wedding flower rant

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Theresa

Theresa

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Aug 30, 2006
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Amanda
www.bloomingflowers.net
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Wedding flowers - do it yourself, ranted (blogged) about this as follows:


Almost choked this morning while reading "Bridal Guide" magazine, March/April 2007 issue. In this article, 101 Cost Cutting Tips, the author suggests lowering your floral bill by hiring a florist to create the centerpieces and then having a friend do the accessory arrangements like bouquets. Ahhhh....I am choking now...cough, cough.

In ten years when you look back at your beautiful wedding pictures, will you be viewing your table centerpieces? If so, follow this wonderful advice offered by author Kristen Finello of "Bridal Guide", and have your friends "do" your wedding party flowers.

In real life, good intentioned friends show up to help, sometimes, but are more interested in chatting with the Bride then actually helping. If you are enlisting friends to help (which is a good idea if you really do have talented friends, who really know how to tie a bow), make sure you have a list of things for them to do.

Do you really want to accessorize your beautiful wedding gown with grocery store bouquets? For pictures of your special day, and memories that will last a lifetime, let a wedding florist create your wedding party flowers.
 
tooooooo true!
Had a bride this past fall come in to pick up her wedding "arrangements" (apparantly she took that dingy advice)
She loved what I had made BUT!!!!!!!!!!!! was in tears as she told me her bouquet was "frozen in the fridge and all the petals had fallen off".....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm'''''''''said I
Came to the rescue and the story had a happy ending..but SOMETIMES there is no "reasoning with these wee gals...and yes I really do think they are for the most part of the younger generation...and haven't qiute yet learned that they cannot do it all!!
All I figure I can do is try to gently guide 'em and then sit back and wait for the tears....I also always seem to "order extra " of the flowers that are being used in the wedding pces..............works out well when they purchase the extras for their ...now professional bouquets!!
O dear.....perhaps I'm just a tad Beeeeatchy from a long v-day
have two brideys coming in in the next few days ....heaven help us!! heehee!
jeannie
 
I have even had brides ask me if they could order their flowers off the internet and have me arrange them! Um...NO! I can understand if the bride is truely on a budget, but when they come to me and start showing me pictures of their $3,000 gown because they had to have the designer label and then try to explain that no one notices the decor, it is just insane. What could possibly prompt them to believe this? I try to tell them that their $1,000 cake will only appear in one picture but the flowers/decor are the entire setting for the event. Now, if we can only figure out a way to make them listen....
 
I have even had brides ask me if they could order their flowers off the internet and have me arrange them! Um...NO!
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funny you mentioned this, as this was another cost cutter from the magazine, and my blog myth #3. My blog visits are up though, from 5 to mid twenties, but I think an online wholesaler might be rating my posts with 1's. Interesting, but at least this magazine article has given me something to write (rant) about...I was dry for a few days. Sadly, I think there is enough fallacy in the magazine article to write a few more blogs about.
 
Had a bride who contracted with a farmer to have her friends gather one of his fields of sunflowers which she had purchased. The crop was bad, only 1 friend showed up to help with the gathering, and the temperature was in the high 90s that day. She and her bridesmaid, the only one who showed up for the picking, arrived at my shop with a couple of buckets of sunflowers which had almost no petals left and both young women were covered from head to toe in scratches.

Her mother had called me several weeks before this to ask me to please order some sunflowers because she had serious doubts about her daughter's plan.
 
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I would not have even considered doing this wedding, but both the bride and groom were friends of my daughters.

Thanks for the compliment!
 
If a bride even HINTS at a "friend" doing some of the flowers, and only using us for certain things, bouquet, etc, I turn them away. I just won't do it. Even though I wouldn't have done the "friends" pieces, my name would be associated with all of it. And if those "friends" peices are sh*t, who's name gets mentioned? Mine. Sorry... all or nothing.

Tim - North Port Floral
 
Connie at Work said:
Her mother had called me several weeks before this to ask me to please order some sunflowers because she had serious doubts about her daughter's plan.
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and her brain too!!:wallhead:
 
I forgot to mention, when I told this bride that I would not work with flowers she ordered she then proceeded to ask for a complete breakdown of the flowers I would provide. She wanted to know the cost of each flower (wholesale), ribbon, wire, tape and labor. Needless to say, I declined. I often wonder if she asked her caterer for the breakdown on her mashed potatoes....
 
vnance said:
I forgot to mention, when I told this bride that I would not work with flowers she ordered she then proceeded to ask for a complete breakdown of the flowers I would provide. She wanted to know the cost of each flower (wholesale), ribbon, wire, tape and labor. Needless to say, I declined. I often wonder if she asked her caterer for the breakdown on her mashed potatoes....
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Did she ask for the price of materials that went into her gown too? I know the markup on clothing and trust me, the floral markup looks like a charity event compared to the clothing industry.

When I worked for a clothing company we would get belts in that were purchased for $3.50 from the manufacturer. The belts were marked up to $40.00 and sold like hot cakes. For granted, it was a higher end clothing store but, it was also an everyday belt, not a designer wedding gown!
 
Yes this is exactly one of the challenges this industry faces, and that is convincing people that there is much value in what we do. Our bread and butter is weddings, and everyday Stephanie works with brides who, literally, seem to be offended that we dare make a profit from them! These same women never ask the male wedding DJs (we know, we ask them all) to come down in price (in fact they almost always get tipped, something we rarely get), and certainly don't ask the hotel managers "if they could just shave off 20% of the bill, but make everything the same".

Personally, I think its based on a form of gender discrimination...many people (both male and female) seem to still have a hard time fathoming that women in this business are doing it for any other reason besides that "playing with flowers" is fun. It's almost a given that any women in the floral business around our neck-of-the-woods is supported by a well-to-do husband who is running the store as some sort of tax shelter or something...you know how gossip goes.

It's a never ending hassle for her...brides constantly bickering, wondering if we can go any lower then $50 for a decent centerpiece. "Why, I see Publix selling the same group of flowers for around $15!" is a common thought. It's so draining on my poor wife that we are seriously contemplating options to exit once and for all...

Anyway, if any of you have tips on how to manage the brides financial expectations, we would love to hear them.
 
more please

Anyway, if any of you have tips on how to manage the brides financial expectations, we would love to hear them.
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I struggle with this myself, as I am forced to shell out $75/hour for a mechanic, that does not know how to tighten my engine bolts properly...so I too, would love to hear more on this subject.
 
Unreasonable brides today

Today's bride has WAY TOO MUCH information flowing into her brain for her to make good decisions!! Magazines, newspapers, bridal shows, The Knot, chatrooms, etc, etc....and over & over again they are told to "ask for the Deal" "ask for a reduction in price" "what is the discount", etc.

We do many, many weddings each year. I meet with each bride and offer her what we feel is fair pricing. IF SHE CHOOSES TO CHANGE THE CONTENT, the price will change. If She wants to cut cost, then we suggest more affordable flowers. I, and my employees have bills and expenses also. We do not offer discounts.....We do not take 20% off because it is a Friday nite or a Tuesday afternoon! In otherwords, this is not a Bazaar and we do not Haggle and negotiate!!

As I said earlier, we price things fairly......but we realize that not every bride can afford us. We are blessed with a large number who can, and do try to be helpful to those whe cannot.

We do not work with someone else's purchased product (exception being a vase or container, which I must see and approve prior to agreeing to using it).

You need to be polite but professional. and understand that the brides today are bold and very aggressive and truly believe that "it can't hurt to ask....all they can do is tell me no".

Hope this helps!

Cheryl
 
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