go.
Mary 02:21
Let’s dive in. Hello today. It is Ms Rose or Mary here from Polka Dot Wedding and I am so very lucky to be able to chat with one of our beautiful directory members today. It is Kris McKee from Chris McKee Floral Design. Look, Kris is based in the inner west of Sydney. Her floristry is just divine. We have fallen very in love with it and we know that you will too, but we’re really excited to get to chat to Chris today, all about her beautiful business and herself. Look, Kris, if you wanted to tell us about your business and what inspired you to become a florist, and thank you also for coming on our podcast today.
Kris McKee 03:03
Thank you. Thanks for asking me. It’s an honour actually and this is my very first podcast interview ever, so this is very exciting.
Mary 03:11
It is.
Kris McKee 03:12
My business is obviously named after myself. I started my business, gosh, just under two years ago. I sort of started out doing sort of daily deliveries of bouquets to the local Inner West Sydney area and extended that sort of a little bit further afield in Sydney, which I still do now. I still do daily deliveries for birthdays and celebrations and things, anything people would like flowers for, to make any occasion a little bit more beautiful. I’ve really started focusing in sort of the last six months on increasing my wedding and event work. I think that’s where my passion is, creating beautiful designs for those big celebrations in life and making them unique and a little bit different for people.
Mary 03:58
Absolutely. That’s so beautiful. There’s something about creating, or seeing even, flowers for weddings. It’s so emotive and it’s so personal. It’s just beautiful and I’m really excited for you that you found that calling and that passion. I did see that you actually were a nurse for about, what, 20-odd years, is that?
Kris McKee 04:18
Yeah.
Mary 04:20
There’s something that you’ve mentioned to us, you were talking about how that career path has really shaped who you are as a florist, in terms of really taking note of the personal touches and how small things can mean so much to someone just from being in that caregiving industry and how you’ve brought that into being a florist. I thought that was really special and really unique. That’s a little part of I think who you must be as a florist and as someone to work with and I just thought that was really lovely and I wanted to throw that in there.
Kris McKee 04:58
I still work one day a week in nursing. After nursing for 20 years, it’s really hard to make that break of sort of letting go of that and shifting careers completely, so I still work one day a week, just locally to where I live, which is really convenient. I can walk to work or scoot to work. It’s very easy.
Mary 05:20
That’s so good.
Kris McKee 05:21
But what you said about the little things that I’ve learned as a nurse about what brings joy to people, I think really has shaped what I do with my business now and I really have learned that when someone is most vulnerable, it can really be just the smallest, simplest little gestures that makes such a huge difference. I’m sure you have experience, everyone would have experience of being unwell and feeling poorly or unfortunately having to be in hospital and just those little things that make you feel so much better, like that extra blanket or someone brings you another cup of tea or someone turns out with a little gift. Those things make such a big difference, so I like to try and find out what really matters to someone and bring that into whatever I’m designing just so that they can see that there’s those little personal touches.
Mary 06:16
That’s so beautiful. I love it. What is it about flowers? Those personal touches and different things that that really mean something to people, what is it about flowers that you think touches people so much and that you were doing? What about them specifically?
Kris McKee 06:32
That’s a really interesting question. I think in part, it’s a bit of a mystery, really. It’s obvious that you look at flowers and the colours are so beautiful and some of the shapes are so interesting and intricate and unique, that it’s just really, really quite thrilling to look at some flowers close up and really examine them. There’s that interest point, and of course, the bright, beautiful colours, if they’ve got a scent that’s really beautiful, can lift your mood up a little bit if you’ve got a beautiful smelling rose or something sitting in front of you. I’ve thought about this often and I think maybe it’s just something that we’ve evolved to love flowers. If you think about the Victorian language of flowers, where flowers were used as a form of sending secret messages to people, they’ve been such a big part of how we communicate with people for such a long time. I think it’s just something that we’ve evolved to understand that flowers have such a significant meaning and that we do use them to convey messages.
