Picking out a bouquet from Amelia's Flowers has been part of the Nashville experience since 2016. Since then, the florist has flourished into a fleet of three trucks, three local flower shops, and even expanded to Raleigh, NC (hey, RALtoday).

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, we caught up with owner Mattie Bush-Martin to dive into the world of floral arrangements and what goes into planning for the busiest day of the year in the flower business.

What's it like running a flower shop around Valentine's Day, when floral arrangements are in high demand?

We start gearing up for Valentine's Day around October, and it is something we look forward to every year. On the back end, it can get really wild, just the preparation, but it makes it all worth it seeing everyone celebrating love and getting to be a part of the special moments that people are creating.

What tips do you have for Valentine’s Day flower shoppers, whether they plan ahead or wait until the day or week of?

We have two options — we have delivery and in-store. The best prep is doing delivery because you can order it, not worry about it, and we deliver it to the door. If you want something that’s different or unique to someone specifically, I would say just come into the shops because we’ll be building bouquets on the spot.... I would event suggest coming the day before, or even two days before, because we’ll have Valentine’s flowers all week.

A hand holding a small bunch of blue flowers with many types of pink, violet, and yellow flowers in the background. | Feeling the blues? These naturally blue flowers should do the trick. | Photo by NASHtoday

What is your approach to Valentine’s Day arrangements?

Our online collection offers a twist of the classics. We do an assorted arrangement and then a bouquet that has multiple size options with pinks, reds, pastels, and more neutrals. We don't do the classic dozen red roses, just because it's a little too traditional for us. When we mix them all together, it really caters to everyone's taste. In the stores, we'll have all the classics … the red roses, our classic Quicksand [roses], which is a blush pink, and a few more reds than normal.

Do you have personal favorites around this time of year?

It changes with the seasons, but right now I'm loving pinks and yellows. I do think it's fun to go totally different for holidays like this, and we're loving the maximalist vibes right now — something very colorful, or even doing a monochromatic bouquet would be beautiful. We have these blue pom poms right now that are a naturally blue flower — we don't carry dyed flowers — and it's so gorgeous. And hey, that could be a very fun anti-Valentine's Day bouquet.