Pretty as a Peony
Fleur Friday
Designed by Peace Love Flowers
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ReminderA Hands-On Design Workshop with Alicia Schwede
{owner of Bella Fiori & editor of Flirty Fleurs}
Saturday, June 7th (10am to Noon)
Would you like to learn more about designing Corsages & Boutonnieres?
Then join us for this 2 hour hands-on class where we will focus on wiring and gluing techniques!! We will practice wiring a variety of flowers and use various finishing techniques on boutonnieres. Corsages – we will work on Pin-ons and Wristlet corsages for a variety of looks.
All instruction, fresh flowers and hard goods are included, please bring your own clippers.
Investment: $175.00 per person
Location: Arlington, Washington (Address & Directions will be sent upon confirmed registration)
I love London!
If you’ve followed this blog for the past 4 years or know me at all, you know that I love London! It’s such a fabulous city! I love that I can get around town via the Underground and it is absolutely filled with wonderful things to see for flower lovers.
Ohhh… and was this past visit filled to the brim with flower goodness!
Today I’ll give you a re-cap of what I did and saw and the following days this week I will post more in depth looks at each event.
First, I arrived into Heathrow and caught the express train into Paddington Station. First thing I see – flower stand:
Then I was off to the next train station to meet up with my friend, Emma, who I stayed with and again I see more flowers:
Thursday morning I was up bright and early and off to the New Covent Flower Market to meet up with the one and only Paula Pryke! Love her! We perused the flower market, chatting with other flower designers and admiring the gorgeous flowers available. We had a nice time at the market and then we caught a cab over to Neill Strain’s phenomenal shop in Belgravia. Neill’s shop is so beautiful and I just love going there for a visit.
Here’s Paula & Neill in front of his shop:
Neill had a special flower show as part of Chelsea Fringe happening at his shop called Passion for Peonies. He had peonies that I’ve never seen before, so many incredible varieties.
Neill, Paula and I enjoyed a fantastic brunch and chatted about the floral scene in London. They told me about visiting Chelsea In Bloom. Then Neill says – let me see if anyone has an extra ticket to Chelsea for today. (I had one ticket for Chelsea for Friday. If you ever go to Chelsea make sure to buy your tickets well in advance as they do sell out!). After our fun visit Neill drove me over to Chelsea In Bloom and told me he’d text when he finds a ticket. Chelsea In Bloom takes place at various shops around Sloane Square (the neighborhood just outside the Chelsea Flower Show). Sure was fun hunting for the shops that were participating and watching passerby’s reactions. About 90 minutes later I receive a text from Neill – he has a ticket! I was so excited, all of a sudden I was going to Chelsea a day early!!
In the coming days I will be posting quite a few photos from Chelsea .. as soon as I sort through all of them!
I only spent a few hours there on Thursday as I knew I’d be there all day on Friday. After leaving the show I walked around Chelsea, Sloane Square and Pimlico Road. Wandered upon Nikki Tibbles’ Wild At Heart Shop:
And saw this gorgeous floral design sitting in the shop:
Then I was off for more walking, wandered up through Belgravia neighborhood and ended up by Buckingham Palace. Then caught the underground back to Emma’s flat.
Friday morning came and I was off for a full day at Chelsea Flower Show! Yes, I really spent all day there and I think I saw everything. Hopefully I saw everything! Plus, I got to visit with Rona of Flowerona Blog. So great to see Rona and catch up, plus she knows all about Chelsea and could fill me in on details. Emma and her friend, Wendy, joined for the evening hours and we were the last of the group that left when the gates closed at 8pm. Off for a walk through the neighborhoods and a great dinner.
Hold tight .. you’ll be seeing plenty of Chelsea photos this week!
Saturday came and we decided to go for a drive into the north, towards Birmingham we drove. That idea turned out to be brilliant. Joe Massie was in Birmingham working on a floral installation.
Check out this piece he designed:
Joe, Emma and I enjoyed a long visit over dinner in the small town of Wolverhampton. Good times and felt I had to pinch myself to believe I was there sitting with my friends at a random pub in Northern England.
