Wedding Wednesday: A Family Affair

To have enduring success in Mississippi’s competitive and ever changing wedding industry, one must have a willingness to work hard and a desire to selflessly serve others. The Smith family has mastered that, coupled with ability to work well as a family and team. Wendy Smith Putt and Bruce Putt, Paul and Lyndall Smith, and Paul Jr. and Iris Smith are the inspiration behind some of Central Mississippi’s highly successful wedding businesses. Fresh Cut Catering & Floral, Cakes by Iris and wedding venues from The South Warehouse, The Railroad District, The Ivy Venue, and Cotton Market Venue were all created and led into success through the simple principles of hard work.

A leading source of inspiration behind their thriving wedding businesses is the steadfast example of Lyndall and Paul Smith’s work ethic. Their entrepreneurial spirit coupled with their reliability and dedication has fueled a passion in their children to serve others. Together Lyndall and Paul Smith have hosted countless wedding ceremonies and receptions at their event venue, The Ivy Venue. “My parents’ work ethic motivates me. I truly have wonderful parents,” Wendy Smith Putt said.  Iris Smith is inspired by her in-laws determination and kindness towards clients and family. “Mrs. Lyndall is a go-getter. She is really hard working and doesn’t stop. She treats all of her brides the same regardless of their budget. Mr. Paul always offers encouragement to us all. He is going to be there to help anytime we call,” she said.

Paul and Lyndall’s daughter, Wendy Smith Putt, and her husband Bruce Putt are the brains behind Fresh Cut Catering & Floral, The South Warehouse, and The Railroad District. Wendy’s journey into the world of weddings is intriguing and began with the simple foundation of hard work and optimism to take part in new opportunities.

Wendy remembers as a young child watching her mother, Lyndall and maternal grandfather, Lavonne Williams, create beautiful floral arrangements. “My mother was very creative and my grandmother did flowers. My grandmother would actually freeze dry flowers when microwaves came out. From her freeze-dried flowers, I would make art out of them when I was around 6 years old,” Putt said. Even at a young age, Wendy’s introduction to creativity and floral arrangements brought forth an interest in flowers that would continue to bloom.

Wendy’s family lived in the close-knit community in Byram, Mississippi, where she was raised on a cricket farm. In the summers, Wendy made extra money by selling flowers to her neighbors. “I purchased flowers from the local store, put flowers in my bicycle basket and rode around the neighborhood and sold flowers when I was in 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th grade,” Putt said. During her senior year of high school, she was able to start working on a local rose farm. “When I was 17, I started working on the rose farm out in the country in Byram. The rose farm did flowers for special events,” Putt said.

When Wendy graduated from Byram High School, she knew she had “always loved setting up for parties and making things pretty;” but she felt safe by focusing her academic studies in nursing. Beginning her freshman year at The University of Southern Mississippi, Wendy began studying nursing and pledged a sorority. Externally everything seemed to be right. Internally, though, Wendy knew she felt led to take a different college path. She shared a close relationship with her parents and they knew, like Wendy, where her passion was. “My parents called me and said, ‘Wendy, this isn’t where you are meant to be. You love flowers and should look into the floral degree program at Mississippi State University,” Wendy recalls.

(Wendy Follows Her Calling)

From a Southern Eagle to a Mississippi State Bulldog, Wendy transferred her second semester of her freshman year to begin a new adventure. “When I moved to Mississippi State I didn’t know a person. I started majoring in floral design. I had always liked working with flowers and putting them together. God already made flowers pretty, so that made my work easier,” Putt said.

She was given an opportunity to compete in a national floral tabletop competition soon after transferring to Mississippi State. “Since I didn’t have any money to buy the supplies to compete with, my professor took me to the grocery store for supplies. We bought big leaf lettuce, which I used to make placemats and cantaloupes that I hewed out to make my containers with my floral arrangements.  I won first place at the competition,” Putt said. The public confirmation of her talent solidified that Wendy was in the right place with her studies.

During her sophomore year at Mississippi State, Wendy started working at The University Florist in Starkville, where she loved waiting on customers. The University Florist assigned Wendy to wedding detail when she was just 20 years old. “Customers would come in and hire us for weddings and the professors would oversee what we did,” Putt said.

Ironically, Wendy’s first floral arrangement for a wedding when she worked at The University Florist was far from one of her favorites. “My first wedding where I did the flowers was at Chapel of Memories on Mississippi State’s campus. I hated my first arrangement. It was ugly because it had gladiolus in it. I’ve never been a gladiolus fan, even in the ‘80s when they were supposed to be fabulous, because they were too spiky and all you saw were the points. They had brass candelabras back then and I didn’t like those either,” she said.

