When it comes to wedding expenses, at some point, we will
all ask why a wedding costs so much.
While we cannot speak for the entirety of the wedding industry, we can
definitely speak for our facet: the flowers. We hear things all the time like,
‘they are just flowers, they will die after the wedding’ or ‘how do they cost
THAT much’. It is not so much about the
end product as it is their life journey to make it to your wedding day! They
add so much life to your wedding day, but yes they do come with a price tag so
walk with us as we share just why your wedding flowers are more expensive than
you thought.
1: The Consultation
Most of us women have been planning our weddings since we
were old enough to know about them. Aiding in those plans in most recent years
is Pinterest, which we all LOVE. We most likely already have a board with every
dream picture we could pin for our own wedding one day. Then somehow along the way you have found us,
maybe through the Internet, word of mouth, or an event where you saw our work.
You request a consultation with us where you will most likely bring said
pictures from Pinterest and tell us that you want that one luscious bouquet.
2: The Flowers
For each type of flower, there is a cost of labor for what
is required to grow it and transport it. This will almost always vary depending
on the season and weather as well as the flower. Keep in mind there are more
delicate flowers than others and they all grow in different seasons as well as
different environments. For the bride that comes to us in September with that
Pinterest picture of a peony bouquet, we most likely will not be able to get
them, but if we do, they will be shipped from around the world which absolutely
raises the cost for transportation. Everyone wants your flower to be delivered
in prime quality, so they need to be picked, packaged and processed carefully
in the right time. All of this is just to get it to our door!
3: The Production
On a typical week, flowers arrive on Wednesday morning and
every flower that comes to our doorstep is wrapped and packaged. We spend more
time undoing rubber bands and cutting off plastic wrap than you could imagine! You
might even be surprised to hear that each hydrangea comes individually wrapped
and tubed. It can take hours to process these blooms. Once each bunch that was
ordered is accounted for, we clean the stems, strip them of foliage (sometimes
brides request absolutely no greenery so that requires a lot more work), trim
the ends and put into a fresh re-hydrating solution. We ensure that each dead
or bruised petal is removed from each flower and that the bloom is in its best
quality. Once they have been prepped we place each one in the temperature
controlled environment it needs to be in which means a BIG fridge increasing
the power bill or a warmer room to help open some of the buds. From hundreds of
roses or hydrangeas to bundles and bundles of greenery, nothing goes untouched
during production. Somewhere in this process we prep all of our containers too.
We gather every hard good that we will need to place flowers in from larger
centerpieces or single stems and we hand pack each individual votive which
means hundreds of little glass pieces to be packed.
4: The Design
This part of our process takes the longest in such a short
amount of time. We might have been planning and meeting with you about your
wedding for nine months, which is definitely a long period of time, however, we
work the hardest in three short days to design each piece. This includes
bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, centerpieces, aisle flowers, arches, single
stems, greenery swags and much more. All of these designs have to be created
the week of the wedding to ensure that the flowers do not die, so our timing is
very limited. Once each piece is created it is misted with a floral holding
spray, checked to ensure it has ample water (sometimes this requires checking
on certain pieces multiple times over the course of a few days to add water)
and then placed in the cooler.
5: The Transportation
For some of us, this is the scariest part! After finishing
long days of work, it’s time to load the vehicles and our only rule for this is
pack carefully and pack until we cannot pack anymore! We always allot extra
time for traveling because it takes just a little bit longer to make those
turns when you’re loaded down with flowers and often times we have to make
multiple stops to drop off the personal flowers before heading to the venue.
6: The Set Up
Once we arrive to the venue location, we unload the flowers
in the coolest spot (especially in these summer temperatures!) and begin to set
up. We place each arrangement and vase in its appropriate place based off of our
layouts that we have received from the planner. We will let you in on a little
secret during this process, most times things do not go as planned. No matter
how much planning we have done over all of those months meeting with you and
your planner, some week’s things just keep us on our toes! As a florist, we
have to adjust and really live in flexibility almost every week, but for some
of us, this keeps things fun!
7: The Take Down
No, the flowers just do not magically disappear each week
after you leave your wedding for your honeymoon! It requires a team effort for our
job to be completed. We return after you and your guests have left to gather
all of our hard goods, votive candles, leftover flowers and arrangements that
the family does not take home. Sometimes this can keep our team out until 1am
by the time take down is complete. It does not stop there though! The week
after the wedding we spend time unloading all the vehicles, returning hard
goods that we may have rented, cleaning out buckets and wax that has melted to
the side of all the votive candles. We spend time cleaning items and then
packing them again for the wedding we have that next weekend. It is not always
just the cost of flowers that you pay for, it is the labor and time invested
into each piece that we touch and the team that we have to gather to make it
all come to life.
Our teams desire is to give you that perfectly dreamy
wedding you have always envisioned in the most financially feasible way. We do
not sneakily add in hidden costs just so we can make an extra few dollars. By
the time you get your bouquet, it has traveled across the world and interstate,
has been handpicked and designed just for you which leads to our end goal of
seeing your eyes fill with joy and tears because it is what you always dreamed
of it being. THAT is what makes every effort and penny worth it. And even
though flowers die, we all have the lasting impression and photos of that
perfect wedding day.
