015. BLOOMS BY ELLE [VIDEO]

Floral artistry, business struggles, and the high-stakes world of luxury weddings—this episode of Crew Table goes deep with Melissa from Blooms by Elle, one of Sydney’s top florists known for creating breathtaking, high-end floral installations. With 14 years in the industry, Melissa has worked on some of the most extravagant weddings and events, but her journey has been anything but easy.

She opens up about the realities of running a floral business, why she chose to shut down her Croydon Park storefront after 2.5 years, and the challenges of balancing artistry with profitability. We get into the controversial world of pricing—why are florals so expensive, why do costs vary so much between florists using the same suppliers, and what really goes into those luxury floral setups?

Melissa also shares the highs and lows of working with family, including her close business ties with her sister, Daniella from Ella Dee Events. Plus, we dive into some chaotic behind-the-scenes moments—like the time she had to save a wedding setup when disaster struck at my own engagement.

This episode is an unfiltered look at the floral industry, the unexpected struggles, and the moments of magic that make it all worth it.

HOSTED BY@georgejohnphotography
PRODUCED BY@danieljohnmedia

Episode Transcript

(00:11):
Mel, welcome to the crew table. George, John.
Well guys, this is one of my longest friends in the industry.
This is the most exciting kind of episode because it's easier
to get Mel on the podcast and togo to dinner with her.
I know she never joins her friendship dinners because she's
such a busy, busy mum, but that's right.
Thanks, Jay. That's right.
I'm just going to hit erase you a little bit.
She's going to bash me with her eyes right now.

(00:34):
I love that you're here. Thank you.
Thanks for having me. I'm nervous.
I've never done this before, butlet's do it, Jay.
You know what? I wanted you to be the first
florist for many, many reasons. Obviously, you're so talented.
I feel like on a personal level,you're very, very trendy.
Like when we go out for dinners and stuff, feel the trendy kind

(00:55):
of go with your opinions. If you have opinions, we ask
you. So you know, I want to pick your
brain a little bit. And I honestly truly believe not
many people know who blooms by or is run by because you're
just. Not many people know who I am.
Guys blooms by Elle is not even.She's not Elle.
I'm not Elle, I'm Mel. Elle's my mum.
It's so confusing. Elle's my backbone.
But also for my loyal listeners,those watching.

(01:18):
I'm using cue cards today, not my iPad.
I've changed it up, so if this works, hectic.
If it doesn't, you're my test, you're my Guinea pig.
But I'm going to try to stick true with it because it's very
hard to write your questions. I've made you for a very long
time and you know, it's hard to know which direction you want to

(01:41):
take it, right? But I've overarching to give
everyone a preview of what this episode's going to be.
I'm going to tackle the hard floral questions, obviously, but
when I say I'm going to tackle it, I know Mel's tough enough to
answer these questions, which isalso part of the reason why I
put her in the chair. So we're going to talk money,
we're going to talk weddings, we're going to talk budget,
we're going to talk production and all of that jazz.
I didn't want to take the risk of bringing someone on in the

(02:03):
forestry grain. And they're all fantastic and I
love them all and I'm friends with them all, but I needed to
trust that is someone who's going to bring back enough
information to the table for thelisteners.
Thank you. Because to be very honest, I'm
done with my like at my wedding and events.
So it doesn't really bother me in terms of like knowing this
information, but I'm here to like bring it to the audience

(02:24):
anyways. 14 years in the industry, me talking, I don't
shut up. 14 years in the industry.
You actually started out not doing floristry talk about in a
little bit. And you even had your shop fun,
which I didn't even know until like pre recording trying to
understand information. But before I read this film.
Do you want to? I don't even need to actually.

(02:45):
I want you to take the lead. Tell me the journey of what you
were doing before Floristry to like why it LED into that.
So I finished school 05, graduated.
I studied journalism, thought I wanted to be a journalist.
That's so trippy. Very trippy, but I loved it

(03:07):
anyway. I continued my studies for three
years and then I was like, OK, Mel, if you want to get ahead in
that sort of industry, you need to go rural.
But who said that? As in college and uni.
Yeah. And then I was like, you know
what? Is this what I really want?
Yeah, I've studied. Do I want to do that?
Yeah. Is that where I want to be?

(03:28):
Yeah. And then I started to question
myself and my future. And my mum was doing, not really
floristry, she was doing, do youremember those like little dried
arrangements that say bathroom used to hang them up and they
used to have the dried flowers. You know, my mum used to do
that. That was her hobby.
While I was studying, I left. I was like, journalism's not for

(03:52):
me. I went and got a job at the
bank, Commonwealth Bank, made myway up, became a business banker
for them, built my business knowledge by working there and
helping other people. And one day I was like mum,
let's do this, let's just get into floristry.
She used to do dried flowers, non nothing fresh.

(04:13):
I looked into doing like a little short peasants course,
just as a little side hustle. And she was like, Mel, if this
is what you want to do, let's doit.
I had no ID so basically self taught.
Holy shit. And.
That's awesome. Let's go.
That's so cool. And that's it.
That's how it started. I left work.
My boyfriend at the time was like, Are you sure you want to

(04:36):
do this? It's a steady income.
You're getting paid well. And I said, you know what?
If I'm not going to do that now,I'm not going to do it.
I'm just going to be safe and stay safe.
Yeah. And I did it.
It's a mad risk, but it's cool that you took that risk.
What stage did you have the shopfront?
I had it too, been 1412 years ago.

(04:59):
I had the shop for two years. Yeah, I opened up in Croydon
Park. It was a really busy Rd.
Like you were doing like bouquets and stuff?
Yes, OK. I was doing that.
I was doing events on the side, Yeah.
I just thought, well, maybe I could get some exposure having
the shop, but I was there from markets in the morning.
So my day starts at 4. AMI was dropping off flowers

(05:21):
there, going back home, doing what I need to do, coming back
to the shop, sitting there all day waiting for maybe one to
three customers. I had a lot of deliveries, so it
wasn't really traffic through the shop.
It was a lot of deliveries. And I was like, I'm paying rent,
why am I doing this, weighing myoptions?
And I said, you know what, maybethis isn't what I want to do.

(05:44):
Let me just focus on events and do that to the best that I can
do. So my lease finished and we
didn't renew it. We built a studio behind my
mum's house with a cool room kitchenaire and that's been our
workspace ever since and I haven't looked back.
Yeah. And you obviously still do like
what you did fundamentally back then.
Yeah, to now. But then I feel like you're not

(06:05):
more more on the event and wedding.
Space if people like if my regulars ask me for flowers I
can make arrangements or if it'spre ordered.
Yes, but I do do mostly events now which I prefer.
But that was my next question. Looking back, do you enjoy it
more? Yes, definitely.
It's more of an experience. It's more of a journey.
I was someone would call up. There was nothing personal.

(06:26):
About it, about arrangements. About just making flowers, you
know an arrangement, it'll go, it'll go out and that's it.
But looking back onto your work,when you create an event, it's
so much more. Yeah, 'cause you build that.
Relation. It's much more fulfilling.
You get that journey, the final product, see their reaction live
like this whole thing. But I feel like the arrangement
space can be now a lot more money than maybe what it was

(06:51):
when you had it in Elwood, right?
Croydon, Croydon Park, Croydon, because of socials and websites.
Like I see a lot of companies that are in the event wedding
space and do like, I call it drop shipping.
It's like the arrangements are on their website.
It's like easy to purchase, likeit's seasonal stuff.
Were you back then? Was it like pre socials and
websites and that kind of stuff?So it's just, yeah, a traffic

(07:11):
ship, Yeah. I posted a photo.
Can I have that in pink? Can I have that in green?
Can I have it in red? And that's it.
All right, mad, all right answerthe first question.
We answered this first question.This fucking cute card's already
not working. Oh, you answered this question
all Emily, this is that areas that's good.

