OUR BEGINNINGS

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. After going our separate ways for a couple of years and keeping in touch, we sensed the timing was right. In 2011, we decided to follow our passion and dreams and HandPickd bloomed!

Since then, we've been putting our heart and soul into this company and could not be more thankful and blessed with where we are today. We're so grateful for the support of family, friends, and clients over the years!

This is our HandPickd story.

We can't wait to hear yours!

―Mari Sterr & Hillary Koetz


Mari Sterr

Owner + Designer

Mari ― it's pronounced just like MARY! ― has utterly and completely fallen in love with the wedding industry! For Mari, bringing a bride’s vision to life and seeing her eyes light up when first seeing her bouquet is THE BEST FEELING EVER!

"I am obsessed with blooms ... so obsessed ... and I love using a couple’s unique love story as an inspiration for wedding details. Fluffy bouquets, flower crowns, and tons of green make me swoon!"

Born and raised in Nebraska, Mari and her husband relocated to Dubuque in 2000. She's happily married with three children and ten(!) grandbabies. She loves family time, hanging out with friends, good restaurants, enjoying nature, and her dog, Mya! You'll find that she has incredible fashion sense and an a eye for design in all aspects of life.

Hillary Koetz

Owner + Designer

Hillary grew up with a loving family, the youngest of three, in a small river town in Iowa. 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.

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Clarke College, she knew creating and designing was her passion. With her whimsical personality and artistic eye for color, composition, and design, Hillary found her calling as a florist.

As a nature lover, she enjoys all the beautiful blooms she works with when creating the perfect bouquet and florals for weddings and events. Being in this industry for twenty years has been wonderful! She loves learning new skills, adapting to changes, and being the best she can be for her clients. 

She is honored to be part of the magic of each wedding day: designing every unique floral vision is so rewarding and humbling. You'll find her just as excited as you when talking about your wedding day, knowing how important the day is in so many ways.

Hillary feels extremely blessed and grateful for her life. Married to her high school sweetheart of twenty years, together they're raising two beautiful daughters. She loves her two dogs, her chickens and ducks, spending quality time with family, enjoying nature, reading, dancing, and chocolate. Appreciating life is so important! [And in case you're wondering, her last name is pronounced KAYTZ.]

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.

Mari and Hillary: "We are so thankful and blessed to have Rhonda on our team. Her ideas, flower knowledge, and creativity are remarkable."

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.

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."