OUR BEGINNING
The beginning of a wonderful partnership, solid friendship, and fulfilling business all started when we met working at a local floral shop. Falling literally in love with the flowers and the joy of the wedding/events industry, we both knew that someday we would join forces in floral design. In 2011, we decided to follow our passion and dreams, and HandPickd bloomed!
Since then, we have put our hearts and souls into this company and love every wedding we're privileged to be a part of!
Proudly offering our full service to you and designing whatever you can dream ...
- From an intimate ceremony to the whole shebang with florals everywhere, we are here for you and ready to bring your vision to life.
- From details, planning, and set up, you will be taken care of from the moment we meet.
It truly takes an army to do what we do. We've learned that what we accomplish together, as a team, is so rewarding for our clients.
When you book with HandPickd, you get all of us. Our team of designers brings something special to the table with our unique talents and years of experience.
Mari Sterr
Owner + Designer
Mari was born and raised in Nebraska in a creative family with five children, including a twin sister.
She and husband Ron have 3 children (Jessica, Jacque, and Jared) and 10 grandchildren. Family time is cherished by Mari, along with time with her friends, the enjoyment of good restaurants, and love for her Frenchie, Georgi.
Launching HandPickd in 2008, Mari combined her love of floristry with event styling to bring the HandPickd brand to life. She has completely fallen in love with the wedding industry. “Flowers will always have my heart, but for me, it goes way beyond the blooms in terms of what I see when designing an event for our clients.”
Hillary Koetz
Owner + Designer
Hillary is a small-town girl at heart. Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, she was taught that with hard work, dedication, and resilience, doing what you love can be a rewarding and fulfilling career.
She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clarke College. With her whimsical personality and artistic eye, she fell in love with the world of florist design.
Hillary enjoys all the beautiful blooms she works with when creating the perfect bouquets and florals for weddings and events.
She is honored to be part of the magic of each wedding day: designing every unique floral vision is so rewarding and humbling.
Hillary is married to Russ, her high school sweetheart. Together they're raising two beautiful daughters. She loves her two dogs, chickens. and ducks. Spending quality time with family and friends, enjoying nature, reading, and dancing are some of her favorite things to do.
Rhonda Day
Designer
Always up for a good design challenge, Rhonda is ready to design anything and everything we send her way. Her smile says it all when designing and her enthusiasm to create is so fun to watch in the studio and on actual wedding days.
In her free time, Rhonda loves spending time with her family, gardening, outdoor entertaining, days spent on their family land, campfires, re-purposing vintage finds, enjoying fine wine, and long-lasting friendships.
Mari and Hillary: "We are so thankful and blessed to have Rhonda on our team. Her ideas, flower knowledge, and creativity are remarkable."
Emily Habel
Designer
We just love having Emily on our team. She is super creative, talented, devoted, and loves designing. She enjoys seeing everything come together on wedding days. Whether it's designing corsages/boutonnieres or brainstorming ideas, she is a perfect addition to our team.
Emily is a true farm girl through and through. Married to her high school sweetheart, she loves her family dearly and the couple's three wonderful children. And ... she just added "Grandma" to her loves!
Some of her other favorites include spending time with friends, her fur babies, several horses, dogs, chickens, anything to do with nature, gardening, and decorating.
Mari and Hillary: "Being creative is her outlet and joy."