Breaking Down the Design Time of $1,500 in Wedding Flowers

I'm so lucky that I don't have to do much convincing with my services to my clients - I have been attracting couples who GET IT - they understand why I charge what I do, what all goes into completing their floral order to perfection, and believe the worth in having a pro in their corner to execute all things flowers for their day!

Every now and again, I'll get potential clients scratching their head over a pricing quote with some apparent doubt. And I'm here to tell you... I understand! Sticker shock is a big thing in the wedding world - no matter what vendor you're viewing. Allow me to explain... I want to very clearly debunk the myth that any event labeled "wedding" immediately gets a large fee and added cost tacked onto your bill. This is simply not true, but rather, weddings DO often come at a higher price because of their demand for perfection - in look, in sourcing unblemished and premium flowers, in the placement happening day-of... an event so incredibly special deserves to be completely spot on! And in the world of floristry, this pressure can play into the pricing you are quoted to guarantee your flowers are the most memorable they can be!

I'm Allison, the owner of Pictured Petals, a floral design company based in Colorado. I specialize in weddings & events, creating florals beyond your wildest dreams! Brides to Be - I want you to know that investing in your flowers is WORTH IT and takes some really dedicated work - read more to find out exactly what goes into the preparation piece of designing a wedding with a floral budget alloted at $1,500! Got a higher budget? Imagine how much more work!

Take a peek at timestamped moments in the design process from a real wedding of mine to wrap your brain around all the time it requires to bring your florals to life!

Florists typically either have their flowers delivered OR make a trip to pick up all of your blooms. For florists who get flowers delivered, they have no clue until they open the boxes up if product has spoiled in transit and they have to make last minute adjustments, if flower quantities from their order are missing, among other variables. Though it takes roughly an extra 1.5 hours of design days to drive from my home, to my wholesalers, to my studio - I am blessed to not worry about these flower delivery variables! I am able to see the prodict in person assess last minute changes, and approve everything before it's boxed up!

I was a one woman show this day and admit I'm such a slow poke when it comes to processing flowers (preparing them to design with!). I am suchhhh a perfectionist and always annoy myself if I have to take off foliage when designing! I find that if I'm extra diligent removing bruised petals and all foliage when processing, design work flies by so much quicker!

Let's get into it!

• 10:00 AM | Arrive at the wholesaler, approve floral order, pickup all supplies, browse the floral cooler for any last-minute additions!

• 10:50 AM | Leave the wholesaler and head to the studio

• 11:35 AM | All boxes & goods have been unloaded

• 11:46 AM | All buckets are filled with water

• 11:52 AM | Flowers are taken out of boxes + placed into hydration - processing begins!

• 11:55 AM - 5:02 PM | Processing all flowers and greenery (w/ a lunch break in between!)

• Dinner break and I'm back at it!

• 6:00 PM | Prep mechanics for arch florals + pull greenery to design

• 6:20 PM - 7:25 PM | Green the x2 bases for arch florals (to add in flowers later!)

• 7:30 PM | Tuck everything into the cooler for the night!

With all flowers ready to design with, let's see what comes next in the flower journey!

• 9:30 AM | Cut chicken wire for all centerpiece containers

  • This took soooo much longer before I invested in a rotary cutter to slice straight through the wire! Fellow florists and chicken wire cutters alike, you'll thank me later! Linked here!

• 10:10 AM | Make centerpiece mechanics example (freelance help tomorrow and this makes an easy task to pass off!)

• Snack breakkkkkk! (SIDE NOTE: I'm surprised I remembered to take care of myself so well for this wedding)

• 10:46 AM - 11:32 AM | Make x2 corsages and x4 pin-on boutonnieres

• 11:46 AM | Start pulling all greenery & flowers to design the bridal bouquet

• 11:57 AM - 12:38 PM | Make the thing!

  • I just heard some of my fellow florists gasp! Majority goes bridal bouquets are made day-of among many florists! Full transparency... it's not my thing. I have no time crush to design this important piece and don't feel the pressure of a ticking clock. It sits hydrated in my cooler until wedding day secured loosely with some tape around it! On wedding day, I pull it out of the cooler, make any necessary adjustments + confirm it looks simply perfect, secure mechanics and pretty it up with ribbon!

• Lunch break! (patting my past self on the back, who am I?!)

• 1:30 PM - 1:55 PM | Fully design an example centerpiece

  • My freelancer for this event got to learn centerpieces the next day! A great exercise in copy & paste design work ... but being careful not to design too identical!

• Ended the day early to kick my feet up before a heavier design day!