Mary 07:38
Yes, absolutely. I think that was something that we’ve spoken about, is the language of flowers and, I think on a wedding day, that’s really special because even if other people don’t understand that and don’t understand that message, sometimes it’s that nice little sort of mystery that you have that you know and the reason you’ve chosen them is really special to you. It may not be to your guests, but it just might be between you and your partner. That in itself is a really beautiful touch for a day that is about two people, essentially.
Kris McKee 08:10
Yeah.
Mary 08:10
Yeah. Which is beautiful. Obviously, they’re stunning, generally, but to actually have this sort of deeper layer of, like you said, mystery, of just being really alluring, I think that’s just a whole other level that makes it really special for anyone’s day. Also, something close to your heart as well, just in terms of why you adore them so much and what we’re also going to be talking about today is sustainability and wedding flowers, which I think is really important. What does sustainability mean in terms of flowers in general and wedding flowers in particular?
Kris McKee 08:48
I think everyone is becoming a lot more conscious of sustainable practices across lots of different parts of our life these days, which is fantastic. When we look at flowers specifically, I think, sustainability to me and my business is about reducing the negative impact on the environment. We know that growing a flower and picking a flower, once you pick a flower, then it’s started to die, the minute you you pick it from the bush or wherever you’ve picked it from. We already know that there’s an impact there on the environment, but we’re not going to stop using flowers are we, because they’re just so beautiful and they play such a significant part.
Mary 09:28
We couldn’t do that.
Kris McKee 09:29
So I think it’s about reducing all of the other things that happen along the way, like where are we sourcing them from? What’s the transport route for where they’re coming from? Trying to source flowers that are grown locally so that that’s really reducing the transport impact on the environment, supporting our local growers as well, so supporting their business where they’re rejuvenating their soil and things like that, which is really good for the environment, and being clever about what we use, so using seasonal flowers. Making the most of the seasons that we have, which reduces the need for flowers to be grown in mass-produced hot houses that out of season and reduces that need for sourcing flowers from interstate or flowers from overseas, which is a big impact on the environment. They have to be flown here and kept in refrigerators and things like that. I think it’s really about looking at the whole process of buying a flower through to designing it, and then what happens after the event, and finding those little steps that reduce the negative impact.
Mary 10:32
Fabulous. I think so many couples now are really starting to shift and have that awareness or want to try to have that awareness, which I think is fantastic. Not too long ago, the sustainability in wedding florals I don’t think was ever really a consideration for many couples, but now I think it’s something that is really important to talk about and I think it’s really great for couples to be able to find a florist who they connect with on this level about sustainability as well. I think that’s a whole other level of feeling really comfortable with your florist to know that that’s important to them, as well as to the couple. Have you seen a shift of awareness at a particular point in time? I know that you’re still quite a new business, but is that something that you went into when you started your business and knowing there was a fair bit of awareness, or has that grown over time since you’ve started? Is that gradually increasing?
Kris McKee 11:34
Before I started my business, really, I was quite naive to the environmental issues the floristry industry is affected by or affects, how we affect the environment with the practices that we’ve developed over the years. I’ve learned a lot in the last couple of years and I guess when I’ve been interacting with people; an example, I speak to all of my couples about sustainable practice and that I don’t use floral foam, that I encourage them to donate their flowers after an event or appropriately recycle and compost the flowers. A lot of couples have said to me, “I had no idea about these things, thank you so much for educating me, but it makes so much sense now,” and they’re now pleased that they can carry on to continue to do those small little changes, even with a bouquet of flowers that they might get sent.
Rather than just throwing the whole thing, plastic and all, in the bin, now they’re aware of composting and pulling it apart and little things like that. To answer your question, I think it’s clear to me over the last couple of years me learning more, is that it’s a fairly recent change for florists I guess, to get their head around really introducing a lot more sustainable practice into their individual businesses. There’s certainly a lot of talk about it at the moment. You see on social media, there’s a lot of florists that are sort of saying, “I’m foam-free,” posting and educating their audience about sustainable practices. I think it’s definitely increasing over the last couple of years for sure.
