How Many Weddings Per Week?

I also dislike weddings. For me they are not my priority as I have in general a reasonable amount of work on. I only normally do one wedding a day or a weekend depending on the work load. If I have a medium sized wedding and a small wedding for the bridal party comes in then I will do it but only if they collect. Today for example was madness ,just two of use in and neither of use stopped all day. I was knacked and I was still making up deliveries for the afternoon at 3pm and then taking them out. That to be trueful is how most of my week is and I do 6 days a week. We also only have a very tiny shop so we struggle for space with a large weddings.
I knew a shop that would do several weddings a day and they would set up the churches several days before the wedding. I have heard many a horror story regarding that company. The woryring thing was that it was owned by a very well known florist in the UK. Not good. She would get loads of wedding on her own merits but she wouldn't ever have anything to do with the wedding. Where as I do all of the main work on our weddings.
 
Well we did the five weddings last weekend and all went well. Yes it was a long day and yes we had to work hard but i have no problem with that. There were no disasters.

Every wedding you do can bring you a further three weddings and if you have a good team and the organisation is there you can do it. When we have one wedding on, it is like there is no work, seriously.

I have another five this week but no chair covers so i expect it to be easier. The majority of the work can be done in the shop.
 
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I think that those of us that are everyday florists more than event or wedding specialty florists tend to be leaner on weddings...I know that I keep in the back of my mind that if I take 5 weddings in a weekend that I could possibly get 2-3 family funerals in that same time span and would be totally overwhelmed....my grieving families are my bread and butter and my local base, my brides are generally not...I wouldn't want to compromise either for the gain of a few bucks in my pocket...I can plan all the people I need for weddings, but funerals pop up at the last minute...
 
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I am an everyday florist, i just work till 9 or 10 at night on a thursday and friday when necessary and start at 5.30 on the saturday. So do my staff. If everything is efficient it works ok.

If you are knocking back work just in case you get everyday stuff in, I would rather have the planned work in so i can organise my cash flow better. What works for me doesnt work for others though and there is not a right or wrong way. I personally would hate to do funerals all the time, they genuinley drain me and upset me dealing with grieving people all the time.
 
Palms said:
I personally would hate to do funerals all the time, they genuinley drain me and upset me dealing with grieving people all the time.
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Paula,
I used to be like that. I did not do them very often, so when they came I was off-kilter and sometimes actually cried while I made them. (I actually still do sometimes when I have to do an infant funeral, you just can't make it tiny enough and it hurts.)

I worked for a funeral florist, meaning that was their bread and butter, so I would have anywhere from 3-7 full family flowers on any given day. I had nightmares about me dying, my kids dying, my husband. The dreams were quite bizarre!

I am not thick-skinned or un-feeling, but I imagine I have come to have the same outlook that funeral directors must have. And really, to do it all the time, you have to have a certain amount of disassociation in order to not let it hurt you.

I had four funerals yesterday, two today, and so far one tomorrow. It does not drain me at all anymore.
 
I am happy not to test it really Linda. I think the main point was that if someone was booking my services in advance vs the wait and see if someone dies and then if they decide to use me , test, I would prefer the former.

I am sure you do get used to it but as I dont really have to at the moment, that makes me like it.
 
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It goes without saying that each of us does as many weddings as possible, given our staffing and storage abilitiess.
My problem is with those florists who do not have the capabilities to complete florals for weddings ( or any other event for that matter ) days in advance, and in doing so, sacrifice quality, in order to augment sales.
Many of you do primarily handtieds, so that they can be stored ina cooler in a couple of inches of water. I have found that in our climate, handtieds do not hold up through the entire day, and have found that oasis bouquet holders work much better, so that is what we use. But they must be made on the Friday...I've tried a day earlier, but no luck. So we do ceremony and reception flowers on Tues, Wed, Thurs, but personal flowers must be done on Friday. It's the only way that we can guarantee that they will be great for the Saturday wedding.
Unfortunately, I've had many brides tell me about their friends flowers drooping while they walked down the aisle.....it makes me sad, and somewhat annoyed to have to try to convince people that not all florists are created alike, and the difference between hand tieds and bouquet holders is worth considering, regardless of the difference in price.
JP
 
I handtie all bouquets (apart from trailing) and i have never had a problem. I only ever make them a day before though and would not consider to do them any earlier. i find that doing them too early can cause the roses to bruise so i like them sitting nice and loose in a bucket. Our weather is not as hot as yours though but even on a hot day they have been ok here. Maybe those others have just been done far too early with old materials.

Joanne, I know you think it goes without saying about how many weddings people can take on, but not all will work their ass off in order to do more imo. Probably not anyone on this board but one wedding a day unless it was huge (like mocha or thom) would just not cut the mustard for me. I dont like to say no to work full stop. I will make it happen no matter what it takes.
 
Normally our max is 4 that we take depending on the size ofcourse, but somehow aug 21st weekend we have managed to take 9!!! I have absolutely no idea how that is going to go down but INSANE is all I can say!!
 
I think many of us are afraid to do much in the days prior to the weddings. There are many things that can be done from Tuesday through Friday to help make it easier to accept more weddings.

Depending on the flowers used, and care and handling, many corsages and arrangements can be stored in a good cooler without problems. I am pretty big on doing as much before hand as possible in case we got a large funeral or just got busy.
 
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I don't have a cooler and very little room (I'm in UK) so everything has to be done the day before regarding fresh displays. I have to bring in the flowers normally two days before wedding, unless I'm opening flowers like lilies etc.So on flower arrival they are conditioned and allowed to drink until the following day then we do all the designs on that day. I did say I'm not a lover of weddings, but today I did one for a lovely couple over the road from the shop. It was very layed back. Just bride, 4 maids, buttonholes, lavender planters and flowers in teapots and china cups. Very vintage and I picked such lovely flowers for the designs it was no bother at all, infact it was a real treat. Sarah who works for me said yesterday was so lovely it wasn't like work at all it was pure pleasure. I had quite alot of free rein regarding the flowers. If every wedding came in like that I would LOVE weddings.
I just hope the reception was alright as it was under a gazebo but the weather was terrible.
I will post some photos when I can get some off the bride as I took some snaps of the teapots but the tables weren't setup so they won't look great.
 
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