The Floral Hustle

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Hello flower friends. This is Jen, and this week we are going to talk about installations. Last week we had, uh, our cultural wedding workshop. That was absolutely beautiful, but it really made me think about the art of floral storytelling in your installations because the way you even get to a point where you get a client saying, yes.

I will spend this money with you. Yes. I totally am excited about this vision so that they will put a deposit and book you is that you are selling them on a story of what this is going to look like. And I wanna talk a little bit about like developing from this Pinterest image that they give you. To developing this whole concept to push forward and get them to agree to sometimes spend a thousand dollars, sometimes spend $2,500, sometimes spend $500 sometimes.

I mean, I have had a culture wedding month up that was $10,000. I've had installations that were up to 12 to $14,000 for a single installation. So. If you are doing installations in that kind of area, you need to make sure that you are selling the sizzle selling, really the beauty of what your concept is going to deliver.

So at every workshop we normally have some type of ceremony, some type of, you know, head table or something that's really a statement. And a lot of times it's the words that you're using. To really sell this to a client that make a lot of the difference. So specifically in cultural weddings, I'm talking about selling the sizzle.

Uh, I am, you know, talking about, okay, like I really know that this, you know, head table is really important to you because you're gonna have your mom and your, your sisters and brothers there. So I really think we should make a statement, head table, and in this statement, head table. It is going to be like over the top with like a installation in the inside so that right when someone walks in the room.

They see this statement head table with this like amazing installation in the middle of it. So this statement, head table, and this is something I don't feel floris. They, they often will take what they were given and then they're, they're just designing things as such. But I often will make suggestions for fun head tables or fun.

You know, kind of moments in this event that I could potentially sell an installation, and sometimes that moment is a cake. Sometimes that moment is, you know, a a million different things. You can have that moment be something that you're excited about. I often, as part of my creative process, you know, on Pinterest or on Instagram, if I'm seeing something, I'm screenshotting and I'm putting it into an in info fo folder in my phone.

Because that keeps me creatively charged and excited about potential. Um, you know. Maybe like a head table down the road that, oh, I remember that photo from Instagram. I have a pretty photographic memory, so like I'll remember that photo and I'll be like, okay, I'll just go in and find it in that folder.

And I'll be like, okay, what if we did this? And then I'm taking that concept to the next level and. For one, being able and having the ability to do that is going to get you weddings. People love ideas and concepts being developed because often people are not creative or they don't feel that they're creative or they just want this to be professional and next level, but maybe they're not hiring a designer or something like that.

So like you can be a creative like idea house. I wouldn't do that with somebody who of course told me that their budget was 2,500 to 3000. Obviously, I need to know my audience and I need to know if my audience has a budget to do something fun. So I'm, I'm taking maybe like one or two concepts and taking things that they're saying about like what's important to them, and then I'm developing that.

So I'm developing that into saying. Okay. Like you're telling me your head table's really important, but you're also telling me your ceremony backdrop is really important, which is very important in cultural weddings. Or you're telling me your, your, um, reception backdrop is super important, or they're telling you either their cake is super important for some reason, like whatever it is.

You can take that concept and that's where I would go deep. That's where I would go into like really trying to sell the story. So for the example of the workshop this last weekend, we would go in and we would, um. I had a statement, head table. Uh, that head table was a concept of course, that I put together, and I have done that for other cultural events.

And we put four eight foot rectangular tables together to make this statement head table in the middle. It had a bunch of pedestals. Which the venue had pedestals, but we didn't just leave the pedestals there. We, we draped them in a really beautiful ivory fabric. Then there was that like swooping kind of, you know, puddled look around, uh, the base of the pedestals and then we put an clear cylinder.

So not like any crazy vessel that I was buying, they're. Clear cylinders that I had in my inventory. And we did these beautiful artful, like kind of projecting like flowers, spilling out all different size, VAEs, different pups of color. Our color palette was red, a red orange, a coral, a peach, and a light pink.

So we had all of those different colors. I had roses, Ethereums. Uh, I had silk peach, silk bogan via that I buy on Amazon. It is so stunning and really just made that whole thing. Then um, we had some pink rib votives and then I went and picked out these beautiful linens and like. Uh, if, if I'm talking to a client, like I'm just saying, you know what, like, especially if I had some time to think about it or if I went back and did a little research after our consultation, be like, I found some beautiful linens that I think would really elevate your head table.

And especially if they booked me, I would be willing so I get really good pictures to do a little reconnaissance on things like linens or if they need help with that, I'd more than be happy to help with that because like I know good linens. And good decor on that tabletop is going to make me get good pictures.

So I would be like, oh, oh my God, I found these beautiful linens. They have like a really nice ivory that I think could match, you know, our swooping um, fabric. But then they have this beautiful gold, um, you know, pattern in them. And then we're gonna pair that with these really modern LED lamps. That are gonna have like a cl clean crystal look to 'em.

It's really on trend right now. Really beautiful. Then we're gonna pop in some pin frog arrangements so that we can marry off of that theme of having these kind of airy, fo flowers on, um, the pedestals. And then we're gonna marry that into like a, a smaller level. Um, in these beautiful pin frog bowls that will go around the outside edge of the table.

And then we're going to put some, uh, I found these really beautiful, like peachy pink ribbed votives, so we'll pair that with it as well. And then, um, I did find at this specific, um, rental company that has that linen that I mentioned, they have these beautiful Moroccan, um, chargers. And so like I put those in the proposal if I'm like talking to them afterwards or you know, I found them and I think that they, oh my God, they would elevate your head table.

Your head table would be stunning. And then this is gonna go with our design of your backdrop. So, well, um, for their, for the backdrop for the workshop, we had this 10 foot wide. Piece, uh, that had a big circle in the middle and all the way around we had roused fabric. Then on the outside edges, we had freestanding arches with all of the colors that for that were in our head table.

And so when you looked through the head table. Installation. It just like kind of fit right into that circle that was cut out in the backdrop. And I'll drop, um, I'll figure out how to drop a, some type of inspiration so you could see it. I'll probably have to link that to, um, an Instagram video so you guys can check it out.

But it was so stunning and if I was selling that to a client, like I would be using these descriptive words. To really tell the story of what is going to happen. Like I would be using the word rich and uh, like elegant and elevated and cohesive design. And like I would be talking about like the, the beautiful fabrics from the linens and that things were trending and like this.

The, the Roush fabric is, is really trending right now. So your wedding is going to be very Instagramable because it's just gonna be so on trend that, um, people are gonna go, oh my God, this is so beautiful. And then I'm also selling that, like the statement, so I'm using that word statement. Head table is cohesive with the backdrop because like that.

A beautiful hole in the middle that it's gonna have a floral accent and two chandeliers hanging in. It is going to be like a vision right through this head table. And then, um, I'm going to place a beautiful, open red rose on each place, setting up the head table so each guest feels special. So like I was selling through all of the aspects of that installation.

And when you do that, you might not hit a hundred percent, you might get, you know, one or two people that out of three or four or five. But when you do hit the mark, you are going to have a client that is going to be so happy, is going to trust you because you have just sold them your vision and they most likely had none.

Uh. But you also wanna make sure you're speaking to an appropriate audience. If you have somebody you are talking to and trying to sell these magical things to that has no budget, it, you better keep it basic. It's not going to happen. It's, it's not going to go well. And so keeping it as simple as possible for that type of client would probably be helpful.

Then for the mund up, like. This was a beautiful, it had carnation garlands dripping from it, had beautiful, vibrant color, had swooping fabric on a skinny wood, um, structure that the size of the structure made the florals pop with without us going really overboard from a budget perspective because the structure was bigger.

And, you know, I'm selling like these key features and starting to try to make them seem like, like. I thought of all these ideas to make your event perfect, to help you fit in your budget, to do all these things. You're selling the sizzle of your design. If you fundamentally have a hard time thinking of design ideas, I really want you to start paying attention on Pinterest and Instagram.

It's fucking full of ideas, full of ideas that you can tweak. I did not see one thing that I made that I copied in this workshop. Everything I took. The initial concept, and it's like you smoosh three pictures together to get your original concept. And I'm not into copying people. I don't wanna copy people.

I want work that stands alone. That is exciting, that people are like, oh my god, that's beautiful. So you want that same thing. You want your work because that's when you're gonna start to attract bug budgets that are commensurate with the kind of money that I'm guessing that you want to make. So you need to do that due diligence of making sure that you are an idea factory.

Idea factories are money making factories. Those ideas are things that other florists most likely are not coming up with. So you are the idea factory that are going to bring someone's. Truly unique wedding with a little twist, with an installation. That installation could be so many different things. I, my kind of rule of thumb is I'm not gonna do a wedding unless there's something fun in it for me.

There's gotta be something fun. I got, I have to do something fun. Otherwise, why the fuck am I doing this? I, I need to be creatively inspired. I need to enjoy what I'm doing. I need to have fun. I need to like, love something about their event. And so do you, you can start to make that happen. It does not need to be baby's breath mason jars.

If you guys have listened to the podcast, like I felt like I had, the joy sucked out of me because I kept getting all of these barn weddings that were baby's breath and mason jars, and I just, I couldn't anymore, and you don't have to either. So. Start thinking of fun concepts that are going to bring your business to the next level.

Start selling that concept to your clients and if you are using a proposal system that is trying to show you are elaborate design concept with a two inch wide by the D diameter of the page, and you're trying to sell $5,000, just stop like that is not going to sell $5,000 successfully in my opinion. I would not buy something for $5,000 that I am getting two inches of pictures and description.

And because you're manually typing that description in, it's normally pretty lame on how you're describing it. So like I usually use a whole page in my proposal to sell this concept because I want to sell home that this is worth the money, this is worth the investment. And it's going to make their wedding or their event next level.

And you can do that too. I am cooking up some big things for, I mean, on a bunch of different things, but uh, in August. We are going to have the Floral Rockstar Retreat in my new farm in Minnesota here, and I'm working out all the details, but mark your calendar's down for August 17th through the 19th. We are going to have an opening night check-in and meet and greet and all the fun things on the 17th.

And the 18th and 19th, we are gonna have two days of a totally different experience. You guys, every one of these workshops I have mixed up, like it has been so much fun and it is so fun to see all the content from this because it's like, look at all the fun things that people have got to learn how to do and people have really experienced.

And I am so excited to bring another fun workshop experience I'm working on, um, stocking my farm with fun animals. I ordered my chickens. You guys like they, I'm picking them up on May 15th and they're gonna stay here in my garage until the kids are done with school and we move down to the farm. And I'm going to an, an animal auction this weekend, you guys, so I can hopefully have some really fun animals for you guys to come visit.

Um, so many things are in the works and I'm excited to share the journey with you. But thank you so much for listening, flower Friend. And you have an amazing flower 📍 filled day.