I can hardly believe where Emma and I ended up on Sunday. David Austin Roses. Yes, that David Austin! Located just outside Wolverhampton are the David Austin Rose Gardens. We perused the gardens, and more gardens. We had tea (cappuccino for me) and crumpets in their tea room. We studied the plants for sale. Finally selected an amazing yellow Graham Thomas Garden Rose for Emma’s garden.
Talk about a perfect day, a perfect weekend and a perfect week!
Sunday evening we drove back to London. I quite enjoyed driving thru the countryside, the weather was perfect and the rolling green hills so beautiful.
Monday rolled around and we decided to take an easy day after 4 days of running around. The biggest outing was to visit Peggy Porschen’s cake shop in Belgravia. Peggy’s cakes are glorious to look at and just as good to eat!
Tuesday came way too quickly and it was time to return home. Crazy how quickly a week can go by, of course two days are lost to the traveling to and from Seattle to London.
Oh, one more thing I saw while out strolling around London – sides of buildings covered in plants. I thought these were just spectacular!
RHS Chelsea Flower Show – Floral Dresses
Let’s start our RHS Chelsea Flower Show visit with a look at the dresses made of flowers. The dresses shown here were competing for the RHS Florist of the Year competition, ages 26 and older. (There is also a competition for “RHS Young Florist of the Year” of ages 16-25.) For this competition the designers were asked to create a Fantasy Floral dress to be worn to a Crystal Ball.
The winner of this competition was Lisa Fowler of Eden Taunton Floral Design.
Which Dress is your favorite?
RHS Chelsea Flower Show – The Floral Designs
Today I’ll be sharing the various floral designs I saw at RHS Chelsea. The dresses that I shared yesterday were by far the biggest design draw at the show. — Oh, by the way if you want to see more dresses pop on over to Flowerona’s Blog here. Rona has a great blog post up showing the entries for RHS Young Florist of the Year which took place before I arrived at the show. —
There were other designs and competitions happening throughout the show. Here’s one of the main competition halls, quite a bit of variety in the designs ~
Interflora’s “Succession” Display:
Other Floral Displays seen at Chelsea:
RHS Chelsea Flower Show – Focus on the Flowers!
Today we take a close up look at all the flowers on display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The displays were just breathtaking and you’ll see in these photos that I was clearly drawn to the Allium and Clematis displays!!
RHS Chelsea Flower Show – The Gardens
Today is our last visit with RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I had planned to do a post about The Gardens on display, but realized I actually had very few photos of the gardens. The amount of people at Chelsea is staggering, really! It was hard to get a shot of the gardens, as you’ll see below. Sorry! Be sure to check out Flowerona’s blog if you want to see more Garden photos. What you will notice is that I have a good amount of photos of studios and greenhouses, I guess my true interests shined through – I’m in the process of designing a design studio on my property. I definitely felt inspired by the studios and greenhouses I saw at Chelsea..
So here goes, the last of what I saw at Chelsea..
A few of the gardens:
Oh, and earlier I mentioned the crowds – here is one shot to give you an idea of what the aisles were like:
Garden Studios:
A few of the pretty greenhouses, I really want a pretty little greenhouse on my property.. :
Visiting Chelsea really was fun. I highly recommend going if you love flowers and gardens – very inspiring!
PS – I’m really not complaining about the crowds, I was just fascinated by them! Great to know so many people are interested in flowers and gardens.
Next week I will share photos from my visit to David Austin Roses, Chelsea In Bloom, New Covent Garden & Neill Strain’s Passion for Peonies.
Wishing you all a fantastic, flower filled weekend!
Visiting David Austin Garden Roses in England
This, this happened! My friend and I took a drive out into the English countryside to visit the amazing David Austin Roses! Can you just imagine?! David Austin is located just outside the town of Wolverhampton, which is about 2.5 hours north of London. Emma was up for a drive and so off we were for a weekend in the country!
Arriving at David Austin Roses was quite exciting, as we drove into the property roses could be seen in every direction. We started with a tour throughout every bit of the gardens. So perfectly and amazingly laid out. Not all the roses were in bloom, I’d say in about 3 weeks they’ll be in full bloom. That was ok, we were still able to see plenty of beauties in bloom and appreciate the gorgeous garden design. We stopped for a bit in the tea room, enjoying some cappuccinos and scones with clotted cream! A true English treat! Afterwards we perused the nursery and selected a phenomenal Graham Thomas Yellow Garden Rose for Emma’s garden. It was truly a special & perfect day!
