The Floral Hustle

  📍 Hello Flower friend. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast on this week's mini. So I wanna talk about three reasons why you should do a styled shoot. I personally get styled shoot requests all the time, and I think about different ideas and concepts, and I wanted to just share those with you cuz I thought maybe they would be insightful or helpful.
So the first thing that I look at is who is on the team? I did a shoot once that I love the photographer, but I don't love their style with this particular styled shoot it. They have dark and moody and I really think that this should have been light and airy. So from that, I learned, does it match before I agree to it, even if I love them, does it match?
Because when you get those photos, if you don't wanna post them and you invested in flowers, you're gonna be kicking yourself in the butt like I did. The second thing, after you've looked at who is on the team, I ask, um, beyond the team, like, I wanna see a mood board. And I wanna know, does this creatively speak to me?
Is there something fun and inspiring about this style? Shoot? So when I look at the mood board, could I make this into something that is inspiring to me, speaks to me like I've been dreaming about? I have a file folder that I save inspiration photos for, styled shoots for. Indian weddings for, um, cakes for whatever.
I save photos Whenever I see them, I screenshot them or I save them in on Facebook, you can just literally hit the save button and I have file folders that I've created and I just land those in. So is something on my floral bucket list of ideas. I can, something I can pull off on there. So if it is, I'm more likely to say yes depending on all the other, you know, factors involved.
Like I talked about the team. Then will they, number three is what is the intent behind the shoot? I have done styled shoots that in the past before I. Really understood what I wanted to get out of a style shoot. I've done, um, that like there was no purpose other than just having fun. And I completely understand that you wanna do things for fun and I love that, but my intention behind style shoots are, where are we submitting it For publication.
I want. This wedding to get published or this style shoot to get published, um, this mock-up wedding that we're doing to get published. So is that the intent Here in Minnesota, we have, um, Minnesota Bride, and I am a member now. I was not previously, but they are more apt to publish and promote styled shoots done by members, which.
I'm not Uber a fan of, but I get that they are trying to make money. They are trying to curate things in a certain way. So I ask, okay, what is the intent? Where do you guys wanna submit this for publication? Who on that? On the team? And this goes back to the original number one, who on the team is a Minnesota Bride member?
If we are stacked with four Minnesota bride members are participating in the shoot, we're probably going to be better off than if we weren't. So I look at that factor and I go, okay, so this person, the cake person is at the stationary, person is a member, the whatever is a member. So then I look, okay, this is from a publication standpoint.
Looking really probable and then I'm, you know, checking. I'm always checking what expectations are laid out, what they need from me. I have been surprised that I have agreed to do a style shoot, and they told me their needs were very, very simple. Then they weren't, all of a sudden they have three different table scapes and three different themes or color palettes, and all of a sudden, you know, I, they've agreed to originally participate and I've given them a flat rate to, you know, for the flowers, okay, I can agree to this style shoot for X, but then all of a sudden their floral needs change.
So having that set in stone is something that I know that I'm. Really clear at now going forward, because I wanna make sure that I'm not surprised. So those are three things that I look out for. I'm just making sure everybody's on the same page. Who's on the team? Who's here to party? What does this mood board look like?
And am I inspired by it? Am I inspired by something in this style shoot? Or can I make something that I've been craving making to really make this successful? And then what are we doing with this when we're done? What are we doing with these photos? What are our grand plans? Who is a member of a local whatever?
Um, a lot of them have, a lot of photographers are just hooked into, I think it's called Bright Light or something like that. It's just something that they can hit a button and submit to a ton of places. That is finding great, but. Those local publications often aren't hooked into that, so you wanna make sure that you are getting as much promotion as possible.
For this, I'd also clarify any social media expectations because I've been surprised by that in the past as well. And then of course, money. You know, you always need to talk about money because we are one of the few things that are involved in a styled chute that are hard costs, and people don't get that and they'll be like, oh, I'm buying all this stuff.
Well, that's great. Why don't you have a rental company? Can, you know, donate? Why don't you. Do you, your time is a cost, but what are you actually physically spending money on? Like we are. So I make sure that they understand there's hard costs and then you were completely ti entitled to this is what it would be for me to participate.
I would love to be involved. Show your excitement, but make sure you're not giving away the farm and agreeing to something when you don't need to. They should understand that there are costs and. I think it's not a bad thing. You're asking to participate in them because they, you are one of the one products.
I mean, cakes obviously have a hard cost and a lot of labor involved with them, but you are entitled, Yeah, I mean, you're donating your time a lot of times. If you wanna get compensated to participate in some of the costs of the flowers, it's your right to ask. It's their right to say no if that's what they choose.
So I hope this episode was helpful. I hope you have an amazing flower 📍 filled week, my friend.