Budget Riser Wedding Arrangements

[marie g bushnell]

I'm still finding that bride's want the riser arrangements, but don't want to pay much (Less than $100) for them, but they want the hydrangeas, lilies and roses.

I quoted one bride $135 for these with hydrangeas, roses, lilies, alstroe, wax, seeded eucly., and birch branches and did not get that wedding.

Is $135 too much now for these budget brides that still want riser arrangements?

Any suggestions for getting these riser arrangements under $100 ?

I just happen to be at that wedding and saw the low revere bowls had lilies and roses and alstroe, BUT the RISERS had a mix of spiders, hydrangeas, alstroe,roses,
No Lilies, No wax, No branches. I'm guessing these were around $100.

I rent my risers for an additional $15 each as well.

 

[RWK]

I'm not sure what you are describing.......100.00 should be able to get a nice design sitting on top a slim pedestal/tall compote - sounds like you are describing having the pedestals covered in flowers too?

Perhaps a picture of what you are describing might help answer your question.

 

[inferno63]

The quotes I have been doing don't even include centers at all. They are doing those themselves. Most of my quotes are wedding party flowers only. This darn economy......

 

[lori042499]

I would say that yes you can do arrangements for rises for under 100.00, but not with lilies, hydrangea and roses...it would more be like, carns, minis, daisies, fugis and roses, these bride's have to understand that just because they want this the reality is that their budget just does not cover it...we also must lose our thoughts on what flowers we want to use and focus on the flowers that fit into the brides budget...I am one that is fully guilty of this...more than ever we really need to know first what a bride expects to spend on her flowers and then what she wants for flowers so we know right away if she needs an adjustment on one or the other...

My thought is when they come in and have a 150 person wedding with 4 bm and a 1500.00 budget, we all know what she can and cannot expect for that budget...so when she sits down and starts talking mini callas, hydrangea and roses right in the first breath we know right away that she needs to either be bumped up on price or knocked down to reality immediately....if we allow the fantasy to continue and then give her an out of whack price at the end, we lose...if we find out right at the beginning that the budget has some flex room we have a better chance of landing the out of budget price, if we find that the price is the focus we must work on getting the bride down to reality in order to land the sale...

we cannot promise a low budget and premium flowers, and we must not be afraid that someone else will, let them, they won't be in biz long....The only wedding you can lose on is the wedding you take and fill for too little money...

 

[Connie]

The quotes I have been doing don't even include centers at all. They are doing those themselves. Most of my quotes are wedding party flowers only. This darn economy......

While we still do a lot of those with only the personal flowers, I have seen a slight turn back to allowing us to do more of the reception, and especially the ceremony flowers. I'm grateful for what ever we can make money on.

 

[marie g bushnell]

Thanks Ricky,

Just an arrangement (no flowers in or around the slim pedestal/compote) on the top with hybrid lilies, roses, hydrangeas, wax, alstroe and greenery is impossible for me to do under $100.
Just working on the costs of 3 to 5 hydrangeas, 5 stems lilies, 9 roses, wax, 5 alstroe,
designer dish, greenery comes to about $37 my cost. Maybe even add in some spray roses. I do pay more for spray roses about $1.20 a stem than the 50 cm. rose. It's a squeeze for under $100 and I won't skimp.

Wish I could send a picture, but I haven't figured how to send pictures yet and I have many.

 

[lizzie ann]

Thanks Ricky,

Just an arrangement (no flowers in or around the slim pedestal/compote) on the top with hybrid lilies, roses, hydrangeas, wax, alstroe and greenery is impossible for me to do under $100.
Just working on the costs of 3 to 5 hydrangeas, 5 stems lilies, 9 roses, wax, 5 alstroe,
designer dish, greenery comes to about $37 my cost. Maybe even add in some spray roses. I do pay more for spray roses about $1.20 a stem than the 50 cm. rose. It's a squeeze for under $100 and I won't skimp.

Wish I could send a picture, but I haven't figured how to send pictures yet and I have many.

I can't make a tall arrangement for that ...neither should you. I realy get tired of these brides who see all this "crap" on TV and have no idea of what things cost. And...do you notice NONE of the shows talk costs? So then when these little cookies come trotting in the door wanting huge arrangements for $40 (what they think they cost) we are made to feel like it is our fault! Can you tell I am totally wedding-ed out for this year....or maybe I am just to old and jaded. I am dealing with a bride right now that is insisting that she wants standard size callas for the guys bouts because she insists she saw them on some TV show. I am having her come in tomorrow so she can compare a standard to a mini...because I guess I am the stupid one here....what guy wouldn't want a flower the size of the titanic on his lapel!!!! geeze.....thanks for letting me vent here....:hammer:

 

[wildflowerschicago]

I have been giving brides a few different pricing options. For altar pieces (which is what I am guessing you are describing) I base most of it on the church. A $75 arrangement at the front of a church with a 150' aisle will look skimpy (at best).

I usually tell the brides to keep these arrangements in the color palette of the wedding without using the big dollar flowers so the budget goes further (just my opinion). I quote "mixed flowers to compliment bridal party" with a base (usually starting at $125) and luxury price point (about $50~$75 more than the base). Although, I offer to leave them off the wedding until closer to the date (so they have a better idea of their budget). 90% of the time, they, or one of the parents, add them at the final consult. This way, the initial budget looks more managable...and they add it at the end when they are throwing cash around to everyone else.