Pricing, Value and Fabulous

One of the most common issues we deal with in putting a beautiful floral and decor plan together for our brides is one of budget and pricing. I wish it were a simple issue to address - like when you hire a DJ, there is a rate - the variable is how many hours you want and the price of that time is very straight forward. The price is the same to everyone, regardless of the type of music you want or if you want to include the chicken dance or not (NOT!!).

Of course you can arrange to have a floral designer do your personal flowers only, and pick them up the morning of your wedding - they will be stunning and they will be less expensive than hiring someone to design your whole wedding - you will see why below.

In an effort to demystify this aspect of hiring a wedding floral designer, I will share with you the aspects of the equation.

• The size of your wedding: how many bridesmaids = how many bridesmaid's bouquets, how many guests = how many centerpieces - it seems really obvious, but if you want to cut your flower budget - and really your overall wedding budget - have a smaller wedding party and invite fewer guests. Many of our favorite weddings have been small intimate gatherings where the bride choice quality over quantity in all the aspects of her wedding.
• The varieties of blooms that you choose: flowers each have a different value - for example, lush English Garden Roses are about twice as expensive as their standard counterpart. Yes, they are incredibly fabulous, but maybe use them in your bridal bouquet, and not throughout your centerpieces for example. Hydrangea costs more than roses - but it also takes up significantly more space in a bouquet or an arrangement.
• The season: the floral community's biggest connundrum, is the August bride that has to have tulips. Of course we always want to get you exactly what you want - but those tulips may be coming from the other side of the planet, and getting them here is going to add cost. Working with blooms that are in prime season of your wedding will not only have a better visual outcome, it brings the best value to your budget.
  
• Scale: the bridal magazines that offer amazing ideas for you to fall in love with, have scaled things to a place where they have maximum visual impact. They also use a lot of blooms in each element or bouquet - but notice they don't give you a cost for those elements. When we actually tell a bride that the cost of the stunning centerpiece she has just fallen in love with would be $400 for each table and she has 20 tables, so just the centerpieces will cost $8000 (Gasp!), there is always disappointment and and an immediate let down. On that same note, a high centerpiece, requires more volume than a low - simply from a scale perspective. Usually mechanics are involved to the the flowers up there - that leads to more labour.
  
• Design: working with a great floral designer often means that they are creating elements specifically for your personal event. We usually sketch concepts out for you, spend time researching elements that will fit in with the style that you are presenting and then figure out how many stems of each bloom will be required to accomplish that bouquet - times 20+. Unlike walking into the corner flower shop and buying a bouquet out of the refrigerated display case, your wedding flowers will be specially ordered for you and specially designed for you with the greatest of care taken along the way to find the best quality blooms, and personal care and attention. In addition, putting three stems of roses in a bud vase is an entirely different process than creating a cohesive, trendy palette of blooms, applying them to the various elements required at a wedding, engineering the installation of those blooms on your arch, chuppah or high centerpiece, all while keeping your personal color standards and style in mind.
• How Profusely are the blooms used: for example - what is the ratio actual blooms to greens and filler? This can make all the difference in the world. For example, our style tends to be high bloom intensity. We don't use greens except for their ability to add to the design itself. In other words, we don't fill space with greens or fillers - we use flowers. What you end up with is high intensity designs with high density of texture and color. Greens are inexpensive and many designers use them to "thin out" the number of blooms needed for each arrangement or bouquet - thus bringing down cost. The look is completely different. For this day of all days, we take the approach of maximum beauty and grace and only use greens if they add another exquisite element of texture and beauty. Often we will you more than double the number of blooms in a centerpiece that the next florist would. So it is like comparing apples to oranges.
  
• Care: from ordering each stem from the specific sources around the world that will provide excellent quality, to prepping each bloom with specific chemicals for maximum hydration and nutrtion to refrigeration. The goal is that your flowers be at their absolute prime, on the day of your wedding. Sometimes that requires extreme care - creating a mini greenhouse to get your blooms to open in time, or slowing the "ripening" process down so that come "the day" they are profoundly awesome. This requires time (labour) and education (expertise). A flower shop orders whatever is a great deal at the market for that week, and it goes directly into their cooler for you to purchase on the spot.
  
• Expertise: hopefully when you hire a designer, they will have had experience working at your venue, and they will be able to give you the low down on what works and what the possibilities are. They will know the support staff at the venue and have a good understanding of what the venue's parameters are in addition to having a collaborative relationship with the venue. You are paying for experience and expertise. On your day of all days - you'll be glad that you did. The alternative isn't worth experiencing. Also, a fabulous wedding floral designer stays in the loop of what is current in weddings and events. What the current color palettes are, what the latest techniques are, what is happening in design and trends. Does your designer get out of the bubble that is their own business and community? Ask them - "what do you do to stay current and inspired?" If you are excited about your flowers - they should be too.
• Inventory: what are the options available to you for arches, chuppahs, centerpiece vessels, fabric treatments, linens, lanterns, etc. Someone who has a vast inventory for you to choose from has invested their profits back into the business to be able to provide exquisite candelabras, arches, fabric to you their clients. These are often items that you would not be able to find, much less afford to purchase for your wedding yourself - and it is provided to you as a service from your designer.
  
• Installation: so you have decided on the perfect design of your wedding arch - are you picking those flowers up to place them yourself? Getting a spray of blooms up high on an arch while perched on a ladder and water dripping into your eye, while making sure it is secured enough that the "coastal breeze" won't blow it to bits in the middle of your ceremony - is not as easy at it sounds. Great care is taken to ensure that your blooms are secured appropriately so that someone who has had a glass too many of wine, doesn't walk in a table and jilt the flowers off of their heavenly perch on a elegant candle stick. This all takes time and know how - and it is as important as the selection of your bouquet.