Afterglow is…
…deeply inspired by and reverent toward the natural world and the flowers we work with. Our designs celebrate the shapes, textures, movement, and colors of each season’s best blooms—and the unique vibe of each celebration and client.
We proudly support our LGBTQIA+ community and clients and any and all celebrations of love and community.
Imaginative
Working with flowers is our creative practice, and a skill we’ve honed over years. Each client brings the possibility of a new creative challenge and we love bringing to life to your ideas, big and small. We’re inspired by the world around us—architecture, fashion, color, history, graphic design, and more—and love to translate what we see and hear into flowers. Bring us an idea or even a partially conceived vibe, and we’ll surprise you with flower magic.
Seasonal
One of Afterglow’s guiding lights is celebrating the work of Maine’s incredible flower farming community. We are grateful to live in an area with access to local flowers—thanks to organizations like the Maine Flower Collective—and use them predominantly in our work. Buying from local flower farms allow us to be less dependent on industrial floral suppliers, whose working conditions and pesticide use are less regulated—not to mention the savings on emissions when flowers are delivered within a few hours’ travel, not by air. It’s better for us, better for the planet, and better for keeping our local flower ecosystem thriving.
Because we focus on locally sourced product, we are limited to seasonal restrictions on some flower varieties, but there are always seasonally appropriate, beautiful substitutes—we’ll show you.
We do occasionally source other US-grown product when we need to supplement local supply—this is often the case with foliage, though we prioritize locally grown, when we can.
Earth-friendly
We use reusable, non-toxic mechanics for all of our designs. Our natural waterways are vital to our community, and so we choose to not use floral foam, which releases microplastics into our soil and ground water. Aside from tape, we take care to eliminate single-use plastic in our studio, The event industry can be extremely wasteful and while our systems aren’t perfect, we are conscious of our impact in all facets of our work.
Afterglow is just a fancy name for this one-woman show. Katie Tiehen is the founder and Creative Director of Afterglow, bringing nearly a decade of experience in floral design for weddings and events. Prior to flowers, Katie worked in the nonprofit world in New York City and Seattle in education and global health—you’d be surprised at how often these skills come in handy now.
A former city girl from the Pacific Northwest—with a brief stop for grad school in New York City—Katie moved to Maine three years ago and is constantly inspired by the local flower growing community. Throughout the season, she also manages her own cutting garden of her favorite varieties to include in designs for your celebrations and spaces. Foxglove are her favorite flowers.
Aside from flowers, Katie is an amateur metalsmith, avid reader, and trash television connoisseur—yes, she/I want to talk about that cult docuseries—with two adventurous dogs (1 tame, 1 not). She lives with her partner and a handful of apple trees on a few acres of farmland in the middle of Mount Desert Island. Afterglow is named for the epic, colorful sunsets on their property.