Back at it! Let's see what all Pictured Petals and team accomplished this day!

• 10:00 AM | Grab coffee for me and my freelance assistant!

• 10:30 AM | Arrive at the studio and start organizing all flowers & greenery being used for centerpieces

• 11:05 AM | Give freelancer the low down on centerpiece design!

• 11:15 AM - 3:20 PM | Centerpiece design begins (my freelancer killed it in case you were curious!) while I start adding flowers to the x2 arch florals... remember when I greened those in yesterday? I love separating the workload of designing into sections like this!

• 3:30 PM | Design an additional corsage and x3 boutonnieres! I love creating the space and time to accomdoate these last minute add ons!

• 4:32 PM | Give the studio a quick reset and call it a day!

I'm going to preface by saying I got reallyyyyy lucky with the timeline for this event. Not often do I get to have such a laidback time window on wedding day. This event was rare in that way!

• 10:00 AM | Go to church! This wedding fell on a Sunday, and with the late afternoon arrival time on-site I was able to still praise Jesus in the AM!

• 11:40 AM | Arrive to the studio and begin making last minute touches to centerpieces

• 12:07 PM | Quality check all corsages and boutonnieres! Lookin' good!

• 12:32 PM | Restock my on-site emergency kit!

• 12:42 PM | Final touches and quality check on the bridal bouquet - pretty as ever!

• 12:45 PM - 1:20 PM | Get all items safe for transport and load up the vehicle!

• Stuff our faces with food and roll out!

• 2:00 PM - 2:20 PM | Arrive on-site and unload all items (flowers, extras, ladders, emergency supplies)

• 2:20 PM - 2:30 PM | Pin boutonnieres and help with corsages!

• 2:34 PM - 2:51 PM | Place all centerpieces... back to these later!

• 2:55 PM - 3:27 PM | Install corner arch pieces onto structure (always takes longer than I ever think)

• 3:32 PM - 3:44 PM | Final quality check on centerpieces and place minimal greenery on the sweetheart table (We were even left with extra time to help the couple set up some decor - talk about efficient!)

• 3:45 PM - 3:50 PM | A few final behind the scenes photos and videos... because you can never have too many!

• 3:50 PM - 4:00 PM | Load up the vehicle and sneak out like spies just as guests arrive!

• Stop for a quick bite to eat!

• 5:00 PM - 5:50 PM | Arrive back to the studio to unload the vehicle + get things orderly again.

• Now, to kick our feet up after a job well done!

 Itemized Breakdown   

So, what all was created for this couple after we ordered, transported,and processed these flowers?

• x1 bridal bouquet

• x7 boutonnieres

• x3 corsages

• x2 arbor pieces

• x3 greenery for cocktail tables

• x11 centerpieces

• x1 greenery for sweetheart table

 What's Missing?   

Do the math... how much time did all of that take? I'll save you the effort... approximately 28.5 hours "clocked in" for this wedding! How about the work that is missing in this calculation?

This design and on-site time does NOT include the time it takes to:

• Meet with the client

• Build a detailed and accurate proposal

• Travel to and from my studio

• Communicate all the flowery things in-between

• Planning out final flower and supply ordering (+ extra time to correspond with suppliers and pivot if availability shifts)

 Some Extra Context (Just to Reallyyyy Blow Your Mind!)   

Take this wedding compared to another event week totaling $7,000 in wedding flowers. Doing some quick math (nothing near this precise breakdown!), my team and I took 38.5 hours to process, prep, design, and execute on-site in the span of 4 days! And when I say "my team" here... we're talking 5 extra hands on deck throughout the process (technically 7 if we count my mom and husband - haha)! One of those days being a 12 hour work load for me... let's just say I slept good that weekend when it was all said and done!

Remember that flowers are a living, perishable product... so I couldn't have extended this timeline by any means! Event florists work extra hard to time our work perfectly - so each flower type is perfectly bloomed and in its prime come wedding day! A $7,000 event is 4.6 times the cost... BUT I don't get to add 4.6 times a 24 hour day to make it all come to life!

And to conclude...

I see so much of the internet right now fighting florists in comment sections about their pricing. I firmly believe the more floral professionals can open up and be transparent about their work and efforts, the more people will see how much skill, effort, and dedication goes into the process of bringing your wedding flower dreams to life!

Pictured Petals is a floral design studio based in Colorado, delivering one-of-a-kind floral designs focused on weddings and specialty events. When I have the chance, I love bringing floral pieces to life for everyday occasions as well. You can check out my work at www.picturedpetals.com or give me a follow over on Instagram @picturedpetals. XO!

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