We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lana Nelson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lana, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Our company, Code De Lys Creations, was founded in November 2021, following my hastened departure from another local flower shop (who will remain unnamed). A customer who had gone into the shop looking for me to make flowers for his wife, as that was how we had met, and instead was told that I had left. Lo and behold, he got my number and called me to ask if I could arrange some flowers for his wife and if I could deliver them, which was our first order as a business (and he has been a wonderful customer ever since.) After that phone call, I called my husband (and co-owner), Cody, and asked him if he thought we could do this, start a small, mobile flower shop, and he said yes, didn’t hesitated once in his answer, and we jumped right in, feet first. My husband, for supporting this endeavor, something I had aspired to do since I was a young teenager, and memories we have made together*, is where we got our name- Code De Lys.

*We got engaged in 2016 in New Orleans, a city synonymous with the fleur-de-lis, and our name, in that way, reflects back to that as well.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, how I got started was, when I was a young teenager, I would always admire flowers, either the daffodils and roses in my yard, or at the grocery store, and I would try to put them together so they’d look pretty in a vase (or a jar/cup/really any kind of vessel) for however long they’d last. I applied for a local well-known flower shop when I was in my early 20’s, after I’d left the Air Force, but was turned down for “lack of experience”, however, a few years later, they had temporary job openings in their classes for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day (you get to learn how to arrange and also help them with their overload of orders). I took these jobs for a few years, was offered a job there, and then Covid hit. Given that I wasn’t willing to risk bringing any kind of sickness home to my husband and kids, I gave it up as a job for the time being, but returned to it the next year, bringing with me more experience, and was again offered a job, which I accepted. After months of issues, I left and haven’t once regretted it.

I love crafting floral designs that can combine both traditional fare and a flair of whimsy. We sometimes incorporate candles (our “Burning Love” arrangement has been a big hit), candies (we did a treat bucket for Halloween that had a small vased arrangement surrounded by candy), and have made adhesive-backed corsages. We aim to source as much locally as possible, both flowers and greenery, along with liberating vases/decorative jars from local thrift stores.

My husband and I are both Veterans (he served valiantly in the US Marine Corps and I served in the US Air Force) and we strive to do things to the best of our abilities, including serving our customers. In that we are not a brick-and-mortar store and participate in pop-ups at local places who host us (like a local coffee shop, Voodoo Cafe, they serve delicious coffees and amazing beignets and is partnering with us for our third annual Valentine’s Pop-Up Sale), we get to support local in that way as well, along with getting out into the community and being seen.

Honestly, at the end of the day, one of the things I am most proud of is getting to “play with flowers” with our kids, both of which have expressed interest in floristry as well. We show them, teach them, let them create, and the time we get with them is irreplaceable.
We are very much family-oriented, support our “901derland” as I have taken to calling it (I’m a lifelong Memphian), and give back how and when we can, be it through donating flowers to a school raffle to brighten a teacher’s day or giving a child the chance to learn how to wrap a simple bouquet for their loved one.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Oh goodness, a lesson I had to unlearn was that everything has to be perfect because, in reality, it’s not! Nothing is all cut-and-dry, black-and-white, and there is so much glorious color in the world to be enjoyed.

I grew up in a place where, if it was out of place or wasn’t just right, it was wrong and you would spend all day and into the night fixing it after it was torn apart in a fit of destructive rage- I spent many a time in my room that way in my formative years. It wasn’t until I had our oldest child that I realized that it didn’t have to be that way, that there was so much more than that life, and I promised that one day, she would know that too.
13 years later, here we are, in a world that is so much more vibrant than anything I could’ve imagined when I was her age.

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

I met my business partner/co-owner in 2009 when I was 19 years old. He had come to the Air Force base with his best friend, who was going to talk to a recruiter, and I was working at the front desk. He smiled at me and that’s all it took and, though life has taken us on ups and downs and twists and turns, we are exactly where we are supposed to be now, together and thriving. My husband is the best partner I could’ve imagined in this and all things.

Contact Info:

• Website: codedelys.com
• Instagram: @codedelys.flowers
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/CodedeLysCreations

Image Credits
Lana Nelson Stephanye Irvan Photography