​Some years ago, I met this lovely lady who was so open and ready to help other women at Rockwall Women in Business; years later I had the opportunity to learn more about her and what she does, and she kept doing things to help me with my business.
 
She has impressed me deeply by her caring and unselfish actions as a business woman, her work as floral designer impressed me even more!! She is so detail oriented, loves what she does, and you can’t be around her and not feel inspired by her creativity!
 
Domonie had her Grand Opening of her new location for Wild Rose Events & Floral Design store on February 5th, 2018. It was nice to be with her on that day and be able to see firsthand her new location and all the great things that she will be offering there.

Here is my interview with her:
 
1.- When did you start your business?
I started this business 5 years ago on November, I started it because I love floral, I owned a business like this in the past and I got tired of working for other people, so I thought I can do it better, for brides that appreciate my work more than my employers did.
 
2.-Why did you choose to become a florist?
Well  it is kind of a weird story, my husband, well then boyfriend wanted me to get a regular hourly paying job instead of doing a freelance graphic design that I was doing; so, I applied for a florist job that didn't require any experience. I think I did it long enough to get it off my back and here we are 20 years later and is so challenging and has so many components that still excite me to this day. 

​3.-What is the trend on wedding florals for 2018?
 
Usually, we find that this area of the country is a couple of years behind other areas, so the Boho trend is continuing which is more messy looking, lots of greenery, lots of texture. The color predicted for this year is lavender, but we won’t see a lot of that for another year or two. We still are seen a lot of blush and burgundy type tones right now but we will be seen the lavender tones and the dusty blue tones picking up.
 
4.-What is the average cost of the wedding flowers?
 
Well, it really can vary quite a bit. Right now in Texas, the average wedding is running around $29,000 dollars. Usually between 10 to 20% is spent on flowers, we find currently that our brides average budget on floral and décor is around $2500 to $3000 dollars. 

5.- Do you have any recommendations to help the bride to get the most of the floral for her investment?
Sure. Number one find a florist who respects your opinion and respects your budget. If they are saying that you would have to pay a minimum amount or they won’t even talk to you, look for someone else. We price according to exactly what is in your order, we have a lot of flexibility without minimums and it just calls for getting creative using more greenery, using less expensive flowers; it can still get you a beautiful look and whole look without having to break a bank. So find a floral that you can really trust and give them the chance to make some suggestions and really listen to those suggestions.
 
6.-What do you have to offer to families that are celebrating a special occasions like sweet sixteen, graduations, milestone birthdays and so on?
We can help with any of those. The sweet sixteen are actually very much like a wedding so we do a lot of the same kind of discussions and ideas and have a lot of décor rentals that can be used for that. For the other items like just a birthday and stuff like that, we offer a delivery of a flower arrangement or gift item on that day for them, kind of most regular floral deliveries are.
 
 
7.- Is there anything else that you would like to say?
 
We also offer some other services and some unique things. We offer wedding coordination, linen rentals, we now are offering an off the rack location for Providence Bridal so we have a lot of gowns at a very good value price, beautiful gowns ready to go right out of the store in addition for getting a lot more creative for a father-daughter dance, quinceanera, whatever. We are offering brooches, bouquets, paper bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages made out of unique items. We had lapel pins made out of shotgun shells; we just really like to get creative.
 
 
8.- I have noticed that you are offering a  floral arrangement class, can you tell us more about that?
We call it Wild Floral Design and we teach a different skill set each month and we tried to build a little bit in what you have done in the other months, but if you haven't been before you will catch pretty quickly. So for upcoming, we have a class for doing a  basket arrangement, for doing a flower crown, for doing a succulent garden. Earlier this year we did a tropical design. We have every body’s favorite every year which is the Ikebana design coming up as well. We try to create a lot of unique things  and then we don’t do cookie cutter designs, everybody's design is going to be different because they get to choose their own product and often their own container, so that you are not competing on how well your neighbor does, you are learning how to do the techniques needed to make the design and make yours special and something you are excited to take home.

These classes are at our studio at 616 East Lamar Street in Royce City.It is $50 dollars for the class and we usually have some snacks and drinks and some great conversation.
 
Runs from 7 to 9 pm on Tuesday night once a month. The dates vary.

This is a vendor that I highly recommend to the brides and any family celebrating a special occasion.
 
Here is Domonie's information:
 
Wild Rose Events & Floral Design
Address: 616 East Lamar St.  Royse City TX 75189
Phone: 469-600-3535
website: https://wildroseevents.com/
​

TSA Pre Check is a program that gives travelers leaving from the U.S. access to an expedited security screening program at the airport. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent U.S. residents can apply for the program and go through a screening process in order to become a “trusted traveler.”
Perks of TSA Pre Check

Anything to make your airport experience better is worth it, right? And probably one of the least enjoyable parts of air travel is the security process. TSA Pre Check pretty much eliminates that less-than-desirable part by giving trusted travelers these perks:

1. Expedited security screening - There’s a shorter line for TSA Pre Check members. TSA’s website says that in December 2017, 93% of TSA Pre Check members waited less than 5 minutes – that’s pretty incredible!
2. Less to do to prep for security - You don’t need to take off your shoes, belts or light jackets, and you can leave your laptop and liquids in your bag.
3. Share it with the fam - A parent or guardian with TSA Pre Check can bring family members ages 12 and under along with them in the expedited lanes.

The Pre Check ProcessIt’s really not that bad – just three steps.

1. Travelers can apply online on TSA’s Universal Enroll Pre Check page. The application has four sections and it’s mostly basic information to help TSA verify your identity and citizenship.
2. Next is to schedule the in-person appointment for a background check and fingerprinting within 45 days of completing the online application. The appointment can be made online or by walking in to a TSA application center. This TSA web page lets you enter a zip code, city or airport code to help you find the most convenient one for your clients.
3. And then at the appointment, which TSA says only takes 10 minutes, applicants must bring the required documents and provide their fingerprints. There are some options to determine what type of documents are acceptable, but TSA has a helpful web page to help sort it all out. It can be as simple as just a valid driver’s license and passport if the names on both documents match – that’s it. Then the applicant pays a non-refundable fee of $85 that’s valid for five years. That’s $17 a year – less than a tank of gas nowadays!

After an applicant is approved as a trusted traveler with TSA, they’ll get a Known Traveler Number (KTN) in the mail within two to three weeks.
 
 
 Resource: Article courtesy of Vax Vacation Access