While in Paris, we had the pleasure of learning from one of the city’s great floral designers and owner of Les Fleurs de Pauline. We set up the workshop through Airbnb’s new Experience section on their website and had a pretty fun afternoon creating our own bouquet and chatting about the importance of florals in Paris.

Airbnb Experiences are kind of like excursions on a cruise. After booking your stay in a new city you can select the day(s) you would like to explore the city and choose from a variety of activities. There were so many exciting ones in Paris…from food and beer tastings to comedy shows. Originally we were only going to be there a week, so we opted for one of the afternoon workshops, but there were three day experiences to choose from and night tours as well.

We felt so grateful to spend the afternoon with Pauline, who welcomed us into her studio which was full of the sweet scents of various flowers, fresh tea brewing, and some French tunes playing in the background. She shared a little about how she began her career and how most of her business involves the wedding industry, as well as working with designers such as Dior on styled photoshoots. She loves bohemian inspired bouquets and head pieces for brides, which is what this bouquet was inspired by. It was not tight or precise, but rather loose and free. We created a large bouquet together with different textures and various sized flowers that looked like they were just picked from the French countryside. Hearing about how she enjoys the banter and excitement of negotiating with the vendors at the flower markets, was such a treat and you can see from her expression while speaking that she deeply enjoys what she does. From start to finish the whole process is truly an experience and as she reminded us, there’s no right or wrong way to create a bouquet. She taught us the rolling method with a twist of the wrist. Always keeping the bouquet in one hand while turning, and adding new flowers with your other, makes it a lot easier.

J.Crew coat | Urban Outfitters jeans | Aritzia bodysuit (similar) | Zara flats — old (similar) | Sézane tote

Although there was a slight language barrier, by the end of our visit we truly felt like Pauline was an old friend…chatting about restaurants we’ve been exploring and some of our favorite French brands. (She had the cutest Sézane purse!) I really hope we can make it back to Paris soon, see what Pauline is up to, and explore another Airbnb Experience together.

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