(07:32):
It is very good. I'm just like we we're such
yappers. Oh, this is a good question.
I don't know. This is such a heavy question
for me to, like put into this time frame, but I'll give a back
story for those who don't know. Daniella is your sister.
Yes. And Daniella is, she runs LED
events. Yeah.
So she is a wedding and events planner and stylist and you are
a wedding and events florist. So obviously, naturally, the

(07:56):
stars align and you just work a lot together.
Yeah. Very, very well.
The works Always fun. Like on, on the on the end of
like the event when I see it, italways looks great.
You can tell this synergy. How do you enjoy working with
your sister? I love it because there's no
philtre. Yeah.
If I think something's great, I'll say it's great.

(08:18):
I'll be like, Dan, you need to come to the markets with me.
Come and see. Yeah, obviously someone's paying
her to do the job. Even though I'm the florist.
I can give my advice and show her what I can source.
But at the end of the day, if she's not happy with it, then
I'm not going to be happy with it.
Yeah, I think we just flow really and work really well

(08:38):
together. Do you feel like sometimes that
it might, though, stagnate you to like, only be associated with
Daniella? That's just so awkward because
the yellow is in the room. So I'm trying not to look at no
but be honest. I feel like it's someone's
personal perception. If that's what someone wants to
think, then that's what they want to think.
But no, we're two separate entities.
I do my own thing. I've worked with different

(09:00):
stylists. I do work with different
stylists, yeah. But it's good that we sort of
work hand in hand. Why not?
Now, naturally, I would assume you might be wrong, but I'm
going to be open and honest and say it is that like you would
give a good price for your sister's sake.
So for instance, and what I meanby that is like if the client
has a certain styling budget, you try your best to make it

(09:22):
work because your sister's like,but this is going to be an epic
event Will I make? Is it true?
Like would that be the case? It's not true.
To some extent it's true. How can I say it?
It's true in a way where I'm like, if I can take out a little

(09:43):
bit more money, OK, from profit and execute this and it's going
to look fucking amazing, then I'll do that.
OK. OK, yeah, well said.
And to be honest, it's not just Daniela that's with everyone.
I'll never hold back. If I feel like something's going
to make a break in a van, then I'll spend to get it over the

(10:04):
line and make it look epic. That's the hard thing about your
job. Yes.
Because I don't have the personality trait to handle what
you do because it's like, when do you stop?
Like it's such an emotional job and you have to have the hat to
pull back. Otherwise you'd just be running
an unprofitable business, right?I agree because a lot of things
can get exciting if you're just working off it.

(10:25):
But I just always get curious iflike working with a sibling,
like how much is both rally off each other?
If it's like, you know, if there's pros and cons to it.
I couldn't work with my siblingsmaybe if I was like in my field
directly, because I'd probably tick like, you know, clash a
little bit more. But obviously the Unison's
there. It's been years of work, but you
guys have worked both together. Yeah, No, we're so credit to you
both. Honestly, it's it's pretty hard.

(10:47):
Our job is very close as sisters, not just business wise,
but. Yeah, that is very cute.
Thank you. Have you ever felt like
planners, including your sister or venues, take credit for your
work? So like, do you feel like as a
florist you get enough recognition?
Because to me, when an event, whether it's big or small in

(11:09):
terms of floral budget, or it's like a, you know, those jobs
where it's like everything is about the flowers or
everything's about the chandeliers or everything's
about the lighting. Like, you know, certain events
aesthetically have certain things.
Do you feel like you get enough credit when it comes to that
kind of public perception of what the event kind of rolls out
to be? I do.
I do because at the end of the day, there's so much social

(11:31):
media out there so people know who the florist is.
OK, I get it. You're so I do going.
Man, she's so chill. You're so unproblematic.
I'm not going. To say no.
Unproblematic for a podcast and he's a juice man.
Yeah, let's I think I need you to.
I think I need you to drink justlike a smidgen more.
She's like, Nah, it's so fine. Credit me.

(11:52):
Don't credit me. That's it just to take them.
Thanks, George. You're very much known for the
use of real flowers. Do you use fake flowers before I
continue this? I will use silk flowers to base
up and install, as in for the bulk of it, OK to hide

(12:12):
mechanics. OK.
Because if I'm going to use fresh flowers to hide mechanics
and to hide my structures, I'm going to be spending a lot of
money on that. But like face value will touch
point, it's mostly real flowers.Fresh flowers, yes.
OK so fresh flowers, do you everhave the temp to switch?
No. No.
Do you want to touch on that a little bit?

(12:34):
On why I'm. Not using audience, right?
Educate myself. Yeah.
About the difference between hate calling and fake flowers.
Fox flowers, silk flowers, whatever you want to call that
verse. Fresh flowers.
OK, what's the pros and cons? What's your personal take on it?
Fresh is beautiful. When you walk into a room and

(12:57):
there's fresh flowers, it's likeendorphins, you know, they make
you happy, you see it and you'relike blown away by it.
I don't know if I'm being biassed because I'm a florist,
but when I walk into a room and it's filled with flowers, I
think it's stunning. I don't get that same feeling
when I walk into a room that's dressed with fake flowers.

(13:20):
No offence to anyone that does fake, you know everyone has
their Forte and whatnot, but theluxury of having fresh flowers
is. I think that's nicely beautiful.
I think that's nicely said. And it doesn't necessarily need
to come down to budget because whether it's big or small, no
matter what's displayed, it's not about like the volume, it's
about the quality of a quantity,no matter what someone's kind of

(13:42):
ability is to produce. But I agree with you because I
feel like organically it doesn'tmake sense.
You know, I get it when you're having a big, big event and some
people choose that option. Totally respected and understand
it, but I don't know, I just feel like real flowers give you
that variation in time that fakeflowers don't like.
I like as the whole wedding yeargoes out seasonally, you see the

(14:06):
change and you're not just saying the same thing because
you have the ability to have a constant.
But I. Don't know if I'm getting too
like loopy in my head when I overthink it.
I just feel like when I see artificial flowers, they're the
same flowers. There's no variation.
Yeah. So I don't know.
Each to their own I guess. It must be more fun to work with

(14:28):
both to see that variation over the years.
I love it. Let's talk money.
Why are florals so expensive? What is the whole notion about
flowers are just so expensive? We live in Oz, OK.
We have the shittest geographical weather, OK?

(14:48):
70% of our flowers are imported,OK, So that's already a massive
chunk. They're coming, they're
harvested, they're coming from overseas.
You know, there's import duties already.
This is before we actually they get to the grower.
So mostly growers are international, no?
Like it's done overseas. Imported, yes, a lot of like all

(15:12):
our imported roses, even some hydrangeas, you know, a lot of
different flowers are imported. We don't have the climate here
to be able to grow them, so us having to bring them here is
already a massive cost. They've got a markup and you
know the changes continues. Yeah, no fair.
It is really expensive, like I think from when I first started,

(15:34):
flowers have doubled in price. Is there any misconceptions you
feel like I'll be quotes that you haven't addressed when it
comes to like the cost of flowers?
Pricing, you're saying or actualinitial cost of flowers and why
they're expensive? Just in general, when it comes
to quoting, do you feel like there's misconceptions on being
as a? Florist People need to
understand that being a florist is the most labour intense

(16:01):
position in the industry. Explain that.
OK, My day starts at 4:00 AM, OK, There's so much work.
It's not just getting the flowers and arranging them.
No, some of them have just come off a shipment.
You need to cut them. You need to place them in water.
You need to. They're perishable goods.
You need to keep these flowers alive.

