The Power of Weddings: Two Shows At The TSFA Floral Forum
This journey takes me to Franklin, Tennessee (right outside of Nashville) to present two shows for the TSFA Floral Forum. When I was invited to showcase wedding bouquets and a business program based on weddings my answer was of course YES. I have been to the Tennessee State Florists Association convention in the past and I know they have an amazing convention. The board works tirelessly and believe that education is the pathway to success.
My first show was about wedding business called “The Path to I Do”. I wanted to discuss the business side of weddings from advertising to completion of events. My stage style is one of conversation. I feel we all learn from each other if we dialogue about topics.
How to attract potential couples
The first items I spoke about was how to utilize opportunities to reach new clients. Without having clients, we can not a wedding division of our businesses.
I then spoke about the consultation process itself. We tend to forget that this is the most important day for our clients. We need to devote the energy and time to making sure it is the best experience for them from the moment the meet with you until the moment they say I Do.
Next, I spoke about the importance of a great contract. Everyone business who offers wedding design needs to have a contract. It does not matter if you do one wedding or hundreds a year. Take the time to write a contract to not only protect yourself, but also to protect your clients.
Below are a few of the contract items we discussed.
The Power of the Bouquet
The first evening was full of knowledge and the desire to be a more successful floral company. The second show was to focus on the wedding bouquet called “The Power of The Bouquet.” Wedding bouquets are a huge passion for me. It is the last item the bride will cling to as she walks towards her forever love. If done right it will showcase their love story and design of the wedding day.
I had an amazing assistant Pattie and FFA students working with me in the workroom. Such a great team to be part of.
Where do you draw inspiration from? Is it magazines, Pinterest, social media outlets, other designers? Inspiration is everywhere all you have to do is open yourself to the possibilities. Below are descriptions of what inspired me as I designed some of the bouquets for the show.
Inspiration: bleached dried materials from Knud Nielsen. I wanted to design a light and airy bouquet utilizing bleached materials. We enhanced the bouquet with wool garland.
Inspiration: Jaime and I were shopping and saw the most beautiful woman with stunning dreadlocks. I wanted to design a bouquet inspired by that strong and stunning woman. This bouquet was created utilizing different yarn textures secured to an orb containing lilies, roses, carnations, and color enhanced white plumosa. The bouquet trailed as she walked onto stage.
Inspiration: Movement was inspiration for this bouquet. The cymbidium florets and dried materials tend to have a static appearance. The lily grass is what provided the visual movement through the bouquet.
Inspiration: the never-ending circle of love. Love can be continuous and strong. The bouquet form was a Styrofoam circle wrapped with Oasis ribbon and bullion wire. The cascade bouquet contained garden roses, roses, stock, gyp, hanging amaranthus and aussie grasses.
Inspiration: Joining of two souls. The two rings represent the two souls coming together to unite as one. The bouquet was created utilizing two gold rings with florets of roses, dendrobium orchids, and salal as accents. The lace ribbon was utilized to soften the design.
Inspiration: Joining of a family. Today we have many marriages that may have a child on one or either side of the union. This design shows the unity not only of the two being wed but also included the existing children. This bouquet was designed utilizing four gold rings with florets of garden roses, cymbidium orchids, spray roses, hypericum, cushion pomps and salal.
Inspiration: Boho chic was the inspiration for this adornment. We utilized a macramé wall hanging as a base for this design. We secured it to a collar that would be worn down the back of a bride as she walks through a field of wildflowers. The floral was glued on with Oasis floral adhesive consisting of asters, pomps, spray roses and gerbera petals down the strings.
Inspiration: I found a candle holder while out shopping one day. There were two bells hanging from the bottom and I loved the idea of a bride walking down and her bouquet quietly chiming as she walked. The floral consisted of roses, craspedia, lisianthus, asters and eucalyptus.
Inspiration: The fabulous door knocker I discovered in a clearance section. We suspended an Oasis iglue from the bottom of the knocker to hold a bouquet of roses, lilies, delphinium, with a salal designed lotus on top and Oasis bullion wire hanging from below with floret adornment.
Hint: always look in the clearance section and let your mind wonder what it all could become.
Inspiration: The strength and line of chopsticks inspired this bouquet. I tied and glued chopsticks (color enhanced gold) to create the armature for this bouquet. Callas and lily grass were utilized in this bouquet because of the dramatic lines they enhanced.
Inspiration can come from every aspect of life. All you have to do is be open to the possibilities. Take the time to design something new.
A great show has many moving parts and I thank all of those mentioned below for your contributions:
