Following on from my March live training, I want to speak abit about starting out and building your portfolio for potential clients.
When you start out, its only natural that you won’t have images to showcase your work. However, you will need images if you want couples to book you, because let’s be honest, before anyone books you, they need to feel confident that you can deliver their dream wedding flowers.
This is why I would never advise using images which are not your work, to advertise your services.
So what can you do?
Unpaid work Experience
Styled shoots
Offer a free service
I DONE ALL OF THE ABOVE WHEN I STARTED OUT!
You could reach out to your local florists and see if they would like a helping hand. Be prepared that this might not be all that fun to begin with, i’m talking, washing buckets, scraping candle wax from vases, loading and unloading vehicles before you actually get to ‘play with flowers’ but this is all great experience.
You will be there first hand to see the day to day work of a florist, learning practical skills and logistics behind preparation for a wedding. Im sure in return that the florist you work alongside will show you how they do things and be sure to ask if you can take and use any images of designs you create. Just be sure to credit the florist to ensure it’s clear that you are working for them.
Styled shoots are a fantastic opportunity to showcase your new skills, not to mention a great time for networking and building relationships with other wedding suppliers.
I organised a styled shoot when I was very new in the game, it served a great purpose as I obtained images of my work from a professional photographer which I used to advertise my business.
I am hosting a live training session in April all about organising and being involved in styled shoots if you would like further information on how to do this.
Styled shoots are expensive for florists as its very rare that any other suppliers will assist with the cost of flowers, however, this is your opportunity to create designs that you want to showcase.
I also ran a giveaway for a couple to win my services for free. Of course I don’t want to advise any of you to be out of pocket here!! I made sure my T&Cs were secure, the couple paid the retail cost of the flowers so I didn’t spend any of my own money, but I provided all my time and labour for free.
This however, was the best thing I done. From this I obtained experience from start to finish of working my own wedding, I met with the client, prepared and setup all the flowers and I received a full gallery of images to use, along with a review.
Its no easy task when you first set out, but if you’re prepared to really put the hours in, and potentially work for free at the beginning (I appreciate thats not achievable for everyone, but it worked for me) then you will get there with hard work and determination.
Credits
Photographer: D & A photography
Florist: Rose Decor Styling
