What No One Tells You About Being a Florist

From the outside, floristry often looks incredibly dreamy.

Beautiful flowers.

Creative days.

Romantic weddings.

Pretty Instagram feeds.

Coffee in hand while arranging flowers in a sunlit studio.

And while parts of that absolutely exist… there are also a lot of things about being a florist that nobody really talks about.

Like the fact that your car will permanently contain rogue eucalyptus leaves. Or that you’ll develop the ability to carry seventeen buckets at once. Or that you’ll somehow spend your life explaining why flowers cost what they cost.

Even today I’m still explaining that and I’m no longer in the thick of the customer side of floristry.

Floristry is creative, rewarding, emotional, exhausting, exciting, and occasionally completely chaotic — often all in the same day.

So if you’re thinking about becoming a florist, or you’re early in your business journey wondering if everyone else is also winging it a little bit… here are a few things nobody really tells you about being a florist. And if you’re an old hand like me hopefully you’ll feel seen and have a few giggles while reading this.

1. Your Car Will Never Truly Recover

You may begin your florist career with a clean, organised vehicle.

That will not last.

At some point your car becomes:

• part delivery van

• part mobile flower market

• part emergency storage unit

You’ll find rose thorns in places that seem physically impossible.

There will be petals in your cupholders.

Ribbon in the boot.

A rogue zip tie stuck to your shoe.

And no matter how many times you vacuum it, eucalyptus leaves will continue to reappear like they pay rent there.

I sold my van to my brother in law and did hear that leaves and twigs kept appearing seemingly out of no where months later. You’ll also be asked to move large items by everyone you know, I’ve done more Ikea & Facebook marketplace pick ups then i’d have ever required for myself and am still annoyed I didn’t make that a side business in the off season.

2. People Think Flowers Grow for Free

One of the biggest surprises for many florists is how often people underestimate the cost of flowers.

If you’ve ever spent a day in a retail florist you’ve heard someone say “can you just ad a stem of greenery to that, that won’t cost anymore will it?”

Clients see:

“A bouquet.”

Florists see:

• flower costs

• conditioning time

• wastage

• mechanics

• transport

• labour

• years of experience

• design skill

• setup time

• admin

You’ll eventually become very good at calmly explaining why wedding flowers cannot be created for the price of “a few bunches from the supermarket.”

And while those conversations can feel uncomfortable at first, they’re actually an important part of running a sustainable business. And I found them to be my own little game to win, convincing every customer who thought flowers didn’t cost anything to spend more and more each time! They were always thrilled with their stunning arrangements too.

3. Early Morning Starts Become Completely Normal

Before floristry, 4am probably sounded deeply offensive.

After floristry?

You’ll casually wake up before sunrise to visit flower markets, prep weddings, or finish installations — and somehow convince yourself this is completely reasonable behaviour.

You’ll also learn that coffee stops are not optional.

They’re operational requirements.

I do think my sleep schedule has been forever interrupted but I do think that makes me the perfect candidate for long haul travel, jet lag?? don’t really get it! my body clock is used to 5-6 hours sleep!

4. Weddings Are Equal Parts Beautiful and Slightly Unhinged

Wedding floristry can be incredibly rewarding.

It can also involve:

• loading vans like a game of floral Tetris

• carrying arbours through gravel in formalwear

• pinning buttonholes onto nervous groomsmen

• fixing broken stems with seconds to spare

• and trying to remain calm while the weather changes its mind every twenty minutes

There’s always at least one moment where you wonder:

“Why did I think this was a good idea?”

And then the candles are lit, the flowers are in place, the room comes together… and suddenly you remember exactly why you love it.

I’ve sat at countless weddings as a guest after the set up and looked around and thought to myself “you all have no idea what this place looked like 45 minutes ago, or the fact that you almost had no wedding cake because it only just showed up as you were all having drinks on the verandah” but that is what I love about events (yes i’m slightly unhinged) the storm before the beauty! Its fun, its invigorating and its the adrenalin all event florists thrive off!

5. Floristry Is Surprisingly Physical

People often think floristry is “just arranging flowers.”

