Do You Care?

I know, you read that title and said "Of course I care" and you don't even know what I'm about to write, do you?? hehehehe. Too funny but I'll bet that's what you are thinking. This blog is about wedding flowers. And it's about brides. Wedding flowers and brides. Two of my favorite things, most of the time. So back to the title - Do you care? Do you care about your wedding flowers? Are they important to you? I often ask brides during my consultations to tell me how important their flowers are to their overall wedding. I use a basic scale from 1 - 10. One being "I could care less if there was even one single flower at my wedding". Ten being "I must have flowers everywhere" and five being "I'm an average bride, they are important but I don't want to break the bank". First off, I have to tell you right now that I don't care if you are my bride and you tell me you are a 3, a 5 or a 10, as long as I can make you happy.

Back to my title. Do you care about your wedding flowers? I'm often shocked at people that say  flowers are important to them but have taken almost no time to get in touch with their inner "floral" person enough to express to me what they want their flowers to be. For years, I've always felt bad for brides who told me stories of floral shop visits where they received very little attention and were instructed to "Look thru this book and when I come back tell me what you want". I have always prided myself on taking the time (2 hours, even 3 hours) to try to explore options and to get into the my brides "floral zone". That being said I do expect a bride to have least taken the time to explore their floral tastes and come to an appointment prepared with a list of what is needed, swatches of dress fabrics and even pictures of floral inspirations. I know that most people do not know flower names but most people when prompted can point at a picture and say "yes, I like that, or no I don't like that". Back in the day (my husband hates when I say that) when I got married (25 years ago, so it truly was back in the day), I had very few ways to research wedding flowers besides bridal magazines and florist design books. Todays brides have so many options to view wedding flowers that it is truly distressing to me that they do not come more prepared.

Bringing me to the next point. As a florist, we do lots of weddings on the weekends. That's when we are running around, making sure that our brides receive their flowers on time, that they are fresh and exactly what they expect. I'm shocked at how inflexible brides have become with making appointments. Yes, I make weekend appointments but not if I have lots of weddings needing my attention. Yes, I make night appointments but running a business that is open from 7 am and then meeting with a bride at 7 pm for a 2 hour consultation, well, how many times can I do that before I either drop from exhaustion or become a stranger to my family. When I planned my wedding, oh so many years ago, I had to go to appointments during normal business hours. As a matter of fact, I did not meet with one vendor at night and only one on a Saturday and that was for my invites. Why? Because my florist, my photographer and my DJ were all working their weddings on the weekend. I often offer a bride an early 8 am Saturday appointment so that I can fit them in but many tell me they don't want to get up that early. I've even offered early Sunday appointments so that I can meet with them but still have family time. Again, they don't want to get up that early.

Ok, so I never write strong, negative blogs but truly - do you care about your wedding? Do you care about your wedding flowers? If the answer is yes, then realize, it takes hard work and many hours to plan a wedding. It might even take hours and hard work to determine your wedding flowers. I'm in it for you. I'm here for you. I want to help you. You might have to do some homework. You might even have to get up early. But in the end, if you have the wedding of your dreams and it represents you perfectly, just like you dreamed it would, isn't it all worth it?