Lybee Beus is a wood florist and BYU-Idaho art alumna in Rexburg.
“What that means is that I create floral arrangements out of flowers that are created with balsa or solo wood,” Beus said. “It’s super fun. I don’t make the flowers. I get them from a wholesaler, and they come raw, just white, no colors. I work with weddings mainly, so I get to dye them whatever colors my brides want and pair them with greenery and filling and make beautiful bouquets and boutonnieres and everything else.”
The first time Beus worked with wood florals was for her own wedding to save some money.
"I was just looking for different options and I was a little nervous about fake flowers because to me they always looked a little taky," Beus said. "But when I stumbled upon solo wood flowers and looked at all the different reviews and pictures of them and everything, I thought that they were gorgeous.”
Beus says she decided to “take the leap” and ordered and arranged her own wedding flowers.
After graduating from BYU-Idaho, and finding out she was pregnant, she was trying to find something she could do at home with some “flair.” That’s when she decided to see if there was any interest in wood flowers in Rexburg.
She went on to get connected with the Rexburg Area Chamber of Commerce, which she says has given her good support. She has since found ways to network and gain traction around town.
“I just started thinking about as a student how I came to know what businesses were in the area and I’ve been doing stuff like that,” Beus said. "So I have a social media platform on Instagramand Facebook. I take flyers around to doors every once in a while. I’m currently partnering with Nature Home, an IBC on campus where they do wooden home goods, and I supply them with wooden flowers.”
After she and her customer decide to work with one another, they figure out what flowers and colors the bride wants.
“Wood flowers aren’t for everybody, but they can work with any situation,” Beus said. “So it’s really nice. Some of the main things that are nice about them is that they last forever. So they make great mementos of your wedding day.”