And now a visual tour of the plant nursery, so many beautiful plants to select from for your garden!
A Passion for Peonies by Neill Strain
While in London I had the pleasure of accompanying Paula Pryke to her visit with Neill Strain. Neill has the most lovely shop in the Belgravia neighborhood of London ~ highly recommend visiting if you are ever in the neighborhood. (It’s just a few blocks away from Harrod’s).
Neill was hosting a special flower show at his shop called ‘Passion for Peonies’ as part of Chelsea Fringe. The Peonies he had on display were absolutely breathtaking ~ take a look:
You can read more about the inspiration for Passion for Peonies and see more pictures on Neill’s blog.
Another two shots from my visit to Neill’s Shop – the entrance is always changing and the Flower Bar is always full of a lovely selection of flowers:
Chelsea In Bloom
Just outside of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show gates is Chelsea & Sloane Square shopping area where they happened to be hosting Chelsea In Bloom. “Now in its ninth year, Chelsea in Bloom, produced in association with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), will transform the streets of Chelsea from the 19th to 24th of May with breathtaking floral displays.
The annual competition has grown dramatically each year with Chelsea’s best retailers adorning their shop fronts with creative designs to compete for the coveted awards.” from Chelsea In Bloom.
I enjoyed walking through the neighborhood in search of the various floral displays. Not surprisingly my favorite display was from Wild At Heart & Kate Spade, which took first place in judging.
A visit to New Covent Garden, London
First thing I do on my visit to London – go to New Covent Garden Market, of course! Paula Pryke had suggested we meet first thing on Thursday morning at the market, check out what flowers are currently available in London and perhaps run into some other floral designers for a quick chat. I sure had fun visiting the market with Paula! We chatted with Stephen Wicks and Mark Welford of Bloomsbury Flowers, oh they are funny! Plus, met Tony from By Appointment Only Design – we’ve featured them previously on Flirty Fleurs, was cool to say hello in person.
Also, got to see some very pretty flowers — lots of hydrangeas, peonies, garden roses, lupines and alliums-
The supply department is amazing, so many different vessels — and lots, and lots of garden urns! How I’d love to go shopping here and ship home all kinds of goodies!!
Should you like to visit New Covent Garden Market sometime it is very easy to access – just take the underground to Vauxhall, then walk down the street to the market.
Fleur Friday
Happy Fleur Friday Flower Friends!
Well, here’s the last glimpse from my epic England trip ~ a parting shot of David Austin’s Display at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. I sure hope you enjoyed all the photos from England!
It was a great trip, albeit I could have used another day or two to run around and visit more shops. Isn’t that always the way? Could always use another day or two…
I am really happy with what an amazing trip it was and thankful for all the fantastic experiences.
As for next week – we are back to “normal programming” here on Flirty Fleurs! Fabulous Florist Interviews, Wedding Wednesday, the Q&A Series returns on Thursday and maybe, just maybe a book giveaway coming up .. be sure to check in for details.
Wishing you all a fantastic weekend and all of you with weddings – hope your events go smoothly!
Ohhh… one more thing before I sign off for the weekend — for those of you in Oregon or Washington! Florabundance will be in Portland next week and hosting a Flower Happy Hour. Francoise Weeks & I are planning on attending, hope to see you there! Here are the details:
Book Review :: Fresh From The Field Wedding Flowers
Flower farmers extraordinaire Lynn Byczynski and Erin Benzakein have come together to create a fantastic resource for the floral industry, Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers. I knew the book was about using local and sustainable flowers for weddings, but wasn’t sure exactly what information the authors would be covering. The book was written with the purpose of educating a marrying couple on how to select and use locally grown flowers. However, I can honestly say that any aspiring flower farmer or floral designer will find this book a fantastic resource. First of all, the book is packed full of gorgeous images—shots from the USA, Canada and the UK of beautiful flowers and floral arrangements created using locally grown product. I found myself flipping through the pages a few times just to look at the pretty bouquets.
