When I was asked to work on the David Jones Flower Show this year by Seed Flora I was beyond excited. I was warned that it would be long days to the wee hours of the morning at times. I always knew how amazing the show was, but boy I think I will always appreciate it so much more now that I’ve seen the amount of hard work that goes into it.
Basically David Jones, Elizabeth Street became my home for three weeks straight… working in tiny window spaces and up ladders after the store closed at night time, running up and down the stairs and lifts to the basement where all of the flowers and plants arrived.
I can’t believe that Seed have been doing it for over 20 years?? I really take my hat off to them for all of the planning and creativity that goes into this. It was a 10 day straight bump in with some days totaling over 18 hours. And then close to 2 weeks of looking after the arrangements and flower change overs. It got to the 10th day the night before opening and I thought to myself, never again am I doing this, I couldn’t even string a sentence together.
But after the show opened and having a day of rest, I felt rejuvenated and so rewarded looking out the windows to see the smiles on peoples faces, taking photos (sometimes of my butt in the window - yes now I know how it feels to be a zoo animal) and grannies taking selfies in front of the displays. It brought so much joy to know it made so many people smile with amazement. What was lovely too was that a lot of potted plants were used in the displays this year meaning that they could then go one to be loved after the show.
Will I do it again? Perhaps ask me next year. Time rejuvenate, until this weekend, first wedding of the wedding season. Eeek