Need Help With Florist Labor Cost Who Is My moh + Cousin

When she offered to help was paying her something that was agreed upon? Not saying you shouldnt pay her if she is working hard but in my opinion that might be the difference in how much you should give her

She told me to not worry about it at first but now she has stopped saying that and expresses how much she is working on the wedding. She constantly tells me how much she is saving us.

The lowest quote I got, everything included, was bridal bouquet $150, bridesmaid bouquet $45 each, boutionnieres $11 each, flowers decorating ceremony arch to be re-used for sweetheart table $240, centerpieces $58 for short ones and $121 for tall ones. Delivery $175, reusing flowers for both ceremony and reception is another $75 called transfer fee.

The cost really depends on the flowers and the arrangement. My centerpieces will include white hydrangeas, light blue hydrangeas, grey dusty miller, silver dollar eucalyptus, eucalyptus (variety), ivory roses, white lisianthus, blue thistle, loose greens, green succulent (as accent). My florist note is loose, natural, wild, heavy in greenery so maybe that's why it doesn't cost too much. However, I honestly think $2500 is more than enough to cover labor, especially since she'll be getting help from you and others as well.

Our florist didn't list labour cost so I believe the cost of each item (eg. Bouquet, corsage, boutonniere) already had the cost of labour built in. So I would suggest giving her an amount similar to what it would've cost had you hired another florist.

I'm in Canada and this is the breakdown of the cost - we didn't do a floral centerpiece so I have no idea how much one would cost:
-bride's bouquet: $150
-bridesmaid's bouquet: $70 each
-boutonniere: $13 each
-corsage: $15 each

Yea I think that is plenty! My flowers with labor dont cost that much. I have 13 centerpieces, 7 boutonnieres, 4 corsages, my bouquet, mohs, 3 bridesmaids and 3 jr.. flower girls.. cake flowers.. just a lot of freaking flowers for less than what you are saying for labor alone. It sounds like she does expect something now, but I dont think she'd expect that much.. I could be wrong, but I dk $2,500 is a lot of money!

Sorry labor wasn’t listed as a separate line item on my floral contract either but I doubt labor should be more than the cost of the flowers. I think $1000 is more than fair. If your centerpieces are really elaborate or you’re having a flower wall or some other installation, then maybe more money but it doesn’t seem sound like you’re having anything incredibly labor intensive. I have 14 centerpieces, 1 sweetheart table, my arch, 8 boutonnières, 3 wrist corsages for around $2100 total.

I agree with Janel! I think if you give her $1000, a really nice bottle of wine (if she likes wine) or perfume or something, and a very long letter of how you couldn't have done it without her, I think she'll be fine. She probably just want to feel and hear how much her hard work is extremely appreciated, not to be paid directly by a cash account commensurate with her labor.

$2,500 sounds awfully high to me. If she told you not to worry about it then I wouldn't insult her by trying to pay her but would give her a nice gift that is personal, maybe around $500 value.

Yes I agee with others. $2500 seems very high for labor on what your getting especially from a friend. My wedding flowers sound similar to yours maybe a little less but even with labor built in the total cost is less than 2k. (And you still have to pay for the flowers!)

Hi Everyone, I came across this thread and wow it's interesting from the perspective of a florist. This doesn't speak directly to Anna's situation, but I it brought up some thoughts.....

I know there's this belief that florists hear the word wedding and immediate bump all their prices, greedily rubbing their hands together on all the dough they are about to make off of you...taking advantage of you on your big day. Hopefully you don't feel this way about your florist and you've found someone who you can trust. You should have a level of trust with all your vendors and if you aren't feeling that way, find vendors who you do feel comfortable with. Weddings are an investment, don't use a vendor you don't trust and don't vibe with, otherwise it's a lot of months working with someone where you have the added stress of wondering if they really do get you, your wedding, your vision.

So here's my thoughts on what wedding florals cost based on industry standards...which is fancy speak for this is the way we should all be doing it.

The industry standards say that flowers should be marked up 3.5-4 times. So for a $2000 wholesale floral cost the total cost of the florals for that wedding would be around $8,000. (Included in this total besides the 2K cost in flowers, so that remaining 6K, is the cost of all the vases, supplies, the time for floral consultations (review calls, check in calls, final review calls), site visits, proposal and mood board creation, proposal and mood board revisions, all the time emailing in between, and paying for the value of the designers knowledge, expertise, and skill, and of course there has to be profit in there, which usually goes back into the business to pay rent on their studio, to pay our accountants, all the other fun expenses of owning a business, and finally the take home pay for your florist. We sadly can't live off of the beauty of flowers alone. Although sometimes they are so pretty I want to eat them...which is my own strange visceral reaction to seeing a pretty flower....I know, I have issues . So there's a lot of work that's done outside of designing the flowers, and outside the cost of the actual flowers.

So still, how did her florist above figure $2500 for the labor costs? On top of the 8k is a percentage for Labor, Delivery, Set Up, Break Down. Depending on the size of the event this fee is usually 25-30%. 25% of 8k = $2,400. Here is what it covers:

Flowering is hard work and to get it done, and get it done right we need help, I mean we could do it all ourselves, but working 14-16hr days 5 days straight isn't fun. So we hire good help(Labor), freelancers get paid anywhere from $25-$40 an hr (In the New York Area) depending on their level of experience. We need this help the week of to process flowers and to design, then to set up the wedding which involves designing on site in some cases, if your florist does candles and other decor that time also has to be calculated in. Deliveries usually happen at more than one location, and those locations have set times we need to be there....Bride wants the bouquets to the hotel at 9am, venue won't let us into set up until 12, church says we can come in at 12....lots of logistics. Venues often have set windows we can enter and based on that we determine how many hands we need day of to get the job done in time. Some venues only give 2 hrs for set up and if there is designing to be done on site that's not much time, so we hired the amount of people for "day of" to get it done. A 8-10K wedding usually means around 4 people to set up (if we have 4 hrs), then we have to break down the wedding, usually venues require us to do this at the end of the evening, so 11, 12pm. Think about what it would take to get you out to work at 11pm at night, knowing after unloading you won't be in bed until 2am, after being up at 6am to get to the studio to load up. No complaints....you have to love this job to do it, wedding days are long days. And even after the wedding there is work to be done, cleaning up the studio, cleaning all the supplies and rented inventory, and returning them to inventory ready for the next event.

So the 8k + $2,400 means that a wedding where a florist has spent $2,000 wholesale on flowers, will be a wedding where the total spend is around $10,400.

And Psssst.....don't forget we have to pay our sales taxes and credit card fees (if they accept credit cards as payment.). Which on a 10K wedding in NJ would be around $660 dollars for sales tax, and credit card fee of 3% on a 10K wedding would be $300...so right there would be 1k gone before your florist even gets to think flowers.

Hope this helps shed a little light on things and helps you to see that we really aren't seeing your wedding as a money grab. Yes we make money, it is a business, but we are far from rolling in it. Most of us are so grateful to all the couples out there.... that you trust us with your vision, you allow us the ability to be creative and live a life doing what we love.