The authors have included a very helpful guide about the “ingredients” used in the designs—they give both the Latin and common name of the flower, how to pronounce it, what zone it grows in and when it blooms. After the introduction to the flower they give a description of how to grow and when to harvest it. I found this particularly interesting as I’m preparing my own cutting garden! There is a nice section on Floral Design Basics where aesthetics and mechanics are explained, along with tools commonly used in floral designing. Yes, there is a section called For the DIY Wedding to assist a bride in creating her own designs, yet I found the information to be very comprehensive—much of it would be useful to the novice floral designer who is still learning.
Erin has created 4 videos, which come on a DVD included with the book. The videos are well done and quite enjoyable to watch as she instructs the viewer on how to create a bridal bouquet, boutonnieres and two centerpieces. Overall I found the book to be very useful and informative. I would highly recommend it to those of you who are beginning flower farmers and floral designers; the care & handling and designing discussions are helpful.
I’m am thrilled to share that I do have a copy of Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers to share with one lucky reader!!!
To win the copy leave a comment on this post (this post, and not on our Facebook page or via Email) and tell us why you’d like to win this book (are you an aspiring floral designer, an aspiring floral farmer, furthering your education, you want to learn more about designing with local & seasonal flowers, etc?).
The rules — anyone can participate, however if you are outside of the contiguous 48 states you will have to pay for shipping. Comments will only be accepted on this immediate post, not on Facebook, etc.
Comments must be received by Thursday, June 19th & the winner will be announced on Friday, June 20th.
Fabulous Florist :: cymbidium floral, New Hampshire
Your name: Jessica Christoferson
Your Business name: cymbidium floral
Your Location: 141 Water Street Exeter, NH
How did you start your business?
I opened cymbidium floral in 2005, fulfilling my dream of creating an urban floral boutique in a small town. Before opening my own business, I worked in the floral industry in London, Chicago, and Boston.
How many years have you been in business?
9
What is your design aesthetic?
We design our arrangements in leaf-lined glass vases, using only premium flowers. We focus on sophisticated seasonal flowers such as orchids, hydrangea, ranunculus, roses, calla lilies, dahlias, anemones, and peonies. Accents of berries, pods, and other textural elements often enhance the arrangements. We choose to exclude more common flowers such as carnations, mums, alstromeria, baby’s breath, statice, or anything dyed from our designs.
How do you create your style and where do you draw your inspiration?
Like most, my own personal floral style has evolved over time. Ultimately, I just love to create things that I think are beautiful where I feel I have achieved the right balance of color, texture, and form. I draw inspiration from everyday things: magazines, pinterest, nature, and I love the visuals at Anthropologie; a trip shopping there always brings me new design inspiration.
What are the trends, flowers & colors that are unique to your region?
In NH right now, I think we are still a couple years behind the rest of the country as far as trends for weddings. A natural wildflower look seems very popular this year as well as mason jars, burlap, and lace. Personally, I’m over the mason jars, and a wildflower look isn’t the cymbidium style, so I hope we move on soon! Still getting requests for coral and peach colored flowers, which doesn’t bother me a bit – I love those colors!
What is your favorite part of being a floral designer?
Getting to work with flowers on a daily basis and seeing the joy that they bring other people.
What advice would you give to aspiring floral designers?
Beware, it’s not as fun as it seems at first; there are a lot of parts that aren’t so fun, but if you can take those, then ultimately I think it’s more good than bad. Also, you have to thick skinned and confident; there are a lot of picky people out there and you have to be able to take criticism without it upsetting you too much.
Are you a retail shop, studio/warehouse or home based?
Retail shop
Do you offer any services in addition to floral designs?
no
What tool in your toolbox can’t you live without?
My Felco #2 garden clippers
What’s your favorite flower?
Of course, I love cymbidiums, but they are tied with peonies and ranunculus
Contact Information:
141 Water Street
Exeter, NH 03833
603-772-1300
www.facebook.com/pages/cymbidium-floral/
www.twitter.com/cymbidiumfloral
http://www.pinterest.com/cymbidiumfloral/
http://instagram.com/cymbidiumfloral
Wedding Wednesday :: Fireplace Mantles
Q&A :: How do I get brides to hire me?
