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Floral Design in Northern Michigan
 
 

Welcome to Sweetwater

we design beautiful wedding flowers in northern Michigan.

 
 
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We are so glad you found our corner of the internet. Whether its flowering for your wedding day or hosting something special for you here at the farm, this brand is dedicated to making the special moments in life feel that way.


We are obsessed with Northern Michigan, flowers, lavender, jumping in the lake and bubbly beverages.


Sweetwater was born from our love of the fresh water that surrounds us. We cannot wait for you to experience a bit of what we do.

 
 
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Flowers

Wedding Floral Design
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Lavender Love
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Dear Wedding Guests this summer, ⠀ ⠀ Please be on time. You've more than likely been hanging out all day waiting on this event, so please don't walk in with your shoulders up around your ears and tip toeing into the church. That's trashy. Learn time management. ⠀ ⠀ Please have fun. The couple has worked so hard to host you and everyone else they love on this day. So enjoy yourself! Dance! Laugh! Leave your troubles behind for a bit. ⠀ ⠀ Please don't steal my stuff. Walking out of a wedding carrying your shoes in one hand and a centerpiece you swiped in the other is a sure fire way to have me put a hex on you. That vase belongs to someone. That someone is not you. BUT- the flowers- be my guest, grab them outta there. Jam them in a Holiday Inn plastic cup. You do you. But leave the hard goods. ⠀ ⠀ Please for the love of god don't become the wedding planner. You're a guest. There are hired amazing professionals there. You don't need to be the one who steps in to be something you weren't asked to be. Trust me, someone knows that the microphone isn't working properly. And also someone knows that Uncle Bill fainted and needs help. You're good. Go have fun.⠀ ⠀ Please be gracious. I know that it might not be your style and you never would have chosen to do it that way - piss off. If you spend most of a wedding judging what a couple decided you shouldn't be there. ⠀ ⠀ Please explore Northern Michigan. Pro tip: book a day or two on the END of your trip up here to enjoy our area. Spend money locally. Make the trip up worth the few days off of work and see what all the hype is about, you won't be disappointed. ⠀ ⠀ Can't wait to see you dancing your cute butt off!⠀ To the guests!⠀ xo⠀ K ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Image: @holdenphotographs ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral
Well that had to be it right? The final cold cold night until that first random morning in October we wake up and sprint to the garden to see what the damage was? ⠀ ⠀ My sweet beautiful friends, this is why I wait. I cannot tell you how silly I look taking tarps and blankets out to the garden to cover up little baby plants. ⠀ ⠀ So we waited, and me thinks that was it. Pull that weird garage sale quilt off the flowers and lets roll. ⠀ ⠀ A frost advisory is nothing new here. This late in May- technically, its not too crazy either. But now, its time. Mother Nature- lets go. ⠀ ⠀ I stored all our flowers in the house last night. Worried that maybe just maybe the garage would bite a bit too hard on some sensitive blooms. ⠀ ⠀ We are planting the garden tomorrow and our tiny guests this weekend must have cuddled reallll close and I'm still waiting on morels in the ‘spot' and the boats go in the water this weekend but it'll be a hooded sweatshirt kind of slow slow boat ride. ⠀ ⠀ But its time. ⠀ Onward to Summer my friends.⠀ ⠀ Happy Planting and uncovering.⠀ xo⠀ K⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral
Dont know where along the way I fell in love with minivans but they really are the best. ⠀ ⠀ Flower life is not a glamorous one my dear friends. ⠀ ⠀ It’s so much cardboard and countless recycling center trips. It’s seemingly endless vases to clean and stems to process. ⠀ ⠀ It’s spilling water on everything. Always. Every day. ⠀ ⠀ It’s thinking you’ll make the light but you won’t and you must stop but also there’s thousands of dollars in flowers back there and so your slow steady stop is harder than you want and you just hear a floodgate opening and see water rushing up to the drivers seat. ⠀ ⠀ It’s the smell of a bucket that had whatever in it and has turned into a science experiment and “ohmygod what is that!?”⠀ ⠀ It’s “don’t break this vase” and ten seconds later hearing it fall to the floor. ⠀ ⠀ It’s messy. All our jobs are. It’s beautiful. It’s maddening. It’s challenging. It’s expensive. It’s a constant ebb and flow and choreographed dance of deliveries and shipping. ⠀ ⠀ And yet there’s something about that one stem doing its thing in the perfect place. ⠀ ⠀ And the gasp you hear when you enter the venue carrying what you made. ⠀ ⠀ It’s coming into the garden on a random day and finding the dahlias have bloomed. ⠀ ⠀ It keeps you coming back. ⠀ Happy #fridayintroductions ⠀ ⠀ Flower on. ⠀ Clinks⠀ ⠀ Xo⠀ K⠀ ⠀ PS taking a little IG break for a few days. Stoked. I’ll see ya when I see ya. ✌🏼 ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral ⠀ ⠀