Mary 13:12
And that’s terrific. I think that’s a really important part of the industry when there is so much consumerism within the industry. If it’s something that you as couples, they can feel a bit better about in terms of everything that they’re planning for their wedding day, this is something that, even if it is really important to them to have particular flowers, there are practices that they can talk to you or their florist about to know that they are still making some good choices for the climate as well, which is fantastic. In terms of, again I know because you are a new business and you didn’t start before the pandemic, just in regards to from the pandemic and then sourcing particular flowers, because you started in the pandemic, has it changed much in terms of what you can get now that that has calmed down a little bit, or you haven’t noticed much change of what you are able to source, or how to go about that?
Kris McKee 14:11
Yeah, great question. I personally don’t know what things were like before the pandemic, sourcing flowers and buying flowers from the market and what was available and what things cost. I can only go by what people have told me it was like and there has been definitely a shift immediately, so during the first part of the pandemic, what was available, because we grow a lot of flowers here in Australia and we’re growing more and we’re becoming more aware of utilising our local growers more than anything else, but we still do get a lot of flowers from overseas. Certainly in the first part of the pandemic, there was a shortage of a lot of flowers just because we didn’t have them. We’re also coming off the back of the major bushfires and just crazy weather generally, which really did impact what could be grown locally as well. I remember when I first started, you couldn’t rely on something being available at the market. You really had to sort of say, “All right, I’d really like to find poppies today,” but maybe you’d turn up and there weren’t any there and then you’d have to sort of find a substitute or use something else. I feel like that’s getting better now. We’ve got much more available again, but the weather is absolutely nuts these days.
Mary 15:31
Again, climate.
Kris McKee 15:33
Yeah, absolutely. You can’t rely on a season being traditionally the month that the season is supposed to be. Summer might start early and extend longer or winter starts early or we all of a sudden have these frosts that we wouldn’t normally have, which affect how the flowers are grown and what is available when. I think it’s becoming important too for people to be aware that just because the internet says it’s peony season doesn’t mean there’s any available at the moment, so you need to be willing to sort of accept a substitute or just be open to whatever beautiful seasonal flowers are available at that particular time. It’s also impacted the cost of flowers. (I remember) I did my TAFE course. When I was studying my TAFE course and we were learning about what the average cost of, let’s say, a bunch of roses were or a bunch of carnations, and then when I started buying them for my business, discovering in that pandemic period where there was a shortage, the demand didn’t necessarily diminish because actually people were buying a lot of flowers during the pandemic. Everyone was stuck at home and it was such a beautiful thing to send to somebody, so the demand was there, but the supply was low. Naturally, everything became more expensive and those costs haven’t necessarily gone back to what we would say in “normal,” that cost is still high. Flowers are definitely a lot more expensive than they used to be because of the pandemic and the impact on the environment, just generally climate change and things.
Mary 17:07
That’s something that I’m guessing for couples what’s great for them to be aware of going in and also, like you were saying, being aware that something that they want, they may not necessarily be able to get in terms of a type of flower and also I guess speaking with you to come up with different ideas to get the same look and if they come in with a budget, being aware of there’s your budget and speaking to you really candidly and really easily about what they’re going to be able to get, and also to accept that it’s not the price of flowers especially, like you said, because of the pandemic, the price of flowers has gone up. I think it’s really important for couples to sort of have the conversation together and then speak to you or their florist about what that means for their budget in terms of how the cost of flowers has risen because of it. I think it’s, like you’re saying, being open to discuss that and come up with new ideas and get creative because there are so many beautiful different types of flowers out there. They may have their heart set on something, but that doesn’t mean that if that’s not available or doesn’t suit their budget, that they’re not going to be able to find something just as fabulous, just as wonderful for their day.
Kris McKee 17:20
Absolutely.
Mary 17:22
I know you were sort of saying earlier, when you were talking about sustainability and what that means for your work, do you have, just even sort of off the cuff, some eco-friendly suggestions for couples when they’re considering wedding flowers? What are some really quick, easy ways that they could go, “All right, that’s going to be eco-friendly,” or “That could be eco-friendly,” just in a really sort of quick form that they could jot down and take in into any sort of conversations with their florist?
Kris McKee 19:08
Yeah, certainly. The first one would definitely be to just be open to whatever’s seasonal. When you’re speaking to your wedding or event florist, just mentioning having a theme, maybe it’s a colour palette that you really want and just being open to whatever is seasonally available within that theme or colour palette, that’s a really big one. That means that you know you can have really super fresh flowers that are at their best because they’re in season. Because they’re in season too, they’re going to naturally withstand whatever the environmental conditions are at that point. What’s in season in summer loves the heat, so that makes sense. They’re also going to be more cost-effective as well because they’re seasonal and easy to source. That’s the first tip.
The second tip would probably be to think about do you have flowers at home or in your mum’s garden or grandma’s garden that you could use? Do you have bits and pieces on wherever you’re living that you can forage to add to what the florist is using? I’m doing a wedding in April down in the Kangaroo Valley and the couple, they live on a large property and they’re foraging quite a bit of the foliage themselves, which has two meanings. It’s off their land, which is absolutely beautiful and it means something to them, it’s what they’ve grown, but it’s also reducing the overall environmental impact because I’m not sourcing it from anywhere else and it’s making it more cost-effective for them as well, so sustainable for their budget too because I only have to buy a little bit of extra foliage for, say, the bouquets or those things that are going to be close-up in photos. That’s a really good tip.
Another really good tip is to think about what you’re going to do after the event with your flowers as well. It’s really sad to see hundreds and hundreds, sometimes thousands and thousands of dollars worth of flowers go straight into the bin after an event, or you walk away from your wedding and continue partying and the staff come and clean it up and sweep everything into the skips.
Mary 21:11
Devastating.
Kris McKee 21:13
Yes. Either asking your florist to create things in vases or vessels that your guests can take away with them as well, maybe it’s a table centrepiece and you’ve said to grandma that she can take that one home with her at the end of the night. That lives on for another week or so at grandma’s house. Or asking your florist, and this is a service that I provide as well to all my couples, arranging for those flowers to be donated. We’ve donated to a children’s hospice facility here in Sydney, which was just beautiful to be able to do that. We’ve donated to aged care facilities as well, which just really brightens the day of the residents and other places like women’s shelters and things locally as well. That’s something that’s really easy to do the next day and the flowers get to live a little bit longer and you actually get to share that joy with somebody else as well, which is really lovely. I think there’s some really easy pointers that you can discuss with your florist to get that sort of sustainable practice into your wedding or event.
Mary 22:19
Just on your last point that you mentioned, what a beautiful feeling for a couple who’ve had this day filled with love and filled with joy to have made the decision to go, “All right, we will donate our flowers,” after, like you said, to any of the places that you mentioned and to know that love and joy from your day are being passed on to people who need a bit of love and need a bit of beauty in their lives. That’s just something that rather than, like you said, throwing hundreds or thousands of dollars of flowers in the bin, you’re actually A) doing something good for the environment and B) spreading a bit more love, which is exactly the whole industry is about. I just think that’s beautiful. That’s a perfect option. You mentioned just then about using flowers from your garden. We do see with some couples, the flowers that they use from their parents or their neighbour’s gardens or their own gardens, like you mentioned before, other homegrown eco-friendly ways of personalising your wedding flowers to make them really special on the day to keep that thing going through.
Kris McKee 23:23
Yeah. Another really good option is to utilise vases or vessels that you have yourself. Maybe your mom or your grandma have a collection of beautiful vases that have been in the family for years and years. I’m an incredibly sentimental person, so that probably comes through in a lot of the answers.
Mary 23:44
Which is perfect. That’s what we love. That’s absolutely what we’re about here at Polka Dot Wedding.
Kris McKee 23:49
I love the idea that you grew up looking at grandma’s vase on her dining table and you could maybe incorporate that into your special day, or that your mom has a great collection of clear glass vases that can be utilised across any type of theme really that she’s okay with you using perhaps or Dad’s okay with you using the vases. That’s a really great way. I offer, and a lot of florists would offer, a hire situation. I can’t stop buying vases. I’ve just become obsessed with sourcing beautiful vases, so I have a lovely collection of vases that my couples admire. Utilising your own is a great way to bring in some of those beautiful sort of in inverted commas, ‘homegrown options into your wedding or event’ and reduces the impact on your budget as well.
