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Wedding bouquets signify new beginnings and everlasting love. For owner and artist Kelly Charrier Cavallo, creating Forevermore Bouquet Preservation in Springfield, MA, signifies her new beginning. She takes bouquets from weddings, anniversaries and celebrations of life and preserves them into works of art that last forever. It’s something that can become an heirloom piece passed down to your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Words can’t express how much joy this work has brought to Cavallo’s life.
“Bouquet preservation is more than keeping flowers intact; it’s reimagining them,” said Cavallo. “Each flower, stem and leaf becomes a design element, allowing me to transform a single bouquet into a range of artistic expressions, from structured compositions to organic garden-inspired pieces.” In some of Cavallo’s work, the petals and leaves are arranged to create entirely new imagery like stained glass designs or a facial profile where the flowers themselves become both subject and medium. The same bouquet can tell completely different stories depending on how it’s interpreted, making each piece a unique work of art as well as a preservation of a meaningful moment.
Growing up in New Orleans, Cavallo has always been fascinated with flowers calling them little miracles from God. When Cavallo was a teenager, her mother, who’s an avid gardener, took her to a gardening store and brought her an old, rusted wheel barrier. They took that old, rusted wheelbarrow and made a garden out of it which Cavallo said was gorgeous. From there, her love for nature and flowers grew deeper. She’s also traveled everywhere from backpacking Indonesia, studying Spanish in Costa Rica, snorkeling in the Philippines and Honduras and teaching English in Taiwan, but nonetheless her happiest place is in her garden with her flowers and family.
Cavallo has a genetic connective tissue disease that completely derailed her eight years ago. She had to quit her teaching job and find a new way to make income. Cavallo had to figure out something that she could do from home and preferably something that brought her joy. “That’s when I decided that I need to put energy into creating an oasis around my house,” said Cavallo. “Because I wasn’t able to travel as much as I used to, I have to make my home and yard as glorious and serene as possible.” Cavallo started pressing flowers from her own garden, preserving them in resin and selling them as jewelry at farmers’ markets and art fairs. She didn’t commit to switching over from jewelry to bouquet preservation until she went through Entrepreneurship for All (EforAll), a national nonprofit helping aspiring entrepreneurs start and grow a business by offering a free 12-week training and mentorship program. “EforAll was the push I needed to make to the shift from jewelry to full-on bouquet preservation,” Cavallo said. “I wouldn’t be where I am without that program. They helped me figure out how to run my business and it’s been very successful so far.”
Cavallo loves working with people’s flowers and loves knowing that she’s preserving a beautiful memory for them. Then, in return, their appreciation is over the moon, which gives her a sense of value and importance to know that she’s a part of their lives.
Rachael Durand from Chicopee has been a client of Cavallo’s for two years. She was looking for a bouquet preservation company as a gift for one of her best friends as part of her bridal shower. Durand wanted to do something a little different and more personalized, so she researched numerous companies but it didn’t work out. Then Durand saw on her Google map Forevermore Bouquet Preservation in Springfield and to her surprise it was only a few streets away from her. She decided to go with Cavallo and her journey toward becoming a client began.
Durand explained, “I wanted somebody who had a good knowledge about florals and what each individual flower needed and that was something that became really apparent with Kelly. She knew the different nuances of what each floral needed.”
She continued, “Kelly values the severity and emotional connection to what these flowers mean and the story behind them. When it comes to bouquet preservation, she takes the time to understand her clients, their vision and their love story. She truly loves what she does, and she pours her heart into each piece, bringing them to life and keeping them lively.”
Right now, Cavallo’s goal is to establish herself in the wedding industry. She wants the photographers to be familiar with who she is along with the venues and florists so whenever they see a bride’s bouquet, they know who to call. “Flowers are my medicine,” said Cavallo. “I get really sad about my health condition because I feel like it has limited me and my life has gotten smaller in a lot of ways, but if I hadn’t gotten ill, I wouldn’t be where I am with the flower preservation business. So, in a way it’s saving me.” She went on to say, “Flower preservation keeps me active and engaged. It keeps my mind healthy and my creativity blooming. I want folks to see Forevermore Bouquet Preservation as an investment, a personalized work of art for their home. I can’t tell you how lovely it feels to be the person that can provide this service and to play a part in people's lives in this way is really special.”
To learn more about Forevermore Bouquet Preservation, visit www.fembouquets.com. For questions or to make an appointment, call Kelly Charrier Cavallo at 413-351-8140 or
email at fembouquets@gmail.com.
View Cavallo’s artwork on instagram at @fembouquets
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