Guest Blogger: Where do you want to go with your Business: Part I

 I'm excited to welcome back, Michelle Loretta of Sage Wedding Pros.  Michelle Loretta, along with Kelly Simants, are owners of Sage Wedding Pros, a resource for professionals who want to create sustainable businesses in the wedding industry.  Michelle is going to be a guest blogger for the next 2 Mondays.  I am honored to introduce her fabulous and insightful post aptly titled, Where do you want to go with your business?  On a more personal note, Michelle is a great supporter of vendors and I delight in being able to call her one of my inspirational vendor friends.

.......................................

Where do you want to go with your business?

Most of us in the wedding industry launch a business because of an overwhelming desire to create something of our own. We yearn to be artistic. We yearn to see our name in proverbial lights. We yearn to have command over our careers. And, this propels us forward… year after year after year.

But, then what?

What is it that you are building?


Where do you want to go?


What does your business look like when you are done with it?


Where do you want to go with your business?

At Sage Wedding Pros, we ask this of wedding pros when we work with them on their business plans. And, it’s without-a-doubt the hardest of all questions to answer. But, it is probably the most important one. We are very focused on building our dream in the present and it can be challenging to envision the end of the road. But if we don’t know where we’re going how do we know what road to take?

We encourage business owners to start planning for succession as early as possible. (We encourage people to make this step at approximately 2 years into business, if not earlier.) If this sounds super scary to you, then start with the following question: what do you want to do with your business? Use this as a building block in beginning to create your succession plan.

Business owners generally end up in one of the following places…

3 Options for the Future of Your Business:

Sell Your Business

Many people dream of selling their business and making millions from it. (I know I do!) Often a business owner that has built a successful business will realize and learn (and do some quick math) that they can sell their business for much more than they actually make in annual revenue. This is what is most enticing about selling your business.

In reality, a small owner-run business is not easy to sell. The wedding industry these days has very little barrier to entry. (We’ve all seen this as wedding pros pop up quickly each month.) But with such little barrier to entry, why would someone buy a business if they can’t easily start their own business? This is a challenge you will certainly face if you goal is to someday sell your business. It emphasizes the importance of creating a succession plan.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to sell your business someday:

•  Identify a potential buyer. This can be a real actual company that may be interested in acquiring your business to strengthen their company. Or, you can create a “pretend” buyer to have someone in mind.
•  Identify the reasons that this buyer would be acquiring your business. Is it your incredibly strong brand name? Is it your assets and equipment? Is it your innovation in the industry?
• Build a succession plan around the assumption that this business (or person) will acquire your business. Structure your every business move around this and the reasons they would buy your business. You are now in the business of selling your business – not jut the product or service on which your business is modeled.

Leave Your Business to Your Family or Employees

You may be dreaming of the day that your family (or if your employees are like family – then your employees) take over your business.  You have a vision of creating a legacy that can be carried on without you.

Before my life in the wedding industry, I worked for a small company who had this as a succession plan.  The owner had operated and owned the business for 15 years and she wanted to retire.  Her succession plan was to turn the business over to 2 employees who had worked in the business for many many years.  The plan was that they would earn their equity (ownership) in the business over 5 years.  This would be based on the company’s profit performance. 

Two things happened.  The first is that this succession turnover began in 2000 – and then came the dot bomb. Despite everyone’s efforts to keep the company going, the economy took its toll on the business. The company did not have a strong profit performance and the owner was forced to close.  Regardless of her best efforts in creating a succession plan there were other circumstances that took over.

The other – incredibly significant problem – was that the owner had a very hard time relinquishing control to her employees in regards to daily operations.  She was every bad stereotype in terms of being a horrible manager.  She led by fear and threats.  She had an incredible team but she never let them do the work they were hired to do.  I watched profits slide in large part due to this factor.

If you plan to leave your business to family members or employees, here are some points to consider:

• -      Write a succession plan.  

1.      Who would you like to see take over this business?  
2.      How will you train them to do so?  
3.     Will they take on any ownership in addition to managing operations?

• 
  
•      Find the right people for the right jobs and let them do their work.  Often employees perform poorly because we expect them to do something that they aren’t skilled at doing.  Your job is to teach them how to do so or put them in a role where they can excel.  Once you have the right people in the right positions, you company will thrive better than ever.
•           Create a timeline and start working towards this now.    If your plan is to take a less active role in your business in 10 years, then start NOW in paving the path to get there.
• -      Study other businesses with solid succession plans. Nordstrom and Zappos are two strong companies with succession plans at every level of their operations – not just at the executive level.

