Looking at the flowers side of weddings. Are florists making enough out of the billion dollar industry. Some handy tips to help selling when taking wedding orders. Post your thoughts!
Weddings Thoughts
Recently I have attended two engagement parties and it really is of interest concerning bouquet prices to bring this point to everyone’s attention. Both of these girls are looking at bridal gowns of around $5000-$6000. One of them said to me I can’t afford to spend too much on the flowers as I have over spent my budget. I raised the point that you will have a beautiful gown, you are going to spend money on your hair, makeup, veiling, hairpiece, shoes, clothing accessories and you want to skimp on the flowers. The bouquet is held in front of the $6000 gown. It should be comparable to the quality of the gown. So in proportion how much should the bouquet be when placed in front of this gown?
In reality, it should be at least $1000. Yet most florists don’t seem to appreciate this analogy. If you look at all associated costs to a wedding flowers have had the poorest increase of any industry associated with the billion dollar industry of weddings.
Why has floristry let it self fall behind in pricing? Some florists are displaying and selling quality bouquets at a good profit margin and they are doing it well. Others have not moved with the times and they are lowering the general standards of the industry.
It is good to consider how much your skills are worth. Compare them with other industries.
A handy tip:
When you quote on table centres quote per head. If it is a table of ten, quote $10 per head and you have a one hundred dollar table centre. It is a good way to sell as all table items are quoted per head.
If you have many ten seat tables and one twelve seat table this centre will be larger as per $10 per head charged therefore $120. It is an easy way of selling.
Please share your ideas! We welcome comments for or against.
Totally agree with the writer. Being new to the floristry industry but having worked for many years in other industries, I was pretty 'shocked' at how varied the pricing for wedding flowers are. Please folks out there, do not underestimate your skill or the importance of the wedding flowers in relation to the occassion by underpricing. It is our responsibility as their chosen florist, to make brides and others involved be aware of the importance of the flowers choosen and how special that wedding bouquet is..........it signifies the beginning of their walk in life together. There is a reason why the wedding bouquet is held in front and not elsewhere by the bride in all the photographs!
Beautiful Flowers Are Like Food For The Soul
When discussing quotes with brides I often point out to them that the guests eat all the food, drink all the alcohol and all you are left with is your photos and video.So make sure your dress and your bouquet is perfect..This makes them think a little more about the cost of the flowers.I agree we never charge enough for labour. My mother often says its a labour of love.Unfortunately it doesn't pay the rent!! LOL!!!
It might be a labour of love for the florists but a bride will sometimes happily pay $5000 for a dress. The dress makers hourly rate I am sure is a lot better than ours. Why is that and what can we do about it really?
Carol jul 29th I agree with you all i have decided from now on i am going to put $100.00 on top of every quote we all know how much work we put in and maybe in a couple of months i will put it up another 100 come on we are trades people with lots of skills
I totally agree with everyone sentiments. However, when I bought my business two years ago, the previous owner was doing very little with bridal work. To establish a name and reputation for myself, my strategy for the first twelve months was to offer quality flowers, excellent workmanship and reasonable prices. The strategy has been very effective in that approx 25 - 30% of my work is now referrals, and I have been able to put my prices up slowly.
I agree with all the above comments - the problem is trying compete with backyard florists - we had a brilliant wedding season last year and were starting to price accordingly - and then a backyard florist popped up in the area. we cannot compete
I always ask the brides how much they are willing to pay photographers and it is always an amazing amount - and i say "your flowers will appear in every one of them and will be the focal point of many of the contemporary ones"
The floristry industry is under serious threat with the increased quality and flooding of flowers in the large supermarket chains, backyard florists, and the fact that the markets/wholesalers will sell to the general public. I often have brides come in for quotes, and then later tell me they are going to go to the market and buy all the flowers themselves. It seems there isn't a group who are looking after the floristry industry and therefore there are no controls. There will always be home hairdressers competing with salons, but its the fact that anyone can get access to wholesale/ cheap flowers anywhere and there is no protection for the retail florists. What can we all do about it?
