The Art Floral
“He just wanted to have beauty and love and light in his life.” For Stefanie Sergakis Wedemeyer, those words explain why her father, Mike Sergakis, opened The Art Floral on February 21, 1951. Having returned to Salt Lake after serving as a tail gunner during World War II, flying thirty-one missions over Germany, and witnessing unimaginable destruction, Mike wanted to devote the next chapter of his life to something beautiful. Seventy-five years later, his daughter continues the family legacy at Salt Lake's oldest florist.
Mike, who grew up in Salt Lake and attended West High School, sold flowers from a small cart along Main Street before securing a tiny storefront on South Main. He did everything himself – answering the telephone, designing arrangements, and making deliveries, leaving a sign on the door promising to return in ten minutes.
In 1956, Mike met Vasi, and the couple got married the following year. They moved the business from the South Main storefront to a floral counter inside a grocery store, pioneering the concept of supermarket flowers. Their two young sons spent their earliest days in bassinets behind the counter. By the late 1950s, the couple had purchased the property that remains home to The Art Floral. The building had previously been a small market, complete with refrigeration. An adjoining house became the family’s residence.
For Stefanie, born in 1969, home and business were practically inseparable. A telephone line connected the shop to the upstairs kitchen, and a bell alerted her parents when customers arrived. She remembers building forts from the enormous cardboard boxes that arrived filled with flowers and playing hide-and-seek among the counters.
The night she was born, her delighted father stayed up carving the words “It’s a Girl” out of Styrofoam to display in the shop’s large windows. Years later, her uncle told her how he and Mike had celebrated the occasion while carving the letters and drinking ouzo.
Mike was also remembered for his generosity. Stefanie has heard from fellow florists how her father welcomed them when they opened their businesses, encouraging them to call whenever they needed a few extra flowers rather than purchasing an entire bunch. It was a kindness that left an impression.
When Mike died in 1984, Vasi continued running The Art Floral. Stefanie had spent much of her childhood helping in the shop, cleaning, preparing flowers, and making bows under her mother’s guidance. But by her late teens, she was ready for adventure. With approximately $300 and a passport, she headed overseas with a friend, spending six months in Spain and nearly a year in Greece, where occasional modeling jobs helped support her travels. She celebrated her twenty-first birthday abroad before returning to the United States and moving to Los Angeles.
“I went to become an actress, but I was a great, great waitress,” Stefanie recalled, laughing. She eventually became a hotel concierge, a job she loved. During those years, she also had the opportunity to assist Jeff Leatham, then an emerging florist from Ogden who would later achieve international recognition. The experience introduced her to a contemporary approach to floral design that would prove invaluable.
Stefanie met her husband, Ryan Wedemeyer, in Los Angeles, and they married in 1997. Meanwhile, back in Salt Lake, Vasi was managing the business largely on her own, and her health was declining. She encouraged the couple to come home, start a family, and gradually take over the shop.
They returned in 2000, moving into a separate apartment within the family home. The arrangement seemed ideal until, five months into Stefanie’s first pregnancy, Vasi was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Her grandson, Micah, was born in 2003, and sixteen months later, Vasi passed away. Suddenly, Stefanie found herself responsible for a struggling business while raising a young child. Like her brothers before her, Micah spent his earliest years at The Art Floral, with a section of the workroom transformed into a play area. His sister, Sofia, arrived in 2005.
The transition was difficult. Stefanie discovered that substantial financial and operational changes were necessary, and she gradually introduced new practices, adjusted staffing, and brought a more contemporary sensibility to the arrangements. The traditional, often tall, and triangular designs that had defined the shop for decades gave way to fresh combinations and modern styles. Interestingly, she has since watched many of those older designs return to fashion.
One of her most successful changes was keeping the flower cooler fully stocked throughout the week. Rather than allowing inventory to dwindle by Friday, Stefanie visits wholesalers almost every morning, selecting fresh flowers to ensure customers always have an abundance of choices. "The more we have, the more we seem to be able to sell."
As the surrounding neighborhood has transformed from single-family homes to apartment buildings, walk-in business has increased dramatically. Today, approximately forty percent of sales come from customers stopping by, and the shop offers greeting cards, candles, chocolates, and gifts alongside its flowers. During Covid, Stefanie also added chickens to the property, and the feathered residents have become an unexpected attraction. Passersby can see them, and Stefanie believes their presence helps draw curious visitors into the shop.
The Art Floral provides arrangements for weddings, funerals, corporate events, and celebrations, with the University of Utah among its longtime customers. But Stefanie considers everyday occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, expressions of gratitude, and sympathy – the foundation of the business. Reflecting on what her parents might think of The Art Floral today, Stefanie believes they would be enormously proud of how their little flower cart grew into a thriving neighborhood shop. For her, the relationships formed over the years are every bit as meaningful as the flowers themselves. “I love coming to work and doing what I do every day, mainly because it doesn’t feel like work. The people and my staff are my life. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.” And after a lifetime surrounded by flowers, she added, “Although I am nose blind to the scent, I’m not blind to the beauty that is The Art Floral.”