To Be Continued....

Read the conclusion of Where do you want to go with your Business? next monday. 

For more on business strategy and information on Sage Wedding Pros, including their one-to-one business plan coaching and workshops, please visit www.sageweddingpros.com

Floral Inspiration: Country Peonies Bouquet

Guess that I'm a little more country than I ever thought. And this fabulous bouquet featuring sweet peas, coral peonies, ranunculus, mock orange, allium berries, scabiosa pods, jasmine, and variegated tree foliage is exactly what I would make for myself if I were walking down the aisle again.  All the flowers remind me of freshly picked country flowers. The right amount of texture with one fabulous focal flower is sometimes all you need.  The color mixtures -  coral, pale yellow, peach, light coral pink, taupe, soft celadon, creamy combine well, what's not to like, right?

I recently made this bouquet as part of a photo shoot.  (Will attempt to share the images from the awesome photoshoot with you in a later date)

You might not know this, but I actually shot this image while the team had a little downtime.  Though I am not a professional I think it turned out rather nice.

As a pure amateur photographer, one of the most valuable things to learn is how to compose a photo.    The ability to judge lighting is key.

How can you  take better images? Just a little suggestion - take your favorite photographer out to lunch and tell them that you need a 10 minute lesson on how to compose a photo.  And of course, practice like I do.  There are so many lovely photographers in the Bay Area(and beyond).   Make friends, I know I have the best photography buddies.

End of Month Recap: May Hurdles

I'm sitting here in my home office writing about the end of May. How did we get here? This week I was working on bookkeeping and year-to-date expenses. Usually I do this once a quarter but April flew by so I missed it. Oops. And suddenly, I noticed --- it's May. 

It's finally hitting me, the wedding season is starting. Though Oprah may have said farewell, I'm starting to say hello Wedding Season or as most vendors call it, Wedding Hell.

That was wrong of me to say, it's not hellish. Well....Sorta.

The heat of Wedding Season feels like a pressure cooker. There's this nagging feeling that you are always behind, always losing it, always forgetting things, always making changes. At least, that's what it feels like to me. There's a feeling that 24 hours isn't enough.

But along with the need for "busy"ness there is this sense of accomplishment. With so many weddings coming at you, the best way to describe it is like hurdles coming at you every 10 feet. You jump over a few but the longer you continue you start to hit a few hurdles and stumble your way through the end. But no matter what, you do jump through all the hurdles and at the end it's this triumph journey. And then you start it over again! and again.

If May had a lesson, I would say that the lesson was on me.  Boy, I don't like messing up.  I certainly am not in the business of making people feel bad.  Did I inspire?  Did I teach a valuable lesson?  I might have but in so doing, I also created a divide.  There is a responsibility that we have as bloggers.  Our voice should be genuine and heard but it's also important to listen, to hear, and to acknowledge our own mistakes.

One of my favorite sayings is that we can only grow when we make and learn from mistakes.  I'm growing each day.  This journey with all of you is helping me to be the truest person that I can be.

This month I am not doing a collage of May flowers but instead I've done a floral inspiration article.  It's coming up so enjoy.

Best Thing Ever: To Oprah Winfrey

25 years ago, I was merely 16 years old.  I was a Junior in high school finishing the last quarter before summer break.  Being young and naive, I saw the world as full of promise and hope.

Along the way, disappointments, failures, heartbreak happened.  In 25 years, you go through bad health and death of loved ones, broken relationships, failed friendships, loss of job, and stress due to finances.   These all bring you down and make you smaller, less significant and at times distracted.

I've been fortunate that from time to time, I've been able to catch the Oprah Winfrey show.  This past year, because of my TiVo, I've been able to come home at night to a little dose of Oprah magic.   I cry.  I smile.  I jump.  And slowly, old disappointments and hurts faded just a little.  Oprah has introduced so many people into my lives, strangers that seem to overcome the worse tragedies, people who have lived and inspired others, souls who have risen from their losses, dreamers who won't let their hopes died.  Today, I couldn't forget not to say thank you to Oprah - a living legend.

If just an ounce of her talent, gifts, and generosity could rub off on me, I would be so honored and humbled by it.  To be kinder. To be more hopeful.  To be wiser.  To desire to want to help those less fortunate.  To be a positive influence on others.  To be changed for the good. To empower others to be the best they can be.

Design by the great Preston Bailey!