I haven't analyzed it closely enough but it feels colder this year. Slower to come up and get going. Longer for the lilacs to bud out and for it to feel acceptable to be spotted at the garden center.⠀ ⠀ I'm guessing the data will say its not. I'm guessing maybe it'll say that this year, like every other one up here, we just all really wanted it to be spring. So we mowed and cleaned up and picked out annuals. ⠀ ⠀ But we take the annuals inside each night. The mower cant cut a few spots where its still too wet. ⠀ ⠀ And its almost always this week- the third week of May- when it really turns a corner- where Spring bursts onto the scene for real up here and we can finally add the compost and lay down the fabric and get moving around here. ⠀ ⠀ I commented yesterday that around here the leaves finally arrived. Everything drenched in this brilliant lime color for a few magical days. It’s so nice. ⠀ ⠀ Clinks to patience. I have none. I've just learned weird coping skills.⠀ xo⠀ K⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral ⠀
People message me weekly telling me about someone on the internet saying 'coffee clinks' or talking in their pjs or saying the same things or writing their captions like mine or whatever.... ⠀ ⠀ I am here to remind everyone:⠀ #1 if I was the kind of person to let this kind of stuff bother me, I would not be a functioning adult. That's literally High School level drama. Additionally, when you focus on these types of things you give power to these people. Keep your power. ⠀ ⠀ #2 its just words. I am not the first person to hold up a cup of coffee and say 'clinks.' ⠀ ⠀ #3 imitation can be seen in a lot of ways but I see it in a very simple one; "well I'm doing something they notice and they like and they can try it too"⠀ ⠀ #4 I do not lose one wink of sleep over the people who copy lines from my website, or blurbs from my newsletter - I sleep like a baby at night knowing I built this word by word and proved it in the flowers & busted my ass to do so. ⠀ ⠀ #5 people have been copying me since I showed up one day to 3rd grade in Baby Spice buns - newflash: I COPIED HER. #stillmyfav⠀ ⠀ Don't sweat it babes. You do you and the rest will fall into place. Head down. Blinders on. Go do the work.⠀ ⠀ Clinks⠀ xo⠀ K⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral
Our beloved 'outhouse' turned 'flower shed' is getting a much needed fresh coat of paint before the season starts. ⠀ ⠀ We've still got landscaping to do and 'flair' to install but she's well on her way to (fingers crossed) being open Memorial Day weekend this year. ⠀ ⠀ If you've never visited the shed its pretty simple. ⠀ -You pull up. ⠀ -You get out of your car. ⠀ -Without a doubt you'll swoon and wanna take a pic because its an old shitter we made cute again. ⠀ ⠀ -Then, enter the shed, snag an arrangement that suits your fancy, or maybe a bundle of lavender. ⠀ ⠀ -Then place your cash money in the mailbox and off you go! Pretty amazing right? ⠀ ⠀ The shed has been a fun project. I can't believe this is our 4th season with it. We are ready to try new things this year, and keep with what our amazing 'shed regulars' love the most. ⠀ ⠀ Emma will be running the entire shed this season, and I cannot wait to watch her flourish in this role. She's gonna rock it. ⠀ ⠀ So 🙋🏼‍♀️ if we’ll see ya at the shed this summer?⠀ xo⠀ K ⠀ ⠀ PS- people always ask 'how do I know when its open?' we put it on social media AND in our mailing list most weeks. **Chances are if its a Thurs-Sat during June July or August - she's open, until she's empty.** ⠀ PPS- no shed on Sunday / Monday / Tuesday (we are tired flower queens those days)⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral ⠀
This year, a portion of our cutting garden blooms will be headed out into the world as part of the #growingkindness campaign. ⠀ ⠀ Its a pretty simple concept. Grow a garden. Perform random acts of kindness in your community with some of the flowers you grow. ⠀ ⠀ It can be as simple as leaving a bucket of 'free stems' at the coffee shop, or delivering beautifully designed arrangements to the hospital. ⠀ ⠀ My dear friend @twigandvine created this concept and has launched this beautiful project from her farm in Washington. She's a master dahlia grower (like too legit too quit) an amazing mama & runs a farm that is both real & pinterest worthy. ⠀ ⠀ When she asked me to be apart of this project I didn't hesitate for a second. And unpacking this box of tubers, reading material, floral wraps & goodies this weekend was such a treat for me. ⠀ ⠀ Next year, I'll be training a bunch of #growingkindness ambassadors here at the farm. If you grow acres of blooms or haven't ever turned dirt- you can be a part of this. Be sure to sign up for @twigandvine 's mailing list and keep an eye around these parts for updates in the Spring. ⠀ ⠀ But in the meantime, we encourage you to be inspired by this and grow a little kindness in your garden this year! Use #growingkindness to see it spread across the country. And flower on babes.⠀ ⠀ Happy Monday⠀ xo⠀ K⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral
I keep checking the lavender to see how well it held on over winter but we’ve yet to have extended “spring-like” temps we need to really see what we have this year. ⠀ ⠀ No matter what we’ll start pruning in 2 weeks and crossing our fingers for bundles and bundles of purple this July. ⠀ ⠀ The coffee is hot and our house is quiet with humans and animals sleeping in. There is nothing more peaceful to me than a quiet house filled with those I love. ⠀ ⠀ A boring and beautiful Saturday of yard work and mowing and lounging. My favorite kind. ⠀ ⠀ Clinks to you my sweet. ⠀ Come grab a bundle like this from the shed this summer? ⠀ ⠀ Xo⠀ K ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #Upnorth #northernmichigan #puremichigan #weddingflowers #weddingplanning #flowers #floraldesign #petoskey #harborsprings #traversecity #leelanau #engaged #theknot #mackinacisland #goodvibesonly #vsco #walloonlake #charlevoix #bayharbor #bride #bridalbouquet #sweetwaterfloral