Would you believe me if I told you I’ve officially been in the floral world for 9 years now? On one hand, I feel like I’ve been doing this forever! On the other, it feels like no time at all has passed. I love my job, and I love that I get to do it every single day! But there are days where things don’t go so great, and there have been many lessons learned. Today I’m going to be sharing a few of those lessons I’ve learned in my years as a florist.

Lesson One: You Get What You Pay For

This is not just in services, but also in terms of physical products. For example – there’s a reason why certain ranunculus are $0.50 less per stem. It’s not as full, sturdy or long as the more expensive stems. Now I totally understand budgets! When you’re running on a tight one, you’ve gotta do what you;ve gotta do. It’s my goal as a florist to educate my clients on the quality of their floral, and why prices are the way they are. We can cut corners on certain things, but the flowers with a higher price point are priced that way for a reason – and they’re worth it!

Lesson Two: You Have To Start Early

Truthfully, I’m really not good at this one. I love my slow mornings as a florist, but the wholesalers open at 7am and close around 2pm! If you want to get the best flowers, you’ve gotta get there early! I also learned very quickly that floral installs and deliveries take a lot of time and care – so getting to venues at the earliest possible time is imperative. Sometimes if a venue is over an hour away that means you’re up at 5am or 6am so you can go through all the necessary steps just to get on the road.

Lesson 3: Florists Have A Super Power

A florist can rig almost anything to hold for a night! If you’re close to a seasoned event florist, then you know that they are always prepared to rig something up and hold whatever they need to in place. Every beginner florist goes through a season of not having the materials they need in their toolbox, let’s just say you quickly learn from your mistakes! Flowers and the mechanics around them are heavy, oddly shaped, and wet. Normal adhesives such as tape or command hooks just don’t cut it on most surfaces. Instead, we learn to carry a wide wide array of clamps, stakes, suction cups, zip ties, doodads and whatnots to make your floral look effortless.

The final lessons here? Invest in your floral, time, and toolbox. These three things are crucial in succeeding in the floral world! But in the end, each season brings us new lessons, and I’m sure the one I’m currently in will bring me even more to write about in the future. I can’t wait to share those future lessons!

P.S. I still have bookings available for this calendar year! TAP HERE to chat with me, and let’s make your floral dreams come true.