Marathon Consultation for a Mini Budget Bride - Suggestions please.....

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allie

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Dec 7, 2003
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So here's a challenge...

Bride comes in for her consultation(a referral). Wedding is Aug 19. It's a small family event (20). She requires a Bridal bouquet, a small flower girl's bouquet, 2 corsages and a boutonniere. So far not a problem.
Being that she has no bridesmaids to coordinate her colors to, she brought color swatches of the walls (ochre yellow) and chairs (brick red) that are in the restaurant. She's adamant about coordinating the flowers to these colors.
She wants a Victorian clutch type bouquet. She does not want bright yellows, orange / peach, or red colors in her bouquet. Nor does she want any pastel colors. Oh ya, her bouquet can't be too 'vibrant' either.
It took 2 hours to get this information from her!
My head is spinning to fast to wrap my brain around it.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.........

allie
 
Oh my, I hope you had a drink after!
So, yummy ... greens and ivories ... kermit/yoko ono mums, green cymbids, green QA lace, vendella roses, white hydrangea......she probably has, what $200 budget? just kidding. No pastels, no brights?? What else is there ? Green would be my best sugggestion, and the perfect complement to red, and very pretty with "ochre".

Why on earth would she only care to match her personal flowers to the walls? Are the bouquets being hung up for photos, or are the participants having photos taken with the flowers? I understand the whole "I-just-want-something-simple" concept. But how are you to pull it all together with no input about the "bridal party", small as it may be?

So, I say green, it's the most neutral beside white/ivory (and I just love it).
GOOOOOOD LUUUUCK!
tracy
 
We actually have a bottle of 'Baileys' in the cooler, just for emergencies like these. (You know...Christmas, Valentines, bad weather, bad moods, good weather, good moods...)
Thanks for the suggestions Tracy. I forgot to include on the 'do not use' list.......green! I also love the green, white and cream combination, but the bride would only concede to using cream roses (& not too many!) at this point. I also forgot to mention that she needs 4 pew pieces within a $400 budget.

allie
 
Okayyyyyyy..... So, no red, no orange, no peach, no yellow, no green - no brights, no pastels. Wow.
How about lavendars and blues - pretty pretty lavendar charmes alstromeria, blue hydrangea, QA lace, ooh ooh - stranger roses (lavendar with white streaks, very cool). I was thinking light blue delph, but I don't think it's easily available in August.
You could add a touch of butter yellow, with skyline roses, or mini gerbs, but I would just nix the brick red if you go with lavendars. If all else fails, whites and ivories are the way to go ...I hope someone else chimes in - I'm sure there are better ideas out there for such an odd request!
tracy
 
I would suggesdt you tell her to do some more "homework"...she needs to check out some web sites, shelter magazines, etc...then come to you with what she likes, or you will spend all of your "profit" time yakking with her about what she does not want. You have an obligation to assist a customer but you do not have to spin your wheels when even she has no clue as to what she wants. There are plenty of sources out there for her to explore. Why is it always the low end brides that have lists of what they do not want, things they cannot afford and big tears when you won't do it for free....you have to factor you time in on this and all weddings or you will go broke.
Sher
 
I agree with Sher... $400 is too paltry a sum to be wasting time trying to figure out what she wants.

V
 
allie said:
It took 2 hours to get this information from her!
Click to expand...
For that kind of time, your attorney would have charged you $650, the phone man would have gotten $250 and the mechanic would have collected $180 - and you'd have still paid for parts.

I'm with Sher and Victoria. No more free time. How much more can you afford to lose, especially when you consider all the things you could have been doing during those two hours - and how much that time cost you?

In the future, for brides on that type of budget, consider taking the order standing up at your counter. The more comfy, sitting in a chair and thumbing through pretty flower books, the longer the consultation will last - with the same outcome.

Good luck.

Added: BTW, don't be surprised if she asks to see a sample made, too.
 
Not to advertise for Cathy..not sure it is PC but that has never stopped me
b4....she does not advertise this often enough ...her WEDDING CD... I bought it and one of the things it has is a great questionaire that the bride can fill out ahead of time. The whole cd offers a lot of info and is reasonably priced. We placed the questionaire on our site and it has eliminated many of the phone questions Brides have when they even want to just schedule an appt....as soon as they fill it out, we can get to business....
I am adamently opposed to yakking more than 15 mins to someone who hasn't a clue...look at this way...you are a Professional...your Doc won't shoot the breeze with you over what you might "not have"...he wants your symptoms...his time is money and yours should be also.
Ok...I'm done...thanks for listening...that willl be 50 bucks....lol lol
Sher
 
Sher said:
Not to advertise for Cathy.. ...her WEDDING CD...
Click to expand...
Thank you Sher ... just ordered it. I'm hoping it has a section on how to deal with pop in brides !! Would you go to your DR, Atty, CPA and just pop in?
And I do spend TOOOOO much time with indecisive brides. What did you mean by "shelter magazines"?
tracy
 
Tracypieface said:
What did you mean by "shelter magazines"?
tracy
Click to expand...

