I was inspired to blog about a recent email I received from a potential bride, hope she doesn’t mind my sharing! Her email got me thinking that I bet there are lots of brides out there with these EXACT questions, so enjoy the Q&A and let me know if you have any other questions! Feel free to leave them as comments and I will respond.

1. When are you able to give us an estimate of costs?

After the consultation, I will email a detailed quote that is valid for 30 days. To help you budget before the meeting, most wedding budget calculators suggest 15% of the overall budget should go to florals, but that varies depending on your needs. Bridal bouquets start at $150, bridesmaids average at $75, bouts are $15, corsages are $25-$30, centerpieces vary from $30 to $200+. We have something for all budgets and all styles.

2. Does your estimate include set-up, breakdown, and all delivery costs to and from the venue?

After our meeting, I will email an itemized estimate which includes the breakdown for delivery, set up and pick up fees.

3. Could you please send us some references of past customers you’ve worked with?

Check out our reviews page on our website or see what brides have posted about us on Wedding Wire or Wedding Channel. We are still blushing!

4. What are your recommendations for a beach wedding as far as the flowers/decorations are concerned? Will you transport these decorations from the ceremony site (a few blocks away) to the reception venue?

I adore the natural beauty of a beach setting and think that less is more. We have shepherd hooks which can hang adorable floral pomanders, simple glass bud vases or casual buckets of flowers that all look nice lining the aisle. We would be happy to stay and transport items to the reception location if the coordinator is not willing. There will be an additional service charge to cover our time.

5. How do you deal with substitutions if a particular flower is unavailable?

My horticulture degree and many years of experience in the floral design field has educated me about seasonal availability for many flowers. I am happy to share my knowledge during a consult to help guide you into selecting in all the best each season has to offer. However, this is nature we are playing with and sometimes certain crops will not make it to market. In this case, I call the bride and fill her in on the changes and suggest equal floral substitutions to please all parties.

6. What sort of deposit is required to reserve your services?  

My estimate is only good for 30 days and a 1/3rd deposit is required to reserve the date.

7. When is the remainder of the invoice due?

Final payment is due 30 days prior to the wedding, or as soon as all RSVPs are tracked down haha.

8. Who will be arranging the flowers?

We are a family owned business and proud to comfort our brides by ensuring them that everything is done by either myself, my sister Dawn or my mother Melanie! I suppose this is a reflection of my control freak nature, but I wanted to found this business to service all of my brides with the highest attention to detail, not just crank out designs.

9. How many other weddings or events do you schedule in one weekend?  Do you ever overlap/simultaneously schedule events?

I would love to say that I only take on one wedding per weekend, but since this is mostly seasonal work and focused on Saturdays, I do take on other events to help keep the wheels turning. Often, I will have a Friday wedding, one larger Saturday wedding and maybe a smaller Saturday wedding to keep things interesting haha. Every single one of my clients is important to me, small or large. Between the 3 of us, all of the work gets done perfectly, I can rest on Sunday at 6 pm when my husband takes me out to dinner <3

10.  Are there any other costs we should know about?

If you would like to see sample bouquets or arrangements, I do charge the full estimated price, as these are perishable products that I cannot reuse. Additional consultation fees may be added if we have to meet several times to finalize the order. Thanks for understanding the value of our time.

11. Do you have rental supplies (vases, etc.), or do we need to rent those separately?

Ooooo we have lots of rentals to show you! All are displayed in our consultation space and most are featured in our slideshows online.

12. I would like the schedule a consultation, can we meet next weekend?

Sorry, but due to our heavy bookings, we cannot meet on the weekends. I am happy to schedule an evening appointment during the week if that works better for you. Mon-Wed are preferred, but email us to check the schedules, we do our best to fit everyone in asap.

I adored how many thoughtful questions she presented, it made me realize that I could do a better job sharing that important info on my website! A Garden Party has been the source of lots of excitement recently (yes, these weddings every weekend make our hearts race for sure!) but the biggest change is that Dawn is now on board as a full time partner!!! She has decided to leave her other full time job and I am welcoming her with open arms into our office <3 What does this mean for you? Better service, faster response times, more blogging and all kinds of goodies! I gotta say, it has been a lot of work for one mama to handle and there is no other person I would rather share my workload with than with my loving, brilliant, creative sister Dawn (I gotta butter her up, her project list on her new desk is pretty big for her first day tmrw!) Think of all the things we can do now…..hooray!