To honor Oprah's last show, I wanted to feature Preston Bailey's "O" floral design which was featured at the 1st anniversary of the O magazine.  It's my best thing ever today!!!  Thank you Oprah.....you will be missed.

Press: BR Cohn featured in You and Your Wedding Magazine

After writing about how I love the return of greens for ceremonies a while back, I'm glad to see that this beautiful Sonoma wedding was featured in the UK magazine, You and Your Wedding.  How funny is the white/green color scheme aptly titled in the mag as "Green Queen"?  Did You and Your Wedding know that the future Duchess of Cambridge was going to select these serene colors for her ceremony palette.

Hmmmmm....interesting!

Thanks to Lisa Lefkowitz was the gorgeous images which were captured at BR Cohn Winery.

Images by Lisa Lefkowitz

Inspiration Board: Countryside Formality

When Kevin and I first started dating, we use to get away during the weekends and find faraway little cottages where we could just be still. It's been a while since we got away. Obviously I still yearn for a tranquil country living where I can hear crickets outside my window as opposed to the sound of urban traffic.

This inspiration board salutes a slower paced life.  It doesn't mean that it's rustic and casual.  Country can still have it's own formality with crisp white chair covers, bountiful white flowers, and beautiful traditional china pieces.   The main thing is be inspired by a refined country style.


Style: Bed & Breakfast meets Formal Whites
Colors: Vanilla, Milk, Buttet, Flour, Paperwhites
Accent Colors: Sky Blue, Apple, Honey, Basil, Polished Silver
Textures: Cookbooks, White Porcelain, Metal Clocks, Chalkboards, Slipcovers, Pantry, Lampshade Chandeliers, Porches, White Mini Cakes, Lisianthus, Peonies, Paperwhites, Pantry spices

Top Row: Countryliving, Jose Villa, Country Living
Middle Row: Countryliving
Bottom Row; Country Living, Country Living, and Little Willow

Best Thing Ever: Green Ceremony

Ever since Kate and Will tied the knot, I've been obsessed with green foliage and floral pieces for ceremonies and of course no one does it better than Ariella Chezar.

Many of us can't afford 20 ft trees in our ceremony but we sure can feature something like this gorgeous green tree for a "focal" piece.  And how about those pew ideas?

I'm absolutely so in love with this. It's fresh.  It's green.  It's still timeless and classic but just refreshed.  Love it.  How would you incorporate foliage in your wedding?

About Nancy: Thanks for Feedback

Recently, a wonderful reader of Nancy's Brown Bag pointed out that our new layout font was a bit difficult to read.

It wasn't the first time we had heard about this issue.  Today, we have changed the font so that it will be easier to read.

When we get good comments and feedback, we don't ignore them.  Keep up the great feedback.   Remember, if there is something you want to see, let us know.  We write for you --- our fans, our clients, our readers!

Lessons: Being Positive

Oh boy!  The other week, my article sucked.  Even though I was proud of writing it at the moment, I realized today that my post entitled Lesson: Unrealistic Budgets went array because I said things that could be taken out of context, easily miscontrued, and definitely worthy of controversy.  Definitely a fan of all things wedding, I feel just awful because I created a gap not a bridge between our community.

This is a great example of what I call --- voicing an opinion but forgetting the big picture. Sure I made my point which was about setting realistic expectations but in the middle of everything, I sort of "disturbed" people by eluding to the fact that I wasn't backing my fellow vendors.  That's such a no no.  Simply, I failed.

The lesson is obvious.  As a vendor, whether you are a seasoned pro or a new business owner, we are one team.  Though we all work in different areas, we each represent our community --- the wedding industry.  And what I learned the hard way is that there is no place for "putting down" others in the industry even if that wasn't one's intentions.  Our tone says a lot.  It can hurt those that we shouldn't hurt.  As long as we make others feel bad, it's not a good thing.   It's never a good thing.

As leaders, we speak for those who are too shy to speak.  I want to thank Chanda of A Monique Affair for pointing out that "we all need each other".  Amen to that!  I'm learning that we need to bridge the gap between vendors.  We also need to bridge the gap between vendors and our clients.  

Bottom line:  We all need each other.

Floral Inspiration: From the Trash

I'm one of those people that thrive when I'm criticized.  Blame it on my strict, perfectionist, Asian semi-'Tiger' mother(my mother was tough on us kids but she was incredibly caring and generous) who took it very hard and personal when I brought home a B on my report card for my small "chip on my shoulder".   I'm working on my issues.  Needless to say, toward the end of my high school years, I tried never to bring home a B and I grew very sensitive and probably more obsessive about many things.  So, when faced with a little criticism, being tough and driven, I get going.  Because - I can't stand it.

