Honest opinions needed please!

lemonade323

Hello,

So I got married this past summer and I made brooch bouquets for myself and all my girls. I really had a fun time doing it and am considering doing it on the side for a little extra income/for fun. However, I was wondering if you lovely people could provide some honest feedback about some of my creations featured below. Also, how much would you be willing to pay for a brooch bouquet? Any and all thoughts are appreciated. Thank you in advance.!

CrazyCatLady3

They're not really my style because there are too many things going on with the glitter birds, brooches of different metal types, and added fabric.  I would maybe try to tone it down a little?  But everyone has different tastes.  For pricing, I would go on etsy and find and average of what these things are priced at.  Obviously consider the cost of your materials.

ohannabelle

Honest opinion?

Get rid of the lace. It's inferior quality, and cheapens the work.

Get rid of the burlap. It's last years news, and doesn't work with the brooches at all. 

The only time people are willing to pay for handmade items is if the item is considerably better than what they could do themselves. If someone looks at it and thinks, oh, I could do that, or I could do better than that, it won't sell. 

JCbride2015

These are also really not my style. I can't stand burlap and lace. Plus, the burlap+lace really don't go with the bling of the brooches. I'm also just not a fan of the extra bling/ initials on the wrap (especially with the cowboy hat on, holy crap). Sorry.

If these were my style, I'd figure I'm doing an alternative bouquet because I want something cheaper than fresh flowers, right? So maybe $60? Compare on Etsy, I really have no idea what these cost.

arrippa

I agree about getting rid the lace and burlap. I also feel like the broaches are a little mishmash with the colors. Maybe do the same color family or pick two colors to contrast. There are some good broach bouquets on etsy. I would look at those to ideas and prices.

theartistformerlyknownas

Personally, and this may be an UO, the only appeal brooch bouquets hold to me is when I know they have sentimental value - like someone's grandma passed down her brooch collection or something. I think brooch bouquets are pretty when done well, but I don't have any brooches, or have any interest in them, so I didn't consider a bouquet made of them. It's not the kind of thing I would consider buying and my face kind of goes like this when I hear of people buying them without the sentimental factor.

doeydo

I don't like the fake flowers/burlap/doily thing.

I would probably do maybe one or two colours of brooches for the whole thing so it looks more cohesive, too.

As for price, IDK, $100 maybe?

lc07

I prefer real flowers. But I know people do brooch bouquets. Just not sure how popular they are to make any money doing it.

As far as what to charge, I'm not sure. But make sure you take into account the cost of getting a business license, accepting payment (business bank account or paypal fees etc.) shipping, supplies, your time to make each piece and also to communicate with your customer, your time and expenses to market your business, etc. Your city probably offers resources and education for starting a small business (mine does.) You will also need to collect sales tax and file returns so consider paying someone to do that for you if that is something you are not comfortable doing yourself. You will also need to set aside money to pay income tax on what you sell as well. 

arrippa

lolo883 said:

Personally, and this may be an UO, the only appeal brooch bouquets hold to me is when I know they have sentimental value - like someone's grandma passed down her brooch collection or something. I think brooch bouquets are pretty when done well, but I don't have any brooches, or have any interest in them, so I didn't consider a bouquet made of them. It's not the kind of thing I would consider buying and my face kind of goes like this when I hear of people buying them without the sentimental factor.

I found a seller on Etsy who will incorporate all the broaches that my grandma and great grandma have given me. It's nice since my grandmother cannot make the cross country flight so I will have a piece of her there. I am not talented enough to make it myself. 

lc07

arrippa said:

lolo883 said:

Personally, and this may be an UO, the only appeal brooch bouquets hold to me is when I know they have sentimental value - like someone's grandma passed down her brooch collection or something. I think brooch bouquets are pretty when done well, but I don't have any brooches, or have any interest in them, so I didn't consider a bouquet made of them. It's not the kind of thing I would consider buying and my face kind of goes like this when I hear of people buying them without the sentimental factor.

I found a seller on Etsy who will incorporate all the broaches that my grandma and great grandma have given me. It's nice since my grandmother cannot make the cross country flight so I will have a piece of her there. I am not talented enough to make it myself. 

I would be so nervous to ship them off to a stranger!

arrippa

lc07 said:

arrippa said:

lolo883 said:

Personally, and this may be an UO, the only appeal brooch bouquets hold to me is when I know they have sentimental value - like someone's grandma passed down her brooch collection or something. I think brooch bouquets are pretty when done well, but I don't have any brooches, or have any interest in them, so I didn't consider a bouquet made of them. It's not the kind of thing I would consider buying and my face kind of goes like this when I hear of people buying them without the sentimental factor.

