As I look onto my Facebook home page and my Twitter account, I’m amazed on how many of us wedding professionals season starts this coming weekend. With that being said I’m also excited to see that many of us are still getting inquiries for late summer and fall weddings, especially for floral for us here at Elements of Elegance. I think personally brides are waiting longer this year to book their florist. But when meeting with a potential florist, what questions should you ask and what should you expect from them?
When I first sit down with a client and tell them about EOE, I get so excited because I love what I do! But a lot of times after I give “my story” and ask them if they have any questions, I get a lot of nos. I would love to think it was because I did such a great job at answering all their questions before they asked them, but I know it’s because they more than likely don’t know what questions to ask. So below are a few that you can rattle off to them and then my answer to that question.
Question:
How many weddings do you do in a single weekend?
Answer:
We have the ability to do multiple weddings a weekend, but we limit ourselves to just two weddings if the second wedding is small. But if we have a client that has booked us both for a planning and floral package, then we only book that one wedding for floral.
Question:
Are your wholesalers local or do you ship the flowers in?
Answer:
My wholesaler is based in Battle Creek and I have been very lucky that no matter what we request, he has been able to find them for us. We have in the past used wholesalers outside of Michigan, but we prefer to stay local in case we need replacement flowers
Question:
When do you bring in the flowers for the wedding?
Answer:
With a proper cooling system you can bring them in three to four days before. Even though we do have a proper cooling system, I like to bring them in no more than two days before the wedding.
Question:
Do you charge a delivery and set up fee?
Answer:
If the wedding is over $500 then no we don’t charge a delivery or set up fee? If the wedding is under $500, there is a $50 delivery and set up fee.
Question:
Once we pick out all our flowers, are we able to make changes?
Answer:
Yes! You can completely change your design if you like. My only request is that there be no additional changes three weeks before the wedding due to lead time for flowers.
Question:
How do you help us choose our flowers?
Answer:
In the past I would have my clients skim through lots of floral design books that I had in the office and pictures of past weddings I have done. I still do this a bit but now I have gotten into more of designing up design palettes for them to look at. We place everything on a corkboard and we look at groupings of designs and then make up a master palette. I find that my client loves this because they can see more of the finished look.
Question:
Do you do mock ups and do you charge?
Answer:
Yes we do mock ups of the all table centerpieces and some bouquets free of charge. If your bouquet is something that contains high end flowers, we do charge for the actual flower cost.
Great post, Dee. Very helpful to all those brides-to-be out there lost in the world of flowers.