The Question:
Hi my name is Cheryl and I currently run a home based wedding floral business.
My question is, how do you get more brides to go with you instead of another big local florist around the area? How can I entice them more? I try to be as personable as I can with brides, but how do I get more consultations?
Cheryl in Ohio
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The Answers:
In regards to attracting and enticing more brides to your home location:
-Create an inspiring yet organized space in your home for consults
-Post your “Home Studio” pics on Facebook, Pinterest and website
-Speaking of websites… in a bride’s mind if you don’t have a website, you don’t exist
-Use your “Home Studio” to your advantage! Less overhead and more personal attention to their event!
Getting the brides to you:
–Bridal Shows…Use those lead lists! (1) Personal Phone Call / (2) Email Blast / (3) Direct Mail
–Visit all of your local Venues & bridal shops (which are usually the 1st locations a bride visits)
–Bring the Manager or main contact a little floral arrangement with your cards & marketing materials. Tuesdays are usually the best day to stop in casually.
Jennifer Mancuso, Michigan
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Fifteen years ago, it was word of mouth that got me to where I am today. Prom corsages have developed into wedding events and flowers for those families. The local Chamber of Commerce has been a effective way to advertise for a nominal fee. Being visible in the community is vital although as a studio designer it is difficult at times to be everywhere.
Kris of KRISanthemums, Oregon
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You really need to brand yourself. Set yourself apart from what everyone is doing. Really stand out, if your thing is rustic make sure your work is the BEST, if it’s modern really stand out. If your doing bridal shows make your booth is the “talk” of the show. Find your niche and make it happen. My brides come to me because they love my look.
Tracy of Park Place Design, Michigan
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I suggest calling around to photographers and doing some styled shoots. You will get some nice material to show your skills and then get those published, that gets your name out there. Also, advertising on local wedding blogs and/or one of the big online companies such as the knot or Wedding Wire. Then word of mouth will happen.
Buffy of Pink Posey Design, Colorado
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I think part of having a home based business is that you’re (typically) not as well known and will get fewer consults than a brick and mortar store. I don’t do any advertising. My Yelp reviews bring me most of my business, followed by recommendations from other vendors and past brides. That being said, I really focus on getting the jobs I do consults for. I go above and beyond for people that interview me. My goal is that they would leave our meeting better off than when they went in, regardless if they hire me. This means I “show my cards” a lot more than others. I do give away ideas, let them know what to expect, give sketches or photos with the estimate, etc. I try to genuinely serve them well, and in turn, they typically hire me. If I don’t get the job, they leave feeling served and don’t have a bad taste in their mouths. I have a booking rate of about 80%, so even though it takes more time up front, it ends up saves me time and money. Book the people you do interview and you don’t have to chase work! I wish there was a silver bullet that would work every time, but I find that as long as I’m listening to them and serve them well, I get a majority of jobs.
Chandin of Studio 3 Floral Design, Washington
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I, too, have a home-based wedding flower business. I have been in business for 3 years. Lately I have been getting a ton of positive feedback that a good number of brides have chosen me because of my prompt response to their emails. I started advertising with a popular and reputable vendor information site and as soon as I see an inquiry I get an email out to the bride as fast as I can, always within a few hours of me getting the email. I met with a bride the other day and she told me that of the 5 designers she contacted, I was the ONLY one that got right back to her and her fiance. She said the spoke volumes to her. That was 2 weeks ago. Apparently, she has still had no response from the other larger florists in town. I think personal, sincere and prompt responses and service are what the brides want. I also make sure that when I do have a consult that I take a tablet with me so that we can look at ideas together from my Pinterest Boards, Facebook business page and my website. Make sure you have all of those updated and have a lot of items for the bride to look at. Keep plugging away. Get better at your business and managing skills and it will come…
Lauren of Garden Gate Florals, Florida
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If you are like me, and usually meet at coffee shops or at the venue, bring a portfolio of your work in digital format, like an iPad or slide show on a laptop. Be sure to use only professional photos. I also have developed welcome letter that I send to my brides via email. I always make the appointment about theme not just solely focused on the flowers. We talk about her dreams and visions of her wedding day, and then dive into the flower part. Ask about her day, her dress, how she met her man, etc. Let her get excited and keep her excited through your appointment. I’m working on developing a catalogue of items I rent to take with me (containers, candle sets, table runners, etc) . Good luck! You can do this! And just be yourself!
