Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

  • About
    • Bio
    • Coaching
    • Core Values
    • FAQ’s
    • Privacy Policy
  • Course List
    • Private Lessons
    • Book More Weddings with Templates
      • E-mail Templates
      • Contracts For Florists
      • How To Write Proposals That Sell
      • Wedding Workflow
    • Business Plan
    • Price For Profit
      • About Flower Math
      • Free Preview Of Flower Math
    • Build Your Brand
    • Website Bootcamp
    • Marketing Minicourse
  • Flower Math
    • Enroll: Flower Math
    • Feedback on Flower Math
  • Blog & Freebies
    • Blog
    • Free Courses For Florists
  • Feedback
    • Student Success Stories
    • Flower Math Feedback
    • Art of Good Biz Testimonials
  • Log In

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Foam Free Wedding Arbor

Foam free floral arbors are fun and easy to do!

I just did my first wedding of 2020 yesterday and shared my #foamfreefloral mechanics on Instagram. Click through the pics below to see the before, during and after on this foam free wedding arbor including 2 time lapse videos showing you the greening and the flowering! [Read more…]

August 17, 2020 — 7:15 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Interview: Alison Ellis On The Slow Flowers Podcast

I am so excited to announce that I’m a guest on the Slow Flowers Podcast today!

Catch me on Slow Flowers With Debra Prinzing here!

Debra and I sat down a few weeks ago, here in Vermont, while we were both attending and teaching at The Floral Field Trip. It was such an honor be invited to be a guest and I hope you’ll take a some time out of your day to have a listen!

Click to Listen


From DebraPrinzing.com:

“I’ve known Alison mostly through social media over the years and I’ve watched how her business of teaching and education has really grown. We also share a fun connection through Florists’ Review, where I’m a contributing editor and Alison is a regular business columnist.

I couldn’t skip the opportunity to record an in-person conversation with Alison to share with you. Lately, I’ve been in conversation with many of you about the term “Sustainable,” and in addition to having sustainable practices in our businesses, I strongly believe the term also applies to ensuring florist and flower farmers are SUSTAINED by their businesses; that they are paid a living wage and compensated fairly for the beauty they bring to the world.

Alison is one of the people helping make that happen, especially as she coaches others how to build profitability into their flowers…”

Click to Listen


Here are a few photos from our experience on The Floral Field Trip in September…all photo credits to Taken By Sarah.

We made a foam free (#nofloralfoam) arbor with custom structures that Kelly had custom made by a welder, and added Holly Chapple pillows from Syndicate Sales as well as short black floral buckets and a few Eco Fresh Bouquet wraps for our design of all locally grown Vermont flowers and foliage from Mountain Flower Farm.


Kelly and Mary Kate picked a perfect time of year for a photoshoot in Vermont. We were lucky to have a real life couple for our models for the day….how beautiful was this day by the way?!


Knoll Farm was an absolutely awesome location. Check out their website here to get a sense of what this unique retreat is all about. They provided 3 meals a day for us and each one was fantastic!


For our farewell dinner we cut down our bouquets from the photoshoot to serve as centerpieces. Including flowers from The Floral Reserve, Mountain Flower Farm, Understory Farm, and Longfield Gardens.

This business retreat was a great opportunity to learn more about sourcing American Grown Flowers (the basis of the Slow Flowers movement!) and it was not only educational, but truly inspiring to connect with likeminded floral professionals. The future of floristry will be “locally sourced flowers” and more eco-friendly design mechanics….especially if we, the florists, do our part to help make it that way!

It was a pleasure to be invited to teach on The Floral Field Trip and a special bonus, and a genuine honor, that I got to connect with Debra for an interview on her #slowflowerspodcast, too!

Click to Listen


Vendor credits for the Floral Field Trip…

Photographer @takenbysarah
Flowers sourced from:
@mountainflowerfarm @understoryfarm @thefloralreserve @longfieldgardens
Dress @meagankellydesigns
Model @erin.benn
HMUA @finishingtouchvt
Supplies @syndicatesales
Ribbon @honeysilksco
Venue @knollfarmvt

October 9, 2019 — 6:09 pm

By Alison Ellis Leave a Comment

Should florists use floral foam?

Should florists use floral foam?

Is floral foam biodegradeable?

I mean, is it “really that bad” for the environment that you should join the #nofloralfoam movement?…

The truth is, it’s complicated! Florists say, “but Oasis is biodegradable!”….but there are some very specific conditions required for foam to biodegrade in a landfill, and most landfills don’t meet those environmental conditions!….and even the company itself doesn’t purport to be “eco-friendly now” so much as they’re letting us know they’re “still working on it”….

I started my wedding season on June 1st and while I was cleaning out my studio in prep for the big start, I found a partial box of floral foam and I thought to myself, “What am I going to do with this?….” So I hopped into my Facebook group to share my thoughts on how to handle the floral foam in my possession!