Mary 24:46
Which is what I’m sort of going to ask next in terms of budget. As we did mention, the cost of flowers has risen and for couples is making sure that your flowers are sourced and created as sustainably as possible in terms of adding to their flower budget. I know it’s hard to tell when you don’t sort of have it in front of you exactly what couples are asking for, but is that a substantial add to the budget or is that something that is worth it when you think about the sustainable and environmental side of that?
Kris McKee 25:17
I would have to say, and again, obviously it depends on what we’re creating and the designs that we’re creating, but generally, I think it has the opposite impact on your budget. Saying, “I want seasonal flowers” means that I can know what your budget is, so I’ve got that in my head, I know that we’re going to spend X number of dollars on the arbor and the vases are going to be X number of dollars each. I have that information with me, I can go to the market and go, “All right. Well, there’s no pressure to buy a million bunches of toffee-coloured roses or masses of hydrangea,” which are really quite expensive, so I can go, “All right. Seasonal.
All of these things here in front of me are beautiful and seasonal and unique. Because they’re seasonal, their price tag is not as much as those flowers over there, so I’m going to utilise all of this stuff here.” It means that I can put even more into your arbor because they’re a little bit cheaper because they’re seasonal and we’re going for something that’s maybe not as popular or trendy, not because it’s not beautiful, but it’s just not what you see in en-masse across Instagram; that you’re saving dollars there. You’re getting more for your money as well. Also, because I don’t use floral foam, I use you know vases and chicken wire and tape and things like that that are more sustainable or have, in a lot of cases, zero impact on the environment, I don’t have to budget into the costs, things like foam and plastic trays for the foam blocks to sit in and how are we going to secure that foam to something and all of those other little bits and pieces that add up on your budget as well.
Definitely using sustainable vessels and vases and structures and mechanics is just more cost-effective generally. In a lot of the stuff that I do when I’m creating an arbor or I’m creating a hanging install, God, I’m picking out it out of stuff that I have at home already. I’ve got bamboo leftover from something and I can recreate that into a structure that we can hang something from in the ceiling. I’m reusing things and I keep these structures afterwards as well and continue to reuse them. You’re not having to factor into a quote a brand new structure that has to be bought from somewhere or just little things like that. To answer your question, I think overall, being more sustainable is actually more cost-effective.
Mary 27:53
That’s terrific to hear because absolutely, that is the direction that I think a lot of businesses really would like to take in terms of what they provide for their couples for their wedding. You mentioned just then a few of your sustainable practices. Are there any other actions that you take with your wedding blooms or even your business that you find are great sustainability-wise or are as eco-friendly as possible?
Kris McKee 28:22
Yeah. Reducing the plastic that I use, all of my bouquets are wrapped up without plastic. They’re water-packed, got the little bags on the bottom of the stems to keep them fresh are all biodegradable. I pack with recycled paper towel or newspaper. Little things like that where it’s recycling where you can, but it’s stuff that gets thrown in the bin and will be biodegradable at the other end, stuff like that. Making sure that I recycle everything as well. Unfortunately, a lot of flowers from the market still come in plastic sleeves. That is getting better, thankfully, but there is still a lot. If I go to the market and come back in the morning, there’s still a lot of plastic to get rid of, so making sure that the business recycles properly. And composting our green waste as well as much as we possibly can. We’re in the inner west of Sydney. It’s really difficult to compost but I have a little garden. We have a little compost. There’s also a community garden down the road as well that take compost. They’re just little things that I’m trying to do in the business to sort of reduce the negative impact on the environment too.
Mary 29:32
And you have mentioned floral foam a little bit here. Can you just tell us why is floral foam so detrimental to the environment?
Kris McKee 29:37
Floral foam is something that I have always been aware of. Gosh, I remember being a kid and mum getting arrangements or someone in the family getting arrangements and they’d be in one of those sort of coloured cardboard boxes and there’d be a big chunk of green floral foam in there. I’d be like, “Oh, what’s this? It holds the stems. This is interesting.” It just sort of became something that you associated with some floral arrangements if it wasn’t a sort of just a bouquet of flowers wrapped up in paper.
