The on-going question I hear in the floral industry is – “how much should I charge for (such & such) design?”
Of course there are many factors that go into figuring out the final price of all floral designs – the season, the availability of the flowers, your location.
And it seems one of the hardest designs to price out are aisle petals. After all, can’t you just pick up unused flower petals off your floor?? Surely you’ve heard brides, wedding planners, other vendors, and magazines/blogs suggest that idea! As if.
Let’s take a deeper look at why petals cost what they cost.
#1- A Rose is a Rose and each one costs the same regardless of how you plan to use it.
#2- The majority of roses are flown in from South America and transportation to get them here costs money.
#3- At times we can get discounted petals from our wholesalers – such a lovely treat when that works out that way! However, we have to plan on paying full-price for the roses, there is no guarantee we can get the petals at a discounted price – especially in a specific color.
#4- Those petals off the floor? Yea sure, those guard petals that have been stomped on will look great down the aisle.
#5- And even if we did decide to pick them up off the floor we’d have to pay an employee to do so – that costs money.
#6- There’s never enough discarded petals on the floor to use on an aisle anyway.
#7- Most people think – well, it’s JUST petals. Preparing petals takes time – figure out how long it takes to de-petal 200 roses … time=money. Charge for that time. It takes time to calculate how many petals are needed, ordering them, picking them up, conditioning them, de-petaling, storing them and time to actually setup at the wedding.
#8- Keep in mind the clean up after the event and the labor involved – washing containers and buckets, etc.
When you think about it there is a lot to consider when pricing out aisle petals, right?
Let’s do a little homework project together.
Check out this gorgeous aisle design by Cori Cook Floral Design of Colorado.
Cori used (8) 25-stem bunches of roses to complete this look.
Please leave us a comment and tell us what you’d charge for this design.
Tomorrow we’ll be back with what Cori charged.