Couple with romantic story starts romantic business
Jim and Kathryn Hayden.
Jim Hayden, when he was 5 years old, got down on one knee and proposed marriage to his next-door neighbor, Kathryn. Even after he grew up, Jim knew this was the girl for him, and just about everyone who knew them through their school years in Belle, about 70 miles south of Columbia, assumed they would be a couple. They remained next-door neighbors and classmates for years, until life and different circumstances drew them apart.
They raised separate families and pursued very different careers. Jim moved to Florida and worked in retail as a store manager for Petco. Kathryn worked for an insurance agency. Meeting again at school reunions, Kathryn and Jim started to rekindle their relationship. Finally, at their 35-year reunion, they were both single and both realized they could not lose each other again.
Jim proposed a second time and Kathryn accepted, for real this time, and on Sept. 1, one year after the school reunion, they were married.
Jim quit his job in Florida and moved to Columbia, while Kathryn decided to keep her full-time job at American Family Insurance. After looking around for a business they could start together, they chose rose imprinting. In May 2007, they created A Rose by Any Name.
They developed the business from a small office in their new home. The online business (www.arosebyanyname.com) relies on word of mouth and local business deals.
They use a specialized printer, a laptop and a closet full of Lifetouch roses, which have the texture of real roses but the advantage of never dying. They decided it would be too costly and complicated to print on real roses.
The first public display of these printed roses was on their wedding day. The general reaction to the flowers was surprise and awe, they said.
“It usually goes in steps,” Jim said. “First, they don’t notice that there is anything on there and then you can see the double take and their heads snap around to ask what is on there. They always want to touch them, feel them and smell them when they hear that they are not real.”
A Rose by Any Name is part of the Wedding Connection, a network of wedding vendors in Columbia. The Haydens arranged to put their bouquets on display at the Villager, Lindsay Rentals and Dillard’s.
“We actually introduced our business to Dillard’s while we were picking out the China for our registry,” Kathryn said.
Dillard’s also has a package that they give couples when they sign up for their registry, which includes discount cards for A Rose by Any Name and other local businesses.
The Haydens also are trying to sell their products to other local businesses as a wholesale distributor.
“It would be nice to have our roses in the stores for wholesale,” Kathryn said. “That way the purchase would be on impulse.”
A Rose by Any Name can also print on golf balls, candles or anything with a small flat service that a customer would like personalized.