image | Shauntelle Sposto
Racheal Lunghi, the face behind Siren Floral Co. shares her passion for floral artistry, her transition from event planner to wedding florist, and what inspires her to create her boldly beautiful and earthy floral arrangements! For more swoon-worthy floral inspiration, be sure to follow @sirenfloralco over in Instagram!
Tell us a little about your company.
Gosh! I don't know where to start :) I'm Rachael and I own and am the lead designer at Siren Floral Co. I started out in event planning and somewhere along the way fell hard for flowers and decided to switch my focus to that route. Siren Floral Co. operates out of my studio in Barrio Logan in San Diego, CA but the majority of our events are travel events all over Southern California.
I believe that floristry is an emotive medium and comes from the heart. I believe and hope that our floral aesthetic mimics the natural shapes and composition of the way things grow and intermix in nature. We specialize in weddings and events and try to put our whole heart into the client's experience and overall design for each event we do :)
And I'm forever pinching myself that this is my job and feel so grateful all of the time.
How did you get into designing for weddings?
Oops! Kind of answered that one above. I just had so many clients ask me to help them with floral and then got more and more practice. Then decided to dig deeper into floral types, styles of floristry, etc. on my own and just studied/practiced often. Then was lucky enough to have built some beautiful friendships with other people in my industry who helped support and refer me from the start :) I wouldn't be here today without all of them!
In addition to floral design for events, you also offer workshops. Can you tell us a little about your workshops and who should attend?
Yes! I love teaching! I find that most frequently, we are teaching other florists who own their own floral business or sometimes are just beginning their floral journey.
Each workshop is different and we try to focus on one element of design so often we are either doing bouquet workshops or centerpiece workshops, but most often we host private classes. In those private classes, we get to do bouquet design + centerpiece creation and put together a whole shoot of our work together. They're super fun :)
As far as who should attend, I'd say anyone who is trying to gain new experience in their floral career or even just wants to push themselves creatively / have fun playing with flowers :) I've taught florists at all different experience levels and try to cater the class to their needs // experience.
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
Nature + travel. 100%.
I tend to get in a rut when I haven't gotten outside of my typical surroundings. Even if that means just going for a hike or popping out to the coast for a walk along the cliffs here in San Diego.
The way things move in nature or the overgrowth they partake always blows me away. The freedom of a bougainvillea plant just going wild with long tendrils reaching for the sun, or the way old man's beard grows wild over other bushes // trees in the woods just makes my heart explode. Driving around in a new place can be dangerous if I'm the driver because I'm paying more attention to the foliage, trees, blossoming branches, etc. haha. so typically I ask someone else to drive so I can soak it all in!
Travel inspires me so much in the same way, but also for color + texture. There are so many interesting palettes in Europe, South America, etc. The decay on old buildings, the weathered pots on people's windowsills, all of that just fills up my brain and I bring it back with me into my designs I think :)
What tips or advice can you give to couples who are looking for their wedding florist?
Definitely choose someone who you not only connect with creatively but also as a human being. It's such an intimate and special day, I'd recommend that about all of your vendors-you want to feel connected to them.
My other biggest piece of advice would be to choose someone because you love their work, offer them some guidance as far as color / overall design direction you are looking for but then trust them to do their thing. I find people create most freely and often produce their best work when you give them space and trust to do so.