SALAMANDER Bay resident Wendy Martin is the owner of Salamander Village Florist.

The florist recently celebrated her 10th Birthday in business, a huge milestone for a local business.

Wendy Martin has lived on the Tomaree Peninsula for more than 19 years with partner, Jai and their three boys aged 19, 12 and 10 years of age.

Ms Martin studied floristry in Ultimo in 1993 and has worked in various florists over the past 20 years.

In 2007, she opened up her own florist, Salamander Village Florist.

“I had always dreamed of opening my own florist and when my youngest son was three months old I decided to take the leap,” Wendy Martin told Bay News Of The Area.

The florist is situated on the strip of shops at Old Salamander Bay and provides a great service to the community.

“As well as providing flowers for events such as weddings, birthdays and bereavements, we also conduct floristry classes for children during school holidays,” Ms Martin said.

Floristry has changed so much compared to when Ms Martin first began her training with styles changing from the structured type to today’s more freestyle designs.

There has been a greater focus on DIY weddings recently with the introduction of Boho style weddings.

Salamander Village Florist are three times winners of the Port Stephens Small Business Awards in 2011, 2015 and 2016.

Ms Martin also received an Award of Excellence 2014 for “Florist of the Year” awarded by the Sydney Flower Markets.

Seeing the importance of buying fresh flowers, Ms Martin purchases her flowers three times a week from the Sydney Flower Markets as well as supporting local growers on the Central Coast.

“I really want to thank the locals and wider community for supporting me and my business with a special thank you to all of my beautiful staff, with whom I could not do any of this without,” Wendy Martin added.

 

By Jewell DRURY