This weekend was pretty crazy as Floriography had not one, not two, but four weddings! I asked Mrs. Emily what was the largest number of weddings Floriography has had in one day and she said seven! For that to be possible some weddings need to be smaller than others, and the locations need to be fairly close together, which was the case this weekend. All four weddings were in Santa Fe, NM, and all the staff was on deck this weekend to split up the set up.
One major thing I have learned after working with the floral industry is just how much weddings cost. Especially florals that can get up to thousands of dollars, not including the other costs of the wedding. Mrs. Emily and I talked on the way to the wedding this weekend about how wedding magazines do potential brides an injustice by saying "you can plan your wedding in under $5,000" with pictures of only garland and bay-leafs, but all the brides see is the $5,000 and an extravagant, beautiful photo of a potential wedding that results them in thinking they can have all their wants and desires within that budget. This puts vendors in a hard spot, specifically in the floral business. Mrs. Emily tells me that clients will have an inquiry with lots of large ideas and when she sends them a quote, they are in shock and heart broken. Although I am just as much as a sucker for those articles online and bridal magazines, it is important to be realistic within a budget and try to educate oneself as much as possible. Before coming to this industry, I thought greenery and flowers were the same thing as far as cost and had no idea that costs such as delivery, set up and travel existed. Magazines and books do have great ideas on how to save money on weddings, but overall it is true as a bride you must learn to prioritize your wants and desires. This is much easier said than done as the last thing brides want to do is hold back from the biggest day of their life. Your day will be special and magical regardless, I promise!
For brides on more of a budget or for those who choose not to spend as much on flowers, Floriography has a partner called Florcita brides where the bride gets a smaller 5 color pallet to select their colors scheme, personals such as a bridal bouquets and boutonnieres, and a couple arrangements so they still get the experience, but for a smaller price! I actually got to make my first arrangement this week for the Florcita bride. She had a such a bright and fun pallet that made the flowers and arrangements pop. Her ceremony was in the Loretto chapel, unfortunately I did not get to set up this wedding and was so sad to miss seeing the chapel! I will have to travel back towards the end of my internship! I will post a how to: make a floral arrangement after posting this blog.
I got to help set up two weddings this weekend which felt pretty crazy. We arrived at the warehouse at 11 am to pack up all four wedding's floral arrangements and rentals into five mini vans and my car. We tried to separate the cars into perishable items such as flowers, and nonperishable items such as the contracts, tool boxes, ribbon buckets and rentals, so we had some cars that we would be able to turn off and put our personal belongings in and lock behind us while setting up. The first wedding was at the venue La Fonda hotel in the La Terraza room. Downtown Santa Fe is already exciting enough as it is with endless stores, food, culture and history. Right across the street from the La Fonda, sits The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The La Terraza room has a balcony with a view of the Cathedral, and oftentimes brides will have the ceremony in the Cathedral and then run over to the hotel for the reception. It is probably only 10 feet away! I only got to set up this wedding for 10 minutes before I had to go, but the space itself was gorgeous, I enjoy just seeing the venues of Santa Fe! This is probably one of my favorite venues, with a already gorgeous reception room, there is also a terrace outside with flowers, and greenery and a sight to die for of Santa Fe. Photos of the La Fonda on the Plaza wedding are below:
The wedding I got to set up was at the Four Seasons, and it was just a fun experience to be there! I felt as if I finally had a hang of things and knew the process of setting up. One big thing that happened this weekend was that is was raining! Most brides that have weddings in New Mexico have them outdoors because the likelihood of raining is so small. With that being said, since it is very unlikely to rain, the people in New Mexico say it is very good luck to rain on your wedding day (the brides did not seem to think so). Raining, or at least cloudy weather is actually preferable for florists because the flowers are happy with water and the sun not damaging them. It turned out that all of the brides had the sun start shining as soon as they walked down the aisle, and it was a magical moment. Everything worked out for the best. One way both brides saved a little money is by having various center pieces. At the Four seasons wedding, the bride had four tall gold center pieces with floral arrangements on top, three garland wreaths with a candle set in the middle, and 3 gold vases with small arrangements in them. Instead of spending more money to have every single table have the tall gold center pieces, the bride was able to give the room some character with different heights and a different arrangement at each table. A great talking point for guests! If you notice on top of the fire place with all the candles, you will see one arrangement on the lowest level. Mrs. Emily told me she likes to keep floral arrangements on the wall as close to the floor as possible so the photographer doesn't have to get too much in the picture frame that he/she doesn't want. That way if the photographer was taking a photo of the bride and groom sitting at the head table, they would still be able to get the arrangement in the photo.
Going back to an older blog post about preparation for a wedding, Floriography always packs bonus buckets which are buckets with water and flowers used in the bride's arrangements that we bring with us in case we need any extra flowers at set up. We also bring a large toolbox that is filled with all floral tools you could need such as nails, hammers, floral clippers, floral tape, wire, push pins, boutonniere pins, and more. We also have a ribbon bag that has ribbons that we used on the arrangements in case we need to make more arrangements on the spot. This wedding, we were actually two bridesmaids bouquets short. When the bridesmaid approached Mrs. Emily, Mrs. Emily made sure not to argue and said one moment I will be right back from my car to grab it. Mrs. Emily looked at me and told me to sprint to the car and grab the tool box and ribbon bag while she started creating the bouquets. We were done with both in under two minutes and the bride never knew they were missing! It is so important not to argue with the bride and just be prepared for great customer service, so the bride is not stressed at all on her special day. It was a crazy weekend, but when your team is all on the same page, and able to be at different places at once, and know what's going on and what to do, it's not too bad at all!
Below are photos from the Four Seasons wedding: