Labor hours?

casey8784

Hi all, 

I was curious if anyone know about how many labor hours florists put in for wedding flowers? I know it would vary greatly depending on how many pieces, how elaborate the design is, etc, but does anyone have an idea on about how many hours does it take to design/"build" per bouquet and per centerpiece? I'm hoping to use a good family friend who is a *great* florist, and she had told me that she would charge the cost of flowers/supplies (w/ no mark-ups) and then $30/hour of labor, so I was trying to figure out a rough estimate on how much the labor would cost...

Thanks!

another KT

Your best bet is to ask her for an estimate.

casey8784

Thanks for your reply. We're meeting up next week to talk about the flowers and to get an estimate, so I'll definitely find out then, but I figured I'd ask here also, cause I really know nothing about flowers and I wanted to be prepared as possible.

Maggie0829

I used to work as a florist. For an average wedding with high and low centerpieces and an average amount of bouquets and bouts. Plus ceremony items etc. we would typically spend 2 days (6 or so hours each day) to complete everything. That does not include the 1-2 hours to clean and cut in the flowers. Finally these 12 hours or so was split between myself and my boss.

But like you know, depending on the amount of work to be done this could vary greatly.

ETA: FYI - I used to only make $10/hour and my boss was the owner. To be honest $30/hour seems a bit steep to me. It seems like she is trying to make up some money from giving you the supplies and flowers to you at cost by upping her labor cost.

casey8784

Maggie, yes, I agree that the $30/hr is probably to make up some for not marking up the flowers and supplies. I'm okay with paying her that much since I'm *not* paying extra for the mark-ups; if she was charging for both that would be a different story. Also, since she's a pretty good friend, I'd rather give her the business than going to someone that may be a bit cheaper. 

My ideas for the flowers are probably pretty average. I like the "less is more" concept, so the arrangements/centerpieces are probably be pretty simple (but still elegant) and nothing completely over the top. It's still going to be a good size wedding - planning on 200 guests, so probably a good amount of work.

Thanks for you reply, it was very helpful