Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Anderson.
Hi Tori, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Louisiana where my mother was grew lots of garden roses and we moved to Virginia after high school. I initially studied communications at VCU and later would discover my true passion for nature and gardening. I returned to school to study Horticulture where I studied sustainable agriculture and floristry. I worked in the Virginia State Seed lab after my studies & apprenticed with a local wedding florist. I started my business in 2018 and have since grown a talented team. Since starting the company, I made moves to becoming more sustainable which include zero plastic floral foam, purchasing from local flower farmers consistently throughout the growing season, and growing our own garden. My team and I love our jobs! It is a gift for us all to serve our clients doing what we love.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I started the business 2 years prior to Covid. My first and young business having gone through a huge setup within the first three years was quite the challenge. I over came it by practicing transparency , kindness and flexibility with my clients needs.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Fleuressence?
Fleuressence is a floral design studio based in Richmond, Virginia, specializing in weddings and events throughout Richmond, Charlottesville, and beyond. As well as weekly floral deliveries. I founded Fleuressence in 2018, and what started with my own love of flowers and design has grown into an incredible team of florists and more than 300 weddings together.
At our core, we just really love creating beautiful things. Our work tends to be lush, refined, and a little unexpected, but one of my favorite things about our studio is that we aren’t tied to one specific “look.” We’re well versed in a variety of design styles, and we genuinely love that our weddings can look completely different from one weekend to the next. One client may want something colorful, whimsical, and garden-inspired, while the next wants something minimal, modern, and editorial. That variety keeps us inspired. Rather than fitting our clients into our aesthetic, we want to take their ideas and interpret them through our design perspective in a way that feels completely their own.
I also think what sets us apart is the team and experience behind the flowers. Floral design is incredibly creative, but producing a wedding is also logistical, physical, and detail-heavy. Having an experienced team allows us to dream big creatively while also giving our clients a really dependable experience. There are a lot of moving pieces happening behind the scenes, and our goal is for the client to never have to worry about them.
Sustainability is another piece of Fleuressence that I’m especially proud of. We don’t use single-use plastic floral foam, we source locally grown flowers whenever possible, and we even grow some of our own specialty annual flowers and herbs. We also love helping clients donate their flowers after their events so those designs can have a little more life beyond the wedding day.
More than anything, I’m proud that as Fleuressence has grown, we’ve held onto the things that mattered to me from the beginning: creativity, quality, integrity, sustainability, and taking really good care of people. Of course I want our clients and their guests to rave about the flowers, but I also want our clients to look back and feel like working with us was one of the easiest and most exciting parts of planning their event or ordering flowers from us. Creating something beautiful is important to us, but creating something that feels personal and that people remember for years is really what we’re after.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I think the floral and wedding industry is going to continue moving toward more individuality. Social media has given us access to so much inspiration, but I think people are starting to move away from wanting to recreate the exact wedding they saw online. I’m seeing more couples embrace color, interesting flower varieties, unexpected combinations, and designs that actually feel like them. As a designer, I love that. I would much rather create 20 completely different weddings than repeat the same look every weekend.
I also think sustainability and local sourcing are going to become much more important. There is so much waste that can happen within the event industry, and I think both designers and clients are becoming more conscious of that. I hope we continue to see more locally grown flowers, reusable mechanics, foam-free design, floral donation, and an overall shift toward being thoughtful about how we create beautiful events.
I also think clients are becoming more intentional about where they spend their wedding budgets. Rather than doing a little bit of everything, I see couples choosing the things that matter most to them and really investing there. For florals, that can mean fewer small floral moments but more impactful, memorable designs in the places that really transform the space.
Ultimately, I think the next decade will be less about following one dominant wedding trend and more about personality, creativity, and experience. Trends will always come and go, but I think the most exciting direction for our industry is giving people more freedom to create celebrations that don’t look like everyone else’s.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fleuressencefloraldesign.com
- Instagram: @Fleuressence.floraldesign
- Facebook: @Fleuressence.floraldesign
