You've found a bouquet you are in love with and email the picture to your florist for a price....and then you may (or may not) experience sticker shock. Here are some things to consider before and after you get the bouquet price:
1. The picture rarely shows every stem that is actually in the bouquet. What you can typically count is only the top view. Your florist can only see what is " in " the picture and needs to estimate based on a real life 3-D bouquet. So if we see 3 sunflowers, we estimate for 5 total, etc. to properly itemize everything in the bouquet.
2. Usually, not always, the bouquet was made for a photo shoot, i.e. designed to look good in pictures- OR to emphasize a particular style, color or flower. Many more stems were used then what would be actually necessary to achieve this look. The designer is not creating the bouquet based on budget but on what will photograph best for that magazine, website, etc.
3. Your florist can reproduce just about any bouquet in a more economical way. We scale down the number of stems of each variety. The bouquet above, while beautiful, contains quite a few flowers. Some of which are not very big and cost the same as some of the other bigger blooms. You can get away with less of those expensive blooms and still retain the overall look and feel that you love.
For example, in the above bouquet, I estimate that there are:
5-6 Gerbera Daisies
15-16 Mini Calla Lilies (!)
3 +/- stems of Safflower
3 +/- stems of Nigella
3 +/- stems of Eryngium Thistle
5-6 sunflowers
6 +/- stems of Hypericum Berries
4 -5 blooms of Cymbidium Orchids
4-6 stems of Leucadendron "Safari Sunset"
+ assorted curly willow tips, greenery
with labor, that brings my price to design this bouquet to approx $465.00
I could recreate this same look for under $200.00. How? By scaling back the quantities used, omit one or two varieties of flowers that are not necessary to the overall look, and possibly substituting more of one variety than another when necessary.
And this post isn't about crushing your dreams for that big beautiful bouquet. Remember, your florist does not know what your budget and end-goal for flowers are unless you tell them! I can work estimates up much quicker if I know the budget and what is the priority for the bride before rather than after. I can scale the estimate to meet the bride's expectations versus over shooting the budget and disappointing my clients with an unrealistic flower budget. Maybe the bride wants to splurge on the bouquet for herself and improvise elsewhere. Anything is possible! ( A final note about big bouquets: big bouquet = lots of flowers = heavy. Like 2 lbs or more. )
-The above picture was submitted to me for a proposal,which inspired this post. The original designer/photographer is unknown. -