For those listeners who aren’t aware, floral foam is actually quite a new invention. It was invented by a gentleman in 1954 and it really did change the floral industry. The purpose of it was to create a rigid sort of structure for the stems to sit in. When you stick a stem in the foam, it stays there, which is fantastic for some designs because you don’t want the flowers to shift around. You put a big cluster of roses facing out and in a big dramatic fashion, you want them to stay there for the entirety of the event. It was also a great water source. The floral foam bricks, when you pop them in water, they suck up I think like 40 times the volume or something. It’s massive amount of water, which means that you can kind of do your design and leave it and be confident that those flower stems have a water source.
It changed the industry in a really big way, but like a lot of things I guess in that period from ’50s, ’60s, ’70s where there were lots of inventions, we weren’t necessarily aware of the negative impact on the chemicals that were used in some products and a lot of these products are plastic-based. Floral foam contains two chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde, which are known to be hazardous chemicals. It’s a plastic material too that is not biodegradable, so it hangs around in the environment for an indefinite period of time. We know that the foam, when we’re soaking it, you soak it in a big vat of water and then you’ve got to put that water somewhere. If that gets tipped down the drain, that will make its way into the ocean eventually.
There is research to show that floral foam chemicals are hazardous to aquamarine life. That’s one of the massive impacts that it has on the environment. Also, just the fact that it’s a plastic product and it won’t break down. What do you do with this floral foam when you’re finished using it? A lot of the time, it just gets thrown into the bin because a lot of people aren’t aware of how to dispose of it properly. There’s not really an accurate way to dispose of it because it is not biodegradable. It’s a product that we don’t need to use. It’s convenient, sure, but you don’t have to use floral foam. I always think that if it doesn’t absolutely have to be used, if there are alternatives, then we shouldn’t use it. There’s so many things that are hazardous to the environment already and there’s lots of things and lots of chemicals out there that we just can’t avoid, but this is one that we absolutely can. We are a foam-free business.
Mary 32:51
Obviously, we can’t speak for all other florists, but is there definitely a trend of removing floral foam from florist businesses going forward, or do you think that many still use it quite prolifically?
Kris McKee 33:05
This is one of those things where it’s hard for me to know entirely because the businesses that I tend to follow on Instagram or on Facebook or look at on the internet or go to for answers to things are businesses that are in line with probably my values. What I see is that yeah, it does seem like there’s a lot of florists out there, there’s a lot of businesses that have just said no foam or they’ve been using foam for maybe a really long time and they’re transitioning, which is fantastic. Working freelance as well on some weddings, I do tend to see that there are a lot of florists that still do use floral foam. In some cases, that might be just because that’s the way that they do things and they’re not going to change their practice. In other cases, it might be that it’s just the most time-effective way of doing something at that particular point in time. I guess I’d like to hope that there’s a growing number of businesses that are changing their practice to, if nothing, if not to completely remove foam, but to definitely reduce the use of foam. I think there’s still a lot that do use quite a volume of foam.
Mary Jacoby 34:17
Yeah. Just on that topic of being floral foam-free and how important that is to different clients, different couples planning their day and picking their florist, and you also mentioned that you do follow people on Instagram who are more aligned with your values, what advice would you give couples when deciding on a florist for their wedding day?
Kris McKee 34:40
So my advice would be search social media. Look for businesses that stand out, florist work that stands out to you, whether it’s that they do a certain type of modern design that your eye is drawn to or that all of their work is utilising flowers that you’ve never seen before perhaps, those are probably the first things that are going to draw you in. I would suggest having a look at their profile a little bit further, what are their values, search for something that you know is in line with what your values are if you’re trying to be, let’s say, more cost-effective with your budget or just purely focusing on what is more sustainable or reducing the impact on the environment, and then delve a little deeper. Have a look at their About Me page on their website, get a bit of a feel for them, and then don’t be afraid to reach out and just ask them some questions. Don’t be afraid to say, “Do you use floral foam?” or “Is it an option for me to have a completely floral foam-free…”
Mary 35:44
It’s a tongue twister.
