Behind The Scenes Writing Our First Floral Design Book

DESIGN & STYLE MODERN DRIED FLOWERS: The Essential Guide for Weddings, Events & The Home

It’s official. The secret is out of the bag and at last we can share with you that we have just published our first ever book. This project has been a year and a half in the making and so we are so excited to finally be able to share with you a little of what went on behind the scenes as we created this book.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to write your own book? There is a lot of work that goes into putting together a beautiful book that includes gorgeous photography, lots of information, tutorials and context. Let us tell you all about it, and you never know, maybe it will inspire you to create your very own book.

Coming up with the idea

The idea for this book came about on a trip to Paris with my sister. She had been asking me “What’s next? What’s next for your business?” And giving me the usual push to continue to grow myself and my business. I just wasn’t sure what the answer was in that moment. I knew I wanted to work on another project, to push myself further, but I wasn’t sure what that project should be. As we were wandering around Paris enjoying the café culture and the shops, as well as a few glasses of wine in cute little cafés, we spent some time in some lovely gift shops looking at all the French goodies and accessories. It was in MERCI in Paris that my sister picked up another book about floral arranging and said why don’t you write a book about dried flower arranging? I was totally intrigued- writing a book has been something I’ve always kind of wanted to do, it’s sort of always been there in the back of my mind- something like a stretch goal that I had always wanted to do, but for some reason I hadn’t really thought this was even possible for me. But seeing other books in this gorgeous shop about all sorts of different ideas, crafts and creative ideas, I thought “She’s right! Why can’t I do this?” So that started the whole process and was the moment the idea was born.

We put some notes together on the Eurostar on the way home, little plans of action about how to address this idea. I went away with the idea in my mind that I was going to give myself four weeks to write the book proposal which I would then send out to publishers.

Creating the proposal draft submission

This proposal was quite in-depth and required a fair bit of research about other books in the market, of which there aren’t many and there aren’t any that offer dried flowers in a bright and vibrant colour story, offering a new perspective that is a little bit different and a little bit more modern. I also wrote a few sample chapters and even created an example of the front cover and a few interior pages. It was at this point that I mapped out the full contents the book and laid out the various chapters so we had a feeling of what the book might feel like.

Why am uniquely positioned to write this book?

During the research process, I found that there really wasn’t any books out there that represented the kind of floral work that I do. My wedding flowers are bright and vivid and colourful- the dried flower books I found were brown and washed out. This really excited me because I saw that I could offer something else that would really intrigue people. I also really wanted to share all the knowledge and expertise that I have learnt since I started my business 5 years ago. There are even parts of the book that tap into my vast knowledge of colour and proportion, things that I learnt during my over 18 years in the fashion design industry.

Submitting my proposal

So in three weeks time, because I always like to be at least a week before every deadline, I don’t know why it’s something in me- I’m a very punctual person, so in three weeks I wrote a book proposal and sent it off to a few publishers of other books that I admired. A few weeks went by and I had a few people come back saying they loved the concept but already had similar things in work or weren’t looking to create something like this at this time and then finally I got an email from Crowood press to say they absolutely loved my idea, my proposal and my work and would like to publish my book! Hurrah!

Photography and the design of the book

Writing a book has been so creative and it’s been so amazing to immerse myself in the craft from another point of view, thinking about how to help people learn to do what I do. So over the next six months I thought about what I wanted the book to look like. I got professional photography done of my work, my studio and of myself all in-keeping with my brand vision and who I am. To ensure the book looked like me and my work I worked with the amazing Holly Booth based in Derby who I have previously shot all my branding photography with for my website. I knew I loved her photography style and the colour levels of her work and I knew she was a perfect match. In preparation for the shoot I started thinking about props- fabric, background colours, plinths, tables, vases… I painted up my wooden plinths and an amazing vintage table I found on Facebook Marketplace so that we had a perfect selection of props and backdrops to frame my work.

Creating the imagery for this book was a really, really exciting part of the whole process because I’m so visual and imagery is so important to me. Working alongside Holly we shot an example of every item that was featured within the book- bouquets, buttonholes, corsages, table decorations, hanging flower clouds- you name it we created it and shot it in my studio.

Holly created the most divine album of my work that has really helped drive the whole concept for the book. Now armed with hundreds of photos of my designs and 1001 ideas, in November 2024 I started putting pen to paper. Around this time. I went down to Wiltshire to visit the editorial team at The Crowood Press and talk to them about what we wanted the book to look like. We had a great collaborative conversation and chatted about things we like, things we didn’t like, ideas that we thought would work and wouldn’t work and brainstormed some really great ideas. For me, it was so important that the book was inspiring and a visual treat, making a book that was coffee-table-worthy, that I wanted every detail to be perfect so we talked about types of paper, the finishing touches, the cover design, the fonts the colours of the paper… you name it, we talked about it.

The writing process

Over the next couple of months I spent hours sitting down writing through every single tutorial, giving background context, where I get my ideas and all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last five years working in dried wedding floristry. We wanted the book to appeal to all kinds of people, not just florists looking to hone their skills, but everyday people who could use these tips, tricks and skills to create beautiful things for themselves. This book book might appeal to someone who is planning their own wedding, or someone who wants to create something beautiful for their home, or for any event that they might think about designing some flowers for. Or maybe, the book will appeal to someone who just wants to feel a little more creative and spend some quality time on themselves.

The book is broken down into three main parts the first part is all about inspiration, ideas and how to design your concepts. The second part of the book is all the tutorials on how to create your projects and the last part of the book is all about how to take the items that you’ve made and style it to perfection. For this last part of the book I worked with two of my favourite wedding creatives- Tara Knott, who is a wedding stylist, and Mirlah Richardson, who is a wedding photographer. We met at one of our favourite venues The West Mill down in Darley Abbey in Derby and got creative together. I brought down a range of different floral arrangements such as floor standing arrangements, bud vases and table centrepieces and we got creative. We styled all these different floral pieces in different scenarios- for example creating a beautiful wedding aisle with plinths, florals, disco balls, fabric, candles and all the things you need to do to create the most stunning event. We styled up various table arrangements in different combinations showing you how you could use your arrangements in different ways for different events. It was an amazing day just being creative with other wedding professionals and I think this really shows within the book.

After sitting down and writing the bulk of the work I started deciding the layout and so I spent a good few weeks working out which image was going go where and which bit of text related to which image. I found this part really creative because I love to know how things will look, I’m very visual, and I like to know how things work and how they are laid out- so I mapped the whole book out so I could see the finished look. After much back-and-forth we finally landed the front cover, the colours used for the inside of the book and all the photography placements. This was when my first proof was sent to Crowood for them to edit and work with their editors, copywriters and their designers to create the layout of the book and design the front and back covers. This was the time when the book was taken out of my hands and I had to let my baby go!

Receiving the first copy proof was really, really exciting- seeing my words laid out amongst all the beautiful imagery was just absolutely thrilling but this was on email and in a black and white copy. I made notes on this to any changes I wanted and sent it back to Crowood. This was the last time I saw my book until the first copy arrived in real life! What a moment that was, opening up the package and seeing all the months and months of work, ideas, thoughts and love all put into one book!

So there you have it that’s a behind the scenes of what went into creating this book. Writing a book is a really in-depth process and requires a lot of research, a lot of time sitting thinking and planning. Writing and designing the book was a wonderful experience and I hope that my enthusiasm and creativity inspires you when you read the book. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear how you have created some of the designs in the book and how they came out!