Wedding Bootcamp Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of the Wedding Bootcamp recap! As I mentioned in my last post, hosting a Floralpreneur® Workshop with a commitment to foam free designs and a balance of business strategies has been a privilege and a proud accomplishment over the last 3 years! In all of the work we’ve done, not one piece of floral foam has been used. The reason for this is simple: if we can work more sustainably as floral designers, I believe we should!

I love learning and sharing new foam free techniques because it can truly be quite simple to reduce our environmental impact by cutting out single use plastics in our work. And when I can use the same simple mechanics in more than one way, I am really winning! Here you can see how we used the floral table runners above (from Part 1 of our Wedding Bootcamp recap) to create a foam free arbor design. We just placed the designs in boxes and marched them over to the arbor with a step stool and a few floral tools.

It was a beautiful spring day here in Vermont and we enjoyed the time outside to set everything up and enjoy the views of our work! We used Holly Chapple eggs, water tubes and bind wire to attach each arrangement to the arbor–so all of these mechanics could be reused if you want. Lori and I placed the first two pieces and then everyone jumped in to add a personal touch!

One of our reusable mechanics included these water tubes on bamboo skewers that I made in a workshop with Hitomi Gilliam several years ago. Sometimes the finer details on our mechanics can transform them into something that adds value to the design! As you can see below, another foam free flower design tip I share often is to mist your flowers with water. That’s why I gifted everyone with a 3-second mister to help encourage good flower hydration.

We’re a good looking group, aren’t we?! You can hardly tell that we’d been working hard for the last few days! (Although thanks to our wonderful hosts at The Round Barn we were eating quite well, too!)

In addition to the centerpiece designs and arbor decor that we made on Day 2 of our Wedding Bootcamp, our students created hand-tied bouquets, cascade bouquets, wearable flowers and floral crowns on Day 1, which Isora Lithgow Creations captured in the images below, too! Each student used their time to explore something they’d never made before or wanted to just experiment with. Every designer’s work is unique, though we did work with recipes and price out our designs.

A tremendous thanks again to all of our students and to my co-teacher, Lori Bley of The Hidden Daisy and her fantastic assistant designer, Kollin. We’re a great team and this was a truly special experience for everyone who attended!

A successful workshop requires so many tiny details coming together and it was an absolute pleasure to get to do this with you! I’m kicking around an agenda for 2026, so let’s plan to meet up again for another memorable floral gathering at The Round Barn. I’ll see you here!

xo. -Alison Ellis

See Part 1 of Wedding Bootcamp recap here.

By Alison Ellis

Wedding Bootcamp Part 1

This year’s Floralpreneur® Workshop was a Wedding Bootcamp at The Round Barn in Waitsfield, Vermont with instructors Lori Bley and Alison Ellis. This was my third year hosting floral design students for an intimate workshop at The Round Barn and once again, it was an absolutely incredible group and I can’t wait to do it again!

Isora Lithgow Creations was there (for the 3rd time!) to document our final day of the Wedding Bootcamp and here’s a little recap and glimpse behind the scenes at our students, their beautiful work, and the foam free designs we created together. I can’t fit all of the fun into one post, so make sure you follow the links in the post for Part 2 of the recap!

Our floral palette was a mix of lavenders, yellows, whites, pinks and blues, including roses, jasmine, delphinium, tweedia, and some phenomenal tulips from von Trapp Flowers, which just happens to be located a few minutes from The Round Barn. Our students absolutely loved the tulips as they got to select whatever colors they wanted to work with, and we made tulips a highlight for our decor for the Welcome Party, which was sponsored by EveryStem! Thanks, LuAnn!!

My Floralpreneur® Workshops always include a mix of practical business training and hands-on design work. After our morning discussion on pricing, recipes and a look at how I use the EveryStem app in my own floral business, Lori taught a demonstration on a foam free elevated centerpieces. Her mechanics, recipe, pricing and finishing touches were all revealed in detail so designers can feel confident in every aspect of this piece. Lori is generous with her knowledge and answered tons of questions as well!

We then moved onto my favorite mechanics for a foam free table runner that we also transformed into a design for a ceremony! I gave some brief instructions, gave our designers the recipe they had to work with and let them go for it! Check out Part 2 of the Wedding Bootcamp recap to see how we used the same mechanics two different ways.

Before our lunch break, each designer placed their foam free table runner piece on the table to see how it all comes together. And after lunch, we used the same pieces to create a completely different design for the ceremony arbor! You can check that out in Part 2 of the Wedding Bootcamp recap here.

I want to give a big thanks to all of our students as well as our sponsors and gift contributors! EveryStem, FlowerBox, Harmony Harvest, Floral Genius, and DV Flora! We appreciate your support!

See Part 2 of Wedding Bootcamp recap here.

By Alison Ellis

4 Words for Difficult Customers

How do you deal with difficult customers?

A florist asked the other day, “How do you “break up” with a customer?” In other words, what should you say when you can tell that a client isn’t going to be a good fit?

In this case, the customer did not sign a contract or send a deposit yet, so it’s really more like parting ways than breaking up.

And while it’s not always easy to do, telling a client that you won’t be working with them doesn’t have to be complicated.

