If you're passionate about creating stunning wedding florals and want to master refine your wedding skills, our 4-day Wedding Flowers Course is perfect for you! Held twice a year, this comprehensive course is designed to equip florists both new and experienced with the skills, techniques, and confidence to create beautiful, profitable, and stress-free wedding flowers.
The organisation for this course is off the scale but completely worth it as the rewards for us as teachers and the outcomes for the students are immense.
What we love most about our Wedding Flowers Course is the exclusive, behind-the-scenes insight it provides. Over four intensive days, we teach florists how to create stunning, stress-free wedding flowers while maximizing profitability. It’s a deep dive into every aspect of wedding floristry, from creative design to the logistics of running a successful floral business.
What does the course look like?
Days 1, 2 & 3
During the first three days of our 4-day Wedding Flowers Course students join us, Saffy and Verity in our welcoming school room in Larkhall, Bath. This part of the course is all about getting hands-on with flowers and enjoying the process.
We teach students how to create essential wedding florals, including bouquets (which we make twice on different days for extra practice) and explore new ideas for pew ends. We also make flower crowns, buttonholes, corsages, and table centrepieces.
Alongside the practical work, we cover the important logistics of wedding floristry. This includes understanding costings, stem counts, and design principles, as well as how to communicate effectively with clients. We also discuss terms and conditions, insurance, and strategies for ensuring a wedding runs smoothly from start to finish. Our goal is to make these potentially daunting aspects of wedding planning more approachable and manageable.
After Day 3, while the students head home, we get to work behind the scenes. Through a flurry of lifting, van journeys, and packing, we transform the wedding venue overnight. By the next morning, the venue is set up with all the elements needed for a full day of learning, complete with props and flowers ready for the finale installation and photoshoot.
Day 4
Photoshoot Day. We treat this part of the course as if it were a real-life wedding!
The students' task is to create one major floral installation that becomes the focal point of the venue. This could be a grand archway or a striking arrangement around a key architectural feature like a doorway or window. Working as a team and guided by us, they use a large variety of beautiful flowers and foliage to create a showstopping, natural-looking installation. An installation that is totally foam free and uses all sustainable techniques to achieve this.
When the magic happens…
On the morning of Day 4, we’re joined by professional wedding photographer Andrea Gilpin, who captures the day's events and provides portfolio images for the students to use on their websites and social media. We also bring in a model to act as the bride, dressed in wedding dresses chosen and styled by Kate from Ashwell and Co and a makeup artist to ensure the bride looks picture-perfect. This setup allows the students to experience working with other creatives in a real-world context.
This final day transforms into a styled shoot extravaganza. With top-notch professionals and the best flowers available, the students put their skills to the test, creating something truly magnificent. For us, this day feels like magic. All the hard work and learning culminate in a fast-paced, exciting event that showcases the students' achievements. Though a whirlwind of a day, the learning curve for the students is immense. Watching them shine and achieve so much is incredibly rewarding for us, and we always feel immensely proud of them and what they have achieved.
For many students, this might be their first time creating something on such a grand scale, and the excitement of working with a wide array of flowers and having the freedom to design is truly palpable. We believe that the best learning happens through doing, so after offering a few suggestions and instructions, we prefer to step back and let the students experiment and solve problems on their own, only stepping in if something seems unsafe or they’re unsure.
While students may occasionally need guidance on scale or arrangement order, we’re always impressed by their results. It’s not that we doubt their capabilities, but they often exceed our expectations. This success is largely due to the freedom to explore and experiment. The end result is always a resounding “wow,” and the sense of pride and satisfaction among the group is palpable.
As well as working as a team, each student also has the opportunity to work individually with the bride, showcasing their wedding bouquets in various settings. Whether in front of the installation, outside, or up close with the bride’s dress, while the photographer provides tips to capture their work at its best.
Additionally, students take turns styling a dining table with the floral bowl arrangements they created the previous day. They use candles, napkins, tablecloths, runners, plates, cutlery, and glassware to complement their floral designs. This setup allows each student to present their work in a way that reflects their personal style, ensuring that the portfolio images truly represent the type of work they want to pursue in the future.
As teachers, we find immense satisfaction in knowing that the impressive floral creations on the final day are supported by a deep understanding of the behind-the-scenes work needed for a successful wedding. We’re confident that by the end of the course, students are well-equipped to organise their work, design beautiful arrangements, manage flowers effectively, and handle clients professionally while ensuring profitability.