I confess that I am my worse critic though less critical in the last year. Sure, I'm still tough on my staff, my designers, and myself, but I'm evolving so that I can grow and mature. (Resulting in less "freak outs" and more stressfree events)  My goal is to let criticism bounce off of me.  Hopefully, all of you can learn from my own mistakes and shortcomings(and I have many!)

Someone once pointed out to me that the flowers that florists/floral designers get aren't always that fresh looking. (I've addressed this in the past posts but I thought I would bring it up again).  To critics I would say that that's not entirely correct.    Not that flowers aren't fresh looking, it's just that most flowers when the arrive aren't beautiful...yet!  They need to be maintained, finessed, beautified.  Certainly, they need a fresh cut and some "water".  It's true - flowers can look worn even "fresh" flowers flown in and unpacked that morning, can look "tight", wimpy, etc.  Of course, there's always some flowers who bruise so easily and plenty that can catch bugs/bacteria from others when buckets aren't very clean.  Should I go on?  And those that are delayed on planes can develop "water" spots because of moist dropped into bunches of flowers that are very tightly packed.  There's so many things that go wrong that needs to be addressed before an arrangement can go out the door.....

However, I am so thrilled to say that this image was taken of an arrangement that I made from nearly  "old", "worn" looking flowers.

Why did I make this arrangement which was literally about to be dumped? I did it to show people that if you take care of flowers, they can prove to be very beautiful even if at first they don't look great.

Professionals have to turn the worse product into the best. 


Plus: The very best floral designers know how to combine flowers.  They can take just a few stems and turn it into a cohesive design.


Now, back to the arrangement.

To recap from earlier, when we get flowers from our vendors, it's not always pretty.  It doesn't come in prepared for you in clean little brown paper packages.  It isn't devoid of mold, water spots, bruising, brown edges and even a few bugs.  It's up to us as the artist to take what we have and make it sellable.  It's up to us to clean the flowers and make it perfect even if it's beautiful ugly.  Removing yellowing leaves, brown spots, and picking through what's good and what's bad is all part of the learning process.  Just like when you cook, you have to prep all the ingredients, right?

Here's what I did.

I selected a few stems of  worn, partly bruised flowers from buckets of leftover flowers(including some from the previous week's Wedding Floral Academy) including freesias, lisianthus, scabiosa.  These were to become the focal flowers.  Even though they were not in good shape, I perked them up by removing any wilted blooms, damaged petals and/or even browning petals.

You can remove petals easily by simply and gently pulling or cutting out "bad" petals.  With something like freesia, I just removed the wilted, older blooms.   A few bruised and brown flowers were savaged by removing all the petals and using just the center of the stem(see the flowers on the left corner).  Some flowers that dry don't look good but I choose scabiosa pods that actually look fine even when it's a little dried.  Viburnum is a very good flower and little hydrating will make them perk.  They are quite long lasting when recut.

One smart tip: on Fridays toward the end of the flower market hours, many vendors are trying to clean their stalls in preparation of new product that might be coming the following Monday.  This is usually a great time to sweet talk a few vendors into "giving" me some of their "ready" to toss flowers.  I use them to test out new designs, not to put into wedding flowers for our clients.  It's my way of practicing.  Often when there's a few bunches of flowers left, even if it's not good, I ask my vendors to sell me two ok bunches so that I can pick out the flowers and make one useable bunch.

One lovely vendor, Vicki of Florist at Large gave me a hole bunch of scraps which I placed in this arrangement.  She shooed me out so fast I didn't even get a chance to ask her what she gave me.  But I love it.  These greens plus the poppies were a few of the additional things that I picked up from the market that I used to create this green and white arrangement.

Now, one more lesson and inspiration.  You don't need a lot of money to do a small photo shoot.  You don't need a fancy venue.  And you don't even need assistants.  It does help to have a professional photographer that you can "call upon" for these quicky shoots(aka my darling husband, Kevin Chin).

Here's a behind the scenes photo of the before shoot of this "setup".  There's me standing on a chair and holding the paper "lanterns".  Yup, I didn't even hang them.   I used an invitation from Hello Lucky which was in my collateral box, a few props, and even the curtains in my office as a nice backdrop.  The sign was recycled from a previous wedding to add a little bit of charm.   And the vase is one that is in my "onesy" pile.    The box is actually a 3 drawer box that I use on my desk to place business cards.  Hey, you've got to use props wisely.

