Starting Something New Without Starting Over
Opening a floral studio in Monterey, California and learning the rhythm of a destination wedding and event market.
Opening a studio in a new market is an interesting experience — especially when you’ve been running a business for more than a decade. The work itself isn’t new. Designing for weddings and events, managing the logistics behind floral installations, and running a floral design studio are all familiar. But the surrounding pieces that make a business feel established don’t automatically follow you. Relationships, local knowledge, and trust within a vendor community take time to build.
That’s been the reality of opening a floral studio in Monterey, California.
The Monterey area is undeniably beautiful. The coastline is dramatic, the forests grounding, and the light constantly shifts as fog moves in and out from the Pacific. It’s inspiring in a quiet way — steady and natural rather than overly polished. Many of the wedding venues here reflect that same character. Coastal properties, historic buildings, gardens, and outdoor settings already feel remarkable before a single flower is placed.
Monterey is also considered one of California’s destination wedding locations. Many couples planning weddings and events here are coming from outside the region, which means the landscape itself becomes part of the experience they’re creating for their guests.
But building a studio presence in a destination event market — especially one with a small-town feel — requires patience.
Even with years of experience as a florist, entering a new region means learning a new rhythm. The way venues operate, how event planners collaborate, and even how far in advance weddings are booked can look very different from one market to another.
Some of the realities of opening a floral studio in a new area have looked like this:
Learning the Monterey wedding and event market while already knowing how to run a business
Becoming familiar with local venues, planners, and vendor relationships
Adjusting to the fact that flower wholesalers are not within immediate driving distance
Navigating a close-knit event community where professional relationships take time to develop
Adapting to a destination-driven wedding market
Networking without the benefit of long-standing local history
One of the more unusual parts of the process is the feeling of being both experienced and new at the same time. You know your work and your standards, but recognition in a new market still takes time. Trust is built through collaboration and referrals, just like it is anywhere else.
The positive side of that process is clarity. Opening a studio here has allowed me to be intentional about how this chapter grows — the relationships I build, the collaborations I pursue, and the weddings and events I take on.
And slowly, things begin to connect.
While Monterey is a new chapter, RK Florals continues to operate in Indianapolis as well, where the studio has been established for many years. Both locations now influence the work in different ways, and it’s been exciting to see how each environment shapes what I create.
Monterey continues to be both inspiring and grounding, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to build something here — one relationship, one wedding, and one event at a time.