Florist appts this weekend!

emmyroo

I've finally set up florist appointments for this weekend and next! I'm planning on 3 for now and we'll see after next weekend if I'll want to meet with 1 or 2 more. One place already got 3 points! I tried to call them over my lunch break, but forgot that I had chosen a seat in the break room with horrible reception and my phone battery was about 2 seconds away from dead! I barely got out "I want to schedule a consult for my wedding next summer" before I lost the call and my battery completely died! When I got home after work and charged it, I found a voicemail from the florist I lost saying that the connection must have been bad and to call them back to make an appointment! Wow! I hadn't even told them my name or phone number and I still got a call back! I hope they turn out well budgetwise! I'm not too excited about the other one this saturday because they seemed pushy even while I was making the appointment, asking if I would likely sign with them that day! Probably not because they'll be the first I meet with! I mostly put them on the list b/c the are about 5 blocks from our ceremony location. The others are in the next town, in the opposite direction from our reception site, but still relatively close. The one next Saturday is a little more "fancy" like when I told FMIL I was going there, she said "Ohh!" it's still on the north end of town, close enough to everything. The one that got 3 is on the south end and furthest from both sites. We'll have to see! I'm working on getting a bunch of pictures together of my inspirations and things I have planned already, as well as the basic wedding specs date, location, budget, of BMs Anything else I should plan to bring? Maybe another person for a second opinion...

AmJam04

I think you're pretty set!!

One thing that will really help you out is quanitities of arrangements that you want (for example, # of dinner tables and cocktail tables, altar pieces, aisle runner, or "extra" tables).

Another thing that'll help is to have an idea of what kind of linens you'll be considering. I personally had no idea when I went in for my appts, but they both asked me about it. haha.

Getting2Vowels

The one thing I showed my florist that helped a lot is a color swatch of the girls dresses. He wanted to keep the swatch but bc it was the only one I couldn't part with it. It definitely helps them envision the overall look. Also going with pp, tey to have a close total on running number of tables. Oh, and I remember being asked a few questions I wasn't expecting... Total number in wedding party? Corsages or floral arrangements for mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, etc.. Number of floral arrangements at the ceremony? Will you have an aisle runner? i couldn't figure out why this one was asked at all lol Thats all I can remember for now, hopefully your appts aren't budget busters like mine was!

Chels&Jimmy

I have a florist appointment this weekend too... was finally able to make one with this chick after like, a month... we'll see how it goes! This will be my first one, so it should be interesting. Wonder if I can convince FI to come with me.  

emmyroo

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!  The appointments today were very interesting.  I had the first appointment at 8am this morning, just as the shop opened.  I didn't like the lady much.  She didn't talk very much, and when she did she was very quiet.  It doesn't help that I'm sick today and my ears are all stuffed up.  Then, she quoted me almost $3,000 for almost everything!  OMG.  FI would never let me spend that much on flowers, not that I would want to anyway! That didn't even include bouts for ushers and dads because she didn't ask about those.  Holy cow.

I then went and got my hair done (so my hair is fresh for our engagment pictures next week!) and went to meet with the second florist. I was a bit nervous for this one, I admit.  BUT the shop's name is "Sunshine Floral" and the building is pale yellow (my favorite color and primary wedding color) - a good sign to start!  And, they weren't nearly as far south as I thought.  The lady was much more personable this time.  And then she gave me a quote... $565!! That doesn't include 10 tall centerpieces that  were in the first quote, but it would be another $500 at minimum.   Sunshine is definitely still in, but I think my mom and I are going to DIY the tall centerpieces (which she was thinking we'd do from the start, lol!

What a difference, though!  I think it's safe to say that the first place is OUT, but I've got one more appointment next week.  Then, the week after, I'm going to see my mom to work on invites.  We'll also talk about how we're going to handle our new big DIY project.

shilotony2012

Wow sounds amazing!! I really dont understand why flowers are so expensive!! I mean they dont even live longer than a few days, lol. Ugh, slap the name wedding on it and the price triples!