Craig

is originally from Louisiana with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northeast Louisiana University. One summer semester, I resided in Rome, Italy for 6 weeks studying art and architecture. My first love was theatre arts where I became involved with the theatre department at NLU, acting and chorus in musicals, but was mainly more interested in working backstage and behind the scenes. I would rather be building and painting sets, hanging lights, and working with props and scenery, my talent was definitely not onstage. After graduating, I was offered a summer stock theatre contract working in a set design studio located at Gateway Playhouse on Long Island, New York. It was a fantastic summer of theatre musicals, very long days and very late nights. I literally lived in the rafters of a barn next to the theatre for three months, working on set designs. Show business was not cracking up to be all that glamorous living in a barn for the summer. We would build and rehearse one show during the day, then perform a different show that night. This continued with a total of five productions throughout the summer with eight performances a week.

At the end of the summer, I moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan to continue with theatre endeavors. Highlights were working for Riverside Shakespeare Company with set design and lighting, then with Symphony Space Theatre, an entire Gilbert & Sullivan company as an assistant stage manager. I lived in New York City for 5 years until relocating to Austin in 1986.

Craig was honored with the floral decorating of Lady Bird Johnson's birthday cakes at the LBJ Library in December 2000 and 2002.

I was ready for a career change and an calmer place to live, New York was difficult and I needed to be back south where I belonged.

My first job in Austin was a banquet captain at the Omni Hotel, I began seeing weddings and receptions at the hotel and this is where I got my interest in floral design. I loved seeing the flowers, but was particularly fascinated in how it was made, what held that design together. I would look inside arrangements to see how it was made and took notes of it. The mechanics of arrangements and the displays intrigued me and thought, floral design is going to replace my short theatre career. I began by designing flowers for weekly restaurant accounts, even the Omni Hotel asked me to design an arrangement for the lobby and front desk. I then began developing contacts in the wedding industry, attending design shows, learning all that I could and developing my own style with weddings. One wedding led to another, until I had to leave my hotel job and become a full time floral designer.

I became an award winning floral designer, (yes I have the trophies for show and tell if anybody wants to see them, lol) since moving to Austin, turning my knowledge of theatre production into floral design. I located the business in my home and never left, having a home studio gives my brides that very personal attention. Brides sometimes send me invitations to their wedding, it’s just how comfortable they feel with me, inviting me as a guest at their wedding. A big compliment it is, but I usually have to decline, it’s a working day for me, I work behind the scenes where I’m happiest, designing beautiful arrangements that magically appear on her wedding day. I have saved every thank you note from my brides, my portfolio has over 500 thanks you notes and cards from brides. Being home-based is part of what sets me apart. I have the passion for flowers, it’s a living form of artistry and love the drama and theatrics I can achieve with flowers. The theatricals I can achieve at weddings, using the variety of colors and textures available in flowers excites me. I want to hear ‘Wow, that’s beautiful!’, when a bride sees her bouquets, a beautiful church setting, or enters her reception with a buffet centerpiece towering in the room. Every wedding is a production, I’ve had couples stop me out and about in restaurants, stores, even once an airplane, ‘you designed our wedding 5 years ago, the flowers were awesome!’ This is just how flowers affect people’s lives and mainly their memories. I am a big part of their wedding day.