Lizzi Belle Designs

I am Melissa, owner and lead designer of The Flower Bar.

Like all children, I would walk through the gardens at my Parents estate with my floral shears in hand, a tool belt full of zip ties and fingers stained green from the chlorophyll and dream about the magical weddings I would create when I became an adult -said no floral designer EVER.
I love flowers as much as the next girl, and I did spend time with my grandmother in her small garden in Eastern NC. However, my background is in finance. Ya know, the REALLY riveting stuff! At the ripe old age of 19, I decided to be a DIY Bride while cutting my teeth in the banking world. I mean, how hard could it be? Nearly 300 guests and my only help being my sister who had worked one summer in high school at a local florist shop. Seemed like a NO brainer. (insert eye roll here) Somehow we managed to make my floral dreams happen, but I learned A TON. Not just about flowers and what it took to care for them, but what it took FROM me, as the bride, with such a large, daunting task to execute with such a short period of time to work.

I enjoyed the creative side though. It somehow fed my soul since Corporate America was draining it. I continued to design, create and play with flowers for myself and my friends and family, all the while furthering my career in banking. At 23, I thought maybe I should stay in finance but try my hand at being an entrepreneur. So, I decided to start an insurance brokerage and teach sales and franchising all over the country. Playing with flowers all those years fed my creative soul while the Insurance arena continued to challenge me mentally and professionally. More and more people began to fall in love with things I was designing, and I began to do more and more events. It became harder and harder to balance family life with my sales force and my clients who had started to hire me for flowers.

So, five years ago, I made the executive decision to walk away from a very successful insurance brokerage to pursue my floralprenuer dreams of creating custom event and wedding floral designs that fulfill anyone’s dreams. After playing with flowers for almost 2 decades now, honing my skills, and learning from designers all over the world, The Flower Bar strives every day to bring your visions to life-no matter how complex or simple they may be.
My clients find it most refreshing that everything is so thoroughly explained, and costs are completely transparent. (I blame that on still being a numbers girl) After carefully reviewing the details about all of the clients' expectations for their event, The Flower Bar takes all of the stress and responsibility, turning your vision into reality.