(16:21):
You know, my prep for a wedding or for a massive event will
start from a Wednesday. All my sundries will be, you
know, the week before or whatnot.
Your what, like all you know, getting your vases, getting your
foams, making sure your mechanics are, you know, all
there for you to work with, not just that cable ties tape that's

(16:43):
flexing, flexing exactly did that's the new trend.
Like all that takes time. Guys I recently like flexing is
when they remove the pedal like they open.
Correct. And you make it from that small
to that big. I want a gold stand much you.
Want to try? Yeah, when I want to clap or
something. But no, I get it, The Labour's
intensive. It is.
So Labour's intensive with hoursand hours of work, plus the

(17:05):
product is intensive with. Those ones on site for an event,
we're the last ones to leave. We leave, we need to come back.
Venues don't allow you to keep flowers there anymore.
So we either organise a wrappingstation for our clients because
of that. That way, you know, their guests
can enjoy the flowers, they can take them home.
We'll bunch them up, wrap them up, personalise them and

(17:26):
everyone gets to take something home.
Yeah. And.
Then if not, you're collecting them to dispose of them,
correct? So that there's that expense as.
Well, and there's that which you've.
Always done at like what? Like 1:00 AM.
Yeah, 12 AM. Fire out.
Exactly right. So you're telling me on a
Saturday you'd come back at like, like midnight?
12 o'clock 11:30 to 12:00. And then like you can start work

(17:47):
again. The next time.
Do you, then? Do you?
When I first started floristry, I always thought, my God, the
flowers are going to die. I'd have a wedding on the Sunday
and I'll start on the Friday morning.
So I'd come back from markets 5:30 or whatever time and then
just start prepping and I'd havemy whole family cleaning and

(18:09):
arranging for the Saturday wedding.
Whereas now I sort of understandthings a bit better.
Yeah, I was taught. I was self taught.
So I'm just. Do you work in a fridge?
This isn't even on the script. I'm just seriously, I've had a
cool room far out. I couldn't do that.
I hate the cold. Yeah, I feel like from what I've
heard and what I've experienced as a consumer, there's a massive

(18:29):
price range in the world of florists.
Yes, especially in Sydney. You can get it.
And I'm guys just to just to give everyone some
understanding, I'm talking aboutsomeone who works with real like
natural flowers, not, not silk flowers, just so you understand
that. Yeah, you can get someone for

(18:49):
like 1/4 of the pricing and get some.
I've like, even when I was planning my wedding and stuff,
my wedding planner was like, if you want to engage with this
forest, then minimum budget is this.
And I was like, what do you meanminimum budget?
Right. So that's all they work with.
So there's a massive range. You can have like high, high end
forests and like, you know, mid and then low.
Yeah. Why is there such a price range

(19:10):
when you all know your your costs?
There's so much undercutting happening in the industry right
now and I feel like there's nothing really ethical about it
anymore because it looks bad on the people that are under
charging and then it looks bad on the people that are
overcharging. Well, there isn't a regular

(19:32):
regulatory body for the wedding industry.
At night, there's a way that you're taught, but at the end of
the day, this is a job, it's a business.
You still need to make money. I don't mean I'll never be
greedy. I you ask everyone that works
with me, they're like, Oh my God, you're so generous with
your flowers. But then again, that's because I

(19:55):
work with perishable goods. So if I quote a job, I'm not
just quoting for what you're getting.
I'm quoting for a little bit extra.
Because what happens if I open abundle of 25 roses and five or
six are dead? You know what I mean?
I always need to have extra, youknow, like.
We're there's so many florists, but again, it's such a small

(20:16):
community, you know, I don't want to be that florist that
quotes $5000 for a ceiling installation and you get there
on the wedding day. Except dog shit.
No, it's a $12,000 job. Oh, OK, the opposite.
And they've shot themselves in the foot and they've had to use
so much extra flowers because they've undercharged.

(20:39):
Yeah, you know, or when you ask someone or how much, how much
was this backdrop and just say it's 10K and you're like, what
the fuck? 10K?
How are you making money? So do you feel like some
florists are under quoting without truly understanding the
expectation of their? Costs and then they're.
Like somewhat silently sufferingin the back back end.
Yes, I do. OK.

(21:02):
I'm more of a quality of a quantity type of girl.
Yeah, I'm happy. You know, I'll do 1-2, maybe 3-4
jobs a week on a, on a busy week.
I've got family, you know, they come first.
I sort of like veering off now, but no veer off.
I'm I'm happy with what I do. I'm happy with how I charge.

(21:26):
You need to say if I'm actually going to sit down and quote
someone on the hours that I spend from Wednesday to Sunday,
but actually write down the hours, it'll be double what I
quote people. But I don't work out an hourly
rate for everyone. You know what I mean?
Like I don't do that for my clients.
I feel like experience teaches you that naturally, right?

(21:49):
So like when you're booking someone with experience, it's
not just for like the name's sake, you're just like, oh,
like, you know, I've got this person and it's like a subtle
flex. It's more just because you can
trust that this person will deliver and you're kind of at
that stage, you know what I mean?
When you have this many years under your belt, you've put that
self expectation within yourselfthat if someone's booked me and
they've genuinely, you know, like trusted in me, they've

(22:10):
paid, they've locked in that day.
I'm going to give it my all. I can guarantee that client will
be happy, right? But when you're in that earlier
stage where you're under quotingand we've been there, am I going
to say like I wasn't cheap when I first started, you know what I
mean? So I get it.
I get we're kind of. I feel like you need to sort of
set a bar for yourself because if you're going to price cheap,

(22:31):
you're going to be labelled as that cheap florist and let's
just say flowers do go up in price.
What are you going to do then? Yeah, Again, like I said, it's
not that I overcharge. It's there's so much that goes
into it that I need to be realistic, Yeah.
It's also it's your time. It's not worth taking on a job

(22:51):
and and working so hard when there's like, it's not even just
about profit when there's like literally no reward.
That's what I'm saying. If someone emails me and I'll be
completely honest and it's a really small job and it's a
Saturday, just say 2:00 in the afternoon and it's going to take
away time from spending with my kids, I'll say no to it.

(23:13):
Yeah, I say it's a terrible, I don't know, I learned it
recently, but sometimes the mostinexpensive quote can be the
most expensive problem. Yeah, later on.
I don't mean that that's saying that always the case.
But sometimes, like the lowest job can create the greater chaos
for you because of the amount oftime.
And if you put in your like, yeah, how has this consumed so
much time that wasn't actually factored in when you're like

(23:35):
bigger scale jobs, factor in that time, you know, calendar
wise, scheduling wise, post production wise, pre production,
it's like you quote for that. You allocate that time.
It's not about money. Yeah, it's about facilitation
and actually orchestrating. That's right.
You're not just going there, doing the job, leaving 100%.
I need to think, I need to come back.
I need to pack down, I need to clean, I need to come back.
I need to clean my studio and, you know, make sure it's a blank

(23:56):
canvas for the next job. This question I'm actually so
excited to ask. I feel like your industry
understanding it and through my like pre interview kind of
educating myself is the biggest gamble because as a
photographer, I know my costs, they're pretty much outlaid for
the whole year. The only thing that can variate
my cost is if like there's a production side of things

(24:17):
involved. Does that make sense?
So like photo shoots, that kind of stuff were like cost to to
create a set, but every single week your cost changes.
So every week when you go to themarket, the cost of a rose will
change, the cost of a orchid will change.
It's a big gamble. How do you then, as a business
owner, pre plan that when you'requoting a wedding that's four

(24:39):
months out? It's not something you can ever
pre plan. You just need to be able to
change. Just say the variety.
OK for something else like for example last week I had ordered
just say hydrangeas at $20. Yeah, like a bunch or whatever

