Tammie Aucoin, floral designer with A Daisy A Day in Lake Charles, can’t remember a time when she wasn’t drawn to beautiful decorations.
“As a young girl, I was always drawn to everything beautiful,” Aucoin says. “When I was seven years old, my mom would find me picking flowers from the flower beds, arranging them in mason jars and setting them around the house.”
That passion for beautiful floral decorations led to a quite successful career as a floral designer, culminating in a stint as a floral designer for last year’s Tournament of Roses (Rose Bowl) Parade in Pasadena, Cal.
Spreading Holiday Cheer
Aucoin says that Christmas is “hands down my favorite holiday to create displays for.” And her philosophy when it comes to holiday decorating is simple: “You can never have enough Christmas decorations.”
Aucoin’s created “big, bold and beautiful” holiday displays each year in the showroom of A Daisy A Day, at the encouragement of owner Jeff Manuel.
“Jeff has been an amazing supporter of my art by allowing me to have free reign (for holiday displays),” she says. “From winter wonderland to whimsical to cozy country, Jeff has supported me and supplied me with everything I needed to make the most amazing Christmas displays.”
And those showroom displays have led to a growing reputation, and a demand for her holiday designing services.
“I decorate trees in clients’ homes, I do showrooms and window displays,” Aucoin says. “I have decorated at the Isle of Capri, which was an amazing opportunity for me, to create holiday decorations on such a huge scale.”
For Aucoin, the reward for her work is the enjoyment it brings to others.
“Being able to see the enjoyment in people’s faces as they see the decorations is such an amazing experience,” she says. “It puts so many smiles on so many faces.”
Checking Off The Bucket List
But, as much as Aucoin enjoys, and has become known for, creating holiday displays, the pinnacle of her career thus far, she says, would definitely be her work on the Rose Bowl Parade.
“I have this bucket list,” she says, “and at the top of it was working at the Rose Bowl Parade.”
Last year, as a birthday gift, her husband arranged for her to check off that bucket list item.
“He did his research, made his calls, and it so happened that the owner of the Phoenix Decorating Co. had an opening for a floral designer for the parade, and they welcomed me aboard,” Aucoin says. “It was my best birthday present ever.”
Aucoin says the experience was “a dream come true.”
“There was an endless supply of the most exotic and beautiful flowers on the planet, right at my fingertips,” she says. “I will always remember the thousands of volunteers working to create our floats, the grandeur of the warehouses, and the tourists walking through those warehouses, with millions of flowers to see. And, of course, watching the parade was amazing.”
Though the work was hard, and the time allowed to complete the parade floats was very limited, Aucoin says she wouldn’t have missed the experience for anything.
“It was a very inspiring moment in my career,” she says.
But it wasn’t a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Aucoin’s been named a permanent floral designer for the parade.
Most Meaningful Displays
Despite being able to talk about designing for the Rose Bowl Parade, and huge displays for local businesses, Aucoin says her favorite projects have been more personal.
“I would have to say that my favorite projects, as of now, have been my daughters’ weddings,” she says. “I’ve been honored to be able to express my love for my children in such a beautiful way, and surround them in the comfort of their mother’s love through flowers.”
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