Mila Floral Art School

This is a Wonderful course! I am an event planner and wanted to try my hand at floral, so after looking around for courses, I found Mila Designs, talked with Tatiana and decided to take the beginner class. Well, I can honestly say, that I after 2 days in the beginner class that I learned so much that I have already signed up for the rest of the classes.
Tatiana is a great teacher and a true artist. It was an honor to work with her and to learn. It was an amazing opportunity to learn tricks of the trade with a true master. During the class, she took us into her world and taught us new skills and showed us how all the magic is done. It was amazing! Not only is she is really a great instructor, she also gives you hands on advice and encouragement, what a privilege to find a teacher like this.
A day after I finished the beginners course, I had a customer that needed 10 centerpieces and I was able to put my new skills to the test. Each centerpiece came out excellent and the customer was more than pleased, and I was thrilled because I was able to do things I had never done before.
If you have any desire to learn this industry, this class is a MUST. it is affordable, it is no nonsense and it is an opportunity of a lifetime to learn from a master of her craft, I was more than impressed and very grateful for the opportunity to learn from her.

Tatiana is an extremely talented floral designer and an excellent teacher. Her 5 day floral design class taught me everything I needed to know about floral design and running a floral design business. Tatiana is an artist who uses flowers as her medium. Her understanding of event design is vast and she treats each bride as an individual, creating a unique experience for each wedding or event.

This is a review for Mila Design’s floral class/​workshop only.
Let me start with the positives:
First, Tatiana (our instructor) is very instructive. We certainly learnt a large amount within the two day workshop — 3 styles of floral arrangements. For an absolute beginner like myself, I walked away feeling confident that I could arrange my own flowers myself in the future. Secondly, the day also included a visit to the wholesale flower market, where Tatiana explained what to look for when buying fresh flowers which was very useful.
Now to highlight some negatives, for a balanced view and to help others know what to expect:
First, this is a very strict class that would be fantastic if I were deciding to go into the flower industry as a professional. But this is not for someone looking for a bit of girly, relaxed day before her wedding or a mother-​daughter bonding session. The atmosphere of the class reminded me of bootcamps, where the instructor would strongly criticize arrangements in front of all students. Yes, it was constructive, but the tone felt condescending. Moreover, there are no breaks from 9 – 5, other than a short 30min lunch break, despite more than one person stating tiredness or coldness. Bring your own water and food and anything else you need, because we were not offered any refreshment or water through the day.
Second, I did not like how Tatiana pushed to make money off of the students and scrimped on materials. First, she did not tell us to bring our own tools in advance. On the day, we were told we must purchase a cutting knife, or else we cannot participate in any flower arranging during the day. This would be fine if I were planning on going into the business or planning on doing this repeatedly, but I did not like the fact that we had no choice in buying the tools.
I also felt like she skimped on the flowers. We made 2 different designs on the first day, and had to pull apart arrangements and reuse flowers for the second design, so really you only go home with 2 designs and not 3. The flowers she chose were relatively cheap ones from the market (e.g. mums) so I do not know why she couldn’t buy more so we didn’t have to pull apart out designs and reuse all the flowers, given how much we paid for the class.
Moreover, she repeatedly pushed her home-​made CDs of «inspiring pictures», even after being told we were not interested.
In summary — great class if you’re a very serious learner or someone wanting to learn a lot about the money side of the flower industry. Not so great if you want a fun girly day out /​mother-​daughter bonding session.

Mila design, surpassed any and all visions, expectations I have ever had for my wedding. When I initially met with her I gave her an idea of what feel I wanted for my wedding (romantic and lots of candle light). I also stressed my main concern that my venue was HUGE and I am not a fan of big halls but I essentially had no choice. So I thought there was no way to make my wedding not feel like it was swallowed whole by the room… well the way Mila Design transformed the room I couldn’t believe I was standing in the same room! I literally had tears come to my eyes I was so happy and impressed. She used draping, beautiful table overlays, amazing candelabras, flowers and more and more candles! I could not have dreamed up a more perfect and beautiful wedding. I can not thank Mila Design enough for everything they did for me and making my day that much more extra special!

After inquiring with nearly 50 florists in the Chicago area, and having been told every time, «We can’t work with that budget,» not only was I mad (who has $ 5000 to drop on flowers that will just die anyway!), I started to think I would never find a florist before my wedding. I found Mila Design via a Google search, and I am glad I did. I told Tatiana my budget was small compared to most brides, and that I needed to keep flower costs under $ 1000, and I was quite surprised when she responded that she could work with any budget. I will be honest and admit I am the kind of person who knows what she wants, so had I not know, my experience may not have been so easy. Because I live in Ohio but was getting married in Chicago, all of our communication took place via email. I sent pictures of what I wanted, and Tatiana responded with her questions and suggestions. As someone who isn’t a huge fan of flowers, I appreciated that she was honest about how she felt about some of my ideas. My only two complaints/​dissappointments were that she does not meet with you before the wedding to let you see a sample of your bouquet and the flowers were not 100% what I thought I was getting. As an out of town bride, all the email communication was great, but it definitely made me nervous to put so much trust in a stranger when I found out we were not meeting to see a sample before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, the flowers arrived without any problems, and although the arrangements were not 100% what I thought I was getting, they were gorgeous! The colors were slightly off (I had asked for Black Magic roses and got very bright, red roses instead), not exactly as I wanted; however, that is, of course, written in the contract: depending on availability, substitutions may be required. Like I said, what I got was gorgeous but it would have been nice to see before the wedding just in case I did not like the substitution. I was thoroughly pleased with the experience, and as an added bonus, she gave me a discount on any future orders.

Where do I begin…
This was my first floral appointment for my wedding that I had made and it was a referral. When you walk into Mila its nicely decorated and also has some samples of table settings that they can do for you. Let me start off by saying if you don’t have a 100% clear understanding of what you want, don’t bother your wasting her time. I was hoping to look through some photos, see what was in season for my wedding, what I could afford and most importantly what I liked.
For some reason the talk turned into what my dress looked like, which I could understand because that would give her a better understanding of what type of wedding I was having ie: romantic, classic, vintagey etc.
When I told her I had not found my dress at this time, she proceeded to tell me what I should wear and what I simply could not. My sister was there with me and she started to compare our figures (my sisters more petite than I am). That lasted for about 15 minutes, quite frankly I don’t care if your a size 2 or 20, don’t talk shizzle to the bride about her weight if you plan to make a sale/​deal. She basically told me to wear a turtle neck! RUDE… FYI most girls/​women are sensitive about that anyway.
She did manage to squeeze in the proposal which I should get shortly and it seems as if she may quote me something for paper flowers because I am apparently not rich or thin enough to be her client.