(24:59):
it was. I needed 45 bunches of that
variety. It was for the Friday market.
I asked the grower if he has anyavailable because I was going to
get him in prep instead of doingit on the Friday.
He only had 10 bunches for me. I took them home.
They were brown. I couldn't use them.
So I do you stupid. I don't know if you want to

(25:19):
answer this. Do you like get your money back
in that situation? No, I basically got an excuse
saying that. Not an excuse, but that when you
crop and that's probably why they've browned.
So my only other option was to go back and buy imported
hydrangeas from Holland. Double the price.
OK. So I had to do that and that's

(25:41):
why I said that's why you go back to silk.
Because what I did is I ended upbasing my mechanics with the
silk, which couldn't be seen to sort of compensate for the extra
that I had to pay. Holy shit.
For those hydrangeas, it was double the price.
Do you go through these problemsa lot?
No, OK. No, I like to prepare myself and
like I said, price. I use a grower that is a little

(26:05):
bit more expensive than most at the markets.
'Cause it's trustworthy. Because they're trustworthy, OK?
And I know you'd. Prefer that, yeah.
That's what I say. I'm I.
Wouldn't want my forests to comeback to me.
But like, there is this hard work we did.
Yeah. We've got to start again.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
Yeah, a shipment came in seven bundles.
They swapped them for me. Come Mel, come pick them up.

(26:27):
They swapped the bundles for me.Awesome.
Like, no hesitation. But I've built that relationship
with them and. So do you feel like you're lucky
with time with that relationship?
Like do you purposely create that relationship so that they
kind of? The markets is a sort of
industry where if you continue to buy from them and help them
out, they help you out yeah foldso my.

(26:49):
Supplies are like that as well. Yeah, internally.
And I know if I ever need anything last minute, they'll
Uber it to me or they're great like that, yeah.
I'll call my frame guy and back.Listen, I'm so sorry.
And it's like all good. Tell me what you need.
Yeah, I need it. He's like, what do you need?
I'm like 2. You need it.
He's like all good. It's like I hate you, but all
good. Like you just you get it done.
You need that, Yeah, like I said, perishable goods.

(27:11):
How are you going to know unlessyou open up that bundle and it's
Showtime? You don't have a choice.
You don't get a second chance atit.
Have you ever worked with a client who completely
underestimated what you could like they could get for that
budget? Like for instance, the same goes
champagne taste be quote like bebudget.
As in, they got more than what they.

(27:32):
No, like they just like, you know, it's, it's a consternation
of like they'll show you certainlike a mood board or like a
wedding. And they're like, oh, I really
want this. And you're like, yeah, cool.
Here's a quote. They're like what the fuck?
Yes, all the time. OK Social media has blown shit
out of proportion in the real world, OK?
You either love it or you hate it.

(27:53):
It's built unrealistic expectations for people, which
is so sad because I don't think people want know what they
actually want these days. You know, they look at these
photos and they're like, can youdo this?
But my budget's 10K. And I was like, that's why now
when people send me emails and amood board, I send, I send back
like a breakdown of all the questions that I need answered.

(28:18):
And I don't quote. I tell them, can I call you or
let's meet to discuss this, OK. Sometimes you sound like a bitch
over emails. You know what I mean?
Like, you sound right. Yeah, Sorry.
That's, you know, we can't work with the budget like that for
what you want. You can't tell people that.
Some people don't know. Yeah, you got to educate them.
Well, it is their first rodeo. That's.
Right. So I'm like, come in, let's
chat, they'll come in. I'll be like, what do you want

(28:40):
to focus on? OK, Bridal table, you don't have
a big budget. Let's focus on, you know, you're
a photographer. What do you shoot the most?
Your bridal table. Exactly.
I said no worries, let's spend money on that.
Yeah. And not everything else.
You can simplify everything. Once you've walked into the
room, that's your focus. Yeah, but you need to educate
because people don't know. To my clients, I always tell

(29:01):
them like when they're like ask my opinion and I'm like, if
you're having a 600 person wedding, 300 person wedding,
whatever it is, and table #62 has like 10 grand worth of decor
and forrels, you've shut yourself on the floor unless you
have that budget. Like it's just like it's silly,
right? Like reuse that, repurpose that
and put it somewhere else. It's going to be kind of used.
It is a visual element. It's a visual event.

(29:21):
Yeah, I agree some people get offended by it, but it's the
truth. Yeah, talk to me about bump
insurance and bump outs. Do you, I've seen like this
whole move about outsourcing it,Yes.
Do you outsource it? Yes, now I do.
OK. Some of my jobs I do.
Some of my jobs I do. And that's because I used to

(29:41):
come home on a Sunday. Yeah.
And my body was shut down mode. I needed to sleep like I used to
do an event all day, come home, nap, set my alarm for 11:30, be
back at the venue at 12 just to get in some hours of sleep.
I was broken, I was exhausted, Ihad no drive.

(30:02):
It was killing me. And this amazing company's just
come out and I think it's the best thing ever.
I'd rather pay them to do it. That's their job, that's what
they're good at and at least I get my full focus can be my
event, preparing for my next dayevents.
You know, nothing's going to take away from that.

(30:23):
I'm not going to be broken. I'm not going to be sore, I'm
not going to be tired. So when?
Longevity right now. You have to.
I've got kids Jay. I can't not get out of bed and
say, oh I'm tired today. Go to your dad.
Life doesn't stop. So if I'm going to be broken
now, how am I going to be in 10 years time?
I'm not going to take care of myself now, how am I going to be
in 10 years time? A. 100% So do you find that that

(30:46):
has actually how long have you been using them for?
What did you say roughly the bump like the bump out?
Maybe a year. Have you found obviously the
reward on a personal level, but have you found the reward on a
financial level? Like is it expensive?
Yes, it's a little bit more expensive.
Obviously because it's like you're paying for it, but like
you're shocked when you got their cost.

(31:08):
Yes. But weighing up the financial
side of it, you can't compare. Yeah.
I was like, there's no price to like, do I lose 5-6, seven, $100
or what? It is, Yeah.
Or am I thrashed? Yeah, basically for that 100%
weekend. So I get it.
I feel like you can't put a dollar figure on your health and

(31:30):
the way you feel. You can't.
For the first time. That's me though, some people do
it. Pre taken like control over my
scheduling because the thing I've learned recently is in like
the last few years when I take on like big, big, big weddings.
And I'm talking about big weddings, but I'm talking about
by hours. So typically Macedonian
weddings, Lebanese weddings thatstart very early, I try to make

(31:53):
sure that I either leave the daybefore free if it's a Sunday
wedding or the day after. Because you start so early, you
finish so late that I kind of like it's unfair to the next
client if I'm not fully rested. Yeah.
So try to take control scheduling wise.
Yeah. So like, I wish I had a bump out
option, my line of work, but it's not.

(32:14):
I want to talk about like the concept about because you're
pre, I think of your work. Obviously it's on the day, but a
lot of your hard work is pre thejob, right?
Where a lot of discussions are made with, you know, planners
and stylists, but sometimes justyourself and you discuss like
what flower am I using? What trend am I using?
Kind of like the mood and the signing of the aesthetic of a

(32:34):
wedding. You're a trendy person, man.
Do you feel like you get frustrated when you get clients,
or how is that whole conversation around like the
element of what the event's going to look like?
Most people come to me and know what they want, which isn't too
hard to execute. A lot of people are very safe.

