Yesterday, Yvonne had so much fun delving into the world of floral design with Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht. Kristen is a renowned floral designer and author of the book "Flower Love". He shares his journey in the industry, the challenges he faced, and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. Kristen also discusses his new book and dives into what readers can expect, how he selected the cover images out of the 45 designs showcased in the book, his philosophy on self-care and "it's just flowers, and how the book can inspire all designers of all levels. So let's dive in and explore the world of flowers with Kristen Griffith-VanderYacht.

Blog with show notes and video replay:

https://www.mayesh.com/blog/mwm-flower-love-kristen-griffth-vanderyacht 

Alison Ellis of Real Flower Business offers invaluable business insights into the the process of pricing wedding arrangements and designs. We discuss how to ensure you are profitable, how to ensure you are not over buying flowers, how to handle substitutions, whether or not you should set minimums, and every in between. Alison gives you the insight you need to price accordingly to have a successful & profitable wedding season!

Head to our blog for the show notes and video replay: https://blog.mayesh.com/fall-flower-festival-recap

Welcome to the replay of our first segment of our Fall Flower Festival! Gilberto Espinoza of Dogwood & Fir is my first guest and will be creating a large autumn inspired urn arrangement perfect for weddings. While he is designing, we chat about how he got his start in floral design, photography, the un-importance of trends, social media, sustainability, and more!  P.S. Since he is designing, the video will provide a better experience, but we also had a great conversation that we wanted to share on the podcast.

Blog with show notes and video replay:https://blog.mayesh.com/fall-flower-festival-recap 

Last month, we introduced our 3rd Mayesh Design Star of 2023, Pilar Zuniga of Gorgeous and Green and I’m very excited to share her live interview from earlier this week! She is a  sustainable & eco-friendly florist, an advocate & speaker Since 2008, she was name a 2023 Top 50 Wedding Florists in North America by Florists’ Review, and is a host for the Instagram page, @floristsofcolor. We chatted about what it takes to become a California Green certified business, how being a sustainable florist has evolved for Pilar over the last 15 years, large scale and wearable design mechanics, and so much more!

Blog with show notes and video replay: https://www.mayesh.com/blog/mwm-pilar-zuniga-a-sustainable-florist 

Our 2nd Mayesh Design Star of 2023, Heather Sardela of Blossom & Bone Florals, was my special guest earlier this week. We chatted about different ways florists can become more sustainable beyond design mechanics that you may not have thought about like composting, working with local ceramicists, paying living wages, and more. What are some sustainable practices that you incorporate into your flower business?

Blog with show notes and video replay:https://blog.mayesh.com/mwm-sustainable-floristry-beyond-design-mechanics 

The ever-inspiring author, educator, and florist, Sue Mcleary joined us to discuss “Flowers for All”, her brand new book filled with modern floral arrangements for beauty, joy, and mindfulness every day”. Sue wrote this book for all flower people, not just obsessed florists like herself. Learn more about this wonderful publication featuring thirty different design ideas from the author herself! Grab yourself a copy here: https://susanmcleary.com/flowers-for-all 

Blog with show notes and video replay: https://blog.mayesh.com/mwm-flowers-for-all-with-susan-mcleary 

On Tuesday, Amy Balsters of The Floral Coach, joined Yvonne to chat about our recently launched Mayesh X The Floral Coach Design Tour. Amy dove into the curriculum and shared why learning proper spiral bouquet mechanics and color theory is critical, along with talking about the value that is provided with each included component of our in-person workshop. This is so very exciting because it has been 3 years since we’ve hosted a workshop. We have been asked so many times when we are starting back up and March 30th is the answer to that. That is the date of our first workshop of the tour at Mayesh Cleveland along with 10 other cities across the country! Blog with show notes and video replay: https://www.mayesh.com/blog/mwm-design-tour-with-amy-balsters 

Our very own flower expert, David Dahlson, was our guest for the second time last week! In this episode, David put together a show 'n tell of a selection of our stunning Japanese flowers that are now available! The lineup includes Sweet Peas, Ranunculus, Lisianthus, Cymbidiums, Litsea Cubeba, and Spirea. The season lasts about two and a half months (January through March, maybe April depending on the weather), and allow a 2-week lead time when placing your order.

NOTE: If you are listening to the podcast replay, you may want to watch the video for the best experience since this episode is very visual.

Blog with show notes and video replay:  https://blog.mayesh.com/mwm-japanese-flower-showcase-2023 

Sustainability. It is so much more than the current buzzword and is a very important topic for our industry. Our first 2023 Mayesh Design Star, Sue Mcleary, joined Yvonne along with Holly Chapple, TJ McGrath, Debra Prinzing, Patrick Dahlson and David Dahlson. We defined what sustainability means, examined biodegradable, compostable, and reusable materials, talked about locally grown, and our experts gave tips on how we all can get started in being gentler to the earth. This episode went over an hour and we only began to scratch the surface. If you are looking for even more conversations and insights about this topic then be sure to stay tuned to our monthly 2023 Mayesh Design Star videos. Also, know that we are planning a round two panel discussion for sometime after the Valentine's Day holiday so that we can answer all of the amazing questions that were submitted by our live audience. If you didn't watch live, but have some of your own questions please post them in the comments section of our blog so that we can add it to our list. Blog with show notes and video replay:  https://blog.mayesh.com/mwm-sustainable-floristry-panel-discussion

Steve Dionne, the Executive Director of CalFlowers, came to chat with us about a powerful campaign called That Flower Feeling. Whether or not you have heard of this campaign, we hope you stick around to learn more, hear how the campaign has done so far, what marketing assets are available to you, and understand how That Flower Feeling can uplift the entire floral industry, including your business!

Show notes & video replay: https://blog.mayesh.com/mwm-that-flower-feeling-with-steve-dionne