Meet Gerilyn Gianna of Gerilyn Gianna Events in Palm Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gerilyn Gianna.

Born in the Philippines, raised in Italy and getting her education in the States, Gerilyn is truly an international and diverse person of influence. Her current love for the event and floral design started while living in Italy at La Chiesa di San Giorgio (St. Georges Church) which was famous for weddings. Every weekend, she would wait outside the church with her friends just to get a glimpse of the beautiful bride and ceremony. While living in the US, Gerilyn finished her studies at Northwood University with a degree in Hospitality Management. From there, she worked alongside the world famous Chef Daniel Boulud as an event planner as well as the prestigious Governors Club, both in Palm Beach.

In 2004, she opened her first floral store and event planning studio in Palm Beach called Santa Fe Floral Design which was a full-service floral shop and event planning studio. She renamed it in 2008 to Palm Beach Event and Floral Design. The dream was to create a chic, sophisticated, and unique floral designs that are individual and different from all the other florists out there and combining this with the ability to offer a memorable and stress-free event design and planning service.

In 2010, she once again renamed the company Gerilyn Gianna Event and Floral Design because of the growing presence outside of Palm Beach into the national and global spotlight. She desires to create individual, unique, and never seen before events. Her floral designs are never twice the same and are modern, clean, and elegant. She believes that “Design” is consistently evolving. What she did the last event, is not what you get on your event. Yet, the goal is for all designs to be timeless.

And now, she is optimistically looking toward the future. The goal is simple… Elegance, Perfection, Customized Designs combined with 5 Star service. Her desire is to give the best service by putting her client’s needs above herself. She has never followed the trends; she strives to set the trends through her specialized designs and 5 Star service. In addition to her wonderful clients, her goal is to help educate and add value to other vendors and colleagues alike, through training and online education.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Life is never a smooth road. But I believe in “Failing Forward”. The more Failure, challenges, obstacles I go through, the better I become in the end. I never shut down my business but when I started my storefront, I was doing many things at once. A retail store, floral store, bamboo designs, and event planning. I was excited to create and run a business. But after a few years, I realized, I was doing everything, yet mastering nothing. Financially, it was draining. So we closed the storefront and worked out of a small garage warehouse. Business was down, the debt was up. While I failed at the storefront location, it taught me this biggest lesson here… I had to learn to fine tune who I was and what I wanted to offer. That took several years to come back from.

We decided to focus solely on flowers for events. No more event planning. No more retail. We renamed the company Palm Beach Floral Design which is still active today. As we started focusing more and more on events, we realized a huge void. A simple floral would not be enough to “wow” a guest at an event. Our next struggle was how to grow into a full design firm including decor rentals and lighting production to complete my designs. This cost money, staffing, a bigger location. For years, we could not get past doing “just floral”. And because of this, we struggled to grow and get our name out there. That was when we decided to stop again, redesign the company image this time. Becoming the now current, Gerilyn Gianna Events. Focusing on full production services. I learned about business planning, budgeting, forecasting, and visioning for the future.

So for many years, it’s been a struggle with times of glory. Bottom line. Business is cyclical. You learn, do well, grow, then start a slow phase again. You keep failing forward, otherwise, you fail your way out.

Please tell us about Gerilyn Gianna Events.
We specialize in modern and sophisticated designs combined with world-class experience and service. Our designs are never replicated. Each design has a personal touch from our clients on it. Our goal is for guests to arrive and say, “Wow, that really represents the client”. We believe in timeless designs and events. Another ward, if you look back 3 years, 6 years, or a decade even, our designs will span time and still be elegant and gorgeous.

Our mission is simple. To add the greatest value to our clients through our service, education, and uniquely tailored designs.

We are setting the mood for some of our areas most amazing galas, events, and weddings. Our guests can be assured of the highest standard of service, professionalism, and design, ensuring that in choosing us for your design and décor needs is as unforgettable an experience as your event itself. I’d say we are most proud of our staff. I couldn’t do what I do without them. Typically, we hear from large companies and hotels that it’s hard to work with companies like ours. The quality of staff, service, and cleanliness hurt other businesses. Yet our staff are always been praised as the best to work alongside. Their devotion to the smallest details and selfless services made me a proud leader in the industry.

And I’d say that the biggest thing that sets us apart is our service. You have to be a client to experience what you feel and get when choosing us. We are not a turn and burn company. We desire to have a personal business relationship with our clients. Serving them every step of the way. Think of the finest resort and the detailed service they provide. We align ourselves with that.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I believe my journey is the journey I was meant to take. So I don’t have any regrets. If there was one thing, I would have to look into a business mentor that was already successful in what I was doing. It would have saved me time by gaining education and experience. But honestly, with as little as 14 years in business, it’s still too soon for me to look back.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3866 Prospect Ave. Suite 19
  West Palm Beach, FL 33404
• Website: www.GerilynGianna.com
• Phone: 561-641-8203
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gerilyngiannaevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GerilynGiannaEvents
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gerilyngianna
• Other: https://vimeo.com/gerilyngiannaevents

Image Credit:
Ray Santana Photography, Christ Kruger Photography, Robert Madrid Photography, Stacy Poirier Photography

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