The fact is there are 4 little words you can use to handle a difficult customer: “I’m no longer available.”

That’s it!

No need to say you’ve booked another event if that’s untrue!
Don’t over explain your reason for deciding they’re “not a good fit”.
And you certainly shouldn’t pretend that you “appreciate their interest in working with you” if you’re about to give them the boot!

“I’m/we’re no longer available” is all you need, followed by a referral to another florist if possible.

You don’t want to say the wrong thing and insult a customer while trying to let them down easy.

But do you know what might be worse? Sticking with a customer who isn’t a good fit because you simply didn’t know how to bow out gracefully!

The reason I share this is because difficult customer conversations need to happen from time to time, but it shouldn’t be a mystery to you or your employees on how to deal with them swiftly and professionally.

And I’ve been making these tough conversations easier for the past decade with Email Templates for Florists.

Get my Emails HERE!

These templates save you time! And florists often tell me they use my e-mail templates the same day they buy them! Copy, paste, rinse, repeat! (You can see a list of the topics included in the templates below!).

You can also upgrade to add all of my Wedding Templates so you have everything you need at your fingertips to take the lead on client communication.

Get templates HERE

Here’s what you get in 10 Difficult Conversations:

How to…

Tell someone you can no longer “hold their date”.
Present a proposal that’s over budget.
Ask someone why they did NOT book with you.
Tell someone you’re not a good fit for their event.
Reply to a complaint.
Bill for damaged or missing rental items after an event.
Explain you won’t order flowers until full payment is received.
Tell someone that their most recent changes/additions will result in a price increase.
Tell someone you will not update their proposal (again) or meet (again) without a deposit.
Respond when a wedding is cancelled.

*Plus a bonus template: How to Ask For A Testimonial.

And here’s what’s included in 12 Frequent Conversations:

How to…

Say, Hello in an introduction e-mail.
Present a minimum.
Present a proposal, contract and invoice.
Tell someone you’re unavailable for their date.
Tell someone you will not lower your price.
Follow up if you don’t hear back from a prospect.
Tell someone you cannot hold their date without deposit.
Confirm receipt of contract & deposit.
Confirm receipt of contract, but missing deposit.
Confirm receipt of deposit, but missing contract.
Request final changes and final payment.
Confirm receipt of final payment before event.

*Plus I’ve added a bonus with 5 e-mail etiquette tips.

You can check out the EXACT way I address the most common and sometimes difficult customer conversations and take advantage of templates that are proven to work.

Just $58 HERE

On the other hand, you can ask ChatGPT (powered by Artificial Intelligence) to help you out with your customer service & communication, but I wouldn’t suggest it! Difficult conversations deserve a human touch. (And based on my real life experience, AI always says a little bit too much and that opens the door to customer pushback! And nobody’s looking for that.)

By Alison Ellis

Growing Your Business

Are you growing or maintaining your business?

To kick off the new year, I was live on YouTube to share some thoughts on growing your business and maintaining what you’ve built! You can watch it now!

This is the first topic for the year because not every year is a growing year in your business and it’s important to have a plan on what to do when growth isn’t the goal so you can maintain what you’ve built.

If you need some help reigniting your brand this month, I’m teaching every Tuesday in January, starting Jan. 7th, when you join me inside The Art of Good Business, 4-week training. (You can find details here & enroll today!)

Learn More & Enroll Here!

And if you’re already enrolled in The Art of Good Business, I can’t wait to get started next week!

Welcome to a new year, floralpreneur®. Keep doing beautiful work!

xo. -Alison Ellis

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By Alison Ellis

Engagement Season Tips for Florists

Do you want to book some more events for 2025? Well, are you ready for engagement season?

Today, I have 3 Tips To Help You Prepare for Engagement Season–or whatever season your business may be entering–so that you can attract more of the right customers to your business! Click to watch now:

Join the Marketing Workshop!

A Few Notes To Recap

#1. Keep your ideal customers in mind–always!

Identify who you seek to serve so you can focus on what they want to hear from you!

That means, if your ideal customer really loves flowers and tends to have a reasonable budget, you don’t have to create content about how hard you work behind the scenes to clean wax out of votive candles or scrub buckets on a Monday morning.

Because your ideal customer would rather see the beautiful work you created this week and hear a little bit about why you love the look of the design!

#2. Revisit your existing marketing efforts.

What are you actually doing right now to attract the best customers to your business?
Are you putting all of your eggs in the social media algorithm basket?
What does your website express when I land on your homepage?
Are you speaking to the hearts of your ideal clients?
Where else can you reach them?

#3. Add more intention to your marketing strategy!

Level-up your marketing and branding strategy with a more magnetic message to attract the best clients!

Your “brand” is what your customers experience. So it’s more than just an image you project–it’s what people say about your company when you’re not in the room.

A better marketing strategy gives you leverage. In short, it makes it easier to book clients and gain trust if your brand credibility is already established in their minds.

After 22 years in business, I think it’s a wise practice to revisit your marketing and branding efforts on a regular bases (at least once per year!). That’s why I’m hosting my upcoming Marketing Workshop on December 3, 4 & 5th! You can learn about that and sign up here if you want to join me! I’d be honored to have you join me.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

xo. -Alison Ellis