I always point out to brides the difference between a great wedding florist and anyone else who claims they can do them, the flowers will actually last well into the night and most likely into the next day, and not fall apart or wilt halfway down the aisle. We never give quotes over the phoneor email, only by consultation, so the Bride is able to see in person the difference in our quality and workmanship. NEVER compete in pricing (I have only lost 1 bride in the last 2 years to a cheaper quote, once explained the care we take with each individual wedding they don't look at the $100 - $200 price difference so much). We also created an area in our shop with a sofa, tea & coffee etc. where we can sit down with the brides and go through our inspiration books with them to design unique flowers especially for them, this helps them appreciate the importance of beautiful flowers. I also learned quickly that if a bride is going to ring you up a couple of weeks before the wedding and wants a quote on the spot, either add an extra $50-$100 for a 'priority' fee (all your other brides who care about thier wedding are organised and did this months ago)or don't do it, you will end up stressing yourself out about something the bride doesn't care equally about, leave these ones to the backyarders, they can't afford my passion & expertise. Cheers, Annette
I completely agree. I have grown up in the industry, my sister, mum & grandmother are all florists and I don't think much has been enough advancement in the Floral wedding industry over the years. I love the concept of $10 per head for table centre arrangements - Brilliant! I'm getting married next year, my caterers quote per head, the venue is quoted per head as is the wedding cake. So what's holding us back??
Ok, so we have competition, which industry doesn't? We are the proffessionals, we should be taking the stand and prove it. There is alot of time, effort and creativity put into every wedding. What I think is lacking is marketing. It starts with us. With the wholesalers - who does the advertising campaigns for Coca-Cola? Arnotts? Cadbury etc? The companies do. Not the little corner store down the road selling their products. Companies like coca-cola have maketed their product to sell itself. My point is that our wholesalers should be branding their products, advertise to the public (like wedding magazines) promoting their quality products on offer reffering the public to trust in their well-trained, creative local florist i.e say a quality orchid grower places a spread in the bridal magazines promoting 'Phalaenopsis are in full swing this season and are the perfect flower for bridal bouquets this year, visit your local florist for our quality product.' same idea for sundry suppliers - promote the new trends on floristry, the new 'bling' they can have added to their bouquets. We have a hard time up-selling these products as brides can't visualize it like we do. Seeing it in the magazines they buy I feel will help create awareness.
My biggest dream would be to have a reality TV show like 'Masterchief'. But for floristry. Shows like this helps the public realise the effort involved. Pipedream maybe...
Great article. I agree that is a great way to price. I think it's important educating the bride on the values of using a proffessional florist.Which most wedding magazines do.
I think florist generally under quote themselves.You need to quote apropriately for your creativity, technical skills, and your time.
The $10 a head system seems to me like a fantastic idea!!
Totally agree, we all must remember that when wedding parties are getting their quotes, these quotes are usually six to twelve months ahead, (mostly). I make sure that the quote is for six weeks, or whatever suits yourself as time goes by and prices go up etc. Also keep a file of every quote, and a hard copy to avail yourself whenever its needed for upgrading etc. The cost of (cheap) wedding flowers usually reflects an inexperienced ability in costing and/or poor workmanship, that is my professional opinion. This will always reflect in the end result of wedding photos.
I agree and if you can, or someone can get hold of the Sydney Morning Herald for last weekend. An article there about the Sydney Flower Markets and a gaggle of bridesmaids out to put a challenge out to "the florist" and all those other industry specialists who name themselves as a Florist. It is a hoot and a rather multiple aspect of a scarey story.
These women have travelled to Sydney on the day of the Wedding (!!!), to save on flowers. They were quoted x and think they can arrive at sparrows fart, choose, collect, transport and go home to prepare and display their currency based victory over "the florist". and the SMH actually printed this in the same journalistic glaze about flowers, the market, the specialists (growers and market staff) and the clever maids of the bride. All done without a florist. Requires a written reply from "the industry"? And maybe another article from the same journo?