Ok so this is a big worry for mostly all couples when it comes to so many different elements of their wedding day. What if "it" goes wrong? Now this may be what if we forget the rings? What if I come out in a face full of spots? What if it is snowing (obviously not in August, I would hope bride's and groom's weren't worrying about this THEN!) ? There are so many "what if?" questions, and "worst case scenarios" that most couples concoct in their heads, adding to stress before the day, in place of excitement!
So in this post I wanted to discuss one element of that, the one element that I can provide reassurance for - other than snow in August, which hey even I can't guarantee that, stranger things have happened.
I wanted to discuss the question : "what happens if there is a problem with my flowers?"
What I mean by this is this. You order your flowers from us, you may be a bride or groom who wants a lot of input into the designs, and you have hand picked the different varieties of flowers such as rose colours and names, or the different shades of lisianthus. This is absolutely brilliant, as you can have a clear idea in your head of what things are going to look like.
Along the next few months, you may change your mind a couple of times depending on dresses and how the rest of the styling is coming along, you can really feel everything coming together.
Fast forward to a few weeks before the wedding, you start to panic about anything and everything, and one of those things is that your flowers aren't going to be exactly as you imagined. This is where I need to be honest. We are dealing with a completely natural product, sometimes the flowers or greenery we are using are coming from a totally unpredictable climate, meaning that one year they may be perfect in May, but another they aren't quite ready until June, though there would be no predicting that. Sometimes even I, with years of experience, can't predict problems in transit or weather conditions. Sometimes, in total honesty, everything can go to pot! BUT...I thrive on a challenge.
There are 3 different ways things may go wrong with the flowers before the day...
1) On a rare occasion, odd bunches of flowers can miss the transport into the country, and may put me behind. However, that will never cause my couples a problem. All I do is start extra early the next day when they arrive, to catch up, and work into the night if I have to. Preparation is key, and being able to work with the constant change in timings of deliveries etc, is what helps me overcome these situations. I always make sure when I order the flowers that there is plenty of time to sort any problems, so that everything goes smoothly. Nothing is left to chance. - You really don't need to worry about transportation, I will always try my level best to solve this without you even hearing about it! So that is one scenario ticked off!
2) The other scenario, is that the flowers arrive to myself in poor condition. This is my worst nightmare, and something that is again very difficult to predict. Now, this is where trust comes into play. You, as my couple, really need to trust me, and trust that I understand you and your vision. Thankfully it is a very low chance that things go wrong, as I have a brilliant selection of suppliers who I work with to ensure that everything used is of the highest quality. But things do still happen. If something arrives in "bad nick", or for some reason isn't available to buy at all that particular week, then I have, and will travel far and wide to source a substitute. I have been known to do 100 mile round trips to get the perfect pack of roses, or beautifully crisp and fresh foliage.
If however, the perfect rose cannot be found, that is exactly the name and shade that was decided on, then I have to resort to Plan B. Plan B, is that I source flowers which are as similar as possible to what you chose, and maybe even have to choose a couple of different types of blooms, to be able to maintain the style and shades that you are dreaming of. But none of this is at your cost or inconvenience. I take this on as my challenge and I run with it! For this to really work, I need to know that you trust in me, and know that I will not let you down. I will never, as I say to all of my couples, use a red rose in place of a pale pink one! 9 times out of 10, a simple swap of rose name/variety is all it takes to solve this problem!
For example, if you have chosen a "sweet akito" rose and it arrives to myself mouldy or bruised, there are a few different options which are a really simple and beautiful swap:
You can see the pink rose in here is a beautiful baby pink, but we can easily achieve this colour by using a "heaven rose" as shown below:
3) The final issue could be that the flower just simply is not available. In this case, it is back to the drawing board quick-sticks. I will use an example! Clare chose a selection of blooms including pale blue hydrangea, thistle, ivory freesia, astilbe and blue steel berries. All was going fine, until the order was placed and my supplier informed me that the steel berries were unavailable. Ah.
Ordinarily, if that had been a rose, there are lots of different shades available to just simply do a bit of a swap. But with a navy blue berry - not so much!
Usually I would try and problem solve myself, without having to concern the bride, but where a very specific flower like this was concerned, I needed to chat with Clare as the design of her bouquet needed some tweaking, as the berries were a pretty big element. I chatted with Clare and we both threw some ideas around (albeit in Clare's post night shift sleepy haze!) in the end, we drew inspiration from Groom's tie, which was a beautiful soft peachy pink colour. I managed to source the exact colour in lisianthus. Now, this made a totally different styled bouquet than Clare had chosen originally, and so she needed to stay open minded, but when I turned up on the morning of the wedding, she turned to me and said "I'm glad the berries weren't available! I love it!!" - PHEW!
So, after a full on ramble which will probably leave your head spinning with all things flowers, I will go back to that original question - "what happens if there is a problem with my flowers?"
My simple answer: I. Solve. The. Problem.
With your trust, I will always create your flowers in keeping with your theme, your styling and your dreams. All I ask for, is that you ENJOY the build up to your big day, and try not to sweat the small stuff. At the end of the day, you are paying me to be your florist, and my job as a florist is to create beautiful flowers, no matter the circumstances. With the best will in the world, not every flower is the exact same shade, or the exact same size, so we need to embrace it and fall in love with each and every bloom.
My advice? Sit back and let me handle it
Look how much Clare loved her flowers? In the end,everything comes together even better than you expected. So I would say, instead of worrying something is going to go "wrong", know that it will all feel so right in the end.
