5 Top Florist Myths

Florists make so much on Bouquets (particularly with weddings)

One of the things that crops up is that flowers particularly wedding flowers are expensive. Flowers in general are expensive, however one of the main issues that we as florists have is that you cannot but single stems from the wholesalers. Flowers come usually in a minimum of bunches of 10 stems, but come in 20’s, 25’s, and 50’s too. This can be as frustrating for us florists too.

Therefore, I wanted to create an example…you have just one bridal bouquet to make up and you want at least 5 different flowers stems.

Roses pack of 10 at £10.00

Gyp  pack of 25 at £18.00

Peonies pack of 20 at £35.00

Eucalyptus pack of 5 at £18.00

Astrantia pack of 20 at £15.00

Making a total cost of £96.00 just for the flowers alone!

Even though not each and every flower stem will be going into the bouquet, and they are likely to be used in other bouquets for the day, we as florists still have to purchase flowers from the wholesalers in these packs.

You then need to add the florist’s consultation time, design time, other materials such as ribbon and pins, fuel, and utilities.

You can then see how the cost adds up. I appreciate this is an example I have made up and it involves just one bridal bouquet, and the costings are an estimate, but I wanted to give an idea of why flower bouquets and wedding flowers may be deemed expensive.

Florists get cheaper flowers at the Wholesalers than the Supermarkets.

You can get some really reasonable flowers from the Supermarket, and these can be cheaper than the wholesalers. I could not afford to sell bouquets for as cheap as the Supermarkets and you can see looking at the above example why. However, where the Wholesalers excel is the quality of flowers, and the colours and ranges of flowers you can get. Flowers from the Wholesalers are kept in fridge like conditions, whereas flowers at the supermarket are kept in room temperature and are likely to be taken out and reinserted back into water as customers pick them out and back in water. The care that wholesale flowers go through are therefore more likely to last longer. However, you the customer are the most important factor in the longevity of the flowers you buy/ receive. For advice on how to best care for your blooms please see our earlier blog on this.

Florists can get flowers all year round.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. As mentioned above we can get a wider selection of flowers and colours from the Wholesalers, however flowers do have seasons. Some flowers we can get all year round, such as roses (although certain types may vary), other flowers such as Peonies are seasonal and therefore not accessible all year round.

Glamour.

Being a florist is glamorous… I love being a florist so much, but I wouldn’t say I or the job is particularly glamorous. Especially as I have an allotment and grow my own flowers and therefore often scrubbing mud out of my nails. Being a florist also includes scrubbing buckets, changing water, clearing up, sweeping, and carting flowers and accessories about.

We’re creative at everything.

I’ve had people say to me “you’ll pick up this up really easily, you’re creative.” That’s nice that people have that confidence in me, however I’m not good at drawing, I’m a very trying sewer and I’m a rubbish photographer! Therefore, in my case this is definitely a myth. I am very imaginative, I am great at visualising things and have good ideas, but hand me a needle, thread and ask me to sew something then you’ll see my not so creative skills, lol.

I hope you enjoyed reading my 5 top florist myths. Please do feel free to comment or add any myths that you encounter in your job 😊

Thank you for reading and as always take care x