Our career courses at Flourish Sussex have been designed to reach the highest standard of floristry. We want everyone to build a sustainable and profitable floristry business which fits around their home life. We understand that embarking on a new career can be very exciting, mixed in with feeling overwhelmed at times. Whatever type of business you want to create, whether it’s full time, part time, making wreaths for friends, we want to help you turn your dream into a reality.
At Flourish Sussex we have trained hundreds of students who have gone onto set up their own thriving and successful businesses. We are so proud of what our students have gone onto accomplish and rest assured many of them were nervous and had feelings of self doubt when they started. We believe that once you attend Flourish Sussex Flower School you become part of our community and Alicia along with previous students are here to help, support and look after new students on their floral journey. Visit out student story page to find out more about our previous students and what they are doing now.
Every student who comes to Flourish Sussex is met with warmth and enthusiasm. As the main teacher, Alicia guides all students and shares her wealth of knowledge, both practically and tackling the business side of the floristry industry. Having run a wedding and event business for eight years Alicia understands all of the challenges and the joy that working in the floristry industry can bring. Rest assured whatever it is you need Alicia will be on hand to guide and help you to fulfil your floristry dreams.
Our Career Change Course is split into sections: The Two Week Career Changing Course, The Foundation for Beginners, The Wedding Course, The Floristry Business Course, our online and in person business training programme (coming January 2024). You will come away feeling inspired confident, supported and ready to launch your new floristry business.
The courses take you from learning the basic skills in floristry to the advance level of creating show stopping installations, all using sustainable methods. From the very beginning Alicia will encourage you to develop your own style of floristry. We leave traditional designs at the door and pour creativity, love and inspiration into each students designs. We are all different and Alicia will help you to explore your creative style through your floristry work.
Every day you will arrive to different, seasonal and beautiful flowers. We understand when you start it can be difficult to navigate all the different flowers out there. On our courses you will be surrounded by the most exquisite of ingredients to create with. Everyone is provided with a cut flower guide book on The Foundation Course and Career Course so you can start to familiarise yourself with the varieties out there.
In order to build a sustainable business it is vital that you get to grips with the business side of floristry too and here at Flourish Sussex we offer an in-depth business programme. The Business Course in Floristry is a programme which provides pre recorded modules taught by either Alicia or industry experts teaching students the different aspects of building a business in floristry. The session include: pricing, mark ups, finding your ideal client, branding, Instagram, blogging, proposal writing, building a website, photography, suppliers, work flow, confidence building, brand shoots, marketing, advertising, Tik Tok and business planning.
Once you have completed any of our career changing courses you will be welcomed into our community of florists and growers, where we can arrange work experience, advice and assist you with any help you may need.
THE TWO WEEK CAREER CHANGE COURSE: TWO WEEKS
Our two week career course is perfect for those wishing to learn all the practical elements of floristry and event work. Over the course of the two weeks you will learn the following: hand tied bouquet, buttonholes, bridal bouquet, headdress, seasonal wreath, sympathy sheaf, see a demonstration of a double ended coffin spray, table display, urn, flower meadow, bridal bouquet with a mechanic, compote bowl, cloud, ceremony display and styling, and staircase installation. There is also a talk by a graduate of Flourish Sussex and we take a tour around Pitfields with head gardener Emma Martin. Over the course of the two weeks we will cover an introduction to running your business, suppliers, running through an auction, how to run a wedding, introduction to pricing and social media. We would recommend following this course up with our online business programme The Floristry Business Programme.
THE FOUNDATION FOR BEGINNERS: FIVE DAYS
Our Foundation for Beginners is a five day intensive course which covers all the fundamental designs in floristry. Practical work, we cover the following: hand tied bouquet, buttonholes, bridal bouquet, headdress, sympathy wreath, sympathy sheaf, demonstration of a double ended coffin spray, table display, urn, and group meadow. We also take a trip to a local flower farm. Business wise we cover the following, buying from a wholesaler, the tool box, eco-friendly methods, an introduction to pricing, setting up social media platforms, buying British and a talk is given about starting your own business. Everyone is given a cut flower guide book and an information pack is emailed over to you. You also get to keep the table ceramic and meadow box. For more information, dates and prices of our Foundation course please click on the link below.
THE WEDDING COURSE: FIVE DAYS
Our wedding course is the ultimate training needed to embark on your journey into wedding floral design. Over the course of five days students will be immersed into a world of floral design. We will cover the following displays: bridal bouquet using a mechanic, ceremony displays, a cloud, table design, the archway and staircase display. We will work on a lot of the big displays as a group to create truly show stopping arrangements. For an afternoon we have a graduate Flourish student who will come to talk about their experience working as wedding florist and give a demonstration. We will also go over how to run a wedding, with a chance to ask questions.
The Business Training Programme at Flourish Sussex is the ultimate course which helps all students to feel confident about each section of building a business.
In January 2024 each student will be invited to do a one to one Zoom introduction business overall with Alicia. Prior to this session you will sent a questionnaire where we will be able to establish the route of your business and the core of your business. We will evaluate the stage you at the moment and targets will be set.
You will then be sent pre recorded modules on the following aspects : Core of your business, Ideal Client, Branding, Photography, Website building, using the Squarespace platform, pricing, proposal writing, recipes, confidence building, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest , blogging, Canva, workflow, working in weddings, working in the sympathy sector, starting a cutting garden, Interviews with students that have trained at Flourish and are now working in the business, both as wedding florists and as growers.
Each module will represent a piece of the puzzle and once the programme is complete, all pieces will be in place for you to feel confident and ready to build a profitable and sustainable floristry business. Each module will be run either by myself or by an industry expert. Pdf notes from each module will be sent to you, with examples of quotations, recipes, how to run a wedding etc.
Each Monday there will be an opportunity to join Alicia for our Mentor Mondays via Zoom to cover any questions you may have or if you prefer you can email then to her directly.
Then there will be opportunity for students to meet at Flourish Sussex Flower School and spend the day going through the modules, working through exercises in pairs, asking any questions and building confidence. Lunch will also be served as part of the course.
Once the course is complete you will be booked in for another hours session with Alicia via Zoom to work out your eighteen mont strategy.
You can either choose to pay for just the modules or for the modules and the team day.
Our first programme will run in January 2024 and our next one will be in October 2024.
To book in full simply add to basket and checkout or if you would like to pay via one of our bespoke payment plans, which can be monthly instalments, two or three parts please contact us here.
If you would like to arrange a time to chat over the phone about the programme please also contact us here and I will be in touch.
I believe everyone can build a profitable and sustainable business, which fits around your life. Let me help you to build yours.
OUR PROMISE
Once you have come to Flourish Sussex Flower School you are in our community for life! We have a wonderful group of florists and growers, all of whom support one another, offer advice and freelance work. This is something we are so proud of at the school. We also offer ongoing business support. You can book a one to one with Alicia at any point to reflect on how your business is going, go over anything you may find tricky. Whatever you need Alicia and the Flourish community are here to help you on your journey. We offer payment plans on all of our courses. We can’t wait to welcome more flower lovers into our flourish community.