Anyone ever done flowers for family in another state?

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njgraham

njgraham

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Mar 16, 2008
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Manchester and surrounding area
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New Hampshire
Hi All:

My nephew is getting married in April in North Carolina (Raleigh area) and I would like to do the flowers for him. Has anyone ever done this before and as a courtesy gotten flowers at wholesale cost through another shop or from the flower market or wholesaler in that state? I did this once before with a Michigan florist in my hometown when I did my other nephew's wedding flowers, but I don't know if this would just translate to being possible everywhere.

Anyone have any feedback?

Thanks! Nancy
 
Yep, it was a pain in the butt. We did a wedding in Chicago (2 hrs away)
and got the flowers here, designed them here, rented a cargo van. BIG pain but it turned out great.
 
njgraham said:
Hi All:

My nephew is getting married in April in North Carolina (Raleigh area) and I would like to do the flowers for him. Has anyone ever done this before and as a courtesy gotten flowers at wholesale cost through another shop or from the flower market or wholesaler in that state? I did this once before with a Michigan florist in my hometown when I did my other nephew's wedding flowers, but I don't know if this would just translate to being possible everywhere.

Anyone have any feedback?

Thanks! Nancy
Click to expand...
I've done weddings in MN for my nieces. Two ways. One, I called months
before to the wholesale house and asked if they would sell wholesale to
me and no problem, I just showed my license. I place the order just as
I would locally. They were great.
Other niece I had my local wholesaler who grows fab stargazers fed ex
them and we picked them up at the fed ex place. They kept them cool
upon arrival. This was also a good way.
there really shouldn't be a problem if you have a resale license.
 
I've done it a couple of times.
In San Antonio a couple of years ago. I worked out of a wholesalers, which was a pain because, I had to be done each day before 2:30- their closing time. Needless to day, I was making bouts in a hotel room at midnight.
Last week, I went to VA to do a wedding. I worked out of a hotel room. The nearest wholesaler was 1.5 hours away.
I contacted the wholesaler -Sieck Wholeseale- a couple of months before the event. Became a customer and submitted my tax cetificate. Different wholesalers have different procedures, so get in touch with them well ahead of time.
Working in a hotel room is a fine tuned art. I brought a large roll of plastic and entirely covered one side of the room. I had them bring up a small banquet table to work on - it was covered and draped- ha!
The wholesaler was gracious enought to send all of the product about $1000 - already cut in perconas. I had them also send several quarter boxes to transport the centerpieces. The perconas worked great to transport the large pieces and bouquets. I saved rose sleeves to use as packing material. I used the small boxes that the glass cubes came in to use as boxes for the bouquets. Estentially, I was smart and used all of the resources that I could possibly recycle. I brought my tools, a glue gun, crowning glory, and some wire. Every thing else, I purchased from Sieck. Sieck was wonderful. The quality of my product was fabouous. I was very pleased. They made my job much easier than it could have been. I was upset that I sent someone to a local flower shop to purchase 60 gerbera straws. They charged $10.00 - for 60 gerbera straws. I thought that was rotten and why so many of us get a bad rap as a "rip off". It was the florist for the hotel. What does a straw cost 3 cents???
I used the tub in the hotel room to soak product - hydrangea and snaps and aspidistra. I used the large vase I would using for the Bema pieces for storage of the taller flowers. I did go to Kmart and buy a couple of cheap trash cans to store the roses. The hotel was nice and let me use their reefers for the bouquets and body flowers. The centerpieces were all over the room and bathroom. I was as organized as possible and tried to keep as tidy as possible.
It was a lovely, lovely, tasteful Southern wedding. My clients were very please.
 
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Have worked this both ways......
1. Made here, in our store & transported it to there.
2. Worked thru a local wholesaler there, picked up (as Cherrie did), made in a hotel room, and then transported it to the sites.

Both ways have pros & cons. First way was done in the August heat, from Pittburgh to Arlington, Va. We regularly transport to places that are from one to 4 hours from Pittsburgh. Was in eastern Ohio last weekend.

2nd way has been done by us In Michigan, W . Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

I have more control over my product, and the cost, if I get it here in Pittsburgh....and have staff to help me with stuff.

I have not tried to work in a wholesaler, or ask another florist for space to work in their space. (I think that is a little pushy, but that is just me, unless we are really, really, really good friends :) )

Both ways require that you think the whole thing thru......be super prepared, and have all your tools and materials with you or shipped ahead for you. (We shipped a box to Texas and to Tennessee & had it held for us at the hotel).

All of this prep work and planning is similar to what we used to do with our race car team.....so just lots of forthought and check lists!!

Hope this helps.

Cheryl
 
Dore,
Somewhere I see you asked a couple of questions.
I get the allum at King Soopers. in their pharmacy dept. You have to order it.
As far as the purple Hydrangea - just as you suggested. I get blue and use DM Just for Flowers Purple Pansy. Works great. No need to worry. I just spray on gently, as not to burn the blossoms.
 
I have done my two nieces and one nephew's weddings who all live on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. I bought all the flowers on Flowerbuyer.com. and took them with me. I prepped them when I got there. I designed everything in my Brother's garage. I am not sure if you could have Flowerbuyer ship to where you are working.

As long as you have a buyer license, I would think you could buy any product that you wanted at most wholesaler. If in doubt, do a bit of homework ahead of time....call before to let them know you are coming.
 
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Hi Nancy our shop welcomed a designer from New York last Friday to do her niece's wedding sorry you missed it she did a beautiful cascade.Look forward to seeing you back tommorrow we missed you!
 
Twilia,
You can have Flowerbuyer ship directly to you at a different location.
They set up a new account number with the address you need the product shipped to. I almost used fb for the wedding this last weekend. I chose to deal with a local wholesaler because there was no margin for any kind of error. It was worth paying more for product.
 
We've usually found a local shop whose flowers and work we like. Then we work a deal to rent cooler and work space from them. Sometimes we even rent a designer or two.

Usually works best to arrange to purchase from the local shop's preferred suppliers, either through the local shop or directly, depending on how it best works out.
 
I did my niece's wedding in Franklin, TN. I contacted a florist in the area and as luck would have it they allowed me to use a design table in their shop. They were very helpful and suggested a wholesaler in the area that I should use including their sales rep. When I arrived down there they treated me like family and even got lunch for me while I was working on the flowers. I have used them when sending flowers to the area because I know they make quality arrangements and their customer service is top notch. I talked to the sales rep when ordering flowers for the wedding and they said these people were the nicest people and I couldn't have picked a better florist shop in the area to work with!!!!:walking::walking::walking::walking:
 
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That is so awesome to see that us florists can pop up anywhere and do our thing.

And reassuring that my experience doing my sister in law's flowers was very normal. Hours and hours in a hotel room is Not a vacation I kept telling the family. She was funny the way she worked out her wedding though,

My husband was the Minister
My daughter was the flowergirl
I did the Flowers

She made sure our butts would be there! (but once there, very well imbibed :)

The local wholesalers were great and made sure everything was there for us to pick up. They even managed to source the particular red rose I was looking for "red france". I am picky with red roses. Great experience overall. Good luck!
 
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