How TikTok has helped this 23-year-old florist launch her business in Kansas City

Lexi Nardini’s TikTok page is a burst of pink tulips, poppies and roses wrapped in floral paper.

The 23-year-old trims the blossoms’ stems and holds the bundles out for her audience, most of whom watch from the Kansas City metro. Breezy music and Nardini’s voice invite viewers to experience “a day in my life as a florist.”

In a TikTok with close to 1 million views, she transports buckets of all-white flowers in her van named “Daisy” before sorting them. The clip ends with her gray and orange-striped cats, Pumpkin and Toby, purring on the couch beside her.

“Just me and the flowers and my cats,” the caption reads.

With dozens of other videos like it, Nardini’s page amasses more followers each day. But the clips are more than a glimpse into an enchanting life – they showcase Nardini’s blooming bridal floral design just as it’s begun to sprout.

A year-and-a-half in, the University of Missouri graduate has close to 60 thousand followers, a share of viral videos, and a lavender-painted studio for Love, Lilacs – her newly rebranded business that celebrated its updated look and name in December.

The endless hours spent perfecting arrangements and videos, Nardini said, are worth the opportunity to chase her dreams.

“I just love meeting with brides and talking about their vision,” Nardini said. “It’s something people really love and care about.”

Picking the perfect arrangement

Inside the purple doors of her studio near Truman Road and Walnut Street, Nardini creates altar pieces and bouquets for expectant brides, as well as corporate clients.

A seating area just inside the space houses consultations, where Nardini pulls together look books for her clients and discusses what flora will best tell the couple’s story. While Nardini describes her style as “whimsical,” she works hard to incorporate the clients’ personal flare, venue, and decorations into her designs.

To create the perfect bouquet, Nardini advises combining complementary textures and colors. After selecting greenery, a focal flower and accent flowers, the designer focuses on the placement of the blooms. Symmetry is usually not the goal, Nardini says.

Within the KC wedding vendor community, Nardini is one of its newest players. It’s strange at times, being a business owner so early into adulthood. But she believes her age is an advantage, helping her track trends and advertise her business on social media with ease.

“Things are outdated, and they come and go,” she said. “The old ways of doing things are not always the best ways.”

Her father, Kris Nardini, said her passion for her business separates her from many of her peers. Even on holidays and weekends, Nardini is setting up weddings and pulling together arrangements.

“She had a couple of New Year’s Eve events, and one needed to be torn down at the stroke of midnight,” he said. “For a 23-year-old with all her friends going out … It didn’t even faze her to take on that responsibility.”

Kris Nardini said he’s always expected his daughter to be a high-achiever – a model to her younger siblings and entrepreneur since grade school. While kids collected bottle caps, she was transforming them into magnets and selling them.

He figured his daughter to enter the business sphere in one way or another.

“She’s very self-driven,” he said. “It’s a rare quality to be both that and creative at the same time … and I think that’s why she’s been successful.”

Blooming into a success

Before the viral videos, the florist’s journey began by chance – through a single college class meant to fill a requirement.

As a Mizzou student, Nardini studied event planning and business. After school, she intended to join her family’s event planning company, Platinum XP. But after taking floral design to fill an elective credit, she discovered her love for blossoms and bouquets.

She then pitched the idea to her father – the chief executive officer of Platinum XP – of manning a floral division of the business. Instead of hiring florists out, she would handle the arrangements. He agreed, and Nardini picked up floral design as her minor.

After finishing her schooling in 2021, Nardini began working for her family and adorning corporate events. While she enjoyed the work, she fantasized about helping brides create their perfect ceremony.

In March 2022, Nardini was scrolling through vlog-style videos of people with interesting professions when she hatched an idea – why not post her own?

“My lifestyle’s kind of unique,” she said. “I was like, ‘I’ve never seen a florist on this app, and I feel like people would find it interesting.’”

The first few videos went virtually unnoticed. Then, while enjoying a summer vacation with family, Nardini’s phone began to buzz. And it didn’t stop.

“I thought my phone was glitching or something,” she said. “I got like 10,000 followers in a day … I was freaking out.”

Nardini slowly began picking up bridal clients, many of whom found her through social media. Thanks to her internet success, she was able to pivot her business to focus primarily on weddings.

A large portion of her audience watches her from the Kansas City metro, commenting about favorite spots she frequents. Nardini said she’s even been recognized in public a few times. She recalled a time she’d been spotted while eating lunch with her sister.

“These girls came up to us … and they said they were taking floral design classes at Mizzou because of my videos,” she said. “That made me really happy.”

Without her online following, Nardini says, her business wouldn’t have been able to blossom so soon.

“So many comments are like, ‘Happy to see Kansas City on here,’” she said. “I just love Kansas City. I think we should be proud to live here.”

Growing forward

With her calendar quickly filling up, Nardini is hoping to expand her business. She’s already looking to hire her first employee sometime this year.

She looks forward to a day when multiple employees work under her, designing for multiple weddings a weekend. In a few years, she hopes to be the go-to wedding florist in the area.

While she works towards booking a wedding at her dream venue – the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts – and building a team of trustworthy employees, she continues to grow her business thanks to her online community.

Through her videos, she aims to inspire other local young women to follow their passions, even sharing tips on how to become a florist with her followers.

“The Kansas City wedding vendor community is awesome,” she said. “I think there’s plenty of room for florists right now.”

When months of planning and hard work come to an end, Nardini gets to enjoy watching all the pieces fall together. The most rewarding aspect of her job is seeing the family come together, the bride smiling and her floral fixtures on full display.

“To see it in real life all come together, like we really did it, that’s really satisfying,” she said.