Staff writer
A business idea bloomed in the minds of Hillsboro residents LeaAnn Knaak and Tiffany Funk after Funk was in need of a florist for her wedding.
Knaak, her mother, who had experience decorating with flowers, was Funk’s first choice to do flowers and decorations for her wedding, but previous commitments kept Knaak from being able to do it.
“For my wedding, Mom was going back to school so I had to find a florist,” Funk said.
“I didn’t have time to do the floral, so that opened up our eyes,” Knaak said.
After Funk said she spent a lot of money on not a lot of flowers, the two decided to start their floral décor business and named it “Timeless Fixations.”
“We found out that there were brides interested in us because we try working within their budget and will do a wedding for whatever they can afford,” Knaak said.
“We’ve ranged from $500 weddings to $18,000 weddings,” Funk said.
“It just depends what you want,” Knaak said. “We want to be there for them and make it affordable.”
After doing flowers and decorations for a cousin’s wedding, their business began to boom.
“We got asked to do Vintage Market Days in Park City, and then shows in Wichita,” Funk said. “It’s really taken off. I guess the more weddings that we’ve done, the more people are aware.”
They also have done shows in Abilene, and are preparing to do a show in Kansas City.
“The past three years have been a whirlwind,” Knaak said.
The business also offers succulent arrangements in unique holders ranging from spice containers to colanders to mason jars.
The duo does some digging to find planters they think are unique.
“When we’re short pieces, we’ll go around and go to thrift stores,” Knaak said. “Certain things at a thrift store people will walk by, but we’ll fill it and then they’re like, ‘Oh, wow!’”
“In the spring and summer is when we go out and buy tons of stuff,” Funk said.
“Sometimes we will do arrangements in tea kettles and sugar bowls,” Knaak said.
Since Feb. 1, Knaak and Funk put together roughly 200 orders of succulent and candy arrangements.
Most of the succulents were real, but for those with no green thumbs, they also made artificial arrangements.
“People love succulents and we try to include them in all of our plants,” Knaak said. “I just love succulents. I think they’re beautiful.”
Cactuses were also included in the orders.
“We did more cactuses and here we are with kitchen tongs trying to put dirt around them without poking ourselves,” Funk said.
The idea for candy arrangements came from an old family tradition.
“I’ve done candy arrangements just for my daughters where we take a piece of candy and make it into a rose,” Knaak said, “so we decided to take a spinoff of that.”
Each candy bouquet took roughly an hour to an hour and a half to make.
While they work together on this business, they also work together at a dentist office in Hillsboro.
“It works out well,” Tiffany said. “Since we both work there, we have Fridays off, so we’re able to do this. This is our hobby.”
Though the duo works together at their full-time jobs and with this business, they both agree it has brought them closer together, and is a fun hobby to have.
“Every time we do something, it’s interesting,” Knaak said. “We never know what’s going to happen, but we just have to roll with it and laugh.”