Click to watch:

Here are a few foam free designs from the weekend that I shared on Instagram (make sure to scroll the images!):

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Made this #nofloralfoam semicircle for this afternoon’s ceremony at @trappfamilylodge The hills are alive and this beautiful backdrop just got a foam free boost. Thanks to @passionflowersue for her insights on mechanics ??❤️ #floralpreneur #weddingflorist #floraldesign #realflowerbusiness

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on Jun 1, 2019 at 2:12pm PDT

And here’s a look as we were breaking down the next day (scroll again!):

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The morning after… I got a few questions on the #nofloralfoam ceremony piece from yesterday so here’s another look at it about 24 hours later!…we used no floral foam, but chicken wire and bricks are the main mechanics here!….we water tubed the hydrangea and spirea….the only things things that wilted were the hydrangea and spirea!….larkspur, snapdragons and cremones still look good even without a water source. (Though it rained last night and while we were breaking down!) ☔️ These were 2 pieces put together and as you can tell they’re lightweight! ? You’ll see the back of the arrangement and it’s morning-after condition as ya flip through! ? We covered the bricks with moss and tied them onto the wire with bind wire. #nofloralfoam #floralpreneur #weddingflorist #floraldesign #realflowerbusiness

A post shared by Alison Ellis (@realflowerbusiness) on Jun 2, 2019 at 12:38pm PDT

The moral of the story is simple: Do your best! Be mindful. Be eco-friendly as much as you can in your life AND in your business!

The floral industry is not “eco-friendly” as a general rule, but there’s nothing that says we shouldn’t try!

As always, keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneur®!

With love from me to you,

Alison

Learn more about Alison here!

June 3, 2019 — 6:28 pm

Welcome, floralpreneur®.  I’m Alison Ellis, creator of Flower Math, and founder of RealFlowerBusiness.com. My online business courses, group training and private coaching is created to help floral designers increase profits, book better gigs, type fewer emails & build awesome websites.  Learn More →

Follow me on social:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

FOR WEDDING FLORISTS:

Read my book: Falling Into Flowers

Templates for Florists

Flower Math Formulas

3 Keys To Booking Great Clients

FREE RESOURCES:

Free ebook: Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Business

5 Actions To Take When Biz Is Uncertain

10 Things I Did To Grow My Biz

AS SEEN ON:

*The Flower Podcast

*Slow Flowers Podcast

*Mornings With Mayesh

*Botanical Brouhaha

*Florists’ Review

*FlirtyFleurs.com

*From The Ground Up Floral-podcast

Blogroll

Be Sage Consulting

Botanical Brouhaha

Hitomi Gilliam

Flirty Fleurs

Francoise Weeks

Marie Forleo

Passionflower Sue

The Business Of Being Creative

The Flower Podcast

The Full Bouquet

Think Splendid

Slow Flowers

Seth Godin

Topics

advertising Alison Ellis blogging Botanical Brouhaha branding Business Plan For Florists contracts Customer Service design tips e-mail E-mail Templates for Florists Eco-friendly FlirtyFleurs floraculture Floral Artistry floral business floral design floral foam floral industry floralpreneur Floral Speaker Floral Wholesalers Floral Workshop florist pricing floristry florists Flower Blog Flower Boss 2 Flower Math Freelance Florists Giving Back gratitude Home-Based Florists Ideal Customers Marketing Mornings With Mayesh real flower business Testimonials The Art Of Good Business The Flower Podcast Valentine's Day websites wedding florist wedding proposals Wedding Workflow

Categories

  • Alison's Favorite Things (4)
  • Book for Wedding Florists (2)
  • Boutonnieres & Corsages (2)
  • Building A Brand (97)
  • Business Plan (8)
  • Coaching (9)
  • Contracts (7)
  • Courses (46)
  • Customer Feedback (9)
  • Customer Service (41)
  • Delivery & Set-up (2)
  • E-mail Etiquette (10)
  • Floral Design (104)
  • Floral Industry (161)
  • Floral Workshop (8)
  • Flower Blog (134)
  • Flower Business (149)
  • Flower Math (37)
  • Frequently Asked Questions (18)
  • Giving Back (1)
  • Home-Studio Florists (62)
  • Ideal Customers (43)
  • Inclusivity (3)
  • Marketing (61)
  • Online Business Education for Florists (129)
  • Photography tips for Florists (1)
  • Pricing (41)
  • Pricing Tips For Florists (14)
  • Proposals (20)
  • Recipes (4)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • Websites (31)
  • About
  • Course List
  • Flower Math
  • Blog & Freebies
  • Feedback
  • Log In

Copyright © 2021 Fresh Event Design, LLC · Website Designed by Zach Hoag

WANT TO AVOID CLIENTS WHO GHOST?
GET THE BEST PROPOSAL TIP I EVER GOT IN MY FREE E-MAIL COURSE "HOW TO BOOK MORE WEDDINGS MORE QUICKLY"! GRAB IT HERE!
Your Name:
Your Email: