pRIVATE INSTRUCTION
Learn with
intention.
Just as no wedding is the same, our private instruction services are perfectly customized to suit your design & experience needs.
Group classes and workshops are a blast and perfect if you are just dipping your toes into the world of floral design to test the waters. But, if you’re ready and confident to take the plunge, some private instruction time with a florist who’s work you admire is worth it’s weight in gold.
Introductory workshops often skim the surface of a particular aspect of floral design, as they are designed to be enough instruction and hands-on design work for a group to have a good time, not necessarily study a subject.
Our private instruction classes are designed completely around you and your individual needs. We’ll work with you by coming up with a customized class(es) that work within your budget, schedule & desired focus.
How we customize
your learning.
Private instruction is not inexpensive. Because we appreciate this, we want to make sure you get the maximum amount of instruction, skill & inspiration out of your investment.
Rather than offering cookie-cutter courses on one subject, we take into consideration the specific subject(s) you’d like to focus on in combination with the financial & time investment you’re willing to make to create a custom curriculum just for you.
We offer instruction for any skill level covering anything from our most common requests, bouquets, to more intensive subjects such as sustainable arch mechanics.
What’s included &
what to expect
We offer our private instruction by the day, rather than the hour. This way, we won’t have to worry about the clock running out in the middle of a lesson. Instead, we’ll be able to schedule our day in advance so you’ll know exactly what to expect from your class.
Our private instruction is booked by the half day. Half days are typically 4 hours of continuous instruction. Full days (highly recommended) are 8½ hours & includes a provided half-hour lunch break mid-day that we enjoy together. All private lessons are reserved for one-on-one instruction. If you would like to take the class with a friend or colleague, we offer options for a adding a guest for an additional investment.
All private instruction is taken directly with Malorie, the owner of HONEYBABY and will implement the design & business principals of the business. This means, you will only use sustainable mechanics (NO FLORAL FOAM!) & seasonally available locally grown materials.
Instruction days are scheduled on an individual basis throughout the growing season and available dates are highly dependent on our event schedule, but we will try our very best to accommodate your individual schedule needs. Your instruction will take place in our beautiful design studio located in a historic storefront in downtown Manchester, Michigan.
For beginners that may not have their own florist kit yet, we offer “essential tool kits” for bouquets and/or centerpieces that go home with you after your class for an additional investment.
We’ll also make sure to take a few nice photos of your work in the natural light of our tall windows that we’ll send you after your class to use in your portfolio.
Ready to Learn with us?
Fill out our new student inquiry form below!
essential reading before inquiring
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By the half day!
We don’t like abrupt cut-offs that by the hour instruction often have. Everyone learns at a different pace, and we’d much rather provide plenty of time for intentional instruction & hands-on design play to optimize the investment you’ve made.
We offer half, full & 2 day private lessons.
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That’s entirely up to you!
We offer private instruction on a plethora of floral design topics. From the standard bridal bouquet & centerpieces to sustainable mechanics & techniques.
When filling out your private instruction inquiry form, you’ll be able to select the specific subject(s) you’d like to focus on during your class.
You’ll also rank your desired focus(s) based on the importance, that way we know where to start. If after your feel you’ve mastered your desired subject and time remains, we’ll move on to other areas you’d like to explore.
For example, we can certainly use up an entire day working only on bridal bouquets. However, if things quickly click for you and you’d like to use the rest of your time learning about sustainable mechanics or centerpieces, we can switch our focus!
Keep in mind, the amount of material we can cover is highly dependant on the time you have reserved. If you’d like to reserve a half day, you can expect to focus on a single subject. The more time, the more topics we can work on.
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All of our private lessons take place in our beautiful floral design studio located in downtown Manchester, MI.
{PLEASE NOTE AS OF SUMMER 2026}
Our studio is undergoing a major remodel. We are still offering private lessons in the space, however they are unfortunately not as luxurious of an experience we normally strive for. Because of this, we are offering a limited time “Pardon our Dust” discount from all of our private lessons.
Are you looking to host a private workshop for a group at a different location for a party or event? Please reach out directly by email at hello@honeybabyflorals.com to discuss.
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In general, we offer classes whenver flowers are seasonally available. Because we do not work with off-season imported flowers, this means we typically do not schedule any private class time between the months of January & April.
The availability of specific dates are highly dependent on our event schedule. We’ll ask you to list desired dates, and we’ll try our best to accommodate your schedule.
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We’ll supply everything you’ll need to practice & design with during your class.
This includes all of the flowers & foliage needed for designing that day as well as access to all of the studio’s tools & materials. If you’d like to focus on centerpieces, for example, we’ll be sure to design in a vessel you can then take home for you for personal use.
Do you have your own tools you prefer using? Great! Bring them with you if you’d like, however you need not bring anything.
If you are a beginner in the world of floral design, and haven’t invested in any of your own kit yet - fret not! We offer curated “essential tool kits” for subjects such as bouquet-making or centerpiece design that you can add on to your lesson.
For all of our lessons, a selection of delicious beverages will be provided for your enjoyment any time during class.
For our full day & 2 day packages, we’ll provide lunch and snacks for us to enjoy together!
We’ll also reserve time during our lesson to take a small amount of photos in our studio’s beautiful natural light of your pieces. After class, we’ll edit & perfect those photos for you to use in your portfolio.
IMPORTANT**
Again, we only use locally grown & seasonally available flowers during our private sessions. There is no shortage of beautiful and varied material during the growing season. So, if you have specific flowers you’d like experience working with please let us know! If they are in season, we’ll be sure to stock up for you! If they are not in season, you are more than welcome to procure them yourself, and bring them with you - we’ll show you how to best condition them for design work!
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Literally any!
You do not need to be a professional in the industry, or an award winning floral designer to benefit from private instruction.
Although a base level of floral design knowledge or skill is beneficial - you can be a complete beginner and as long as you come in to the studio with a good attitude & willingness to learn - we’re confident you will leave feeling more confident in your skills.
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Emphasis on investment.
Private lessons for any subject are never inexpensive, and that includes floral design. However, if you are seriously considering a future in the industry or are passionate about mastering the skill - private lessons are priceless.
In a world of youtube, social media & AI “experts” - there is nothing like personal real-time direction, feedback & encouragement from a floral designer you admire. We cherish personal connection with our students and never tire of answering questions & offering constructive advice during our time together.
We highly suggest that every potentional student look through our website portfolio & social media to ensure our design style & business ethics speak to you. No two floral designers are the same, so the most important thing is that you find one you can connect with.
We book all of our private instruction by the half day, and the time of day we conduct class can be flexible to work around your needs.
We offer the following private instruction options:
Half Day: 4 ½ Hours. $500+
Includes: Half hour intro meeting to plan our day together. A demonstration on the expressed focus subject. All flowers & material. Access to any floral tools in the studio. 4 hours of intensive design instruction and hands-on creating. Beverages & light snacks to graze on. Ample studio light. Some photos of your work that will be edited & sent to you after your class.
Typically we will only be able to cover one focus during a half day such as Bouquets or Centerpieces. Small things like boutonnieres can normally be covered in addition to a main focus.
Full Day: 8 ½ hours. $1,000+
Includes: Half hour intro meeting to plan our day together. During a full day of instruction, we typically can cover 1-4 focus subjects. The student’s comprehension and confidence is priority - for example, an entire class can be dedicated to just bouquet making. However, if the student feels confident and would like to move on to another topic of focus, we’ll have time to learn that as well! Full days include a provided lunch, beverages & snacks throughout the day. All necessary tools, vessels & flowers will be provided by HONEYBABY.
Two Day Intensive: 2 full 8 ½ hour consecutive days. $1,800+
Includes everything in our full day package x 2. Lunch will be provided both days.
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Great question!
The base price listed includes all of the flowers, materials & tools you will need during class to use while you are in studio. For “standard” subjects such as bouquets & centerpieces, the base price will be all that is covered. The cost can increase for more involved subjects such as ceremony urns, installations, etc. in which a custom price will be created for the student ahead of time so they know what they will be responsible for.
Although our students have full access to everything in our studio while they are here, they cannot take any of our tools home with them. If you’re a beginner and do not have any of your own tools yet, and are not sure what works best - we offer an essential tool kit for bouquets & centerpieces that can be added into the price of your class.
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When you fill out your enrollment inquiry, you’ll have space to include your preferred date(s) for classes. As stated previously, the dates we have available for private instruction vary depending on our event schedule that month. However, we will try our best to schedule your instruction days as close to that desired date as possible.
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It’s super easy!
Simply fill out our new student inquiry form, and we’ll reach back out with possible dates we have available as well as a custom quote based off of your desired focus subjects, time commitment, and anything that would be included. You can find the inquiry form on this page, right next to this FAQ. —→
If everything looks good to you, and you want to schedule a work day(s), then we just require a 50% non-refundable deposit to save your spot. If you’d like to pay the total cost up front, great. If you’d like to split your remaining balance into 2-3 more manageable payments, that’s fine too - we just require the remaining balance to be paid IN FULL no later than 1 week before our start date.
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We accept cash, personal check, and credit/debit cards.
Please note: for credit/debit card payments there is an additonal 3.3% + $0.30 processing fee required.
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We understand life happens, and unforeseen circumstances come up! We put a lot of time, love, & preparation into our private instruction classes because we want to ensure you are getting the most out of your investment! This means we are procuring flowers & materials well in advance of your work day. Because flowers have such a short lifespan after cutting, often times we will have to dispose of all of that material we would of been using in our class. It is because of this we have a VERY strict cancellation policy, so please read the following policies carefully.
TO RESCHEDULE:
We are happy to reschedule your class time for no additional fee ONCE. So long as we are notified within 30 days of your conflict.
However, each additional rescheduling comes with a $200 re-scheduling fee that goes towards new flowers & materials we would have to replace.
We offer NO MORE than 3 rescheduling dates. After that, we will have to assume you will not be taking the class with us and you will therefore not be able to schedule again for another season and your deposit will not be returned.
Also - dates available for rescheduling are heavily dependent on our event schedule, and we will try to fit you in as soon as we can following your original date.
TO CANCEL:
We deeply hope you will not have to cancel. Please, take advantage of our accomodating rescheduling policy before pulling the plug on your scheduled class. Please keep in mind our cancellation policy is very strict. Your deposit will not be returned in any capacity. Any payments you have made after your deposit toward your balance will only be returned to you if you if you cancel PRIOR to 90 days of your class’s start date.
As event florists, we are scheduling events and classes months, and sometimes years in advance. If you are scheduled to start class within 90 days, unfortunately we will of had no opportunity to fill your spot and therefore will not be returning any payments to you. The only exception being, if you can find another student to take your place and pay your balance (therefore they would get the class for a discount in the amount of your deposit you paid) we will promptly return your balance to you.