Upon Wendy’s graduation from Mississippi State University in Floral Management, she took all her experience, passion and education and began working full-time. She worked for two years for Jitney Jungle grocery stores, where she trained cashiers how to arrange flowers and become their store’s floral manager.

In 1989, Wendy, along with a few other florists from Mississippi, was extended an exclusive invitation to join florists from all over the world to do the flowers for the inauguration of George H.W. Bush. “I was a student member of the American Institute of Floral Designers. I did the flowers for the Vice President’s luncheon and the First Lady’s tea. It was very rewarding,” she said.

(The Big Break)

Through her work at President George H.W. Bush’s Inauguration, Wendy’s talents caught the attention of a headhunter for Hallmark. “A headhunter called me and said that he was recruiting for the Hallmark. In 1991, Wendy was hired by Hallmark to conduct a large-scale market test. “I did a market test with Hallmark floral departments for 5,000 of their stores. I would go down to Bogota, Colombia, and Miami, Florida, to buy flowers for all of their floral departments. I would get off the plane and see fields of flowers and I would say, “I will take all the purple ones and all the blue ones. We would fill up four airplane loads, six 18-wheelers full of flowers, which were sent back to all the hubs for Hallmark stores,” Putt said.

After Wendy selected the flowers needed, she flew back to various hubs in Kansas City, Baltimore and Indianapolis. “The airports would deliver our flowers through a delivery service to our hubs. Once the flowers were at Hallmark’s hubs, we brought in teams of people to make bouquets with the flowers. The bouquets were then shipped out to the 5,000 Hallmark card stores,” Putt said. During her time working with Hallmark for the temporary market test, Wendy lived in various cities from Kansas City, to Baltimore and Indianapolis.

In 1992, Hallmark decided that they were not making money with the flowers, so the market test was over. “I called my parents and I told them that I was homesick and that I didn’t want to live away and not do flowers. Hallmark wanted me to work in sales in Atlanta, but I didn’t want to sell cards,” Putt recalls.

(Home is Where the Heart is)

Wendy’s parents encouraged her to move back home to Mississippi and work freelance and do weddings. She packed her bags and moved back home. Her dad renovated a space that had been used as a burning room for their cricket farm to an area Wendy was able to use for her floral work. “Once I moved home, I continued doing weddings for people that I had made a connection to through Hallmark. For extra work, I answered phones at my parent’s cricket farm, where I took orders for floral arrangements in between answering calls,” she said.

When Wendy moved back home she was single and content. Everything changed when a guy by the name of Bruce Putt caught her attention. “I was living at home and I was single and 25 almost 26. I wasn’t interested in getting married at the time and I was fine being single,” Putt says with a laugh. “My dad was friends with someone that worked with Bruce and my dad told me about Bruce and felt that he was someone that I would like.”

(Wedding Wendy gets Married)

Wendy and Bruce went out on a date in May 1992, but a chance meeting after their initial date began a relationship. “I would wrap single roses, deliver them, and sell them to all the Chevron stations in the Jackson Metro Area. I had a van that I bought and I would get up every morning at 4:00 a.m. to deliver the flowers. Ironically, one early morning I saw Bruce when I was delivering roses at a Chevron,” she said.

Wendy Smith married Bruce Putt in March 1993, after being engaged for only three weeks, at a special wedding ceremony held at her parents’ home. “I came down my parents spiral stairway to meet Bruce in front of the fireplace where we wed in front of about 150 guests. My grandfather Sollie Smith and Pastor Frank Pollard officiated the service, which was so precious. I did all of my own flowers. They were white orchids, hydrangeas, roses, snapdragons and stock – everything that I still love. We even picked up our food from That Special Touch,” Putt said.

(Beginnings of Fresh Cut Catering & Floral)

By the time Wendy wed Bruce in 1993, she was busy doing freelance work for weddings. Her constant schedule with family and work did not afford time to scout out the perfect place for a commercial space. She enlisted the help of her parents. They found a commercial space for Wendy and her employees on Hwy 49. Once Wendy outgrew the space in 2005, her dad found her current space on Lakeland Drive for the 5,000 square foot building for Fresh Cut Catering & Floral.

Wendy’s husband, Bruce Putt, had been working with Puckett Machinery when in 2007 Wendy asked Bruce if he would come on board at Fresh Cut Catering & Floral. “I went from working in a sales department in a heavy equipment place to immediately being over a commercial kitchen. Wendy asked me to take recipes and revise them if it was too bland because I knew what seasoning would work the best,” Bruce said. Even though Bruce laughs and said that he “learned to cook on the fly,” Wendy is quick to chime in that he has always been a great cook.

