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Understanding the Different Types of Florists: Retail, Wedding, Freelance and Corporate/Hospitality

Understanding the Different Types of Florists: Retail, Wedding, Freelance and Corporate/Hospitality

October 18, 2024

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The floral industry is as diverse as the flowers themselves, with various types of florists offering unique services tailored to different occasions, clients, and environments. Whether you're planning a wedding, decorating a hotel lobby, or buying a bouquet for a loved one, it helps to understand the differences between the types of florists.

Let’s dive into some of these categories:

1. Retail Florist

A retail florist is the one most people are familiar with—they operate a brick-and-mortar store or an online shop where customers can purchase fresh bouquets, plants, and other floral arrangements. Retail florists cater to individual clients and occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Their focus is on day-to-day flower needs, and they often offer delivery services. Retail florists are masters of quick turnarounds, providing fresh, ready-made bouquets for walk-ins and custom orders.

Key Features:

  • Fast service, often on the same day.
  • A wide variety of flowers available daily.
  • Focus on individual clients and special occasions.

2. Wedding Florist

A wedding florist specializes in crafting stunning floral designs for weddings, from bridal bouquets to elaborate ceremony and reception installations. These florists work closely with the couple to understand their vision, theme, and colour palette. Wedding florists often manage large-scale projects and are involved in planning months in advance. Their designs are highly customized, with attention to every floral detail.

Key Features:

  • Custom floral designs for weddings and related events.
  • Involvement in the creative process and coordination with other vendors.
  • Expertise in large-scale installations, such as arches, table settings, and aisle décor.

3. Freelance Florist

A freelance florist is a floral designer who works independently rather than owning a shop or being employed by a specific business. They may take on a variety of projects, from weddings and events to styling flowers for photo shoots or corporate events. Freelance florists are flexible and often collaborate with other florists or event planners, stepping in when extra hands are needed.

Key Features:

  • Works independently or on a project-by-project basis.
  • Offers flexibility in taking on different types of floral jobs.
  • Often collaborates with other florists and event professionals.

4. Corporate & Hospitality Florist

A corporate and hospitality florist specializes in providing floral arrangements to businesses, hotels, restaurants, and events. These florists focus on creating elegant, long-lasting designs that reflect the branding and ambiance of their corporate clients. Their work often involves regular contracts for lobby arrangements, conference rooms, gala dinners, or restaurant tables. They also handle special occasions like corporate events, grand openings, and VIP receptions.

Key Features:

  • Provides ongoing floral services to businesses, hotels, and restaurants.
  • Focuses on consistent, long-lasting designs that align with the client’s brand.
  • Manages large orders for corporate events and conferences.

 

At Garden Party Flowers, we have structured our team in a way to service all of these areas. Our in-house design team can service any of the requests coming through our online store, even with very short notice. We always ensure our cooler is stocked so we can accommodate almost any request.

Our weddings team is responsible for everything weddings, from the initial consultation to the big day install and so much more. They are already working on our 2025 calendar which is booking up quickly! Book your consultation here.

Finally, our hospitality and corporates team is a well oiled machine that plans and executes floral designs for all of our weekly recurring corporate clients. 

So whether you're looking for a same day birthday bouquet for a friend, gorgeous florals for your spring wedding or you'd like to enhance your space's arrival experience with some fresh weekly florals, we've got you covered!