Are there certain things you really wish other wedding vendors would or wouldn’t do when working with you on a wedding?
What if, instead of just complaining about it, we had a constructive way to share knowledge in advance and support other as members of the same team working together to serve our couples?
Well, we think a resource like this is long overdue! So in an effort to learn from our wedding vendor community how we can all be better vendor partners, we asked our Emerald Hour members what they wish other vendors knew about their work.
Whether it was a common misconception, a pet peeve, or a creative idea to make the wedding day more seamless, we were excited about all the insight we received.
We’ll be sharing this knowledge with the wider wedding community through a series of online resources we can use to educate ourselves on best practices for working with other types of wedding vendors.
To kick off the series, we’re sharing some insights that our floral designers had to offer about their work in the wedding industry and what other wedding pros can do to be supportive vendor partners.
As floral designers, we wish you knew that…
The high cost of flowers doesn’t reflect a high profit margin for floral designers, but rather the high cost of materials and labor that is required for our work. Not to mention, we have to actually make a living wage for the time we spend on each client.
We work with seasonal, perishable materials in a rapidly changing climate and market. Many of us support local small growers who don't use harmful chemicals or slave labor, which carries a lot of value -- clients are not just getting a formulaic pre-ordered, imported floral palette that anyone could get anywhere, anytime.
We would love to have more up-front communication with the planners about tablescapes so that our roles and expectations are clear and we can be sure that the flowers we provide are well incorporated into the overall design.
It’s helpful to review the wedding timeline with the planning team at least a month before the wedding. We have to create detailed installation timelines, coordinate load-in, schedule contractors, etc., all of which needs to be planned for ahead of time.
If vendors or clients want “extra” flowers or greenery, that needs to be communicated beforehand, whether that’s to decorate buffet tables, add to a cake, or accent a bar or piece of signage. We spend a lot of time budgeting stems and crafting detailed proposals for each event, so you can’t expect us to have "extras” on hand to give out for other purposes. Any requests for additional flowers must be communicated ahead of time so we can include them in our final proposal and budget accordingly.
Our work isn’t “playing with flowers!” Even though it looks fun from the outside, there's a LOT of work (often hard physical labor) involved.
If it's a warm day, it would be great if photographers could take detail shots of the flowers as soon as possible to ensure the florals are looking their best and haven’t completely wilted in the heat. Obviously, the couple takes priority, but if you (or the clients) want detail shots of the floral arrangements, the earlier the better.
Photographers (and planners): please try to remind your couple that bouquets are held with stems toward the body! You shouldn't see stems in the photos.
Please don't put the bouquets on the ground, even if it’s just in between photos! We spend a lot of time crafting a bouquet and leaving it on the ground can easily damage it. Bouquets should stay in their vase when they aren’t being used.
If we’re providing any type of floral accents or accessories for hair styling, it’s helpful for us to coordinate with the hair stylist ahead of time to ensure we’re using the right type of flowers and mechanics.
If our team is returning to the venue for breakdown, it’s always helpful when a planner lets us know when things are "winding down" so we’re not guessing about when to come back.
Florists, what else do you wish wedding vendors knew about your work? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!
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