Megan | Phoenix, AZ Florist | Fleur de Vie Studio
I have worked for Prada.
I have worked for Christian Louboutin. Southwest Airlines. NASCAR. Brands that make people go “wait… really?” when I say them out loud.
And somehow, without question, my favorite corporate event I have ever done in five years of doing this was for a yogurt company.
I know how that sounds. But hear me out.
How it started
Chobani reached out about an event at Mountain Shadows Resort in Scottsdale. A welcome breakfast for their guests and a vanilla tasting experience they were hosting. They wanted florals for both.
And here’s the part that got me immediately: they were doing a vanilla tasting. Like an actual immersive tasting experience for their guests to try their vanilla products and creamers. And they wanted the design to reflect that.
I could have done vanilla-inspired colors. Creamy whites, warm beiges, soft neutrals. Safe. Expected. Totally fine.
Instead I said what if we use actual vanilla beans.
Real ones. Wired into clusters. Hanging out of the bowls like they just fell there. Poking up through the arrangements like they grew that way.
They said yes immediately. Then I went further and asked: “What if each table had its own flavor profile? What if the whole breakfast felt like walking through the Chobani line, every table its own world?”
Zero notes. Zero pushback. Budget increased to make it happen.
I’m not dramatic, but I maybe screeched a little. EEEK.
What we actually built
Each table had its own flavor story. Different senses getting activated.
Pineapple and lime. A cut pineapple sitting right on the table, sliced open. Limes strung into garlands looping through the arrangement. Yellow and white and that specific electric lime green that you don’t normally put on a table and it was absolutely perfect.
Peach and cherry. Bowls of cherries, cut peaches, both woven into and poking out of the arrangements like they grew there. Rich warm tones, soft and lush and completely unexpected.
Mixed berry. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries piled high in mounds around the arrangements.
Lemons & Blueberry. Bluberries strung on wire and twisted into garlands that looped and curled through the entire design. Guests kept stopping at that table just to figure out how we did it.
And then for the tasting experience they hosted, we added the the vanilla. Vanilla beans everywhere. Clusters of them wired together and tucked into every arrangement, some slipping out of the fruit bowls like they’d just arrived, some poking straight up out of the flowers The whole design smelled incredible and looked like nothing anyone had seen before.
This was the moment I realized food styling and floral design belong together. Real food, real product, woven into the florals in a way that feels intentional and a little bit unexpected and totally alive. I’ve been incorporating it ever since when the concept calls for it… and it calls for it more than you’d think.
Inside the Mountain Shadows lobby we built an ombre installation across this long raw wood countertop running the length of the room. Flavor profiles bleeding into each other: mango and peach into peach and cherry into raspberry and honey into mixed berry. Fruits and vanilla beans woven throughout. One continuous living thing from one end of the room to the other.
And in the honey section I used real honeycomb. Actual chunks of it, sitting up out of the arrangement, raspberries spilling around them, the whole thing rich and a little bit bold. I used it because honey is a Chobani flavor and I wanted the real thing, not a color reference, not a vibe, the actual product on the actual table.
The part I didn’t plan for
I thought this was a two hour yogurt tasting for Chobani VIPs. A small, specific, lovely little event.
When I showed up I realized it was a national health and wellness seminar (Nutrition News Update Conference). A whole weekend of brand sponsors, tastings, information sessions, dozens of companies, hundreds of attendees. Chobani had sponsored the welcome breakfast and the vanilla experience and that was my slice of it, but the room was so much bigger than I’d imagined when I said yes.
And the National Honey Board was one of the sponsors.
Their rep walked up while I was still placing the honeycomb. She completely lost it. The best kind of lost it, excited, thrilled, wanted to photograph everything and share it with her whole team. She had no idea it was there. I had no idea she’d be in the room.
I used real honeycomb because it felt right. Because I was in full flow and every decision I made that day just clicked and that one clicked the loudest. And the exact person who needed to see it walked in.
That’s the universe doing its thing. You stay in flow, you trust your instincts, you use the honeycomb, and somehow the right person is always in the room.
What this felt like from the inside
Sparkly. I’m using that word on purpose because it’s the only accurate one.
Everything I touched clicked. Every stem, every piece of fruit, every loop of garland, every vanilla bean cluster. Not one second of doubt. Not one moment of is this too weird or is this too much. Just full locked-in confidence in every single decision.
I’ve worked for brands that came with their vision already built and just needed execution. Being trusted by a Prada or a Louboutin to represent them is not nothing. But Chobani gave me something different. They said we hired you because you have ideas we don’t. Go make something happen for us.
Full creative reign. Zero emotional charge around budget. Total trust.
That’s what makes this job feel like art. And that day I felt like an artist. Fully. Completely. No asterisk.
The guests, the content, the whole thing
People kept coming up while I was working. Asking how I strung the berries. Asking about the honeycomb. A room full of strangers sitting next to these stunning designs, who suddenly had something to talk about.
That’s the goal at a corporate event. Give people something to react to together and watch the room open up. Let the centerpieces be the small talk.
Tony George Photography came in and captured everything. The shots are still some of my favorite content I’ve ever had. He got the honeycomb exactly the way it deserved to be captured and I am forever grateful for that.
Chobani is still my favorite event I’ve ever done. Out of hundreds. Out of six years doing strictly weddings and events. Out of every brand and every wedding and every installation I’ve built.
Because it reminded me what it feels like to be fully trusted, fully in flow, and in exactly the right place doing exactly the right thing.
That feeling is what I’m always building toward. On every single project.
If you’re a brand looking for a creative partner who will bring a real vision to your event and not just execute a template, I would love to talk. Let’s make something people actually remember. Click here to start the convo.
Want to work together? Let’s connect.
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