(32:57):
My look is classic, and that's only because for the money that
you're spending or my client is spending.
I want them to look back in 10-15 years time and think this
was a beautiful wedding. Yeah, even though there's trends
evolving and as much as you know, I, yeah, you want to keep

(33:18):
up with trends and you want to evolve as a business, I need to
stay true to myself. And that's what I love.
Classic beautiful flowers. Awesome.
Yeah. So like, do you not feel like
you have to do too much compromise with your clients?
Like where they send you a briefand you're like the only.
This No, the only time is if they're they want a flower and
it's not in season and I'm like,but it's not in season actually

(33:41):
like. I wanted to ask about that.
Get it? So then like, well do they just
change them like you have to? Like kind of do you have a Carla
Lily? And I'm like, no, it's not in
season. You can't just import them in
advance. Well, I had a client a few weeks
ago, asked for him and they weren't available.
And she's like, she loves Carla lilies.
And then a week later, they wereat the markets imported.

(34:02):
Yeah. So no, I can't just import them
because I want them. Yeah, OK.
Yeah, interesting. I guess I kind of touched about
like undervaluing and you said you weren't undervalued.
So I feel like you are undervalued, but I guess you
feel like you're not because I feel like you're not on the job,
right? So I don't know if this is just
my perception, right? Because I'm at the wedding the

(34:23):
whole day and I see like, the plan is always there.
The stylist is always there, makeup and hand is always there,
photographer, video, we're always in front of the faces.
Even the people that are in the venue.
Yeah, the florist. I always feel bad for them
because they do all this hard. Work.
They're just the fucking shit kickers.
They end up ripping off the plastic on the dance floor so we
can get content before we work out.
No one sees that. By the time we're working for

(34:45):
rumour Reveal, you guys are never there and you've done this
like beautiful job. It would have taken like.
Going outside saying where's my water bottle?
Days and hours and everyone's like, Oh my God, this is
amazing. And everyone else in the room is
like, you're welcome, don't forget anything.
Don't. Worry.
You don't. You're like, you're OK with
that? I'm fine.
Humble human being, man. Thank you.

(35:06):
Seriously, the pressure of perfection is something
obviously everyone feels no matter who you are, right?
Like no matter what field you are, you're a creative.
Do you ever feel like you had a job of things just fell apart?
Fell apart. Yeah, like it's just not what
was in your head. It was not what was discussed.
Do you go through that or it's are you quite you seem like?

(35:27):
A I'm a very I'm AOCD person, asin I plan things very well.
I try to think of most things and if things are thought over
well there's not really fuck upson the day unless 15 of your
vases break or you know something like that.
But I feel like it doesn't matter what happens in the day,

(35:49):
you always deliver for your client.
No one ever sees what happens. I'm going to push you.
OK. Femna, I got the I got the
answer, but for the florists listening, give them a tip
because clearly your answer, allit's saying to me is experience
has taught you that right to preplan.
You've overcome the hurdles. You know, when a client you're

(36:10):
doing this like kind of installation, you know what to
do, you know the foundation, howto build that up.
Let's say I'm a goal guide getting into forestry and I'm
one year in. How have you got into this stage
now? If you don't believe in
yourself, OK, no one's going to believe in you.
You need to be confident. You need to have faith that you

(36:32):
can do your job 110%. At the end of day, we're service
providers. People are paying you to do
something. I feel like in my head there's
no time for fuck ups. You just need to go, go, go and
get the job done. So as long as you're confident,
at least as long as you trust inyourself and as long as you plan
well, everything will fall into place.

(36:54):
OK. Is that what you're sort of
asking me? Yeah, no, no, no, I definitely
got the answer. And I think that's very
inspirational to be honest, because sometimes you do need to
hear that and you do need to hear that, you know, to believe
in yourself and keep pushing forward.
My mind was kind of going to theplace of like, did you ever have
to like pre practise something? Did you ever have to learn how
to make a structure? Like how did you push yourself

(37:15):
when you're getting bigger and bigger?
I put my hands up and I was likethis florist that florist guys,
if you need help with anything, let me know.
If you need a freelancer on the job, can I come and help?
Can I watch? I don't need to do anything.
Can I come and see how you work and you observe mechanics in
floristry is number one. If you had don't have that down
pat. A lot of things are hard.

(37:36):
I mean building structures and things like that.
Once you have that, you can create whatever.
That's awesome. So I just feel like it's
learning that which is the hardest thing, and I'm still
learning that. There's a lot of things that I'm
like, wow, how did they make that or?
I saw a reinstallation at a bridal table.
I want to say I remember the florist, but I don't want to
like in my head saying one thing.

(37:57):
I don't want to be wrong. So I won't give, I won't say who
I think it is that on the back end of it, this person was so
genius. I'm like, there had to be a
mathematician in their past life.
They were using waterscape like like kind of like water bottles
to scale. The weight.
To kind of like distribute the weight.
So when you saw the front of it,it was like perfect.

(38:17):
And then when I'm taking photos of the back and stuff and I'm
like there for a little bit and then I looked up and I was like,
oh wow, like you're so. Smart got shitty sandbags
hanging from. Do you know what I mean?
Like to understand the math. And like, I'm sure it's math,
right? It's math.
Yeah. I'm not a math person.
I'll call it math. Yep.
You do to kind of like you do you to kind of distribute the

(38:38):
distribute the way I was like it's hard like you know what I
mean? That person would have stood
there like if it. Can't be seen and if it's going
to make it look epic, you do it.Yeah, like, it's impressive.
It was awesome. That's awesome.
I want, I want to talk about disasters a little bit because I
feel like I know the chaotic side of you, but you, I also
know the very calm side of you. Yeah.

(38:59):
And in the in in a world of chaos, you're always a calm
person. I am Karl.
It's about my engagement and I'mgoing to tell the people the
story. OK, I'm going to paint the
picture nice and long. I'm trying not to miss obey.
So when I was getting engaged, the day I proposed to Alexia,
that night we were having a party at my parents house and

(39:19):
Alexia obviously had no ID. She was the only person out of
knowledge but all of our friendsand family knew.
So then I have to play this whole party and what do I do?
I rely on my friends or Daniela or Mel.
I call my mother in law, call mymum and I'm like, let's get this
show going. Senna called Mel and I was like,
Mel, I trust you, you do you. She's like how much you want to
spend. I told her how much you want to
spend. She's like done called Daniela.

(39:40):
I'm like, let's make it look like this.
And they all just creatively took control.
Now to give everyone the picture.
I was actually proposing to Alexia when they were setting
up. So I had my phone couldn't be
tapped into you and they couldn't contact me because I
would have won the surprise of the party.
Now when I walk into the party, the whole cake area looks.
Like the, the the table we hiredor something together in the

(40:03):
room. Tell me if I'm telling the story
wrong. Was just so different.
But it looked great. Like it looked hectic.
But I'm like, why is this coffeetable here?
There's a coffee table inside mymum's house.
The back end was I was on our way back to Sydney from Barrel
when Mel had pregnant, right? Yeah, I was pregnant also when I
was working, when I was thinkingthe story, finished setting up

(40:26):
the flowers perfectly and the person had put the cake.
They put this like fucking 52 cake.
That was all real enough. Tone 50.
Kilos. And the whole thing collapsed,
collapsed. And everyone told me the story
after the fact. They were like, we're talking
florist just so they're like, fuck.
And she had just finished. Yeah, just finished the job.

(40:46):
Just finished, Yep she came in, she was running late, placed the
placed the cake down and everything fell on the floor
everywhere. No one attending the party,
especially like, yeah, Cena on social media would have known
that that table was from like, honestly, like credit that that
coffee table was there. But how do you handle yourself

(41:09):
in that situation? Like, how do you what do you do?
Like, what came into your mind? Like, we live a little bit.
I've got another story I can also bring up.
But yeah, go on. To say fuck.
And then you react, yeah, and you don't have time to dwell.
You need to get this shit done. You're walking in to your
engagement party. So had George's family all try
to come and help. Everyone's picking up flowers.