Kris McKee 35:49
Don’t be afraid to reach out to a florist and actually just ask them, “Is it possible for my wedding to be completely floral foam-free?” They’ll tell you if they can do that or not. And if they can’t, then they’re not the florist for you and you go and ask somebody else. I’d also encourage people to ask the question because if it’s a florist that does use a little bit of floral foam still, and they’re getting all these inquiries from couples saying, “Would you do my wedding without it?” then that is going to actually change their practice. They’re going to get evidence that, from their inquiries, lots of people don’t want to use foam anymore and then they’re going to reduce the amount of foam that they’re using. That’s only a good thing. I guess the main advice is to not be afraid to ask. Just ask. You’re paying your florists to create something that you want. You need to be able to communicate exactly what it is that you want or work with them to find out what that looks like. If they’re not the right person for you, then you find somebody else.
Mary 36:52
What advice would you give to other florists just on that point about asking the question and actually even putting it in front of other florists of, “Hang on, wait. Actually, this is something that couples are wanting”? What advice would you give to other florists looking to adopt more sustainable practices in their business?
Kris McKee 37:09
I think what I’ve found from florists that do use quite a lot of foam still is that it’s for a couple of reasons. It’s either because they’re uncertain about finding a really good water source that doesn’t use foam and there’s those nerves around, “If I create this design, I want to make sure that it’s topped up with water and it’s going to get enough water to stay alive” or it’s just that it’s so much quicker. Maybe I’ve got two weddings booked for that weekend. It’s so much quicker for me to just do this in foam, which is true. It’s very quick to make a design into. It does take a little bit more time to prep your vases with chicken wire or whatever else you’re using, a little bit more time. I think it’s about practice. For me, I immediately decided after I finished my study that I didn’t want to use floral foam.
It did take me a little while to do some research on different mechanics and some time to learn how to properly use chicken wire in different shaped vases so that it does hold the stems for you and you can rely on it. It does take a little bit of time to practice and I would suggest, if there’s a florist listening to this that wants to reduce the amount of floral foam they’re using, you don’t have to do it overnight. It’s not a matter of throwing out all of the foam that I have in my garage now and I’m not going to use it. It’s about slowly doing something. Even if it’s a wedding that you would have used 100% floral foam for, maybe try using 80% or 60%, and then making up some of the designs in vessels with chicken wire while you’re learning to perfect that mechanic a little bit so that it does become a quick process for you. That would be my advice. Like anything in life, it’s not black and white. You don’t have to go, “All right. Well, we’re just going to shove that to the side now. Now I need to learn something completely new; slowly integrate the practice.” If you’re using 20% less foam, then that’s 20% less foam that you would have normally used that’s now not needing to be put into the earth and sat there for thousands of years not breaking down.
Mary 39:24
And something’s better than nothing, isn’t it?
Kris McKee 39:27
Absolutely.
Mary 39:27
Just that little bit of something that you know that you’ve started to do. Even if it’s not the full process, like you’re saying, at least you’re taking steps. From my understanding of speaking to quite a few florists now in the business, you’re a pretty warm, friendly bunch. I think that if anyone’s sort of wanting to delve into the more sustainable realm of floristry, asking questions of other florists would be another great way to sort of build that out into your business. Don’t be afraid to reach out. If you’re following someone on Instagram or on their page and can see that they are using sustainable practices, if you want more information, reaching out to learn about that, I think would be really way to connect you with other businesses who are in the same boat or who are a bit more advanced than you are. Just helping each other out. I do love that sort of aspect of the wedding industry, that we’re all pretty loving and happy and want to share our wisdom. I think that’s something that other florists could reach out if they’re not too sure where to start.
Kris McKee 40:39
Yeah. 100%. Always, if you find someone that’s doing something that you find interesting, if anyone sort of saw something that I’d done on Instagram and wanted to reach out and say, “How did you do that?” or “How did you make that stay in that shape?” or “How did you hang that on there?” I’m not going to ignore it. I’m happy to help. Why wouldn’t we?
