Welcome to Martha's Weddings & Flowers.
Let us tell you a little bit about how we came about. Martha Edwards is a name you'll still find is a bit infamous around town and in many circles in Alaska! Here's some of the history behind this firey red-headed business owner. Martha Stanford and her immediate family as well as various extended family moved to Alaska in 1949. The long drive in a Studebaker landed them in Kenai, Alaska where the family homesteaded.
Martha married Walter Edwards who worked as a Land Surveyor for the State of Alaska. Juneau being a quick growing community required people of his expertise, in 1962 Martha and Walt moved with her two daughters, Antha Lynne & Patricia to Juneau. Soon after they arrived in Juneau, Martha's business spirit took flight. She bought the Baranof Gift Shop which was located in the lobby of the Baranof Hotel, which is still Juneau's most prestigious hotel. Martha was a force of nature in the Juneau business community she along with some of her closes friends helped shape Juneau's downtown business district into what we know today.
In 1975, close friend and fellow business owner Bill Flint who owned Nugget Alaskan Outfitters at that time convinced Martha that Juneau was in desperate need of a flower shop. Having no experience in the floral field Martha set out for floral design school in Portland. Soon after completion of the design courses she went on to open Juneau's very first flower shop. Martha's Flowers was the second business to inhabit the newly built Nugget Mall and operated in the mall for 12 years. Many of you still remember the Nugget Mall in it's earlier days, when businesses like Pay-n-Save, Zales, Lamonts, Kenny's Shoes, Pizazz and many more occupied the mall. At this point Martha was owner of two Juneau businesses. But after two separate fire damaged the Baranof Gift Shop she closed it's door and focused solely on her new rapidly growing business Martha's Flowers.
For several years Martha's daughters Lynne & Patsy worked alongside her and during busy seasons you'd often times see her two sons Shelby & Marty helping around the store as well. In the late eighties Martha realized another of her dreams of owning a log cabin on a stream when she bought a house on the Jordan Creek across from the Nugget Mall. After renovations this was the new location for Martha's Flowers. The two story house was a cozy and unique setting for Juneau's premier floral shop. At this point Martha and her daughter Lynne worked side by side and expanded into not only floral design but also wedding apparel from wedding dresses to tuxedo rentals. The two bedrooms upstairs served as private try on areas for many Juneau brides and housed 100's of bridal gowns, bridesmaid's dresses and tuxedos.
Many times you would see Martha and various of her grandchildren working in the garden out front, or Martha herself, tending to her pet geese that lived on the stream beside her Cabin Flower Shop. In 1999 Martha lost her battle to lung cancer at which point her oldest daughter took ownership of the business. She is missed greatly by all her family and close friends several of who still live and work in Juneau. Today Lynne and her daughter Debrah, along with many other of Martha's descendants work to keep Martha's spirit alive and offer Juneau floral delight from far away lands so that even when it's been raining for weeks or the land is cozy under a blanket of snow you can simply pick up the phone, stop in or now point and click to have a bouquet of floral artistry delivered to anyone you know!
Thank you all for being a part of our family. And if you haven't done business with us…let us show you what makes us special.
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