Today, we are lucky enough to get to sit down with the wonderful Bridget of Butchers Daughter, the Sydney and Newcastle event caterer and florist combo that results in the most magic of occasions. Bridget chats with us about all things business, life and flowers. You have no doubt come across her beautiful designs on social media and we are so excited to dive a bit deeper and find out more about who is behind the beauty.
Butchers Daughter curate gorgeous styling concepts for events, parties and weddings across Sydney and Newcastle. Designing for private clients, corporate and event management companies, activation specialists, press showings, public relations and marketing agencies, and planners. With some truly amazing events under the Butchers Daughter name, we’re excited to bring you this one on one with Bridget!
Let’s find out more…
The FQ: Let’s get started, can you tell us a little about yourself and when you decided to embark in flowers and floristry?
From age seven I would forage with my best friend Heidi in and around Dubbo. We would pick flowers from all the gardens in the streets surrounding her house and dress the dining table and serve cups of tea. I loved to cook and would make meals and serve them like a waitress when mum and dad had friends over. The table was loaded with flowers I found and decorations I made in my room. Leaving school I knew hospitality was for the right fit for me. The ultimate setting for food and flowers.
The FQ: And how and when was Butchers Daughter born?
Mum and Dad, Roy and Suellyn Seaman, were butchers in Dubbo. I grew up on a sheep farm outside of town called Nepunya and got my concept of food and flowers from the displays my folks did in their butcher shops with fruits and vegetables. From age 12, I worked in the shops with my sister Emma starting as cashier in the fruit section, which having product available to customers like tomatoes at a butcher shop was forward thinking for the time. Their shops were the only in the region to not have to use saw dust as a method of collecting fat from off the floors. They were styled to precision in wares and there was an old bath I still have they filled with plants. Mum found the bath with her best friend Sandra (Heidi’s Mum) near Mumbil in a derelict house. In Bali in 2015 Michael and I were talking about the best name, and it came up I was the daughter of butchers. I took a photo of our feet at that very moment it was said to be Butchers Daughter which I love looking at often.
The FQ: Love the backstory, it’s always so special to hear! Can you tell us how would you describe the Butchers Daughter?
We design food and flower experiences for special dinners, cocktail parties, brand activation and press showings, launches, unique conferencing, and major corporate events. Our locations are Sydney and Newcastle and work in Cairns, Melbourne and Perth. Daughters Feast and the Butchers Table are our signature dining experiences. A table laden with food and flowers from the land, sea and garden for sit down or stand up occasions. I have an all-girl team of cooks and my florist and customer service teams are the best in the
business. Leander Brownless is my right hand man in the kitchen and has been with me 15 years. Bianca de Freitas is my flowering queen and as six worlds collide, her uncle Ferdinando de Freitas has been my inspiration since I started out in hospitality. We grow flowers and foliages and fruits and vegetables in Sydney and Old Bar. We make fabric flowers and decorate decor with preserved lilly pilly leaves.
The FQ: Absolutely love that, and an all girl team! So, what does a day in your life look like?
I start my day with coffee and reading, then solution my emails. I make calls between 9.30am and 10.30am. Then half an hour on marketing and new business. I visit something in Sydney or Newcastle like markets, nurseries and farms, venues, eateries and exhibitions and attend community talks. An hour is dedicated to sampling food or flowers or new mechanics to make things. Flowers and foliages get cut from the garden at 3.00pm for next day along with edible flowers for catering. Michael and I catch up for two hours from 4pm, chatting and gardening together, something I never miss.
The FQ: What’s your favourite part about what you do?
That I can stir my sentiment and past forward.
The FQ: Do you have a favourite wedding or event you have worked on?
It is imagined that flowers are for just for weddings. They swing magic to full life in the corporate world with their overstated event settings. This is the footprint I think flowers and foliages perform their best. Planning is led by a team of specialists from lighting to sound and food to flowers. They are educated in seasons, availability and costs. I spend time sharing my experiences with clients about the food and flower industries to simplify the process for them. Guiding them through how we grow and cut the blooms and foliages and time spent making décor. This results in efficiency and transparency followed by a frontrunner event.
My all-time favourite event was TEDx Sydney at the Sydney Opera House in 2014. We catered 2,500 delegates with 5 service swings. Fruits, vegetables and flowers were warm heartedly donated by Sydneysiders. We got a zip-lock bag with 10 cherry tomatoes an old suitcase full of potatoes along with enough produce to feed 900 delegates. Papa Saya made butter and The Bread & Butter Project milled flour. Goat, pig, sheep and cow were spit roasted on the steps to the house. The Royal Botanical Gardens had me over to pick coffee beans for Little Marionette to brew. Bilpin apples were loaded into oversized fruit crates scattered within the halls. Twelve monster sized tables dressed with old wares and pieces of the houses past. It was magic.
The FQ: Is there anything you would change about the flower world?
Being a caterer I have the opportunity to see the reaction the flowers have on people. Old and young, from the south and the west, it evokes happiness. It makes them move inside. Guests love touching the flowers and understand all florists view this like tapping on the fish tank. However these are the ecstasies we spread through our work and this I would not change. I see the flower world as the fairy dust on all the things that an event is made up of. They make movement within the setting and bring forth colour and scent. Understanding my business and how she moves is to grow blooms and foliages, make fabric flowers, and decorate logs and foraged pieces with preserved lilly pilly leaves. I think the flower world is fascinatingly irreplaceable.
The FQ: So beautifully said and we couldn’t agree more! Finally, where do you see yourself or your business in 5 years?
Butchers Daughter will evolve to be a farm venue outside of Newcastle producing its own flowers and foliages, and fruits and vegetables.
We loved chatting to Bridget and finding out all about her and her business. If you would like Butchers Daughter to be involved in your next event, we highly recommend getting in touch with Bridget below. You can also find her front and centre on the Directory.
Butchers Daughter
(02) 9439 0045
@butchersdaughterau
www.butchersdaughter.com.au