(41:32):
Can't do that shit man. Anyway, everyone had gathered
everything and we just tried to recreate it as quick as we could
I guess, but it worked. It turned out even a worst story
just to entertain everyone. It was a kitchen tea on a windy
fucking day. Outdoors Marquee.
Do you remember God loves me, doesn't he do?
You remember the story that Philto be allowed to hide me to take

(41:54):
photos. I don't know for the event or
just styling photos for you. Anyways, whatever.
I was there for styling and I got in there and I got there
really early and Danielle was like, why are you so early?
I'm like, I'm just here early. She had finished on time like
she always does. And I took photos of everything,
finished taking styling photos waiting for the for the bride to
be. I think it was a bridal shower
bride to be to arrive and this gust of wind, she had like a

(42:17):
full backdrop, like a massive 1,like as a full full backdrop in
front of my eyes just collapsed forward and everything had gone
to fucking share. I know I left for 5 minutes to
go get dressed because we lived off the road.
Then I get the faux por so the walls collapse.
Come now. Literally.
Look at a wall scene. Everyone's like putting up the

(42:38):
walls and gathering everything The.
Desserts on the table was that cake Dessert table stand the
cake. Yeah, she did.
She had to fix the. Cake.
The house is broken. There's chaos.
Yeah, there's chaos. Do you go through that often or
is it just when I'm there? Gorgeousness.
Have you ever had like an idiot?I wasn't.
Not my engagement yet. Like you can't blame me.

(42:59):
No, it doesn't happen all the time.
It happened once again. The venue made us put a OR.
We set up something outside and there was a gush of wind and it
fell. Luckily they had cut the cake
and it was like towards the end of their event.
But these things happen. You have no control over the
situation. The kitchen team, we fixed.
Your engagement we fixed. Yeah, it was all fixable.

(43:19):
Oh great. That made me shower.
They had cut the cake, but it. Works out.
My God, I had finished my photosat that point.
No one would have. Actually, to be honest, he
actually, I'm not even just talking shit.
I I have everything time stampedon Cameron.
He actually looked almost exactly the same.
He actually wouldn't have told. He does.
I swear. There's actually nothing for me

(43:39):
to kind of do. If anything, Daniela annoyed me
more about editing on that job. I can pray and post photos of
the disaster. I'm like Daniela, this is pray
disaster. You can't ask me anything.
She's like suck, that's not right.
These are different friends. Have you ever done anything with
weather conditions? Yep.
How's that one? Do you feel like seriously,

(44:00):
these cue cards, they make fun of me, see cuz I'm just a
yapper. But do you feel like the floral
industry goes through struggles as a florist yourself?
Just talk about yourself and with the whole industry.
You don't need to be a spokesperson over here, but do
you feel like you struggle with the whole DIY brides and silk
floral kind of attacks to like the royal floral?
Do you feel like you struggle with that?
No, because my clients that wantfresh come to me.

(44:23):
OK, I have people that ask me doI do silk and do.
You feel like your clients genuinely were like not fresh,
fresh only. I will give them an option to
bulk with silk. OK.
I don't charge, I've got the stock just to make it more cost
effective and fuller on their end.

(44:44):
OK, that's nice of you. Thank you.
Why not George? I'm like, way too calm now.
I'm going to be a sneak. Do you feel like wedding planets
and florists have enough respectfor each other and have each
other's back? Yes, that's why they get them to
work for them. Oh, nice.

(45:07):
I think they do, as long as you're on the same page and as
long as you work with a stylist that meshes well with you, then
there shouldn't be any issues. I don't like working with a
stylist though, that will micromanage.
You know, at the end of the day,I'm a creative and I still like
to have that creative freedom tocreate something.

(45:27):
Sometimes it's hard when someones breathing down your
neck and like you need to poke this that way and that needs to
be that way. I was like, I understand, just
let me do my thing. Yeah, but most of the time I
work with and I'm blessed to be working with people that do give
me that creative freedom. I would trust that you'd free
flowing as you're going. Yeah, like as you're making.
Yeah. This is like a stupid question I

(45:47):
wrote down, but it might not be a stupid question.
What is it? But I'm just curious because I
could talk about it in my world.But if you were to have a like
unlimited budget, right? So take money out of the
equation and you have a blank canvas.
What would be like the installation of your dream to
create? Well, like something that you've
been like itching or yearning for?
Flowers in Mass are perfection to me, but I would use premium

(46:12):
flowers that not everyone has the budget for.
Some Bidian orchids like anthuriums in Mass just to be
able to. Get you the red one, yeah.
Yes, the red one, but just working with specific type of
flowers that people add into their arrangements, but nothing
sculptured. And you know, something cool,
something that, like I said, forflowers like that to have an

(46:35):
impact, you need a shit. Load of it.
Aesthetically, as a photographer, I always like when
like let's say like a Max of three florals are used.
Yeah. Me too.
Not the right thing for me to say publicly, but I love when
people just do like 1 theme or one colour and they stick to it.
Yeah, rather than just like you see, there's like 9 different
things going on in that one range when you're like.
I don't like. It like squinting your brain

(46:55):
hurts. I kind of like.
Flowers in Mass yeah, are very. Beautiful.
If you could tell every single bride to be one thing before
booking a florist, what would itbe?
As in in terms of flowers or just in general?
No, no, as a forest in general, because I don't.
Want OK, I will tell them stay true to yourself.

(47:19):
OK, Sorry. I'll rule the moment.
OK. Guys, this is actually this is
our life. I never take things seriously
too much, but when I do, I cry. OK dad, there's no soft story
today, guys. This is just like, stay true to

(47:42):
yourself, especially like I was saying before, social media can
sway your perception of the perception.
Do you want to leave? No, OK.
Good. Danielle is dying.
She's like, not breathing. Are you OK?
Do you need water? All my brides could be.
We're going to redo this. Let's go.
Instagram is fantasy land, OK? You cannot get caught up in that

(48:07):
world because as soon as you getcaught up in that world, your
expectations are going to be so high and you're never going to
be happy. Just I tell my brides, even when
they come, things that you can'tcontrol, just let them go.
Enjoy the day, enjoy the journey, enjoy the process.
Let me do my thing and everything will come out, you

(48:27):
know, as planned. You can't, like I'm saying, like
just micro. It's always the clients that
want to micromanage that shit hits the fan, you know, or
things go wrong if you just let me do my thing.
Like if you're going to be so specific with the type of flour
and I come to the markets that day and the shipment was

(48:47):
delayed, let's just say you can't get it.
If you're going to dwell on that, you're never going to be
happy, no. So it's great advice.
You just need to give me the freedom to be able to substitute
that for something and just enjoy the process.
I. Agree.
It's actually beautiful advice to give, particularly on your
end. Can I just say one thing that
I've kind of made as an observation as a friend and it's

(49:09):
it's definitely as a friend. It's not an outsider because
I've known you for so many years, but I've obviously like
got to know you and Daniella really well.
Many of my friends really well. We we bleed into each other's
lives, so we meet each other's family.
I think one of your greatest blessings in life is that the
fact that you get to work with your mum.
Yeah, obviously, Daniela, but like your mum is, I feel like

(49:29):
obviously we all love Eleanor and everyone that's met Eleanor.
She's everyone adores her. Fun fact everyone, Elle is.
Eleanor's. Right like that, that's how
that's how it came about. But working with your mum is
something that I wish I could have done right when I was an
editor of photographer. Like it's fun.
Like you get to spend every day with them.
We always never have enough timewith them and they're always

(49:50):
like the most giving person. So to have that energy around
you is really rewarding in an emotional way.
To have that constant support for your mum, not just in your
private life, but in your business life when you're really
stressed and you know you can lean to someone and you can just
like, say I need your help, likehelp me out here you that it's a
lifeline. What's been your experience or
journey over the years with yourmom?
My business would be non existent if it wasn't for her.

