If you’re anything like Reverie Floral’s owners — Zimmie Joeh and Rex Roberts — creativity and storytelling through an arrangement of flowers is probably something that you can agree upon. Over beers at Denver’s TRVE Brewing Co., the duo established Reverie in the summer of 2016 to bring weddings and events to life with all-the-right flowers, in all-the-right places.
“Reverie is unique, as in it’s not a flower shop at all. It is an outlet off of our creative energy in botanical form,” Lead Designer & Flower Huntress, Joeh told 303 Magazine.
The eclectic floral haven came about from the team’s innate desire to create, and Joeh’s tendency to say yes first and worry about the rest later. “A friend of mine needed flowers for a wedding and I had been freelancing for a while, so I decided to take the leap,” Joeh shared. “I’ve learned a ton and gotten my butt kicked since, but it was worth every stumble.”
Known for its unique installations, custom orders and workshops — with subscriptions and deliveries being a thing of the past due to COVID-19 — the shop boldly adheres to its ‘Create or Die’ mantra. The team’s full-fledged skills and confident knack for building backdrops with blooms and inventive, custom-built structures are emphasized as their specialty. In fact, Joeh explained that her fiancé Rex has been the mechanical brain behind Reverie’s structures. “I can hand him a doodle of something I want to build installs on and he will make it happen. Teamwork makes the dream work!”
When asked why they both feel particularly savvy at floral design, Joeh joked that it comes down to their dance moves — well, partially.
“When Rex and I started on our career paths it was important to us to craft an environment where we not only enjoyed what we were doing, but were able to not take ourselves so seriously. Yes, we care deeply for our clients and our creations, but it is letting go and having fun that our best work really shines.”
Its Aurora-based studio is where the creative magic happens as the team works with clients on deciding how to pull off a flower-filled spectacle at an upcoming happening. Joeh told us that the process of bringing customers’ floral dreams into reality first begins with contemplating the perfect soundtrack to overlay the anticipated vibe. She continued by explaining that creating actually starts and ends with one’s energy, requiring the right jams to set the scene and get into the action of designing.
That’s why in Reverie’s most recent floral shoot for 303, the team decided to embody the song of newness as an imaginative escape from what is current reality.
“We wanted to create a portal into another world. Where, Elyza — the model — would be walking through a field and living her life day after day, but [finding] a way to escape. [Escaping] to a place with color, movement and life,” Joeh said.
Together is Better – Reverie Floral – Full Frame from The Whistler & The Well on Vimeo.
“I think a lot of people assume that we simply wave our floral snips and a beautiful creation appears, but that isn’t the case. There are hours of pulling inspiration, crafting a color story, sourcing the right product, creating floral recipes, caring for the flowers, building structures, organizing transportation, timelines, staffing and then when that is all said and done we can get to creating the floral dreams.”
In order to help keep things closer to home, the flower shop focuses on sourcing its flowers locally. While Reverie does utilize materials from all over, Joeh admires Colorado flower farms and markets that grow local products. “The best florals and organic material to work with will usually be found right here,” she explained. Joeh added that she also forages for materials, finding Mother Nature to be an impeccable giver of tools for artists to create with.
Although its very premise is to inspire floral creations, the global impact of COVID-19 brought Reverie’s storytelling aspirations to a halt. Joeh described the experience as both devastating and enlightening as the world began to shift. “Not knowing how or when we were going to be able to sustain our business was terrifying. It also reminded us [of] how important our community is. I missed the crazy event days where we are all exhausted and exhilarated knowing that we had built something together. That feeling is irreplaceable.”
But, with any hardship comes some type of opportunity — even if you really have to dig deep and look for it. The Reverie Floral team was forced to prioritize what was important to them and hone in on those skills to continue to create, said Joeh. She told us that the shop had to pivot its approach and offer more creative botanic stylings, like large-scale installs, product stylings and album art. “You can create anywhere even if it is your front porch. Sometimes it seemed it was my only solace.”
As for Reverie’s future, Joeh shared that the shop looks forward to continuing to travel, create beautiful botanic installations and hopefully assist other businesses to showcase their creations in the process. “When the bottom dropped out from underneath us we were forced to decide what was important to us. The pandemic simply sped up our timeline for the big shift.”
Visit Reverie Floral’s at 2100 N. Ursula Street, Unit 45 Aurora, CO, Tuesday through Friday. The shop is open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Saturday through Sunday by appointment.
Photography by Shelly Anderson Photography