What to charge for wedding set up

[Sarah Jane]

We are starting to do lots more wedding work and I am unfamilliar with what is reasonable to charge for some stuff. I have a bride who wants me to do a lot of stuff for her wedding. I am working on a quote but I don't know what is reasonable to charge for bringing the flowers and setting them all up. Basically it's setting up the centerpieces on the tables with some floating candle set-ups around them. Also, flowers on a few of the aisles, some big arrangements outside, cake table flowers, ... basic stuff I guess. The wedding is about an hour drive from here though. So, I'm working on a quote and have no idea what would be reasonable to charge for going that far. Any ideas?

 

[Snapdragon Studio]

I don't know what the 'standard' is, but I can tell you what I do. For a drop-off delivery, when I'm only delivering personal flowers and a single ceremony arrangement or two, I charge $35 for close-in, and $50 for further out. If it's more than a 30 minute drive I charge $75.

If I'm doing any more than that I've started charging 10% of the total. (I know other event florists charge up to 20% for set-up, but that's a bit much for me.) I used to try to estimate how much time it would take and charge an hourly rate, but another florist suggested the percentage and that seems to work.

I'd love to know what others do!

 

[herndonflorist]

You should ask CHR. I attended a presentation she did on Wedding work and she made some great points about what you should charge whenever your trucks go out on the road, and who goes on the delivery. If a driver goes it should be one rate if a designer goes it should be a different rate. She made some very good points about the real cost of delivery I had never thought of, insurance, hourly rate, the vehicles capacity being tied up...etc.
We charge......
A drop by the driver $25
A drop and simple set up by driver $50
Designer delivery and set up $100
Any additional staff needed add $50 per staff member
If it will take more that 1 hr %15 percent of total wedding cost

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

I honestly charge on a case by case basis--for right now.

Reason being I need pics of my work in different venues around Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
But I also base my charges on how complicated the set up and how long it will take. My charges are pretty dang close to Annes.

 

[BobbiR]

We close our shop for almost all weddings--please note we have almost no walk in so it is not much of a loss--
After saying that, --we charge a flat $350.00 to 500.00 for almost all with normal set-up--(ie, del to home, Church del and set up--reception del and centerpiece set up)-- Anything extra far--over 30-45 min--extra $$
We had one last year which involved 8 trips (over 3 hr total each trip) plus extra employees and designing on site--the del-set up charge was in the thousands!

 

[lori042499]

Case by case here too..I am still working out the costs and how it works best for my shop...Sometimes I work up the quote with three different delivery scenarios and use what ever I like best in terms of price, I have done percentage, WAG pricing, hourly, wages plus mileage...It all ends up working out very similar..I will sometimes use an hourly wages plus milage if I am going more than an hour just to get there never mind set up...so it depends...my simple charges are this if I have to do a house, shurch venue simple set up drop and run 150.00...so essentially 50.00 per stop...I figure that what time it takes extra at the church and reception I make up at the house...if I was just dropping at the house it would probably just be 25.00...If it is all to the reception hall and again simple setup, 100.00...I try to figure my time and how much of it will get used and see if the delivery and set up that I charge will be sufficient, if not then I use alternate pricing...I do the same on bouquets and the whole wedding...everyone is custom and different, yet very the same...

 

[ChuckG]

We charge a flat $25 per hour per employee on site. This seem to be the easiest for the client to understand. Only in a couple of events did this not work out and ending up losing money on labor. That being said, we are also in the process of refiguring our delivery and set up pricing.

 

[concord]

I charge $25 an hour for driver, $50 an hour for designer, starting from the time we leave the shop until we get back. That way no matter how far away, we are getting enough. So a lot of our simple weddings in town are a one stop 30 minutes max. from start to finish and if I go alone it's just $25. For bigger events in Boston or where ever, if it's a driver and a designer, it's $75 an hour and getting in to the city hotels and back again is atleast 3 hours and that's if the set up is easy. The more staff , the more money. Frankly, I still think that I should charge more, but I hesitate in this economy.

 

[rewolf]

we charge a flat $350.00 to 500.00 for almost all with normal set-up--(ie, del to home, Church del and set up--reception del and centerpiece set up)-- Anything extra far--over 30-45 min--extra $$

ditto here.
I charge $50 per hour per person and I still feel like I'm losing money