Issy Watts
Which course did you study at Tallulah Rose Flower School?
I studied the two-week intensive career change course with Tallulah Rose in October 2019.
What did you enjoy most about the course?
I loved that although it was a two-week intensive course, the atmosphere was calm and relaxing, at the same time as being exciting and a little terrifying with learning so much for the first time. I really enjoyed being taught by different teachers. Each one came with different knowledge and set of skills, and I learned so much from each of them.
What was the most important thing that you learnt?
Aside from all of the techniques that were completely new to me, learning to persevere with arrangements and to keep going really made a difference to me. I’m the kind of person who would be worried if something didn’t start off looking very good, but the tutors taught us to keep calm, keep going and eventually it all starts to take shape!
What are you doing now?
After completing the Tallulah Rose course, I started Wizz & Wild almost immediately. I had basically set myself up so that I could complete the course and then launch the website and socials the day after!
I am now full time flowering (which is so dreamy!) and also attempting to grow my own flowers too. I am very lucky to live on a beautiful farm, and have a little space allocated for growing flowers.
Describe a typical floristry day…
One of the things I love most about this profession is that each day is completely different. I run workshops and retreat days here on the farm, so some weeks will be preparing for those. Other days are in the cutting garden watering, planting, or in the polytunnel sowing seeds! Other weeks would be purely focused on getting ready for the next wedding or event. The rest of the time is filled with preparing wedding quotes, website work, social media management, photoshoots, content creating, accounting and general flowery admin!
What advice would you give to a new student starting out?
Go for it! No matter your experience, the school really is wonderful and you will leave with such a sense of accomplishment, ready to start your floral business.
I would say that making sure you have everything ready to launch after completing the course really helped me. It made me feel like I had the complete set of tools to hit the ground running and start a business. The website, social media, and the confidence after creating so many wonderful pieces whilst at Tallulah. Take loads of photos throughout the course and enjoy every moment! It goes so quickly and once you’ve left you’ll only want to go back again!
Are you seeing the financial return to your business that you had hoped for when investing in training with Tallulah Rose?
Absolutely. I would say it was one of the best investments I made for my business, and the expertise and level of education at Tallulah gave me a huge understanding of where I wanted to sit within the wedding floristry market, resulting in higher-budget clients and bigger, broader creative briefs.
What was the best piece of advice Rachel gave you?
The best piece of advice I was given was to always be authentic and stay true to my brand’s ethos and messaging. This has stayed a huge part of my brand journey and personal branding throughout the last five years of owning and running Wizz & Wild.
Is there an opportunity that springs to mind that Tallulah Rose gave you the confidence to pursue?
I feel that my whole experience at Tallulah Rose gave me the confidence to go on and pursue exciting opportunities. It gave me such a strong foundation of physical floristry skills to go on and say yes to each project that came my way.
What makes your business unique?
I think this goes back to the idea of staying authentic to my brand and its messaging. Over the years, as this brand has evolved and grown, I am constantly looking back at my original brand guidelines, the flowers we source, the briefs we take on, the language we use, and the service we provide for our clients. As the team has grown, this has been instilled within the florists who freelance for W&W and the way we work on-site and around clients. The experience and service that clients receive when they book Wizz & Wild is one that is smooth, refined and dedicated to creating the most exquisite florals for their special wedding or event. Staying authentic to my brand has, in itself, made Wizz & Wild unique.
What is your favourite flower that you grow in your beautiful flower farm?
As the years have passed and weddings have grown in size, scale and number, the cutting garden has taken a back seat, as my time has been dedicated to sourcing flowers locally from our wonderful growers. However, our garden roses are absolutely spectacular, and I always try to include these within our work, depending on season and availability!
Click here for more information about Wizz and Wild
Profile photo credit: Chloe Williams
