The Launch of the Floral Workshop
This Christmas saw the launch of my floral workshops, starting with the classic and always popular Christmas Wreath workshop - after all, who doesn’t love a Christmas Wreath workshop during the festive period!
It may be the most popular workshop to launch with, but that doesn’t make it any easier to organise and prepare for. I started working on the concept during the heatwave of last Summer. I selected and met with two different venues, the first one being my corporate clients, The Dial House in Bourton on the Water, who were delighted to collaborate with me and supply an Afternoon Tea package at the beginning of the festive period. The second location I wanted to be local to my studio, so I approached the artisan bakery in Tiddington, Knead It!, who have a beautiful studio near the river, and Jane & Craig were only too happy to supply the venue, and provide a selection of delicious freshly baked cakes with barista quality coffee for the occasion.
The next part of the process was to create the graphics to advertise the workshops. Being my first workshop, I didn’t have a database of workshop customers to approach, so I was starting from scratch. I wrote some text and selected the photography, and my wonderfully creative artworker Becky Storey then produced some beautiful artwork for my flyers, with the perfect strapline ‘TIS THE SEASON… to play with holly!’. I then had the flyers printed, and set about marketing the workshops at the beginning of October, with collaboration from both The Dial House and Knead It!, and the places were soon selling, in fact my Knead It! workshops proved so popular, I added an additional two dates to the schedule to accommodate demand.
The workshops themselves were organised with huge attention to detail. I selected an abundance of spruce, foliage, berries and pretty shrubs, to create the wreaths on 18” mossed wire rings, with every element of the process being demonstrated and then recreated by each group. There was also a beautiful selection of ribbons, rosehips, holly berries, pine cones, oranges, limes and sparkling picks to decorate the wreaths. Every wreath created had a different finish, and they all looked wonderful!
Throughout the sessions, Knead It! provided a constant flow of coffee, delicious homemade cakes and of course fizz, and with the finishing touch to get everyone in the festive mood - a bit of Bublé in the background!
The feedback from all the sessions has been amazing, and considering these were my first, I couldn’t have been happier with how much everyone enjoyed their workshops, and how happy they all were with their wreaths. I felt very proud that they were all such a success.
This was of course just the start of my floral workshops. I’m already planning more group workshops throughout 2020, and I’m also available for 1:1 workshops at a convenient date for you. Do keep an eye on my website for workshop updates, or email me if you would like a workshop tailored to your specific requirements.
I’m now looking forward to holding more workshops and to meeting more floral creatives in 2020!