Is your florist showing you a ''mock-up''?

[Jas12]

I am a few months away from w-day and I am getting nervous about flowers since they will essentially be our only ''decoration''...i am having the wedding 2 hrs from my home town and my florist (whom i''ve never met other than over email) does not seem overl accomodating. For instance, she told me she does most of her correspondence over email, to me this seems a little strange so I am wondering what other people''s experiences have been.
I am wondering, is it typical for shops to make a mock-up of a center piece or show you ''something'' ?...it just feels scary for me to hear a verbal or written description of what she will be doing and then hope it comes out right on my wedding day.
Anyone have any suggestions?--switching florists is probably not a viable option right now, as we are having our wedding on a sunday (most places are closed in the area)

thanks!

 

[neatfreak]

In the two weddings I have been involved in so far, yes there were mock ups.

And my parents own a greenhouse and for special events they will also provide a mock up of whatever planting/flowers they are doing for their clients. They don''t often do weddings since they don''t do a ton of cut flowers, but they will accomodate whatever their clients ask for and have been asked to do window box mock ups before a special event, etc. They do usually incorporate some charge for this service however.

I don''t know if I would trust her judgement if you are already feeling uneasy. Just tell her you want a mock up and if you can''t go in person to see it, then it would be perfectly fine for her to email pics of it.

Good luck...sounds sticky.

 

[E B]

Yep! When I schedule a time to see her, she'll have a mock-up of an entire guest table (and possibly a bouquet?). She's in charge of linens too, so that's why.

 

[sparkel]

I work at a flower shop and we typically don''t do mockups but we also often show people a ton of photos and portfolio work so they have a pretty good idea. In addition we also loosely gather flowers from the cooler to give people an idea of colour composition for bouquets etc.

If you want to have a mockup done of your bouquet and table pieces etc. you will likely incur a charge. Prices for mockups are generally not factored into your quote for flowers (despite what a lot of people think wedding fllowers are more expensive b/c of the time it requires to meet with the bride numerous times etc. and the painstaking work required to do bouqets etc. rather than being an attempt to rip somebody off.)

Hope that all made sense. But I would def say that if u''re unsure that you should ask to see a mockup of your table centerpieces. If it is not possible for you to go there they could take numerous pictures and e-mail them to you but you can still expect to pay the full price to see the arrangement made up.

Rebecca

 

[tanyak]

I didn''t have floral centerpieces, but I''ve never heard of anyone getting a free or included mock-up. For my bridal portraits (taken two months before the wedding), I had them make a bouquet and they charged me $30 - about half the cost of my wedding bouquet.

 

[San Diego Bride]

i didn''t see any mock-ups, but i did see a lot of pictures. i went to the florist with pretty clear ideas of what i wanted. i showed her some pictures that i had cut out from magazines and she showed me pictures of her work. at the end of the meeting i knew we were on the same page. they turned out exactly the way i had envisioned.

so i think it''s fine to not see a mock-up as long as you see enough pictures to ensure that you both share the same vision. i''d make sure they are pictures of the florist''s actual work though, not just pictures from a magazine.

 

[qtiekiki]

I used to work in a florist and I agree with what sparkel said. That the mock-ups are not typically included in the wedding flower cost and that most of the cost comes from labor cost. Sometimes the florist might be willing to do mock-ups free of charge, but it shouldn''t be expected. Like when for a couple freelance wedding flower jobs that I did after I stopped working at the florist, I did mock-ups free of charge if the brides ended up using me (that was an incentive for them to use me). But she should be able to do mock-ups if you ask for them and are willing to pay.

 

[Pandora II]

The florists I use for events have always offered me mock-ups, but normally I''m happy just to leave it to them as they do amazing work.

I know they always offer free mockups for weddings. They are a small 2 person business that has been going for about 3 years so not a huge chain or anything.

I would expect a mock-up unless I had seen a decent sized portfolio of work.

 

[niku414]

I would highly highly recommend to have your florist to do a mock up -- and if they request a fee, PAY IT. My brother got married 2 years ago in orange county -- and the florist (which is about 45 mins away from our home) they used did a terrible job on the centerpiece... they paid $60 / piece for 18 tables... and chose the centerpiece (based on pictures and description of approximately how big the bouquet is) by the florist.
The centerpiece that showed up were small... and didn't look like a "full bouquet" as in the picture... needless to say.. my sis-in-law was quite upset... but there is nothing she can do about it....

All she told me was she wished that she could have look at a mock or taking the time going to the florist the day BEFORE the wedding to take a look at the pieces...

 

[labbielove]

My florist is doing a mockup of a bm bouquet, and a few different bouts, since those were 2 things I wasn''t totally settled on.
She offered upfront, it''s free of charge.

Although the other 2 florists I met with did not offer free mockups.

Just depends I guess.

 

[portia]

I think having a mock-up is a really good idea. Our florist included it free of charge (well... it was probably included in the price of the flowers), however if I had to do this again and it was not included, I would pay for it.

I brought in photos for our initial meeting. I wanted tall curly willow with orchids and for the mock-up she had added ribbon hanging down from the branches with orchids glued to it. It was just too much and I had her remove the ribbons. If we hadn''t had the demo, we either would have had these very busy-looking arrangements that had the potential to annoy people since they were kind of in your face or we would have had to remove them the day of which would have been a huge waste of money.

 

[dani13]

My florist included a mock-up in the price that I paid for my flowers. He will probably do it for us over the summer, since the wedding is not until September. I think it is a great idea...considering how much money flowers cost, we want to make sure we are getting exactly what we want....