Hiring a professional florist, what exactly are you paying for?

It seems so easy when you see a beautiful picture of a floral centerpiece on a table at a wedding reception, but did you ever wonder how that centerpiece came to be?

I will be the first to admit that not every couple needs a florist.  Some are perfectly fine ordering rose petals on-line and scattering them on tables with lots of candles.  Personal flowers are often silks, and the ceremony decor usually consists of bows and ribbons placed on chairs.  However for those hoping for fresh bouquets and boutonnieres consisting of flowers other than roses, you may want to consider hiring a professional.

First of all when you meet with your florist there is all the preliminary planning and research.  Above all you must have a color scheme and a BUDGET.  I never meet with clients who haven’t determined at least a budget, because that would be akin to walking into a jewelry store and telling the jeweler that you want something simple and nice.  Do you want a diamond tennis bracelet?  That is simple and nice.  No?  How about these nice Sterling Silver post earrings?  They are simple and nice.  No?  How do you feel about necklaces?  You get the idea.  Hiring a professional will help guide you in personalized selections especially for your tastes and budget.

Once you figure out your floral selections for your day, many times after 10-12 e-mails, there is the planning on the florist’s end.  These responsibilities include:

1.  Determining how much of every bloom must be purchased. Some flowers are sold in bunches of 25, 10, or 5 stem bunches, some are sold per stem, and others are sold by volume where you just have to guess at how many stems will arrive in each bunch and how full each stem will be.

2. The time it takes each type of flower used to bloom. Lilies, Roses, Freesia, and Gladiolas usually need more time than Peonies.

Attempting to open a Gladiola floret

3.Hiring the correct amount of help and many times renting additional delivery vehicles.

Even smaller deliveries can take up an entire mini van.

Once the logistics are determined there is the responsibility of processing all of the flowers.  This is very messy work and involves cutting tons on stems, filling buckets with correct amounts of professional solutions, and often times leads to cutting your hands to smithereens and skin break outs.

After all of that prep work is done there is the massive clean up, followed by prepping centerpieces, bouquets and the supplies needed to carry out the designs.  Cutting wires, constructing wristlets, hand wiring leaves, pre-making bows and carry out boxes are all necessary tasks.

Once all of the prep work is completed, the designs must be created.  Since there is no guide book, florists usually have to “make it up as we go along”, with most of our designs.  There are weeks where some flowers may cooperate better than others, and weeks where certain flowers may have more of an arch to them, have more lateral stems,  and or have greater bloom size.  Floral designers really have to stay calm, and know that Mother Nature is very unpredictable.  One other factor is how late we need to stay up finishing many designs, especially hand-tied wedding bouquets!  Depending on the flowers used, many look their very best when they are assembled only a few hours before delivery.  Many, many, many times I have only gotten about two hours of sleep before having to jump back up for delivery the following day.

Which leads us to the most important day, your wedding day.  Also known to florists as “Moving Day.”  While you are being transformed from a beautiful woman into a gorgeous bride, your florist and his or her team are transforming from designers into a moving company.  They are responsible for safely transporting tons of flowers to your venue in the same perfect form that they were in when they left the cooler.  Tons of tissue paper, bubble wrap, crates, buckets, cardboard, and sometimes even portable ice chests all come into play.  This is heavy, wet, messy work.  Most traditional moving companies may take at least a day to unpack your belongings. Florists usually have a time frame of up to 4 hours.  Many times they are given a small window of only one hour to deliver and set up EVERYTHING.  When this has happened to us in the past, we have actually resorted to bringing our own design tables and assembling designs in nearby shopping plazas!

I have also worked for businesses where I would need to bring dozen rose bouquets to gain permission to double park in no parking zones, in order for me and my boss to transport everything in a timely and safe fashion.  It is every florist’s job to make your day as beautiful as possible, and we will stop at nothing to make certain that it is.

As if the time constraints weren’t enough, many times florists will have duties such as constructing arches and chuppahs, creating petal paths, and adorning chairs and mantles.  Some of these responsibilities must be carried out in outdoor settings where wind, rain, and blazing hot sun can all be a factor.  Sometimes we are required back at the reception venue to pick up rental items after the wedding ends, which feels even later when we usually haven’t slept the night before.

Once all of the flowers are delivered there is what I call, “Flower Bomb Day”.  This is when we have to clean up all of the mess left over from our frantic dash out the doors on moving day.  We are dealing with perishables folks!  This day involves cleaning and sanitizing every bucket and vase used, sweeping, dusting and breaking down boxes, and the unpacking, inspecting, and cleaning of returned rental items.

It’s all in a day’s work.  In short, when you hire a professional florist you are hiring a designer, accountant, dish washer, custodian, and moving company (and in many cases, a crisis counselor, but that is content for a later blog).  So next time you consider whether or not you need to hire a professional florist, please consider all of the responsibilities and work that you need in order for that centerpiece to appear as picture perfect as it is on that table.

~Heather