I found a seller on Etsy who will incorporate all the broaches that my grandma and great grandma have given me. It's nice since my grandmother cannot make the cross country flight so I will have a piece of her there. I am not talented enough to make it myself. 

I would be so nervous to ship them off to a stranger!

I was nervous about that too, but after reading the reviews I feel better. She has done it before and has high reviews about that.

JennyColada

In regards to price, this is also a good memento: since they're not "real" it won't spoil or go bad, so it's something that someone can keep forever. For some people, they are willing to pay a bit more than usual for something like that (that they like, obviously). But that being said, I think that your target audience is limited, so you don't want to price them out either.

I also echo the idea of browsing around to see what the going rate is and then price accordingly. It does seem like a bit of a mishmash of broaches without any sort of theme or idea to correlate them (but maybe it's just that I can't see the right amount of detail). It might be nice is you did "theme" bouquets based on popular themes: you could do one with flower broaches sure, but you could also do one that's black and white, or birds and trees, or nautical, or steampunk.

ShesSoCold

I bought a brooch bouquet on etsy and spent nearly $700 on it. It was perfect. Flawless. It's was huge, super sturdy, weighed like a thousand pounds and you could just tell that this lady knew what she was doing. More people compliment me on the bouquet than the dress. OP, I think you could go one of two ways. Try to kind of perfect your construction and charge comparable prices or sell for cheaper (like pps suggested) and make your target market the women who can't spend hundreds of dollars. My personal opinion, it's pretty but looks homemade. Maybe try better quality brooches and fabric?

ShesSoCold

I'm sorry that my iPad ate my spacing.

JCbride2015

ShesSoCold said:

I bought a brooch bouquet on etsy and spent nearly $700 on it. It was perfect. Flawless. It's was huge, super sturdy, weighed like a thousand pounds and you could just tell that this lady knew what she was doing. More people compliment me on the bouquet than the dress. OP, I think you could go one of two ways. Try to kind of perfect your construction and charge comparable prices or sell for cheaper (like pps suggested) and make your target market the women who can't spend hundreds of dollars. My personal opinion, it's pretty but looks homemade. Maybe try better quality brooches and fabric?

Whoa.  Usually I'm the one giving others sticker shock with NYC prices.  

I'm curious-- what did you do with it after the wedding?  Do you wear the brooches?  Or did you keep it all together as a bouquet?

ShesSoCold

LOL it was my one huge personal splurge. I love it. Maybe not $700 love, but it's amazing. I only got married a few weeks ago but it's in a vase on my dining room table. I'd like to get one of those acrylic boxes that people get for autographed footballs and stuff. Well, I'll be honest, I'd REALLY like to just carry it around at the grocery store or wherever. EDIT words are hard.

JCbride2015

ShesSoCold said:

LOL it was my one huge personal splurge. I love it. Maybe not $700 love, but it's amazing. I only got married a few weeks ago but it's in a vase on my dining room table. I'd like to get one of those acrylic boxes that people get for autographed footballs and stuff. Well, I'll be honest, I'd REALLY like to just carry it around at the grocery store or wherever. EDIT words are hard.

Haha, stick it in the cupholder on your shopping cart.  "Oh what, this old thing?"

lemonade323

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I know the brooches appear mismatched but it did go with my theme. And I'm an eclectic person to begin with, I just didn't want one that was purely flower brooches. As for the cowboy brooch, I got a special pin for each one of my girls that represents them - and one of my friends I'd a huge country lover! If I did it for others it would be more cohesive and based on their preferences of course. But I really do appreciate the input! I like the idea that one person suggested of targeting the audience that doesn't want to spend hundreds of dollars.

lemonade323

Post a picture of your bouquet! I would love to see it!

ShesSoCold

I don't know how to not make them sideways. Sorry. But here it is!!!

Kahlyla

^ That's gorgeous! I was in a friend's wedding, and each of the girls made our own jewelry bouquet. The bride made a huge waterfall style one as well (WOW). She's a big fan of bling, and their wedding had a lot of metallics and sparkle, so they fit perfectly - plus half the appeal was making them ourselves.

They were more similar to @ShesSoCold's bouquet above - gorgeous and glitzy but then clean through the stem/wrap. The stems even concealed a small battery pack which allowed mini-lights to be incorporated in the whole thing. We used artificial flowers and other decorative elements as well.

I don't have any particular advice about pricing, but I echo the advice to eliminate the lace and burlap and any "busy-ness" through the stem. You want them to look very cohesive and you don't want to anything to compete with the bling.