You've set a date for your Big Day, you have a birthday coming up, or you've upset your partner and want to make it up to them by surprising them with something a little more creative than the run of the mill posies stocked at your local grocery store. Regardless of your enquiry, here or some things you should know when placing an order with a local florist.
1.) Subject to Availability:
Due to the nature of our work, we do not farm and grow the precious blooms we have the privilege of working with. As such, when you place an order with us, we need to ensure that we contact our vendors to ascertain whether or not they have what you desire available to us. Although South Africa is known for many hidden and wondrous splendours, certain species of flower are sadly not easily available to us. The conditions needed to cultivate flowers such as Tulips and Peonies, for example, are incredibly niche and difficult to imitate, which is why it is not your run of the mill, readily available blossom.
The conditions needed to grow such flowers within our country's climate can be imitated, but this comes at a very high cost. Farms which grow niche and exotic flowers have the monopoly over such blossoms, and as such are able to slap a jaw dropping profit on to their selling prices, leaving very little room for us to bring you the most affordable product.
Please don't even get us started on the headache which is importing... Yes, it is possible to import flowers from countries outside of South Africa, but this process comes with its own unique set of problems, such as seasonal availability, cost, and TIME! Should you require a specific flower to complete your order, take a few minutes to research the availability within South Africa, speak to your local florist, and allow for enough time to order the flowers you would like. This process can take a while, so be sure to stay on top of this!
Lastly, the size of the order does impact upon availability. Should you wish to simply secure a few small posies, for example, it is difficult for us to secure this order as products are bought (to some degree) in bulk. As such,the difficult reality here is it is difficult for us to justify spending so much for too small a profit. We must ensure that our staff are also being taken care of financially.
2.) Price:
It is our goal to bring to you the most affordable florals. However, there are certain factors we beseech you to please keep in mind when reviewing a quote delivered to you.
As we mentioned above, the type of flower you order can heavily impact the overall price of your order. Should we need to outsource and import a specific flower for you, this can significantly increase the quote. For example, we recently completed a wedding in which we imported roses from Kenya. Said roses cost roughly seven-hundred rand for us to import, and we only ordered twenty stems.
Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that we do not cultivate the blossoms we work with. Through many years in the industry, we have cemented really awesome relationships with several vendors through which we order the different types of greenery and flowers you have ordered. As such, we do contact our vendors for price-lists on a regular basis and diligently consult them when setting up an order so as to bring you the best possible price. As this is our bread and butter, we do need to take into account that we of Make My Day are also securing a fair profit mark-up.
Lastly, the size of the order will naturally impact the overall quote. Larger weddings with more flowers will naturally cost more than a smaller, more intimate wedding with less flowers. Sadly, due to the constant need to accommodate different types of flowers wanted, leading to us needing to outsource all of the flowers we work with, we are unable to offer a discount for larger quantities of greenery and blossoms.
The good news is that we pride ourselves on bringing you a fair and competitive quote, in which we do break down every single cost, such as that of the blooms and travel expenses to set up the displays at your venue, so you know exactly what you are paying for and will be able to decide from there whether or not this is the path for you.
3.) Bookings:
Although we strive to make you feel as though you are our number one priority, more often than not, we are juggling several clients and their specific needs at once. We love to see our studio so full of life and colour, but it can be very time-consuming setting up the displays for up to three weddings at once! As such, we ask that should you wish to place an order with us, you please do so in as timeous a manner as possible, so that we are able to plan for and accommodate you and your every need.
It is difficult to accommodate smaller orders when we are overflowing with larger weddings at the time, and we ask for grace when this is communicated to you.