As the soft glow of a candle flickers in her garage, sophomore Chanelle Aragones delicately shapes each piece of ribbon, the flame curling its edges to create petals. Her fingers move with practiced precision as she holds a floral rod in one hand and stem remover in the other to bring each element together with floral tape, creating detailed, handcrafted bouquets. Through her bouquet business, Roses By C, she turns ribbons, petals and stems into lasting beauty, offering personal arrangements for clients wanting to add a special touch to their celebrations.
Aragones’s curiosity for bouquets first sparked from local florists. She taught herself the key aspects of flower prep and bouquet wrapping through YouTube tutorials and purchased her first set of supplies from Michaels in early January 2024. Wanting to improve her techniques, she reached out to local florists via social media, gaining insight into different arrangement styles and floral care. After experimenting first with fresh roses, she transitioned into working with ribbon roses — something she could have more creative freedom with.
“Seeing all the pretty bouquet arrangements and florists on my Instagram feed inspired me to try something similar,” Aragones said. “Reaching out to local florists was also helpful because they provided me with so much advice.”
From the beginning, Aragones envisioned turning her passion for bouquets into a business. In late January, she set up a floral station in her room and in the garage while also purchasing more professional tools like a stem remover, floral rods and floral tape. In her spare time, she focused on building her skills with creating floral arrangements featuring roses, baby’s breath and lilies. To promote her business, Aragones created an Instagram page where she showcased her floral arrangements through graphics and photos. By reposting her work on her personal account, she attracted the interest of potential customers.
“At first, I wasn’t sure how to advertise my business, but once I started posting on Instagram, more people began asking about my bouquets,” Aragones said. “My friends and family also started sharing my posts and it helped me get my first real customers.”
Despite her growing passion, Aragones faced several challenges in the early months of her business. When she first started working with fresh roses, she struggled with their fragility and short lifespan, making it difficult for her arrangements to last. When she began working with ribbon roses, she faced another obstacle purchasing low-quality ribbon that was difficult to shape and mold into petals. After numerous trials, she eventually found a ribbon type that provided both structure and flexibility, allowing her to create more intricate designs. Beyond perfecting her bouquets, establishing a customer base proved to be another challenge. Although she launched her business in January, interest remained low until June, when graduation season provided an opportunity to market her bouquets as personalized, meaningful gifts. As demand increased, she expanded her outreach to homecoming season, offering floral arrangements for proposals and photos.
“There were definitely moments when I felt discouraged, especially in the beginning when things weren’t picking up,” Aragones said. “However, once I started getting more orders and seeing the customers’ reactions, it made all the trial and error feel worth it.”
Among the growing numbers of customers was sophomore Aisha Taylor, who first came across Roses By C during homecoming season. Seeking a custom arrangement, she ordered a seven-petal glitter ribbon rose bouquet, wrapped in white and gold paper. Before placing her order, she reached out to previous customers for their experiences, all of whom highly recommended the business. Encouraged by their feedback, Taylor decided to order a bouquet of her own.
“Every single rose stood out in the bouquet because it had so much detail in it,” Taylor said. “All the roses seemed sculpted in a way, and the whole bouquet came together.”
Aragones offers two types of bouquets: real roses or ribbon roses. Most orders come through messages on Instagram, where customers can outline the details of their bouquet such as ribbon color, floral wrap and any additional add-ons like banners or stuffed animals. For real rose bouquets, Aragones sources fresh flowers from her vendor, removing damaged petals and thorns before bundling them with rubber bands to maintain the bouquet’s shape. She then customizes the arrangement with wrapping and her business sticker, completing the whole process within one to two days. Ribbon roses, however, require significantly more time, often taking up to a week depending on the size of the bouquet. Each ribbon rose is created from 13 individual pieces of ribbon, all about the size of a credit card. Using a candle, Aragones seals the edges before gluing and shaping the petals with the hot glue gun, repeating the process for every flower.
“Whether it’s real roses or ribbon roses, I like creating custom orders because the bouquets feel personal and special,” Aragones said.
Looking ahead, Aragones hopes to expand her clientele and increase her visibility on social media while offering a wide variety of services. She is currently experimenting with different types of ribbon flowers, including ribbon plumerias, which she plans to introduce to her business soon. In addition to expanding her floral designs, she wants to find new ways to wrap her bouquets.
“I’m always looking for new ways to improve and make my bouquet business stand out,” Aragones said. “There’s so much more I want to create, and I’m excited to see how my business grows from here.”
