How It Started: A Notebook Full of Ideas
Rachel Morrison spent 12 years in event planning before she admitted what she actually wanted to do. Every event she coordinated, she was obsessing over the floral design—pulling reference images, sketching arrangements in margins, mentally redesigning her clients’ choices. In 2010, a client asked if she’d consider building the florals herself instead of hiring a vendor. She said yes, stayed up three nights learning techniques on YouTube, and delivered an arrangement that made the bride cry. Not in regret—in genuine delight.
That moment clarified things. Rachel left event planning in 2011 and opened Occasions Floral Design in a small retail space in South Tampa. For the first two years, she worked almost entirely alone, designing everything herself while teaching workshops on the weekends. She was exhausted and happy.
Our Design Philosophy: Upscale Without Pretension
Rachel: “An expensive arrangement should feel inevitable, not intimidating. It should make you want to walk closer, not feel excluded from the moment.”
We design for people celebrating life. Weddings, anniversaries, engagements, apologies, congratulations, losses. Every arrangement reflects the occasion’s emotional weight. We lean toward lush, garden-style designs with movement. We mix textures obsessively—soft with structured, matte with shiny. High-grade materials matter, but restraint matters more. We’d rather do less of something beautiful than more of something ordinary.
Our Signature Collections
The Vesper is our flagship arrangement—an evening-toned mix of burgundy garden roses, dark purple lisianthus, mahogany hypericum, and silvery eucalyptus. It sells year-round and has inspired at least three marriage proposals (we know because couples keep coming back to retell the story).
The Bloom Forward is designed for corporate lobbies and important spaces. It’s large, structural, meant to be seen from a distance. Strong architectural lines with surprising pops of soft color. We’ve placed these in law firms, luxury hotels, and a few country clubs that actually let florists through the back door without suspicious questions.
Quick Facts
- Years in Business: 15 years (since 2011)
- Delivery Radius: Tampa and greater Hillsborough County
- Average Order Time: 4–6 hours for custom designs
- Wedding Commitments: 35–40 events per year (by design, not demand)
Behind the Blooms: Rachel’s Team
Rachel still designs all wedding arrangements personally—that’s non-negotiable. Her lead designer, James, handles corporate orders and has an uncanny gift for unusual color combinations that somehow always work. Their three other designers bring different strengths: Keisha specializes in sympathy arrangements (a quieter art form that requires genuine empathy), Dominic creates seasonal collections, and Maria manages event logistics and coordination.
We don’t hire quickly. Rachel interviews candidates over multiple weeks, watches how they handle flowers, listens for respect in their language. People stay here for years because they feel seen.
The Sourcing Story
We partner with three wholesale growers and one high-end specialty distributor who brings us rare stems—things like garden roses that actually cost more than grocery store varieties, for actual reasons (they’re grown in smaller batches, cut at peak bloom, handled carefully). We don’t compete on price; we compete on quality and exclusivity.
For our sympathy arrangements, we use premium garden roses because families deserve to see beauty during grief. It’s a small choice with emotional consequence.
The Anecdote We Still Tell
In 2013, an older gentleman commissioned a proposal bouquet—35 years of marriage, he was renewing vows. He brought a photo of his original bridal bouquet from 1978. Rachel spent a day tracking down heirloom rose varieties from that era, rebuilt the bouquet almost exactly, and added something new: a single deep purple lisianthus (her favorite) hidden in the center. He surprised his wife in their backyard. She said yes again. They sent a photo. Rachel framed it in the back of the studio where everyone sees it before their shift. That’s the standard we measure ourselves against.
Community & Values
We donate arrangements monthly to Bridging Hope, a local nonprofit supporting families in crisis. Every wedding we design includes a complimentary bridal bouquet donation for a couple who couldn’t otherwise afford a designer. Rachel believes in paying it forward in flowers. We also mentor two high school students through a vocational program—one has decided to pursue floristry professionally.
Sustainability matters to us quietly. We compost daily, recycle aggressively, and we’re transitioning to paper-based ribbon. It costs more. Worth it.
Our Promise to You
We promise upscale design that feels genuine, not precious. We promise that expensive means better materials and your designer’s full attention, not inflated margins. We promise freshness guarantees—our flowers are cut fresh and delivered in ideal hydration. We promise to listen to your vision and build something that honors it. We promise that when you send flowers from Occasions, recipients notice. They remember. That’s the entire point.
