Sweet Root Village

"Like-minded beliefs" you ask? 

Oh, "Shared experiences" you say? 

I suppose this business partnership we have has been built in floralkin from day one. A work day in the studio without our other half is often paralyzing. We rely on each other so heavily, both creatively and emotionally, and struggle sometimes to function normally in the day to day without our second brain to verbalize and talk everything through with. It's actually a little scary to think of a future time or a possibility of not having the other at our side. Our earliest days were simply as friends. Those college days where you are doing your best to figure yourself out. Trying to learn, be present, and simply enjoy such a season of life while also planning desperately for an unknown future that you hope will be full of promise doing something that you feel wildly passionate about. The problem lies in being a creative soul who is passionate about a lot of things and doesn't quite know what direction in life will provide that elusive perfect balance of happiness, fulfillment, and stability.

Some of our greatest strengths in our business are because of the partnership we have built. We are two very different people with different origins. Differing passions and interests, but somehow we function as one and respond as the other and find that our stories are so very entangled. We have spent so long being so focused on moving forward that it's often difficult to think back ––  However, during these slower times where our business has taken a step back as we adapt and change with this new world COVID-19 has thrust upon us, it's suddenly easier to sit in reflection regarding our origins. So why not take a little gander back to the beginning:

"Oftentimes I think of my childhood, my life, as a blank slate. I don't remember having ambitions. I felt decent at anything I did, but never so in love with something that I tied any weight of my future to it. I was a bit bossy and a little over organized. I made friends easily. But I moved every few years as a daughter of a military officer so I left those friends just as quickly. The landscape of my life changed every couple of years and I experienced a lot, but I never latched onto anything and focused more on "going with the flow" as a means of coping. I began working my way through college classes due to my continued lack of ambition, hoping inspiration would strike eventually. And strike she did, in the form of a red-headed ambitious-enough-for-the-both-of-us artsy and savvy individual who goes by Lauren. I used to joke that I rode her coattails on this wild floral business ride, but it is true a million times over that I would never have done anything close to what I do now if we hadn't met. I had no knowledge of flowers and wouldn't have ever guessed that they would become a beautiful piece of my every day." –– Rachel

Flowers have always been a part of me. My great grandmother was a florist and my great grandfather was an orchid grower. I remember exploring the greenhouse as a child and naming daffodils as my favorite flower from a young age. I always said that I wanted to be a florist when I grew up, yet I never knew that it would take the form that it has today. Although I shouldn’t be surprised, because entrepreneurship has been a part of this enneagram 1 brain since I was seven years old selling rocks and leaves on the front stoop to the neighbors. Being able to combine my creative passions and analytical brain into something that brings joy to others is beyond what I ever could’ve imagined. What makes it even more incredible is that I get to do it all alongside my best friend every day. Our friendship is more like a sisterhood now and through it’s ups and downs we’ve grown up together, figuring out who we are as wives, mothers, friends, and business partners.” –– Lauren

"We started a business by accident" we tell those who ask. We spent those fragile college days dreaming of some magical way to combine all our interests into something feasible. We both loved photography of all kinds, digital and film. We each loved to create in several art forms, Lauren loved flowers, Rachel imagined she'd use her graphic design degree to make pretty paper goods. Lauren had stashes of fabric, feathers, and lace to make beautiful accessories, and we had this idea of creating a "village" of other talent to create a self-contained hub of artful wedding magic? Who even knows, we just had too many ideas and needed a small funnel to push them through. So we made a blog. Those first few months were spent helping friends at their weddings, creating and recreating "packages" for flowers and photography. Several iterations of business cards were ordered and happy dances for every email that landed in our inbox. Meanwhile we each had one or more jobs to work, school to finish, dates to attend, a new marriage to settle into, and we filled every waking hour with thoughts and plans of how we could work MORE. We lived and breathed the hustle. It wasn't until year three that it felt like we even entered a point that anyone knew who we were, but boy are we glad that was the case. We had so much to learn about ourselves individually as well as together as a unit. Even then our passions and our way forward as a team in business has changed each year. We didn't take the time to plan before we started a business, so it took us years of trial and error to understand a bit more readily what it is that we truly wished to do. Honestly it often still feels like we are in the process of figuring it out. But that’s how you grow, right? 

Perhaps it’s simply the curse (and blessing) of a creative soul. Never satisfied. Always yearning for more. Constantly pushing ourselves to the next level and forever changing and adapting.

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Sweet Root Village is an event floral design studio based in Alexandria, Virginia owned by Lauren Anderson and Rachel Bridgwood. Sweet Root is known for large installations, sharing openly about floral business, and creating a family friendly work environment for their team. Over the past 10 years, they have grown to an in-house team of six who lead over 80 weddings and events a year, and have been featured in Martha Stewart, Modern Luxury, Once Wed, Brides, and dozens of wedding and event publications.