How many hours do you think it should take to complete this job?

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Beautiful work Lori - I like them better without all the calla & willow antennaes sticking out :tongue but I love the crystal drape.
 
Thanks so much for the eye candy! Your rose quality looks fantastic, which grower did you use?
 
So the clusters ended up taking about a minute a piece to complete, made, boxed, bagged and set on the floor...That was double the time I expected...The centerpieces have taken jus 1 hour each, just what we all thought...I have put in a total of 37 man hours...The tubes and the roses originally were supposed to come to me cleaned and filled but that never happened...so I have hired on some family members to hep me and I will be billing out their hours as my hours, because it was just not going to be possible for me to get this all done by myself...

This has been a huge undertaking, but great experience and not so hard looking back on it all...
 
So I did not get too many pistures as I was too tired to hang around to get them...

The ceremony was in the same room as he reception, so to get pics of the centerpieces I would have had to wait around for the ceremony to get broken down and the reception to get set up. Which would have been around 9pm...

The job was an unorganized nightmare...I had so many things dropped in my lap last minute. I should have gotten 35.00 and hour for doing this job...but you live and you learn...the experienec and just knowing that I could keep professional in times of that much stress and time crunch was good for me to know. I never lost my cool and had to delegate jobs to people I had know idea what their capabilities were and there was a huge language barrier...The only skilled designer type I had was not very skilled at all and wanted everything to be picture perfect and I had to keep reminding her that we were shy on time by about 4 hours...and it just needed to get done...and done fast, I also had to do this without killing her or being an ass. I got my point across and we worked fine together once she realized I was the boss.

This is how this whole thing went...Originally I was called upon to make 21 centerpieces and decorate a curly willow chuppah...I was told that the roses for centerpieces would come cleaned and cut to length and I would put them into filled water tubes and make the centerpieces....the branches and callas and beads would be added on site the day of the wedding... The day of the wedding I was told we would be decorating the chuppah and finishing the centers and I would have one designer helper...I said that n my estimation this would take the two of us 8 hours to complete this job on wedding day...I estimated the other jobs would take me alone 24 hours to complete...I was also told that we would have space at the hotel to complete this design work..

The roses never came to me cleaned or cut to length...the tubes were not filled...this in itself took many more hours than I had planned...I got through it by hiring my friends and family and added their time on as my hours so I could pay them...no biggie...The day of setup, I get to the hotel at 10:30..There is a room for us to use but it is only available until 3:30...The florist came without any plan...just the supplies to do the job, barely, luckily I came with my own tools and supply box, because I am a planner. I find out at 3:30 that they have no idea how to build this chuppah after 3 hours of them trying to do it..This leaves mt 2 hours to do a 6 hour chuppah build and decorating job.....There were 14 curly willow trees that I did not even know about...They were constructed half assed...The were put into short bouquet buckets with rocks dumped on top and they expected them to travel that way and stand on their own...They should have been constructed weeks ago and put into bigger heavier containers with plaster of parris, these had to be rebuilt and tied to chairs....I got done fixing this disaster at 5:45 15 minutes before the guests were to arrive...Now I still have the centerpieces which have had to be moved 3 times by now...

All in all it was an eye opening experience..I saw first hand what bad planning can create...I also have seen what actually needs to go into the behind the scenes planning of a big event...I also got to realize how valuable my training as a florist is and how much it is actually worth to a big job...I have gain confidence in the selling of a big job...and the experience necessary to anticipate problems that can and do crop up when dealing with the hotels...

I will post what pictures I have and hopefully they will do the job justice...I even got to pass out some business cards...I worked a total of 77 hours on this job plus ran my regular business...It has been a huge undertaking for me and I feel like I have done the job of two people...
 
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lori042499 said:
...I worked a total of 77 hours on this job plus ran my regular business...It has been a huge undertaking for me and I feel like I have done the job of two people...
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You HAVE! Though it sounds like a nightmare that could have been avoided if proper plans had been made by the selling shop, it sure feels good to keep your cool under pressure! Good job - can't wait to see some pics.

Now put your feet up for the next 15 minutes, then get back to work. :cool:
 
Oh no no working today...Today is a day of rest....I told everyone not to bother me and meant it..
 
Lori

Was the person who hired you a florist or a wedding planner? I won't work with 'just any' wedding planners anymore due to issues like you have had. I have to know them well. I have not been thrown in the weeds (so to speak) by another florist.
 
Dee Dee said:
Lori

Was the person who hired you a florist or a wedding planner? I won't work with 'just any' wedding planners anymore due to issues like you have had. I have to know them well. I have not been thrown in the weeds (so to speak) by another florist.
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They are florists....but have full time day jobs...This is the number one reason why a person with a full time day job and does flowers on the side should not do it....or they should not take on full on events like this one was...In the past I had a consult with someone who wanted a job like this and as a full time florist I was leary about taking it because of my full service florist situation. I felt that as one person the planning alone of the even was going to take up so much time that it would compromise my services to the people who order everyday...and pay my bills from month to month...I was right...and when these planning details get overlooked or push aside because of time restraints of life it shows in the end job or makes the end job much more stressful than it has to be...

Luckily I did not sell the job and just kept good focus on what I was there for and made my part happen. I was not interested in all of their other issues and kept to my part of the job, The only thing I took on extra was building the chuppah because you can't decorate something that is not built...you live, you learn...
 
Lori, thank you for posting about your experience. It made amazing reading and your right, the amount of preparation for these big jobs is mammoth but essential if the end result is to go smoothly. I guess the more you do the better you get and I'm sure you'll count this as an amazing learning experience. Well done in achieving the end result with such professionalism.:headbang:
 
Well I got paid for my job....and I got a huge tip although I am not sure it is worth much to me or if I can even use it all.

I got 800 stems of white dendrobium orchids....

That is like 800 dollars but worthless without any orders for them...

Anyone know anyone that needs white orchids in the next few days...
 
Lori,

Could you do some marketing with those orchids? Vase 'em up and take them around with your business cards... to office buildings, salons, adult care homes??

Beth :~)
 
As Beth said you can market with them to businesses in your area. Or you can post a sign outside that says free orchids and pass them out to people that stop in.

Or better still, call a local radio station in your area and tell them you have a whole lot of orchids you'd like to give to their listeners. Free orchids to the first 400 people to come in. I bet it wouldn't take the radio station long to be all over this and your door will be swinging all day. That is a lot of new people to expose to your store.
 
Erlene said:
As Beth said you can market with them to businesses in your area. Or you can post a sign outside that says free orchids and pass them out to people that stop in.

Or better still, call a local radio station in your area and tell them you have a whole lot of orchids you'd like to give to their listeners. Free orchids to the first 400 people to come in. I bet it wouldn't take the radio station long to be all over this and your door will be swinging all day. That is a lot of new people to expose to your store.
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I thought of this..I have 800 stems of orchids....that is a whole lot of orchids...
 
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