Magazines that focus on hearth and home and gardens. :)

V
 
Ahhh, not at ALL what I thought! The word "shelter" brough up images that were not at all wedding related. Thank you V.
tracy
 
So far all women responses.....hmmm

Here are a few things that I would do, have done and/or has been mentioned in the previous posts.

Next consultation has to be at the check out counter standing.

Call or the next time you speak with this bride tell her you can do anything she wants and encourage her to look through all the bride magazines. I do this all the time, and it saves time. Tell her to tear out the bokays, centerpieces, and all floral arrangements she likes.

Also, get yourself a paint chip color wheel. I have one from Sherwin Williams. There are probably several thousand hues, tints, tones and shades.

Most brides will get close to the colors they want. So tell them you will do the same.

Also, get a color wheel and explain compliementary, contrasting, split complementary, etc color themes that will enhance the decor of the reception room.
 
CHR said:
In the future, for brides on that type of budget, consider taking the order standing up at your counter. The more comfy, sitting in a chair and thumbing through pretty flower books, the longer the consultation will last - with the same outcome.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I've done the counter thing for that exact reason... especially with drop in brides. If it looks like it's going to amount to something big, then we make an appointment for the comfy session. :)

Your/our time is valuable... it's important the client understands that too. That is up to us.

"I appreciate your dropping in, but in order for me to give you the attention you and your wedding deserve, let's book an appointment. Please bring with you, your colours, your ideas, pictures that express what you want."

V
 
One other thing.....

If you do not charge for your consultations, it is inappropriate to start charging this bride a consulation fee if you hadn't told her prior to the consultation. Rules need to be set and communicated prior to the consultation.

.....changing the rules in the middle of game.... is wrong.

I learned alot up in Chicago, when I attended a floral design school. One of those lessons was a wedding consulation shouldn't take longer than an hour.

Joe
 
Had the same thing this past weekend. Girl getting married and the only color she knew was her friend the Maid of Honor's dress was a David's Bridal "Watermelon". Hmmm bought it months ago and guess what, the color is no longer on David's websites!! So we went to the color wheel (thank you Ann for the Maine Master's Course) and I showed her the difference between watermelon Pink vs Peach.........hmm now she's changed from whites and pinks to whites, peach, & yellow......Gotta love a color wheel but I suggest getting an Artists Color Wheel (much more intensive) rather than the one AFS used to have. And we're still waiting for that tiny sliver of a seam from the MOH's dress to actually find out what color we're going to meld with!!
 
The bride had made an appointment and she was given a questionaire to complete when she booked her appointment last week. The form was mostly incomplete, but she did bring photos she had printed off a website.
Thank goodness for the photos, or I likely wouldn't have been able to nail her down to a "victorian" posey! She also brought color chips. Unfortunately, they're of the venue decor, and that's what she wants to base her flowers on. It's the first time in 15 years I've had that request. Once I picked my jaw up off my lap, I asked her if she thought her guests would notice such a detail. Seriously, she brought her digital camera with photos of the restaurant (a converted Victorian house).
Our consults normally take 30 to 45 minutes. Perhaps the length of time she wasted was my fault. Because she was a referral, I didn't feel comfortable in giving her the bum's rush. Now that I think of it, maybe she felt being a referral gave her license to believe she could/should take advantage of my time. Hmmmm.....
Regardless, you've all given me lots to think on. It would be easy to dump this one, as it can be priced to do so. But, on the off-chance that she has a bigger budget than what she's letting on, I would have to come up with a design. So, I would still appreciate any and all suggestions as to varieties of flowers that would work with these odd colors. When she left, she was okay with hypericum, cream roses (but not too many!), possibly dark burgundy blooms (flower girl's dress color!) and foilage throughout the bouquet.
Past that, I can't wrap my head around it and have it look good in my mind's eye. Your opinions and suggestions are always insiteful and well received. Thank you!

allie
 
Had my marathon bride for the year ....

her wedding was last weekend THANK GOODNESS!!! She wanted to know so much detail that it almost got to the point of how many white blooms would be on a piece of babies breath. 2 and a half hours for consultation (and you don't think she didn't pay for it!!!!) The day of her wedding I spoke to the dress people .... she was such a pain it almost got to the point that she wanted to know how many stitches were in the hem and how big each stitch was. Then when I went to put the flowers on the cake spoke to the cake lady and even tho she was a good church going woman, thought I had heard all the bad words till her. She was just waiting for the time of the wedding to get the (&#$^#*^ cake set up. Then heard the father of the bride ... he was quoted ... "If she opens her mouth one more time before I walk her down the isle .... I'm out of here!" This was the most difficult bride any of us had dealt with ... but if nothing else .... I got a hug when I delivered the flowers.
 
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