In reality, it’s an extremely physical job.

You’ll spend your days:

• lifting buckets

• unloading vans

• climbing ladders

• standing for hours

• carrying installations

• moving heavy vessels

• processing hundreds of stems

You quickly develop muscles you didn’t know existed. I’ll lift anything anywhere anytime! I am convinced I can do it! And again floristry has made me the perfect world traveller, two flights of stairs with luggage in a small hotel in Europe “I’ve got this” (I might be in need of another holiday soon!)

And you also gain a new appreciation for comfortable shoes, I will forever be a Birkenstock lover - I know they are far from safety approved but the things I can do in those magical shoes is unmatched!

6. You Become Weirdly Emotionally Attached to Flowers

At some point, you’ll start talking about flowers like they’re tiny personalities.

You’ll say things like:

• “These tulips are being dramatic today.”

• “The dahlias are having a rough time.”

• “The garden roses are behaving beautifully this week.”

Completely normal florist behaviour. I have been known to assign genders to my flowers based on their personalities, I don’t think thats weird its just a bit French!

You’ll also become irrationally upset when a favourite variety goes out of season, what do you mean sweet pea season is already coming to an end? I had plans!

7. Social Media Makes Floristry Look Simpler Than It Is

I was well and truely in business before Instagram showed up but it sure does have a reputation for showing the highlights of everything including beautiful finished flowers.

It doesn’t show:

• the flower conditioning

• the spreadsheets

• the cleaning buckets

• the quoting

• the logistics

• the prep days

• the late-night recipe adjustments

• the stem count calculations

• the van packing strategy

• the sleepness nights

A beautiful floral installation might photograph in one second… after twelve hours of work behind the scenes (and thats just that day!)

One of the biggest lessons in floristry is learning not to compare your entire business to someone else’s highlight reel. That might be the one thing I’ve told every client and student over the years!

8. You’ll Learn to Improvise Very Quickly

Floristry teaches you how to problem solve under pressure.

Flowers arrive in the wrong colour.

Weather changes.

A mechanic breaks.

Traffic delays your delivery.

Something doesn’t bloom on schedule.

And somehow florists become incredibly skilled at calmly adapting while internally running on caffeine and adrenaline.

You learn very quickly that flexibility is just as important as creativity. I started in this industry so young that I can’t work out if this was a part of who I was before I was a florist but if not i’m forever grateful to be the one in the group who is calm under pressure, thinks about solutions and can rally people to a solution. Its a bit of a unicorn skill and I think it is a Florists main superpower!

9. Your Hands Will Never Look the Same Again

Florists accept tiny cuts, scratches, thorn injuries, and permanently dry hands as part of the job. I’m still the very grateful receiver of many handcreams but often resentful of destroyed hands when i’m in a peak production period (i’ve gotten used to nice hands teaching and writing)

There’s also a strong chance your clothes will regularly contain:

• bleach marks

• leaf stains

• bits of moss

• mysterious glitter

• or water marks from carrying buckets all day

You may own beautiful outfits.

You simply won’t wear them to work.

10. Floristry Is So Much More Than Flowers

This is probably the biggest thing nobody tells you.

Being a florist isn’t just about designing.

It’s about:

• customer experience

• communication

• time management

• pricing (there is a lot of math in floristry! In both design and the business side)

• problem solving

• logistics

• marketing

• creativity

• adaptability

• resilience

• 
  

And despite the long hours, the heavy lifting, the early mornings, and the occasional floral chaos… there’s something incredibly special about creating work that becomes part of people’s memories.

Flowers are present during some of the most important moments in people’s lives.

And being trusted with that is something most florists never take lightly.

Floristry can be exhausting.

Messy.

Emotional.

Physically demanding.

And sometimes completely unpredictable.

But it can also be deeply rewarding.

There’s something very special about building a business around creativity, beauty, and connection. And while no one really warns you about the eucalyptus leaves permanently living in your car or the fact that you’ll become emotionally invested in flower varieties… somehow it all becomes part of the charm. Because once floristry gets into your system, it tends to stay there.