How to become a florist in the UK: A realistic guide

16 Mar

One of the most common questions I got asked (or DMed) is how did I become a florist? For context, I’m based in Glasgow in the UK. It can feel dauting when you’re just starting out as a florist, especially if you’re starting from scratch. I’ve put this realistic guide to becoming a florist together for you.

From the outside being a florist looks wonderful. You’re surrounded by beautiful blooms and get the spend your day being creative, what’s not to love? That is only a part of it though. This guide will help you decide whether a career in floristry is right for you.

What does a florist actually do?

It’s not just ‘playing with flowers’. Sorry to shatter the illusion! Running Rook Botanics looks like a lot of time spent at my desk answering emails, doing my marketing, ordering flowers. There’s also the upkeep of the studio, buckets, vessels and glassware need to be cleaned regularly, lots of garden waste needs to be disposed of and tools need to be kept oiled and sharp. The rest of the time is spent working with flowers. This includes conditioning them when they arrive, arranging them for a wedding, event or funeral, transporting them to the venue and then often collecting them and disposing of them. The main income streams for Rook Botanics are weddings, workshops, elopements and career change courses.

Every florist career looks different.

My week usually begins on a Tuesday. My Monday is typically my weekend as floristry often requires you to work the weekend. Tuesday will often be answering emails, online consultations with potential wedding and elopement customers, as well as ordering flowers in for the week’s jobs.

Wednesday will be prepping the studio. This looks like thoroughly cleaning all my buckets, sharpening and oiling all my tools, like floral knife and secateurs, filling buckets with clean water, tidying the studio and prepping any vessels, vases or boxes that will be used over the next couple of days. Thursday will often be the day flowers are delivered. This day can be an early start, my wholesaler delivers to my studio, but if you need to visit the wholesaler it may be a very early start for you. My flower order usually arrives around 8am. All the flowers need to conditioned, quality checked and then put into buckets. Depending on how big your order is this may take a good couple of hours. I find conditioning really enjoyable, I put on a queue of podcasts or an audiobook. It can be quite repetitive and physically demanding, but I’ll treat myself to a nice coffee halfway through or if it’s a really big order I’ll hire a freelancer. After conditioning I will begin creating the bouquets, arrangements or designs. If the wedding or event I’m working on is particularly big I may have the flowers delivered on Wednesday and have two full days of prep.

Friday will be doing the bulk amount of prep for the wedding or event. This may include personal wedding flowers like wedding bouquets, corsages, buttonholes, floral headdresses. It can also include lots of bud vases or table centres. There’s usually larger scale arrangements like urns and meadows. I’ll organise everything to be easily packed up the following morning.

Saturday is usually the day of the wedding or event. It’s often a very early start, particularly if the venue is further afield. The day begins with loading the car or van. I started weightlifting when I began Rook Botanics, it’s been really helpful to build up my strength as floristry requires a lot of carrying heavy things around. Once on site everything will need to be unloaded. At a wedding the personal flowers, like bouquets, need to be delivered. The ceremony will be set up first and then the reception. This may include large scale designs like archways, working at heights can be quite common so it’s useful to be confident on ladders. Sometimes you’ll need to stay on site to move around the ceremony flowers to another location.

Sunday may be a day off, or it may be a tear down day. This means going back to the venue, taking apart all of the designs you created the previous day and then disposing of them. I like to collate all the usable flowers and give them to the couple and their friends and family. Some flowers won’t be usable and will just need to be composted. Sometimes tear down has to be done at 1am! In all honesty I prefer this because then I can have a lie in on Sunday.

Even though the event is done there’s still stuff to be done. Any items that were hired will probably need to be cleaned. Getting wax off my candlestick holders is my least favourite job. The water from the buckets need to be poured away too. You’ll quickly learn that mouldy flower water is one of the worst smells ever.

Do you need qualifications to become a florist in the UK?

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Different Ways to Learn Floristry

How Long Does It Take to Become a Florist?

Building Your Floristry Portfolio

Learn Floristry at The Rookery

Thinking of a career change into floristry?

Let Sarah can help you become a florist. She runs personalised floristry intensive days in her studio in Shawlands, Glasgow.

Career ChangeFloristryFloristry EducationFloral workshopflower arranging

Sarah Rushbrooke