(50:16):
It was something that I wanted to do for both of us.
Like I said, she was just doing dried flowers as a hobby and I
was like, mom, we can do bigger,better things, let's do it.
My mom doesn't know about business.
She doesn't know about really that sort of stuff.
She just knew flowers and she knew flowers well.
And I sort of pushed her and I never had, my parents never

(50:39):
pushed me, you know, save work, hustle.
I never had that. I was sort of, I had to build
that up myself. And without my mum, especially
Floristry, it's such a it's a hard job.
I have to wake up 350, my alarm set in the mornings.
I didn't have her like I drive to her house in the morning,

(51:01):
park my car there, we jump in the work car, go to the market.
Imagine 4:00 in the morning. Sometimes when you're fucking
dead. I know I have her.
Well, our thing is we go to the market.
So I run, grab a coffee, drive back.
She's she's my push. She's been my biggest push.
And without her, there'd be no blooms by all.

(51:25):
She's everything behind the scenes.
Like you see my mum at events. She's like the mum to the whole
the whole event on the day. Does anyone want to dream?
Does any Mel, what do you need me to do, girls?
What do you need me to do? Do?
What can I do? Like she's just, she's got
everything covered do. You remember that balloons event
you had? I think it was in Liverpool.

(51:46):
Daniela, I'm looking at you. Me and Alexia first dating and
Alexia first met her. Your mum had like an arrangement
ready for her. I'll never forget that.
Like it's just like that. Soft, sweet, loving.
She's so cute. Wholesome energy to have around
you. If you were to say there's like
lessons that your mum has taughtyou.
You're a mum now. 2 beautiful girls.
If there's anything that your mum has ever taught you, what

(52:08):
would you have taken away from your life journey with her?
Because you have a very unique journey with your mum.
Stay humble, stay true to yourself.
Me and my mum like she's, she's my best friend basically OK.

(52:29):
Don't cry. I'm.
Not going to cry. I'll cry.
I'm not going to cry. I'm happy.
I'm happy that I've got into experience all of this with my
mum because not many people haverelationship with their parents
and to be able to work day in day out with her is a blessing.
She does everything for me. She does everything for my kids,
like, and it's your mom. You tell her mom, I need you to

(52:51):
do this. She'll never say no.
And she does that with everyone.Everyone that knows her, she's
just, she's a vibe. She's amazing.
So I'm blessed to have that relationship and I wish that I
can, well, I want my kids to seehow close I am with my mom so
they can sort of be that way with me.

(53:12):
So you know what I mean. The question I was going to ask
Nessie took it out of my mouth. I was going to say, if you want
your girls to learn anything from your relationship with your
mum, if there's anything you want to pass down generation.
Yeah, she's my best friend. I want my kids to be my best
friend. Not in a controlling way, but
someone that they. Can rely on.
I tell my mum everything. My mum knows everything.

(53:32):
We do everything together. Yeah, for some people that might
be too much, but for me, I love it.
Is it a fear that you ever like not have that time as a work
basis with her like because obviously like naturally would
your mother ever step out and you continue like?
I do a lot. My mom's very behind the scenes,
but she's always involved. I do all the quoting, I do all

(53:54):
the meeting, I do all of that. But she's always involved and
she's a creative piece of the business.
That's awesome. Yeah, Yeah, you continue like
it's jealous. Yeah, I think so.
I think I'm the favourite daughter A. 100% bro.
She named her business after her.
Is that what you said Ella dear?That's called L it.

(54:15):
Was always blims by L We just left it.
You had to put it. It was like, but you're male.
I did AQ and A obviously you sawit man.
Some questions were poorly written and man's that I put
some dumb ones in there. Did I put the dumb one in there?
The. Dumb one.
No offence. OK, I won't say what the dumb
one is. I probably am.
No offence to this person. It's just something I need to

(54:36):
address. I find.
You know what? Take offence to work.
Yeah, I'll get to it. No order of what?
I'll send in favourite vendors to work with.
Let's. Just die.
Yeah, Yeah, I think he's a. Photographer.
Keep going. Yeah, yeah.
Georgetown. Anyways, now I'm just taking a

(54:58):
kiss. Is there a thing?
This is just random questions. Do you have like specific
vendors you like to? Dan, because she'll give me a
brief, but she'll let me create,OK?
And I love that about her. I swear to God I actually
genuinely get and not honestly. Not because she's my sister, but
because she lets me have my say.I know what's at the market.

(55:20):
I know what's available. Yeah.
Let's do this. No one's done this, Dan.
Let's do it. That's mad.
Whereas other stylists sort of have, they're sort of set in
their ways. They have a brief and let's
create this. I've also got a really good
friend of mine. I've just started working with
her recently. Events Unlimited.
Rhubarb. I've never worked with rhubarb.

(55:41):
Who gives? She does mostly corporate and
she's really quirky and she letsme do really cool stuff and I
love that. That's mad.
You know, you get brides that are safe, you get clients that
are safe. But I love when people can
challenge me. That's cool.
Yeah. Question number one choice in a

(56:03):
flower. What is your favourite flower?
Personally not work well over. Maybe a hydrangea?
OK. That's cool.
They're beautiful. What do brides do if the flower
they want isn't in bloom? I think.
You can't do anything, I'm sorry.
Like you can sort of substitute,but.

(56:24):
This is random thoughts on all baby breath weddings?
It's not random but just like didn't expect it to come true.
Safe a bitch. The mail's coming out.
This is a good one, and I didn'twrite my question because I saw
this on average spend on weddings using fresh flowers.

(56:45):
What would you say it is? We're recording guys in February
2025. Yeah, decent, let's say, not low
budget, not high budget, right in the average.
How many people like big ass wedding or?
You know what? You know what?

(57:06):
I'll paint a couple pictures. Let's make this fun for people,
OK? Dalton House, Jones Bay.
Wolf. Yeah. 250 guests.
Italian couple King's tables tight.
Asses on generes. Average King's tables, Bridal
table, Minimal round tables, no other installations.

(57:29):
Maybe 30K? OK, All right.
Miriam May Gardens. 600 people. No ceiling installation.
Front installation average. Kind of like guest area.
Big Dance bridal table starting Yeah. 4045 Like I said, it
depends on. The flower choice The flower.

(57:51):
Varieties I'm. Just trying to say.
It Am I bulking with silk? Am I?
You know, do they? The venue Alexandria up.
Artistic Minimal. You need to transform that
venue. So I don't know.
Like I said, again, depending onwhat they want, but you're
looking at probably a minimum ADK.

(58:11):
You're transforming a blank canvas.
All right, what would your average spend be on a bridal
like wedding budget then? I want to twist this now.
Clients that I get. Yeah.
What's the average? 30-40 K.
OK, that's decent. I'm doing Chris like people
spend. I know I know but I'm saying

(58:32):
people are spending minimum on achristening 5 1/2 K.
OK. For weddings, there's a bridal
table, there's guest tables, there's installations, there's
so much more. Yeah, it's an evening event.
You're prepping OK. If you would say like a healthy
budget, someone wants a nice, let's say they want like that

(58:53):
nice looking floral wedding. No chandelier wedding.
No stationary wedding, floral wedding.
Low you go. High you need to spend, you go.
Low you go. Tasteful, beautiful, 40K it

(59:13):
just. I'm, I'm just, I'm just mean
because like, what am I to say? Like unless you do like just say
or hydrangeas which are green flowers and.
It's a stupid question for me toput you in a situation in
because I'm not talking about specific florals.
I'm just. Trying to, yeah.
Give people some idea or some kind of understanding.
What are your thoughts on DIY brides?
How can I say the most on wedding florals?
That's what one person wrote. Trial it, go to the market with.