My sweet husband, Kevin Chin, spent an hour at my office taking a few shots(there was actually 3 set ups)  Thank you Kevin Chin, Florist at large, and my mom for being a Tiger!

Best Thing Ever: Dye Cut Menu

What's not to like about dye cut invitations but this dye cut menu is really special.  It's the first time I've ever had a client create such a special menu.  Little details beside the dye cut also are appealing including the initials of the couple on the top and dainty crystals.  Just pretty.

The menu inspiration was created by ever talented friend event design, Gloria Wong Design.

Photography by Wendy Maclaurin Richardson

Behind the Scenes: Wedding Floral Academy 2011

When I started working for Nancy, I kept hearing about "WFA". What in the world is WFA? 

Last month I was lucky enough to attend what I learned was Nancy's bi-annual wedding business and floral design class. The Wedding Floral Academy is a three-day workshop taught by Nancy herself. The curriculum is a combination of design technique, business strategy, and brand development which I have learned are some of the most important ingredients for any successful business. 

The best part about WFA is the intimate setting and size of the group. With only 5 attendees, Nancy is able to study each student's individual business plan (or lack of) and give valuable advice and suggestions. I left the class with new inspiration and motivation to start something wonderful. 

We also attempted to imitate Nancy's "instantly recognizable" floral designs. Check out my first bouquet ever!

If you missed WFA this season, don't worry! There is another session in the Fall. Check it out!

Floral Inspiration: "Tried and Tiered"

Tiered floral arrangements are not a trend, but rather a style that changes and redefines itself according to the latest trends. Someone may see a more traditional "tiered" design and be turned off by its gaudiness or extreme height. However, this does not mean that the same person wouldn't love another rendition of a "tiered" centerpiece.

We must also remember that the overall effect of a floral arrangement has to do with so many factors:
the floral designer, the event stylist, the surrounding tablescape, and even the flowers themselves.

Take a look at these different takes on tiered centerpieces. It is hard to place them in the same category, but technically they are all tiered arrangements.

Floral Design by Jeff Leatham

Floral Design by Karen Tran, Photography by Darrin Fong

What tiered arrangement would you like to see tried?

Real Weddings: Bear Flag Farm Wedding by Jose Villa

Pictures speak louder than words. This is one of the most adorable weddings that I've ever seen.



The boutonniere was one of my favorite things. I found gingham fabric and cut out my own leaves. Brilliantly fun to create.

Last year, Michelle Chen Miyari of Blissd Events asked me to help her sister, Zoe, on her wedding flowers. At the time I knew it would be a very sweet and meaningful day but I had no idea how beautifully planned and charming this wedding would be.

 Thrilled. Honored. Elated. Thank you Zoe and Michelle for asking me to do the flowers.

Of course the images by the magnificently talented photographer, Jose Villa created a soothing and calming story.

One of the best things about a wedding at Bear Flag Farm is this vintage truck which is just the most fitting backdrop for these place cards. The hay is adorable.




Every detail about this wedding is thoughtful and well done.  Even simple lemonade looks like a specialty drink.

Bravo, Jose for capturing this amazing event.  Kudos to Michelle for great planning.  And of course, Tina at Bear Flag Farms for letting my team work on such a gracious property.

Lessons: Follow up to Unrealistic Budgets

I want to clarify something from the previous post regarding Unrealistic Budgets. And it's important that I make this perfectly clear.

As a vendor, one of the most important aspect of the wedding is a smoothly planned event.  And the person/(s) responsible is often the planner during the day of the wedding. That role is so vital on the day of the wedding that I can't begin to say enough good things about planners. (I support planners! And more importantly, I believe in hiring one as you start your process not just a day of!).  If you are a bride and you are even remotely thinking of getting a planner, I say it's a good thing. How can you possibly act as the planner at your own wedding? And if you are not planning to have a planner, I hope you will give it some serious thoughts.

However, my point from yesterday is that everybody needs to be accountable for their actions.
The planner, the client, and the vendors.  And there is one line that I think was poorly written(yes I am human).  Taken out of context, is sounded like I said, "don't rely on planners" but if you read the entire paragraph, it said....

