Melissa’s background is floral design, makeup artist, horticulture, cooking, wedding planning & design, volunteering to help various animal rescues, along with giving her two fav’s Hunter & Winston lots of hugs & kisses.

THE STORY

MEET MELISSA

The creative force behind Miss Meliss Floral Design & Farm. In 2002, Melissa initially made her way into the floral world when her mom and her decided to take some floral design classes at SRJC for fun. Immediately she fell in love and continued with the floral program.

 Melissa’s love for artistic work didn’t end there. Melissa moved to Los Angeles to become a makeup artist for film & television. She went on to study beauty and special effects makeup at M.U.D Burbank, CA.  Afterwards, Melissa’s passion for beauty artistry grew and she moved back to the Bay Area and became a freelance bridal makeup artist. In 2006 Melissa was asked by a catering company to manage their weddings and events. She quickly fell in love with planning and it became her full time job. Over the years Melissa worked for several wineries and 5 star hotels gaining a wealth of knowledge in the weddings & events industry. During all the planning, Melissa would sneak in floral designing for friends and family weddings. However, with all the fun details planning can offer, Melissa still felt like something was still missing.

“I have always and will always love planning events and weddings. The amount of unique details events can have is something truly special. I thrive on the details events have along with coming up with new and unique ideas. However, I still wanted more!”

Melissa knew she had a unique eye for design & flowers she decided to continue learning more about flowers. Taking master classes throughout the US. She has been blessed to learn from many of the top floral designers such at Holly Chapple, Susan McLeary, Hitomi Gilliam, Ariella Chezar, along with other teachers at the Flowerschool NY and at the Floral Design Institute Oregon. She felt that no matter how much experience you have, it is always best to continue to learn. Keeping up with the trends is important.

For me, flowers and design have surely transformed over the years. We are doing more larger scale design, much more complex floral design for sure, intricate details throughout the event, along with breaking the floral boundaries and pushing the limits will always create a more tailored and unique style for each client, which is very important.

I knew floral design & farming is what I am supposed to be doing with my life. It’s the perfect life.

MERILEE

Merilee balances the floral studio with her garden and airy design style. Her design style is the piece that completes Miss Meliss Floral Design. She is a forager at heart and she has no limits to how far she will search to find the perfect foliage or bloom for our clients’ weddings and events. She wears many hats and her background includes stockbroker, accounting, floral designer and seamstress. When she’s not doing any of the mentioned above, she can be found traveling and shopping for the best deals for our clients!

STEVE

The best and most patient person I know. Steve is the mechanical brain for all installations and custom build projects. We also like to use him for his strong arms with all the heavy lifting on install days. His background is manufacturing and factory production, machinery, auto mechanics, welding, horticulture & joking around. When you need a good laugh, he’s the man for the job. When Steve is not making bricks, working on installations & custom build projects he can be found with Hunter & Winston in the “man cave” working on classic cars.

THE FOREVER OFFICE MANAGER

4/23/10 - 5/6/19

MEET HUNTER

Hunter is an irreplaceable team member of Miss Meliss Floral Design. Since the very beginning he has grown up hanging out in the floral studio & at all the design meetings. You will always be greeted with a loud bark followed by a handsome fluffy tail wagging saying “Hi”. On our late design nights, you can always count on Hunter staying by your side standing watch as our guardian but also to make sure we get the job done. He is the perfect stress reliever as when team members need some extra love, Hunter is always there to give a soft and furry hug. Hunter is the rock that holds us together. Hunter’s background is sunny-naps, swimming, chasing tennis balls, treats and duck hunting. Ask us about Hunters rescue journey next time you are in the studio!

ASSISTANT MANAGER

MEET WINSTON

Winston joined the Miss Meliss floral team in 2015. He brought puppy excitement to the floral studio. Still in puppy mode Winston brings positive energy along with fun & mischievousness to the floral studio. Winston always has the biggest golden smile with the cutest wagging tail. If you need a good cuddle session, Winston is the perfect fur ball to cuddle with. Winston’s favorite things to do are to smell all the flowers on processing day and naturally, follow Hunter around everywhere he goes. Those two are inseparable. Winstons background is laying in soft beds, hikes, swimming, doggy dancing and duck hunting.

Both Hunter & Winston really enjoy frolicking through the farm’s flower fields with their tung’s hanging out. If you are lucky you even might even see Winston doing his doggy dance throughout the grassy field.