Edmonton florist picked to help decorate White House for gala
Hail to the florist in chief.
An Edmonton florist has been picking up some part-time work at the biggest, whitest house there is: yes, that White House.
Last month, Heather De Kok was one of four florists summoned to Washington, D.C. to decorate the White House in advance of a grand gala.
When she arrived, De Kok said she wasn't sure what to expect.
She soon found out that in addition to the gala room, she and the team would be responsible for designing floral arrangements for the White House front entrance and foyer, the Oval Office, the Blue Room (also known as the president's official residence), the Green Room and others.
"It was a lot of work," she acknowledged. "It was a lot of flowers."
Unbeknownst to her, De Kok's name was first put forward as a candidate for the White House job earlier this summer.
A florist for 20 years, De Kok is a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers — a group so exclusive that each of its 1,200 global members had to pass both written and practical exams to join.
"It's a really difficult thing to get into, which I'm fortunate enough to have been a part of for eight years," she said.
Not knowing she was one of 10 institute members shortlisted for the job, De Kok said she didn't really think much about it when she was asked in July whether she'd ever be interested in working at the White House.
But when she returned home from an event in Denver, she received a stack of clearance papers from the FBI and secret service.
"Two weeks later they called and said: 'All right, we need you in September,' " she said.
And it just got more bizarre from there, she said.
"I didn't realize that we'd be running in and out of the Oval Office and all these rooms. I was standing in the Oval Office looking at the view out of the window of the office, and it just hit me. I was like 'Holy cow, this is absolutely surreal.' "
The fact that she was also handling gold urns worth $800,000, plus a $4-million arrangement destined for Barack Obama's bedroom, just upped the ante.
By her estimation, the team used well over 5,000 orchids around the building. She couldn't even hazard a guess at the number of roses that went into the gala decorations.
As she learned once she arrived, the White House has its own little flower shop on site.
Now back home in Edmonton, De Kok said she's already looking forward to her next trip to Washington.
