How to Read and Compare Wedding Floral Design Proposals
You’ve spent hours researching florists in your area and sent inquiries to your favorites. Now it’s time to sit back and review all the flower details! Now that you’ve received your proposals though, you’re finding more confusion than clarity. How do you weigh the merits of one design over another? And does cheaper always mean better? Find answers to your questions and a detailed breakdown of everything to look for in our guide to reading and comparing wedding floral design proposals.
Photography: Light as Gold
What to Look for in Wedding Floral Design Proposals
Style
Does the florist’s design style align with your vision? Compare the work on their website and Instagram page to the photos on your Pinterest board. It’s best to book someone who has designed in your preferred style before, keeping in mind a florist may be well versed in your style from freelancing experience as well, so don’t be afraid to ask!
Price Quote
While it may be tempting to book the florist who gives you the lowest quote without considering other options, price comparison is never apples to apples. When comparing quotes, look at the florist’s previous work simultaneously to check for details like variety of flowers and fullness. How many flowers do they typically use in each design? How many types of flowers do they use? Two florists can quote the same arrangement, and one might be $165 and the other might be $225, but I guarantee the volume and varieties of flowers used are vastly different.
Service Fees
Some florists' service fees are higher than others, this often reflects experience and knowledge of the manpower required for certain designs, mechanics, and other additional costs that will arise. Less experienced florists may reduce this number simply because they don’t have the onsite experience to know the full cost of producing large events. With a higher service fee, you are typically paying for experience, knowledge, and a more prepared team that understands all of the different needs that may arise during planning as well as onsite implementation.
Visuals
Do the visuals in the design proposal have a common theme and share a cohesive vision, or do they feel scattered in style? You can often tell from a proposal if a florist has a clear vision for your flowers. A failure to understand or accurately interpret your vision can be easily seen in the cohesiveness (or lack thereof) of the photos chosen.
It’s possible to have disparate photos but a thorough description explaining how these seemingly different ideas could tie together into a cohesive design. Thorough explanations of how to bring two disparate ideas together is a good sign too, even if the imagery isn’t visually harmonious. The best of both worlds—confirming your florist has a strong sense of the design—is when you have visual and descriptive cohesion. At Ida Mayes, we go the extra mile to create specific renderings for key designs, as opposed to a page of inspiration images only, so you can see how one design color or shape meshes with another.
Candles
These are mostly universal across floral design proposals. However, one thing to be aware of is you are paying not only for the candles and glass that will house them but also for cleaning, storage and transportation of said glass (they’re heavy and take up a lot of room!). These costs are generally fixed for all candle types, so don’t be surprised when the quote is higher than you’d imagine. Some florists use this as a loss lead and reduce it to improve the overall estimate, but the actual cost is always higher than you’d think (and never enough for the hours it takes to clean the glass).
How to Evaluate Wedding Floral Design Proposals
Look at the visuals first to see if they match your vision for your wedding florals, or at least come close to your desired style. Take note of what you like and what you don’t like. If the visuals aren’t up to par, you can move on to the next proposal without getting bogged down in the numbers!
Once you’ve assessed the visuals, look at the invoice. If you look at the numbers first, you may feel overwhelmed and put off by anything the florist has designed for you, along with suggestions for reducing the cost without sacrificing the overall vision.
Keep in mind that for most florists, proposals are FREE work! There’s no guarantee that a client will book a particular florist, so florists will often template the process as much as possible to protect their investment and time. While nothing is wrong with this, we do things differently at Ida Mayes. We provide a personalized, in-depth proposal demonstrating our willingness to go above and beyond for our clients, even before they’re our clients.
Are you an Austin local and want to know if we’re available for your 2025 wedding? Inquire today with your event details and we’ll be in touch! We’re excited to work with you to bring your wedding floral vision to life.
