SHOPPING, DINING, BEAUTY & EVENTS PAGE 26 theconnectionsnj.com 35 YEARS SERVING OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOYAL PATRONAGE 908.757.1100 WARRENCOUNTRYEVENTS.COM 164 Washington Valley Rd. Ext, Warren • Gifts • Floral Design • Weddings • Event Planning LOCAL DELIVERY Celebrating Julie Conley loves a good party, and for 35 years she has enjoyed helping others relish in the same joy. The local florist and event planner at Warren Country Warren Country Florist and Events started her business with her beloved late mother, who had an eye for creativity and the most beautiful garden. “I was brought up with parents who loved food, flowers, fashion, music, and the arts,” she says. This led to her interest in event planning. “In high school, I always planned the party; what we were eating, wearing, and drinking,” she recalls. “I started my own catering company in my late 20s after being in the corporate world for a while.” She loved to decorate ice sculptures with flowers in them, and color coordinating food with flowers. “A client saw my designs and said I should buy the local Warren florist that was for sale,” she says, “My mother was retired and helped me purchase it in 1991. She became my partner with a third partner who worked at the florist.” After the first year her partner left, and she and her mother were on their own. “I started party planning the following year. My parents threw avid parties, and I thought I could do it!” “I think of the countless times I quietly sat with a grieving family and guided them through the most difficult time in their lives,” she says. “The babies I welcomed with baskets of flowers...the weddings and celebrations in the best part of people’s lives!” Her constant love of learning and never giving anything less than 150% to every job is what keeps CONNECTION COMMENDS her coming back day after day to Warren Country Florist and Events. “My staff and I flew to Orlando once to create a Johnson & Johnson event that kicked off their latest drug,” she remembers, “We hired local police officers to build the sets and we created a press event and a gala. I hired Cirque du Soleil to be the main entertainment! We spent our days working and our nights at Disney. We ended the success with 7-pound lobsters!” It is memories like that which she will never forget. Or other memories-like the cake she designed for a local couple who was finally pregnant after 11 years of hoping. “The cake was yellow and had all the words written on it that described how wonderful this was for them. They named their baby ‘Grace’,” she fondly recalls. She has done over 10,000 events, thousands of daily arrangements, and ten years of being on internationally syndicated television. “I once hosted a show called, Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?” she says. Conley knows none of this would have been possible without her mother and four sisters, friends, wonderful staff, and extended family over the years. “It’s been a wonderful life working with the local community and people from all over the country,” she says. There are clients of Warren Country Florist and Events who came to her for years for their holiday decorating and floral gifts who she has helped when their children grew up and were getting married and having their own babies. If it weren’t for her local, loyal customers supporting her small business, they would not be here anymore. Reasons like that are why she is extremely grateful for Warren Country Florist and Warren Country Florist and Events and for her community. Creativity Blooms at Warren Florist By Katrina Musto 164 Washington Valley Rd. Warren, NJ 908-757-1100 warrencountryflorist.com
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