I Don't Do Weddings!
Well, I do, but not my own, except one
Very early on, whilst I was studying I knew in my heart that I did not want to be a wedding florist. For me the stress due to timelines, hiring other staff, having the storage was just too much for me. I wanted to flower to enjoy it, not resent it! Besides, to be honest, I didn’t know where I was going to be the following month, let alone in a year’s time.
So essentially, I don’t do weddings. Well, I do, but not my own. I actually freelance for a large and very respected premium florist in Perth as well as for my former lecturer. Each of them have very different styles, but as a freelancer we need to be able to flip between styles if we want to work for other people. So I flower for their booked weddings. I’m simply told 1 - 2 weeks in advance what date I’m required and what it is (usually a wedding or sometimes a corporate event etc.) and I turn up at the studio at an agreed time. At which time I’m given the brief, the colours and types of the flowers, the number and types of arrangements (bouquets, buttonholes, table arrangements, bar arrangements, installations etc.) the bumping in schedule, any re-purposed flowers and when they need to be moved and recreated, where the bouquets are to be delivered etc. The flowers are all ready in buckets on the floor of the studio waiting for conditioning and preparation.
Of course, there’s always an exception to the rule. Family. My nephew was getting married and in keeping with their wish to have family and friends being involved in the wedding as much as possible, they asked me if I would create their wedding flowers. I agreed wholeheartedly to creating the personal flowers i.e. brides and bridesmaid bouquets and buttonholes. However, as I was attending the wedding, I agreed to ask a florist friend to create the church, reception flowers and candles. I would assist in installing the church flowers and relocating them to the reception as I would already be there.
The Brief:
Date: April 2023 - Spring
Location: Perth, Western Australia, church wedding and indoor reception in historic city venue
The Mood: Classic, sophisticated and stylish
Colours to be worn by bridal party: White - Bridge, Black dinner suit - Groom and groomsmen, sage green - bridesmaids, pale pink - flower girls,
Flower Colours : White with a little green, gold statements and black dinner suits for the men, sage green dresses for the bridesmaids, pale pink dresses for the flower girls
Personal Flowers Required:
1 medium sized brides bouquet - Roses, spray roses, gysophilia, phalaenopis, ranuncula, lisianthus, ruscus and a little trailing jasmine, white silk ribbon
3 medium sized bridesmaid bouquets - Roses, gypsophilia and ruscus, white silk ribbon
1 grooms buttonhole - Spray roses and gypsophilia, white silk ribbon
4 groomsmen (incl. father of the bridge) buttonholes with magnets - Spray roses and gypsophilia, white silk ribbon
3 flower girl bouquets (all gypsophilia), white silk ribbon
Actual Flower Order:
5 bunches of gypsophilia - white
2 x (7 bloom) phalaenopsis stems - chrystal white
50 stems of roses - playa blanca
2 bunches of spray roses - white majolica
1 bunch of japanese lisianthus - white
1 bunch of ranunculus - white
1 bunch of italian ruscus
Trailing jasmine foliage (from my own garden)
White silk ribbon and pearl pins for bouquet
White silk ribbon and magnets for attaching buttonholes
Sundries: Large bouquet box, small bouquet box, single buttonhole box, large buttonhole box, lining paper, Black ribbon, C stickers, tissue paper for packing, 3 name tags
Part of being a florist, also involves substituting when an item is not available, despite having ordered it well in advance. I had ordered white sweet peas, however they were not available, so I substituted with white ranunculus. Sweet peas would have been nice, a different shape, however, if they’re not available, they’re not available.
Total wholesale flower and sundries cost including presentation boxes, ribbon, tape, tissue paper came to around $550. My labour charge out rate is $60 per hour or $1 per minute and I assumed roughly 10 hours to carry out the work. I charged my family a total of $1,162. I also threw in delivery of the bouquets and buttonholes to 2 different addresses and reveled in seeing their faces when I arrived with the flowers, both grooms, brides and bridesmaids. The total retail amount should have been closer to $1,900 all in the Australian dollars. But family is family, and I was honoured to be asked to part of their special day.
As a rule of thumb florists should charge 3 to 4 times the amount of the wholesale cost of the flowers and sundries to cover a myriad of things, not limited to 1) the time to design and research the flower proposal, meetings and discussions with the bride and groom 2) ordering of flowers and discussing with the wholesalers 3) picking up flowers and conditioning them 4) storing them in the cool room 5) creating the bouquets and buttonholes 6) purchase, prepare and pack the flowers 6) and cover adminstration costs i.e. petrol, telephone, parking, rent, business insurance, accounting fees, website, Canva fees …
All in all, the bride and the parents adored all the flowers on the day, so needless to say I was chuffed! Would I do it again for family, hell yes.
This was just one event that I have flower for. If you like what I’ve created and written about, please subscribe.
Beautiful pics and a really interesting look into one aspect of the world of "flowering." I love how you've turned it into a verb 😁