Jessica of Blooms ‘n Blossoms, Kentucky
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It takes time! Just keep doing a good job. Ensure you have a good online presence and for the first few years maybe lower your prices a little not much, but as you are not retail you cannot charge full retail prices. This has been very successful for us. We are in our 10th year of business and as our customer base grew we increased our pricing. I treated that slight savings for the Brides as an advertising cost.
Jane of Budget Blooms, British Columbia
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Do you have a question you’d like to ask for a Q&A session? Email it to me at: info@flirtyfleurs.com
Fleur Friday
Hello Flower Friends .. time to announce the winner of Fresh From The Field Wedding Flowers!
Drumroll please!!
The winner is Elizabeth Jackson!
Elizabeth is the owner of Laughing Earth Flowers in Texas.
FYI – As for determining the winner of the contest I did use RandomResult.com to pick a Random winner.
If you would like a copy of the book and are not the winner you can order the book directly from their official website here or order on Amazon here.
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Florabundance Wholesale has announced their annual trip to Holland, it will take place November 3-8, 2014 – you can see the information for the trip here. I went on the trip in 2012 and it sure was a great experience, definitely had a lot of flower adventures!
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Thought I’d share one of my favorite personal designs of the week – all flowers sourced at Seattle Wholesale Growers Market
Fabulous Florist :: Green Goddess Flower Studio, Cape Town, South Africa
Your name: Coral Shortt and Chantell Lethbridge
Your Business name: Green Goddess flower studio
Your Location: Cape Town, South Africa
How did you start your business?
We both had experience working with either for other people, or in a business in another city. Then our daughters met at school and we met through our daughters. We got chatting about our love for the wedding and flower industry – and decided to join forces in Green Goddess flower studio.
How many years have you been in business?
3 years jointly as Green Goddess, but we each have several to many years experience working for other or our own floral companies.
Are you a retail shop, studio/warehouse or home based?
We are a home based studio with a vision
What is your design aesthetic?
Chantell: I actually like very modern flower design, so I always refer back to basic principles of good design when arranging – simplicity, proportion, perspective – a good line to create movement through the arrangement and colour. I often leave something out, to simplify the look, and rather add more texture to create interest. It’s a trick of the eye that stops even very full, flowery arrangements from looking busy.
Coral: My design style is more classic and romantic. I like well-balanced arrangements from all aspects: colour, shape, size and texture of flowers and flower size to container size. Having said that I am always game to try new things and am currently ‘in love’ with the very ‘botanical’ or Constance Spry style of flowers.
How do you create your style and where do you draw your inspiration?
Our style is contemporary but still pretty. We like to include the container in the overall design of the arrangement. We use a lot of garden blooms and a great variety of foliage, herbs, moss, berries, fruit and buds to create interest. We like a little surprise too – berries sprayed gold or leaves dipped in glitter – something unusual. We don’t rely on expensive blooms to create a show with no design or style to back them up. Anyone can do that.
Cape Town is a great city for design inspiration. It is brimming with “creative’s” from all fields and we like to “steal with our eyes”. Keeping abreast of other designers keeps your ideas fresh and forward looking.
Saying that, we try to limit exposure to Pinterest. Although it’s a great tool to establish the look and feel for a client, it can lead to visual overload and confusion for our couples as there are so many ideas out there.
What are the trends, flowers and colours that are unique to your region?
Cape Town is a vibrant, summer city with vineyards, mountains and beaches and so local weddings take on a variety of styles. South Africa tends to follow northern hemisphere trends as we are a season behind and our local clients do reference many international blogs or magazines for inspiration.
Luckily we have some amazing local blogs that are doing a great job of show-casing local talent and designs e.g. www.theprettyblog.co.za
What is popular at the moment includes rustic, farm-styled weddings, often held on a real farm (of which we have many) with very neutral colour scapes, lots of raw wood furniture and eclectic décor, including plenty of containers gathered by the couples themselves.
