So, last week I blogged about centrepieces I donated to the Canadian Mental Health Association of Peel's Annual General Meeting!
They were a big hit, and people seemed really pleased to have them play a part in their annual celebration. Personally, I admire the work that the CMHA does on a daily basis to promote mental wellness, and to aid the mentally ill in their recovery process.
They were kind enough to let me keep a few of the arrangements as a matter of a personal little experiment I wanted to conduct. One that I had hoped (and am pleased to report), would help my current and potential clients when they are considering who to contract with for their wedding floral needs.
The experiment was in an effort to answer the question: how long will these last when the client takes them home? The purpose of this experiment was two fold: 1) find out what my threshold is with these pretty hearty flowers in terms of how early I can start to get them put together before the client's big day; and 2) to find out how long I can make them last for my client after their big day. I firmly believe that with the cost of flowers, as well as many other details of a woman's wedding, that there should be a little life left in things after the event has come and gone. In particular with flowers, I know from personal experience, how disappointing it can be when your bouquets don't even stand up til you get to walk down the aisle. And even more so when you give the centrepieces away to your guests, who report back to you after you get back from the honeymoon that they all withered away and died by the next morning.
Every single cost of a wedding detail is an investment, or at least it should be. This is one of the reasons I'm in business, and it's THE reason I chose the business name I did. You can have any budget in the world, but if you don't get mileage out of the things you purchase within that budget, you've completely wasted your time and your money.
With that, I wanted to share the results with you. I hope that when you choose your florist, you'll consider these results, and you will ask how far in advance your flowers will be assembled! It's critical!!!
The smaller centrepieces (containing green mums, white carnations and baby's breath, were secured using floral foam that was water absorbant. These centrepieces lasted a full week before they began looking a little worse for wear. With additional watering, this may have been extended another 3 days to a week.
The taller vases are 8 days in and still going strong. I suspect they have another 3 days before they start turning, but check out the life that is still in these arrangements!
Seriously speaking, if your florist isn't willing to commit to a pre-assembly time frame, or you hear that they will begin assembling a week or more in advance, you should expect to get a very short life out of your arrangements. Consider a smaller florist who takes on one or two jobs per weekend...or pick a very large florist who has enough staff to make a shorter turn around commitment. Ideally, for your floral investment to pay off, you should aim for at least 4-5 days of life after your big day (accounting for the frenzy and high degree of stress they'll be under during your big day). At least that much should be feasible!
Happy Floral Hunting!
No comments:
Post a Comment