Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Hamilton.
Hi Amanda, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
If you asked me 15 years ago if I liked flowers, I would have said no. Now I build my life around them.
Once & Florall Designs began in an unexpected place: grief.
After my mother-in-law, Cheri, passed away, I created her funeral arrangements myself. Hour by hour, surrounded by heartbreak, I found something I didn’t expect: peace. There was healing in the quiet focus of building something beautiful, even in a moment that felt so heavy. It felt like a calling, and honestly, it felt like Cheri was gently guiding me toward a path I could not ignore.
That experience became the beginning of Once & Florall Designs, a floral studio rooted in emotion, intention, and the belief that beauty matters.
Before florals, I spent over a decade as a fashion buyer in Manhattan, where I learned to tell stories through color, shape, texture, and detail. When life brought me from New York to St. Augustine, Florida, I carried that creative eye with me, and I found myself inspired by a slower, more intentional way of living, paired with the natural beauty of coastal Florida.
Today, I’m proud to build this brand as a female entrepreneur, creating elevated designs that feel curated, romantic, and personal. My style is for bloom lovers who appreciate quality over quantity, with arrangements that are layered, refined, and full of movement.
Whether it’s a random Wednesday arrangement, a subscription that brings ongoing joy into your home, or florals for a milestone event, my goal is always the same: to create something unforgettable that people can truly feel.
The words I live by are simple: Live Vibrantly.
And that is exactly what I want my flowers to help people do.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of my biggest hurdles was finding my niche, serving the community in a way that truly meets their needs, while also staying aligned with what I wanted my brand to represent. I didn’t want to be everything to everyone. I wanted Once & Florall Designs to feel curated, elevated, and intentional.
I come from a fashion buying background, so inventory has always been my comfort zone. But flowers were a completely new learning curve because they’re perishable. I had to build a real home studio operation from the ground up, including investing in air conditioning for my garage-based studio, adding multiple flower coolers, and learning the personality of each bloom. Temperature, hydration, handling, timing, it all matters.
In a way, learning flowers has been a lot like learning customers. Every flower has different needs, and understanding them is what allows the final design to feel effortless and high quality.
That learning curve is what took my work from pretty to professional.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Once & Florall Designs began with me showing up for my community, making flowers that brought beauty into everyday life. Now, I’m all in on the big moments: engagement set-ups, proposal surprises, and weddings that deserve a full “WOW.”
I specialize in curated romantic florals with a elevated creative touches. When i first started I was handmaking the vases too! However I thrive when imagining and designing experiences, not just centerpieces. The most exciting part of my work is collaborating with other local creatives to build lavish floral exhibits and statement installations that transform a space.
I also freelance with a local winery that hosts multiple weddings every week, and that’s where my creativity really comes alive. It pushes me to design bigger, think outside the box, and level up the mechanics behind the scenes. I’m constantly learning how to build structures that look effortless, but are engineered to hold up through an entire event.
I always joke that I was never good at physics, but ask me what I can do with a zip tie and my answer is: ANYTHING. It’s the tool I trust most, and it perfectly sums up my style: romantic and beautiful on the outside, but intentional and built with skill underneath.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I think risk is a form of belief. You bet on yourself before anyone else can validate it.
One of the biggest risks I took was deciding to build something in florals at all, because it required a level of commitment I didn’t fully understand at the beginning. Once I realized how technical flowers are, I had to invest quickly, building a proper home studio setup with cooling and climate control, learning how every flower behaves, and creating a process that protects quality.
Another risk was choosing to evolve the brand into bigger work, proposals, “WOW” moments, and weddings, and putting myself in environments that forced growth, like freelancing for a winery that hosts weddings every week. That kind of pace makes you level up or fall behind.
I don’t see myself as reckless, but I am brave. I trust my taste, I trust my work ethic, and I’m not afraid to do the hard behind-the-scenes work to make the vision real.
Pricing:
- 145 average daily centerpiece
- 1400 average engagement
- 4k average wedding
Contact Info:
- Website: https://onceandfloralldesigns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onceandfloralldesigns/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnceandFlorallDesigns
