For over four years, Gainesville residents have left birthday parties, grand openings and sorority events carrying bundles of flowers from Sunny and Share Stems.
Before event attendees pick their flowers, 35-year-old owner Nicole Germany spends days getting them there.
Flowers from a Jacksonville wholesaler arrive at her home, where she trims and prepares them. She stamps the paper bouquet carriers, cuts ribbon and packs a custom flower cart small enough to fit inside her Honda Civic. She puts it all together an hour before guests arrive.
Germany has built this routine around the Bloom Bar, Sunny and Share Stems’ signature service, where guests sift through buckets of individual stems to create their own bouquets. Now, she is pushing the business into new territory.
Germany is still balancing the business she wants to become her career with the job that pays her bills. She works as a server at The Flying Biscuit Cafe while running Sunny and Share largely from home.
With two weddings booked next year and an inquiry as far ahead as 2028, Germany hopes the expansion will eventually make Sunny and Share her full-time career.
“I wish it was,” she said. “I’m getting there, you know, that’s the goal.”
Sunny and Share Stems began during the COVID-19 pandemic after Germany left her full-time social media job and started experimenting with flowers. Inspired by a Tampa flower truck called Posies, she brainstormed ways she could bring flowers to people without a traditional storefront. From there, the Bloom Bar was born.
At her first workshop at a DIY crafting studio, about 20 people made flower arrangements and painted mason jars to hold them. Since then, the cart has made its way to baby showers, Sweet 16s, grand openings and sorority events.
As Bloom Bars gained popularity and more businesses began offering similar experiences, Germany started thinking about how Sunny and Share could stand apart. After posting about her business on TikTok, she found an audience interested in starting similar endeavours and created an online how-to guide.
But unlike the Bloom Bar, weddings give her room to do something different.
One bride told Germany she wanted oranges as centerpieces for a bright-colored wedding and let Germany pick the flowers.
“The creative side of floral design is way more fun than just putting flowers in buckets,” she said. “Doing the floral design tests my mind.”
Creative freedom offers its own set of challenges. When Germany first announced she was taking on weddings, about five inquiries arrived around the same time. As she began sending quotes, she realized she had not accounted for expenses like labor, taxes and delivery.
The experience has made her more comfortable putting a price on her work and setting boundaries when a client’s vision exceeds their budget, she said.
Germany’s approach has caught the attention of Gainesville’s wedding industry.
Sloane Henry, who co-owns The Fleuridian bridal shop, first hired Sunny and Share for a vendor open house. The two later collaborated on a styled shoot at the 1908 Grand wedding venue, where Germany’s flowers shaped the vibrant theme.
“She’s a great alternative to your more traditional wedding flowers,” Henry said. “She tries to play with very whimsical aesthetics and lots of color and really big, bold blooms.”
Sunny and Share’s cart has also fostered collaborations among other Gainesville businesses.
Tara Kasper, who owns Iris Alcoves Permanent Jewelry & Charm Bar, hired Sunny and Share for her store’s grand reopening after connecting with Germany through the local small business community.
Kasper said collaborations like theirs help small businesses reach customers who may otherwise never come across them.
“The hardest thing about owning a small business is making sure [you’re] getting people to know who you are and getting out in the community,” she said.
Germany said the overhead of a traditional flower shop makes her hesitant to open one. Instead, she imagines having a dedicated garden in her backyard one day.
While that remains a goal, Germany is focused on growing the business she already has. Expanding into weddings has meant learning as she goes, from how much to charge for an arrangement to when to turn down a client’s request.
“That’s a business, you know,” she said. “You cry on the side, you dry up your eyes and then you do the flowers.”
Contact Aaliyah Evertz at aevertz@alligator.org. Follow her on X @aaliyahevertz1.
Aaliyah is a journalism junior at UF and the Fall 2026 theater and film reporter. This is her fourth semester at the Alligator and her third semester on The Avenue. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking and listening to podcasts.