Beach weddings remain popular with real peasant style dining and décor, as do wine-farm weddings as we have a huge host of amazing wineries and restaurants in the Western Cape.
The wine-farm weddings tend to be more elegant in style, but again the colour schemes span all colours of the rainbow. South African’s it seems, are not completely driven by trends when it comes to colour schemes.
We are also home to the Cape Floral Kingdom and so we get amazing protea, leucodendrons and cape foliage. The variety is endless. We love to work with these materials and combine them with soft, blowsy blooms to make them look fresh and pretty. There is endless scope to do something new here. We try not to take for granted what we have. And are always on the lookout for interesting flora to add to our designs.
Sadly nowadays, most southern African flowers are grown and distributed more widely in Europe than are commercially available here (probably due to the size of the market here vs abroad). For example – gloriosa lilies – are not grown commercially in South Africa. And the variety of commercially grown flowers available in SA does not compete with the US and Europe. Many brides come asking for certain flowers e.g. astilbe that they see on international blogs or magazines – this does push us to be creative in finding alternatives that will create ‘the look’, but without having to import these ‘out of season’ or ‘not available’ blooms. Or it encourages us to try growing them ourselves to supply unusual ingredients to our clients.
What is your favourite part of being a floral designer?
Of course it is the bouquet. Not all our brides have large budgets and we like to give them a realistic sense of priority as to where to spend their budget. What is going to be photographed the most? What would be the greatest disappointment if it were not right? The bouquet tops the list. We put every effort into making each one spectacular. Our best moment is when we hand over the bouquet and the bride says, ” It is more beautiful than I expected”, Bliss.
What advice would you give to aspiring floral designers?
Chantell: Being creative is not enough. A good course in the basics of floristry, wiring etc will stand you in good stead and allow you to be more creative as you understand the mechanics of flower work. This is essential if you want to design truly unusual bouquets, buttonholes and hairpieces.
Expose yourself to other design fields, they will feed you and your ideas will be more creative.
You have to have some business savvy. If you don’t, like me (Chantell), consider teaming up with someone who does (Coral ).
Coral: You have to become familiar with the use of ‘social media’ and how to use it to advance your business in addition to the more traditional advertising avenues. Social media has opened doors and opportunities for us that we would never have achieved otherwise e.g. this interview with you
If you love what you do and you love it enough, then don’t give up – creative industries require huge amounts of passion & energy and you never stop second-guessing yourself and your work and whether you are still relevant. There will be many times when you will be tempted to give up, but if you just hang in there a little longer, unexpected surprises may be waiting around the corner.
It is also an industry where you do have to pay your dues though – you may be very good at what you do, but you are competing against other people who have been around longer and have more experience than you – this doesn’t mean you should give up but possibly that Success won’t come knocking on your door – you have to go out and work for it.
But it is a very rewarding occupation and the look on a brides face, when she sees the bouquet of her dreams makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Do you offer any services in addition to floral designs?
Yes, we offer a full décor design, styling and setup service and a limited amount of décor hiring.
We source décor, linen, furniture, glassware, flatware and lighting on behalf of our clients where we can’t supply this ourselves. This ensures that the overall aesthetic of the day comes together beautifully as guests don’t take in individual elements, but the whole look.
What tool in your toolbox can’t you live without?
Oasis floral glue & magnets, wire cutters/pliers, sharp ribbon scissors and of course our trusty secateurs, we even have spare pairs in our cars in case we see something gorgeous to forage on the roadside.
What’s your favorite flower?
Chantell: Frangipani – simple shape and heavenly scent – also because not a standard floral cut flower
Coral: The gloriosa lily – for its unusual shape and colouring and because it reminds me of the farm where I grew up – where they grew wild and abundantly.
Anything else you’d like to share with Flirty Fleurs followers
Charge what your worth and don’t apologise – a hard lesson to learn when you are starting out…
Contact information:
Green Goddess flower studio
Web-site: www.greengoddess.co.za
cell phone: +27(0)829566559
e-mail: coral@ggflowerstudio.co.za
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GGFlowerStudio
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/greengoddessza
twitter: greengoddessza
Are you expensive? A question for florists. by Alison Ellis
Thank you, Alison, for this fantastic educational video!
Floral Artistry, Vermont