The Floral Retreat from The Good Florist

Learning and developing your floristry and floral style.

We recently shared details (along with a lovely discount!) with members about floral courses available that can help florists of all abilities to learn and develop their skills.

From personal experience we know how important it is to feel confident and connected to your own floristry style and technique. It’s an ever evolving profession and it’s vital you continue to feel at the forefront of your game.

We caught up with Roberta from The Good Florist recently and had a really insightful chat about career change floristry courses, and how impactful they can be not only to new florists starting out but also established florists wanting to progress or refine their current floristry.

Roberta offers some great courses for florists, of all abilities, covering a host of important topics. She has recently released The Floral Retreat which sounds ideal for anyone who’s wanting to get started in floristry or develop further from where they are currently.

We asked Roberta to tell us more about the benefits of their courses and what The Floral Retreat offers…..

Who does the Floral Retreat apply to?

This course is for people who are serious about working with flowers and want to realise their dreams as designers.

The Floral Retreat is for individuals who want to start their own businesses but also for florists who are developing their practice, and are ready to take their businesses to the next level.

It’s perfect for florists who may have had time out and want to relaunch, or for those who want to start to attract bigger budget weddings.

It’s a very unique opportunity to work with an art director, stylist and photographer and create work to a high editorial standard, perfect for those who may need a website refresh and new content for socials. We deliver a full portfolio of images to each student, so they can start attracting their dream clients right away.

It’s a short and highly focused course, perfect for those who don’t have the time for a long period of learning and who want to jump right in. While there are so many great tutorials online, nothing compares to handling flowers irl!

What will they learn? What does it cover?

We make everything from buttonholes, table arrangements, installations, bouquets, flower crowns, wreaths, garlands, gift bunches, and anything else you want to learn how to make.

But we also spend time discussing: sourcing, ordering, timings and logistics of a wedding, mock quote writing, dealing with complaints, writing proposals, working with photographers, dealing with waste, avoiding burnout and the big one is PRICING. I want everyone to understand the cost of their services, to set their pricing hierarchy, and value their time as professional florists. This is the key to running a sustainable business.

Added bonuses are that we visit a flower farm and also work on a fully styled photoshoot to round off the week. It’s a pretty full on five days.

For established florists, the course can help you level up your game, tighten your processes, and of course deliver you fresh content.

It’s also a chance to practice elements that you may want to brush up on (bridal bouquets!), or to try new styles and techniques away from client demands. It’s an opportunity to rekindle your passion for flowers and reignite your creative spark.

What is your style of teaching? How do you think this affects learning outcomes with different people?

I aim to create a learning environment that helps everyone relax and enjoy the creative process. At the end of the week, I want people to have made many different arrangements and feel super confident in themselves and buzzing with ideas.

I share a lot of information and am candid about working in the industry - the ups and downs. I love workings alongside the students on the big designs but mostly stand back and allow the magic to happen.

I provide a lot of different flowers and materials and encourage students to work with the flowers they are drawn to. I don’t allocate students with exactly the same flowers, as I want them to explore their own designs and colour palettes. I love helping students find their own style.

Creating the right space for learning is really important for me. We have great food, beautiful music and lots of time to forage and enjoy time on our beautiful Devon farm.

How have you seen the course make a difference to past participants?

It’s amazing to watch the transformation take place in just five focussed days and it blows me away to see students start their own businesses.

A couple of really lovely moments that come to mind are hearing Pearl @Millefleurpearl https://www.millefleur.co.uk) on the Flowerona podcast. I’m also super proud of Alarna from The Wild Society in Suffolk (https://www.thewildsociety.co.uk/home @thewildsocietyuk), who has just taken on a half an acre of land and seeing wonderful student Jenna, Tulip & Cactus (https://www.tulipandcactus.co.uk @tulip_andcactus) move into a bigger premises, to accommodate her expanding business.

My students also freelance for each other sometimes, which makes me happy to think that the course helps build lasting connections.

One of the best things about the course is gathering a group of people together from different backgrounds. Some have an obvious design background, such as fashion or fine art, but others are on a total career change moving out of corporate jobs in operations, IT etc. All super helpful skills when you’re running your own business. Anyone who works in event floristry needs to know their way around a spreadsheet.

People come with a mix of experience. Some have never held a pair of snips before, and others already have the bug and want to take it to the next level. The course is open to anyone, but it’s for people committed to making a living working with flowers, in whatever way that might be.