Mary 40:59
Exactly, exactly. For couples and for other vendors, just reducing your carbon footprint or increasing your sustainable practices as much as possible, do you think that filters into other areas of your life?
Kris McKee 41:15
Oh, 100%. It does. Yeah. For me especially at the moment, because I don’t have a shopfront, I don’t have a bricks and mortar store, I work from a studio at home, a lot of the stuff that I’m doing is at home. I recycle the same from the kitchen and the rest of the house as I do for the business. It’s definitely all integrated 100%. I can imagine, if I had a shopfront, I think it would probably be the same. I wouldn’t close the door at the end of the day and leave all of those environmentally conscious practices behind the door at the flower shop. I think it definitely just automatically integrates into the rest of your life, which is good, and vice versa. Maybe there’s stuff that you do at home that has been a habit and you take it for granted that it’s just how you do it, but if you think about it, “Well, maybe I could do that at work as well. Maybe that would work the same.”
Mary 42:15
Absolutely. Kris, what’s next for you and what’s next for your business? What’s on the cards? How does 2023 look?
Kris McKee 42:24
2023 looks exciting. I’ve got some really exciting weddings coming up, which is really fantastic. The calendar is not chock a block full yet, so I’ve still got capacity this year and I’m booking into 2024 as well. The events and weddings is looking really exciting. Probably the next big thing that I’m doing that I’m really excited about is not wedding-focused, but I’m doing one of the floral mannequins for the Fleurs de Villes: PRIDE exhibition here in Sydney in the Royal Botanic Garden. That opens next week.
Mary 42:56
That’s fantastic.
Kris McKee 42:58
Next week, it opens. To say I am nervous would be an understatement, but I’m so excited. It’s just going to be amazing. That’s the next big thing.
Mary 43:08
That’s incredible.
Kris McKee 43:09
Yeah. And of course, Valentine’s day next week.
Mary 43:12
Oh, of course. Yeah.
Kris McKee 43:15
Which is always massive.
Mary 43:17
You yourself, you are engaged. Are you going to do your own flowers? This is a good question. Or are you branching out and going, “Hang on. Who do I trust? Who do I trust with my wedding flowers?”
Kris McKee 43:31
Oh, that’s such a difficult one and I’ve been asked this so many times already? I think my initial reaction to that question is I’m doing them myself, but the rational part of me says, “I don’t want to do them myself. I don’t want to be stressed out. I want to have a relaxed day,” but can I let go of that need to be in control enough to let somebody else do it?
Mary 44:02
And that vision that you probably have of how they’re going to look? And could you relax enough having had let that go?
Kris McKee 44:14
I know. I’m not sure yet. That’s a work in progress.
Mary 44:20
Watch this space. I’m invested now. I think we all will be invested now.
Kris McKee 44:26
Will she do her own flowers?
Mary 44:28
Will she do her own wedding flowers? Look, Kris. That’s all from us today. Thank you so much for coming on and having a chat with me. I’ve absolutely loved hearing more about you, more about your business, and about the sustainable practices within your business and how other businesses can adopt these, and how couples can really start to think about what they want for their wedding flowers in terms of sustainability and just making that a priority which I think everybody should start doing, so thank you so much.
Kris McKee 45:03
Thank you for asking me. It’s been a pleasure. Lots of fun.
Mary 45:06
It’s been lovely. We really love to get to talk to our beautiful directory members and thank you for being part of the Polka Dot Wedding family.
Kris McKee 45:12
Thank you. I love being part of it.
Mary 45:13
Thanks, Kris. I’m so glad. Thank you.
Dorothy 45:19
If you would like to get to know Kris McKee a little bit better, then of course, you know the drill. We’ve got everything you need over on weddingpodcast.com.au. There, you will find a full written transcript of today’s episode as well as all the links you need.
We would love to hear from you and your thoughts on the Feel Good Wedding Podcast. We’d love your reviews. We’d love your messages. We’d love your emails. You are the reason we do what we do and we can’t wait to see what you have for us. We’ll be back in another few weeks with another episode. See you then.