OUR STORY
Where Flowers Become Art
Meet Susan Kelleher, floral artist, teaching artist, and the heart behind Sweet Lilacs. Rooted in the Sierra foothills of Gold Country, California, and trained in the Japanese art of Ikebana, Susan has spent more than fifteen years designing wedding flowers that feel like living, breathing works of art.
30+
YEARS DESIGNING
5,000+
WEDDINGS DESIGNED
GOLD COUNTRY
CALIFORNIA ROOTS
SUSAN'S STORY
From San Francisco to the Sierra Foothills
There is a place where the Sierra foothills soften into oak-studded hills and the light turns golden long before evening, a place where wildflowers push through red earth each spring and the seasons turn with quiet, unhurried beauty. This is Gold Country, California. And this is where Susan Kelleher creates wedding flowers that feel like love letters written in petals.
Susan's journey into floral design began not with roses, but with restraint. At the Sogetsu School of Ikebana in San Francisco, she discovered a philosophy that would shape everything that followed, that flower arranging is not mere decoration, but a form of art. She went on to study at San Francisco City College's Floral Design program, where in her very first year she earned third place in the national student competition for the American Institute of Floral Design.
From San Francisco, life carried Susan to Indianapolis, where she opened a floral shop in Carmel, Indiana. She designed florals for Indianapolis 500 events, for professional athletes and non-profit galas, and once for a former Vice President of the United States. She arranged flowers on cherry picks thirty feet in the air, on a moving horse and carriage, and from the back of a rolling truck. She was flown to Maine to design wedding florals at a storied country club overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
But California called her home. Susan returned to the Sierra foothills, settled in Sonora, and Sweet Lilacs was born.
Photography by Aubree Lynn Photo
"In our living environment, where more and more artificial and inorganic substances surround us, flowers bring peace of mind. Working with flowers is peaceful."
— Susan Kelleher, Sweet LilacsTHE IKEBANA PHILOSOPHY
Where Japanese Art Meets California Wildness
In the Sogetsu tradition of Ikebana, plants are beautiful as they are, but with the careful touch of human hands, they can be arranged in a way that elevates them into something more deeply felt, more profoundly appreciated.
This is the understanding that shapes every arrangement Susan designs. We think in textures and in balance, in color stories that shift with the light. We know that a café au lait dahlia's natural ninety-degree angle makes it a challenge in a round bouquet, and we know exactly how to honor that bloom's architecture. We know how to add a magnificent protea without it becoming a bullseye, letting it anchor the design rather than overwhelm it.
Every stem carries intention. Negative space speaks as loudly as a bloom. And the most beautiful arrangements are the ones that feel as though they couldn't have been any other way.
Intention
Every stem is chosen for a reason. Nothing is filler. Nothing is an afterthought.
Balance
Negative space is as important as the blooms themselves. We design the space between.
Seasonality
We work with what the California seasons offer, never against them.
Artistry
Wedding flowers are not a product. They are a form of art. We treat them that way.
Photography by Joleen Willis
THE NAME
Why Sweet Lilacs
In the language of flowers, purple lilacs symbolize the first emotions of love. Their sweetly perfumed blooms are beautifully short-lived, a gentle reminder to enjoy and savor these fleeting moments of beauty.
The lilac's botanical name, Syringa, traces back to Greek mythology and a nymph who transformed herself into an aromatic bush to escape the god Pan. It is a flower of transformation, of beauty born from wildness, of something extraordinary emerging from something ordinary.
That felt exactly right for a studio where art and nature are one, where every wedding is a transformation, where every arrangement is a moment that will never come again. Susan chose the lilac because it holds the feeling she wants every couple to carry into their celebration: that this moment is precious, it is fleeting, and it is worth savoring completely.
Susan works with lilacs whenever the season allows. When she can't, she carries their spirit in every arrangement she designs.
IN THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, LILACS MEAN
The first emotions of love
Youthful innocence & joy
Transformation & renewal
Beauty that is fleeting & precious
A memory worth keeping forever
Photography by Joleen Willis
PRESS & FEATURES
Sweet Lilacs in the Spotlight
Susan and the Sweet Lilacs team’s work has been featured across Gold Country's most beloved wedding publications and platforms. As co-creator of The Vow Gold Country magazine and a longtime fixture in the Northern California wedding community, Sweet Lilacs is a trusted voice in the region's floral design landscape.
A NOTE FROM SUSAN
For me, every wedding is personal. I have arranged flowers on mountaintops and in wine caves, in candlelit chapels and on sun-drenched hillsides across Northern California. I have watched thousands of brides take a breath when they see their bouquet for the very first time, and that moment, that catch of emotion, never gets old. I am also an artist, a teacher, a potter, a co-creator of The Vow Gold Country magazine, and a woman who lives on top of a hill in the Sierra foothills where the oaks are ancient and the stars are very, very bright. If you are planning a wedding in Gold Country, the Sacramento Valley, Yosemite, or anywhere the California light touches, I would love to be a small part of your day. Let's talk about flowers.
Susan Kelleher
FOUNDER & FLORAL ARTIST · SWEET LILACS · JAMESTOWN, CALIFORNIA
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