As a planner, your reputation might be a little bit damaged (read between the lines, I would be tempted to fire you!) if you continue to give your clients unrealistic expectations. Secondly, as a client, you should do some research to understand what might a grand arrangement cost.  Be accountable and take it upon yourself to do your homework.  Don't rely on your planner to do the homework on cost of grand pieces, that's not fair either. And lastly, GFB, you should pre qualify your client. Duh?  Stop blaming things on your clients.  You have as much to blame for not addressing this upfront.



Regardless of my point, I am very sorry if I offend any planner or made any bride question their vendor relationships.  This is my mea culpa.  A wise planner pointed out that planners who care about what they do are still, industry wide, getting clients to trust them and my frank statement pushed the industry back a little by inferring that clients need to do their own research.

Absolutely well said.  No matter what we believe, taking our industry a step back is not the right thing to express whether it was intentional or not.

Please accept my apologies!

Please note that I strongly believe that the best relationships start with trust.

Thank you for allowing me the chance to clear this up and much thanks to those who also know that I'm just one person, human as can be, and easily faulty.

Lessons: Unrealistic Floral Budgets

My good floral buddy(GFB) called me up today and told me that several clients within the past year have been almost too unrealistic these days.  They come to her office, pull out an inspiration boards filled with glamorous and lush arrangements that look like pseudo celebrity weddings featuring draping, beautiful chairs and decor, up lights, premium linens for large guest lists(over 200 guests for sit down receptions) and expect to pay $2000 to $3000 for the flowers.  Now, as a bride if you are reading this, you might say, $2000 or $3000 is a lot of money.

Courtest of Squidoo

It sure is.


You won't find me urging that.

But even $2000 or $3000 will be difficult for any floral designer of experience in the Bay Area to meet especially for 20 premium floral centerpieces plus an array of flowers for other parts of the wedding including bridal bouquets, bridesmaid flowers, personal flowers, ceremony decor, and on and on.

When my GFB told me that some of her clients had planners (and one was even an experienced one), I sort of blew my gasket.  How could a planner not educate her client that a beautiful, grand wedding filled with lush arrangements (whether low and tailored or tall and grand) would realistically be $2000 to $3000?

Courtesy of Wedding Nouveau

As a planner, your reputation might be a little bit damaged if you continue to give your clients unrealistic expectations. Secondly, as a client, you should do some research to understand what might a grand arrangement cost.  Be accountable and take it upon yourself to do your homework.  Don't rely on your planner to do the homework on cost of grand pieces, that's not fair either. And lastly, GFB, you should pre qualify your client. Duh?  Stop blaming things on your clients.  You have as much to blame for not addressing this upfront.

Bottom line:  planner - educate, clients - research, and vendors - prequalify.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane.

Do you have any idea what caused the Home Mortgage Crisis?  I don't have a freakin' clue on the details but one thing I do know is that the lender's were loaning people huge amounts of money for houses they really couldn't afford with very little down payment.  Obviously this was a bad plan (understatement).

Luckily, we've learned our lesson and today, the rules are more stringent.  It's incredibly difficult to get a mortgage.  To prequalify you need to 'jump through hoops' before a bank will loan you money.  The amount that the banks are willing to loan are more conservative.  Don't you think we need to learn a little bit about this crisis.  As a vendor, shouldn't we learn to prequalify our clients by asking a few key questions.

Here's a few questions that you might consider ( and please add your own to this list through commenting).

What might the range of your floral budget be?
What are you expecting as realistic deliverables (i.e. what do you hope a florist will be able to complete on your wishlist)?
Are you allowing for room for substitution so that premium blooms might be replaced with a less premium bloom?
When creating an inspiration board, what do you expect the cost to be inorder to fully execute such a design style?
Which arrangements/details are you willing to give up?
What's the priority?


Since I can't speak for planners or clients, I can only appeal to you - the floral and event designer.  Prequalify your clients before you spend hours with them.  It's better to spend a few minutes over the phone or even via email than to find out that their budget is not realistic at all.  Ask questions upfront prior to writing that detail proposal. Call your planner or simply email them prior to your meeting and ask them what are the expectations.

Trust me, it's so much easier to take the time to be upfront than to have to "vent" later to your planner that you just wasted their clients time!

Courtesy of Strategy Stew

Save yourself some time and get the facts or at least a feeling from the planner or client(s).  Often in a competitive environment we want to get clients into our space, write a proposal, and send them a contract to be signed and ready to go.

Courtesy of Underground Wellnew

Slow down.

Let's just due our due diligence when it comes to understanding if a clients' budget is manageable. And after that, let's move forward.