09/02/2026
💐 A Florist’s Perspective — and I’d Love Your Thoughts 💐
The photo on the left is the arrangement I created. The photo on the right is the inspiration picture I was given, with the request that the blue “DAD” lettering be changed to red.
I spent many hours working on this 24-inch heart because I knew how important it was. This wasn’t just another arrangement—it was being created to honor someone’s dad, and I wanted it to be something the family would be proud of.
In fact, I redid the word “DAD” seven different times trying to get it as close to the inspiration picture as humanly possible and, most importantly, trying to make my customer happy.
In the end, I walked away feeling like the customer still wasn’t completely happy with the finished piece, and I’ll admit—that was hard.
As florists, we are seeing more and more inspiration pictures that are AI-generated, digitally enhanced, or otherwise created in a way that doesn’t always translate perfectly into fresh flowers. We can recreate the design, colors and overall feel, but real flowers have different sizes, shapes and textures. They simply can’t be manipulated with the same perfection as pixels on a screen.
I feel that I captured the overall look they asked for while creating it with real flowers—and I put my heart into doing it. ❤️
I’m sharing this because I’d genuinely love some feedback, especially from my fellow florists, but also from customers.
Looking at these two pictures, do you feel I captured the inspiration?
Please be kind, but please be honest. I’m always willing to learn and improve. 🌹
And maybe this is a good reminder for all of us: inspiration photos are wonderful references, but handmade floral designs will never be pixel-for-pixel copies—and that’s part of what makes them handmade. 💐
