We were lucky to catch up with Diana Scafoglio-Ducharme recently and have shared our conversation below.

Diana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Before I launched my company, I worked for a brokerage firm for over 11 years. I had a secure job with great benefits, health insurance, and a guaranteed paycheck. But I wasn’t happy, wasn’t fulfilled. I had always been a creative but fell into the routine of making money fast and didn’t follow those dreams. After climbing the corporate ladder and learning a ton, I knew I had to take the risk. I had to stop chasing the money and hoping he happiness would come with the next raise, next bonus. It was time to chase the happiness and hope that the money would come with hard work. For the first two years I worked both jobs full time. I took every event I could get my hands on. I worked Mon-Fri over 40 hours in corporate and then clocked in nights and weekends for weddings and events.
Two years in and I started building the client base I wanted and took the big jump. I left behind the job, the paycheck, the benefits, and went full time business owner and wedding/event florist. Over 5 years later and I have never looked back. As terrifying as it was and still sometimes is, it was worth the risk!

Diana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Diana and I love to be a part of the best days of so many people’s lives. Handing a bride their wedding bouquet, taking a couple in to see their reception room reveal, helping my couple’s and their parents/loved ones make important decisions about their big day, are some of the most rewarding parts of my job as an event/wedding florist.

I am the lead designer and owner of Petals Presents and Parties. My husband Brian, our 19 month old (baby boss) Bryson Blaze, and our one co. lead designer, Madison make up our little Petals family.

I specialize in color recipe, large installations like arches & chandeliers, and organic editorial designs.

I got into this industry doing weddings for friends and still pride myself on treating my brides like I am their maid of honor. I have coordinated full weddings, decorated over 100 wedding cakes, helped mothers, fathers, sisters, bothers, flower girls, ring bearers, put together dance floors, direct other vendors…..let’s just say we are always going above and beyond! We love showing our appreciation to our clients by leaving little surprises where we can, we always try and add a little something to a sign, swing, cake, welcome table, seating chart, etc., even if the client may have overlooked that item to add florals to.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When Covid started around Feb/March of 2020, my husband and I had also just found out we were pregnant with our first baby boy. 2020 was my 3rd year in business and I had just gained momentum with a great client base, a fully booked year, and a great pipeline for 2021. Then right away, client’s were panicking, weddings were being rescheduled, and even worse flat out canceled. My contract was airtight but my heart went out to so many of my couples who were healthcare workers, had large military families that couldn’t travel, large destination weddings with families that couldn’t travel, and more. So we worked with many to refund at least half of their retainer fee, which was painful to me as well as a small business owner, and many more to honor their full deposits on rescheduled dates. I just now in April 2022 married off my last couple who had to reschedule from 2019.
I worked all through my 3rd trimester with weddings every weekend, and then after a traumatic birth and surgery after, went right back to work with weddings and events. I was a full time breastfeeding florist who couldn’t be stopped.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

As far as the admin/business side of things, I am a one woman show.

My #1 teammate is my husband Brian, and he has been the #1 supporter of this dream since day one. He is a Pasco County firefighter but on his days off you can find him helping in the studio, designing wedding installations, building fabulous floral chandeliers, and setting up and breaking down events. I don’t know what I would do without him!

But as far as my partner in crime for everything else, that’s Madison. I met Madison as the florist at a local WholeFoods when I used to order cases of florals from my local grocery stores first starting out. Once I started getting requests from a lot of people on social media to work with me or intern for me, I started really thinking about the type of person I wanted to spend so much time with a put so much trust in to represent my baby. I immediately though of Madison because she just had such a a sweet yet fierce presence. We met for lunch, did a trial wedding, and that was that. She has been by my side ever since and has recently really started building her own client base and perfecting her techniques. Soon she will be a full time flower fairy

Contact Info:

• Website: petalspresentsandpartes.come
• Instagram: @petalspresentsandpartes
• Facebook: Petals Presents and Parties

Image Credits
Dewitt for Love Photography Shauna & Jordan Photography Calista Manfre Photography Matlock & Kelly Photography Aileen LaTorre Photography