Bruce’s inspiration for his work in the kitchen came from his parents’ example. “My parents, Aylon and Betty Putt, both cooked really well. My dad got off work two hours earlier than my mom, so he came in and started dinner. My mom came home from work and dinner would be ready,” Bruce said. Bruce enjoys the spontaneity of the work and being able to be creative in the kitchen. “Professionally no two days are the same. We have a broad menu and different sizes of parties and weddings,” Bruce said.

Along with working with her husband Bruce, Wendy enjoys the opportunity to work with her brother, Paul Smith Jr. and his wife Iris Buckley Smith. “It is just fun working with family all the time. Our family is very close and all about serving others and putting them first,” Putt said.

(Aha moments – Cakes by Iris & Cotton Market Venue)

Paul and Iris are owners of The Cotton Market Venue and Cakes by Iris. Paul and Iris had been high school sweethearts and family friends for many years before they wed in December 1998. They both grew up in Byram and Iris’ father was Paul’s family’s mechanic at the cricket farm.

Even though today Iris is part of the wedding industry, Iris laughs recalling her laid back approach to her own wedding. She said, “I think that I got the first dress that I tried on and I actually rented my dress. Wendy and I never talked about what we were doing for food or flowers. Some of our bridesmaids wore dresses that they wore in Terri Smith Hederman’s wedding.” One very special surprise was the flowers that Wendy selected for her new sister-in-law’s wedding – all beautiful white irises.

From the beginning of Iris and Paul’s marriage, Paul had always helped with table and chair rentals for his sister Wendy’s wedding business. Interestingly enough, Paul and Iris made their living from the beginning of their marriage raising reptiles and reptile food for zoos and pet stores at a 5,000 square foot warehouse on their land.  With both Iris and Paul working together raising super worms, geckos, chameleons and other reptiles,  when the economy changed with shipping prices, Iris knew that she needed to look elsewhere for a supplemental income.

The “aha moment” came in 2007 when Iris was attending a Junior League of Jackson meeting where Laurie Hickson-Smith of TLC’s Trading Spaces was the speaker. “Laurie was talking about how she prayed for a job that would be a creative job. It was a point in my life that I needed something I could do. I had always been an artist and liked art. I just prayed, ‘Lord send me something that I can do where I can be creative.’  About 2 weeks later Wendy came to me and said, ‘I think you need to start making wedding cakes.’ I thought this was my opportunity to be creative,” Iris recalls.

Decorating cakes came easy to Iris as she has a knack for art and creativity. Her first time to make a wedding cake was for 650 people for a wedding that Wendy booked for Iris. “I was nervous at first, but a kind lady from Byram who was closing her bakery around the time of my first wedding cake gave me pointers and helped me pull it together,” she said.

Iris received great responses from her first wedding cake.  “I booked several weddings as a result of my first wedding cake. Then six months later, Fairview Inn called and wanted me to start doing all of their weddings. That’s how it all got started.”

Cakes by Iris came to life and Iris’ initial goal in 2007 was to make cakes for one wedding a month. In 2015, she created cakes for over 300 weddings. “I love the artistic side of making cakes. I draw a sketch for the bride and discuss what the cake will look like once it is complete. I love decorating and putting the finishing touches to each cake,” Iris said.

 

 

As Iris was busy baking and creating cakes her husband, Paul, was working with his wedding rental business.  On one particular occasion, Paul and his sister Wendy were setting up for wedding festivities at a barn behind a home in Madison, Mississippi. “Paul said to Wendy, ‘I really would like to have a venue like that rustic barn for weddings. I would like to build something like this for weddings.” Wendy encouraged her brother to build and start a wedding venue and a few months after their initial conversation, Paul Smith found land to build his dream. Paul along with his father designed the layout had built what would become the Cotton Market Venue. Paul Smith, Jr. as owner of Cotton Market Venue works daily to create a wedding or special event setting that is memorable for all of his clients. “Paul is that type of person that will get any job done while having a good sense of humor that makes others feel comfortable and at ease,” Iris said.

 

The Smith family’s wedding businesses offer newly engaged couples an avenue to create wedding ceremonies and receptions with ease and confidence.  Motivating each other to succeed with the purpose of serving others, has worked well for the entire Smith family. “As a family, we want to continue helping others and putting their needs as our clients at the forefront of our mind. Even after 30 years in the wedding industry, it is still so special to meet with brides for one-on-one planning, styling events and doing flowers,” Wendy Smith Putt said. With the new season of weddings ahead, the Smith family is ready and willing to work diligently to create wedding experiences that are memorable and exceptional.

---

Would you like to see more ideas for your wedding inspiration? Check out our latest issue of Premier Bride of Mississippi magazine here!