(59:39):
Trowel on your wedding. No.
Go to the markets for your kitchen, tea, prep your flowers,
do it all and Oh no, maybe something easy before saying.
No saying in her language. Best of luck.
Good luck. Do what if it's cute?
If it's little bud vases and this.
Is a good question when someone sends it in.
What flowers would you never recommend for an event?

(01:00:03):
A wedding. Oh, so we have a no.
Like if something is a speaker doesn't last.
For like lilies? I don't like lilies.
I hate lilies. OK, I wouldn't use them for
weddings, but personal preference.
Do we need a floral stylist or is a florist enough?
How to go about your first consultation?

(01:00:25):
I think this question came aboutbecause of our episode with
Donna. She said that some florist said
to her that they need a stylist.I'm just assuming all this
person has experienced. It as well, someone told her.
OK, I don't think you need a stylist, but if you're someone
that wants to be relaxed and enjoy the journey and you can

(01:00:48):
spend a stylist planner, then I think it's money well spent.
If you can't afford a stylist, you don't need it.
You can have a coordinator on the day who can sort of manage
everything just to ensure thingsrun smoothly for you.
So someone can book you without having a plane or a silence.

(01:01:09):
Yeah, definitely. Pretty good guys.
I'm going to read this question only because, and I love the
person who sent this in. By the way, if you are actually
listening because I just love the way it was worded.
How do you feel when you see allyour hard work with flowers be
put into a bin? Very visual.

(01:01:32):
Talent. I'm beating it too, guys.
I provide a wrapping station number one.
I give that as an option best. I guess ever.
Can take home bunches of flowers.
They're not going to walk out with trees and branches and
whatnot. That stuff needs to get big.
Sometimes also what's even just as good as a flower station is

(01:01:53):
vases that can be taken home as is because for our wedding we
had our vases being able to takehome.
And fun fact, two aunties on my wife's side.
Pretty sure it's two. Definitely one, but I I swear my
brain's telling me two have actually replanted the
hydrangeas and they grew. And they've grown, yeah.
I swear. And they've been alive, like, as
long as our marriage has been alive, obviously, because

(01:02:15):
they're, like, good at gardening.
Yeah, they know what they're doing, but they just did it for
like, the fun enjoyment. But it's nice they're.
The older ladies. It's nice, like I've had people.
But it was so cute and we never knew in like 6 months later
after our wedding, she sent a photo.
She's like, these are the same hydrangeas from your wedding.
And I'm like, that's so cute. Yeah, it's people take out
flowers home guys. Trust me, they actually do.
Whether it is a flower station or not.
That's why I go back to saying I'm a classic sort of florist,

(01:02:38):
because things like that you canutilise, you can take home.
I'm not saying don't go extravagant, go for gold, but
things that are tasteful and beautiful that you can actually
use and take and not go to the bin, I'm all for.
That I always find this whole story that's being brought out
and this whole thought in people's heads around this,
because I'm always there at the very end of a wedding.

(01:03:00):
Trust me, the room's half empty before I even left and Baca
hasn't even happened. Like rightfully so.
People are savages when they're taking flowers.
And especially if they're real, like every single person, they
take it as like they're Bominiere now.
Yeah, I did a christening on theweekend and there were no
flowers left. Like nothing to kind of.
That's what makes you have. Doesn't really go to the bin,
no. Anyways, I think that's on the

(01:03:20):
client. I'm going to be rude and say it.
If there's a lot of flowers left, pay your florist to go
take it to your nearest church. Pay your florist to take it to
the nearest child's hospital or graveyard or something.
Something you do something with a creative.
Thing venues don't allow. Have a nice adventure, be smart
about it. Yeah, I agree.
This is the comment that just kills me.

(01:03:41):
Pricing question mark. Oh yeah, for me.
KTMS like how much are you? We're talking about photography
on me like pricing. Pricing.
What is pricing? Pricing depends on what you want
to spend, what you're comfortable with spending, what
you can afford. Email me she's.
So much classier than I am. Fox or real?

(01:04:04):
Is that how you pronounce it? Fox or real?
Is there a difference? Is there a difference in price?
I'm not asking. I just want to remind you I'm
not asking this. There's a difference.
Yes, there's a difference. How do you make use of fresh
vows after a wedding? I think of the dresses.
Michael Arthur was recorded before you.
Yeah. He actually asked a really good

(01:04:25):
question. And I want you to think about
this one. OK.
Because to be honest, there's somany things that I want to like.
I would say if I had to answer this, but I've had time to read
it. He said if you knew what you
wouldn't. Dyslexic.
Did you laugh? Stop laughing at me man.

(01:04:46):
Can someone pin the camera to her bro?
Because it's mocking me this whole time.
If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?
If I knew, I wouldn't fail. What would you do?
I would never learn. Is that why yours?
Bro, that's a mad answer. That's cool because that's a

(01:05:09):
cool take on it. I didn't think that.
Yeah. I just thought like he was
saying, like an answer in this life is that if you had the if
you had the foresight of knowingthat you would never fail at
something, what would you have done?
A task, a job or something? A profession?

(01:05:31):
As but you're asking me as a florist.
May I be a singer like for a rapper?
Or something. Stop laughing at me bro.
I just watch the Super Bowl halftime.
I'm very inspired by rappers. You.
Knew you wouldn't fail, What would you do?
Yeah. What would I do?

(01:05:53):
You are I like my first answer. Yeah, I I like.
I just feel like. Inspired by that you want to
learn? You need to fail.
I don't know. This is how I'm reading the
question. I feel like you learn from your
mistakes, You learn from failure.
That's the only way you succeed.That's how I read your answer
and that's why I found it reallyquick.

(01:06:14):
I've interpreted it yeah if. I'd be like a a thought
Instagram going to buy. The easy way out.
The easy way out bro. Like, you know, a yacht.
Well, stay at home, tell. You what?
I don't want to if I was a Dubaigirl.

(01:06:37):
Daniela just said 100%. How's that David?
Jeez. Jeez.
Said that, Daniela. I know.
I know people who seem to disagree with me.
If you knew you weren't going tofail, like, come on, are you
serious? We work so hard.
If I knew you wasn't going to fail and.
Be a fucking millionaire, mate. You know Kylie Jenner.

(01:07:00):
Be her bigger cartoon. Kardashians.
I just had bigger cartoon yellow, bigger carton mail.
Thanks so much all my friends, right?
You guys sisters, I can make that mistake.
Am I reading this out? What toxic situation can you cut

(01:07:21):
out of your life? Piss of luck.
OK, if you don't surround yourself with people that are
going to keep lifting you up, you're never going to succeed in

(01:07:44):
life. Amen.
OK. So who are you cutting out of
your life? Mel, not you.
I know. You sing at this stage, not you.
Let's listen. Let's stop.
Is it commerce to roll people that are going to support you,

(01:08:10):
support your dreams, support your goals, OK?
Not Debbie Downers that look down upon you or don't want to
use you anymore for any reason, or people that aren't loyal and
don't want to support you. So yeah.
So the question said what toxic situation can oh.

(01:08:31):
My rent. I think you're not answering the
question because he said, what toxic situation can you cut out
of your life? What toxic situation are you
talking about now? Don't look at your sister.
Look at me now you answer that I'm not going to grow you
anymore. That was a very good answer by
the way. And I I definitely agree that

(01:08:52):
people you surround yourself with are the most important
thing in your life because. As long as I ask.
You are what your friends are. Swear our mums were always
right. Yeah.
Eleanor was always right. Eleanor Goel.
Thank you for coming. Thanks, I learned a lot to be
honest. I hope so.
I don't know the florists in your world as well as you know
and explained it. I don't know right now, but

(01:09:13):
like, you know, you're a wise person.
Thank you. Cheers.
Cheers.