BRIDES, I HATE TO TELL YOU THIS ... BUT:
I’m just curious about something, so you tell me:
BRIDES, ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE BEST SERVICE OR THE LOWEST PRICE?
… or (gasp!! even worse …)
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE BEST SERVICE FOR A SUPER LOW PRICE!?
For instance, how many quotes is enough for you? And do you think it’s a little irritating when you go ‘quote shopping’ to 5-6 different florists and get COMPLETELY different pricing? When you have 6 quotes in front of you, how do you choose?
Do you go by price? Do you go by talent? Do you go by experience? Do you go by which personality was the best fit? Do you close your eyes and grab a random quote sheet in front of you? I’m serious … I really want to know …
HERE’S THE REAL TRUTH:
If you visit 5 florists in your local area, each one of them will price their service differently. None of it will make any f*cking sense either. Pricing as business owners is one of the hardest, most confusing things we do because we are basically guessing << yeah, did you get that part?? WE HAVE TO GUESS. Nobody teaches us how to price our service … there isn’t a manual where you line up years in business with each service you provide to produce a magical number of ‘well that’s certainly not enough!’ … we basically have to devise our own formula of:
EXPERIENCE + WHAT WE NEED TO PAY OUR MONTHLY BILLS + THROW IN SOME PADDING FOR GOOD MEASURE + WHAT OUR COMPETITION CHARGES + TAKE SOME OFF JUST IN CASE THE PRICE WE ORIGINALLY CAME UP WITH SCARES POTENTIAL CLIENTS OFF = WHATEVER THE F*CK IT EQUALS MINUS OR PLUS A FEW EXTRA BUCKS
which means, it’s literally impossible to charge appropriately. Know your budget, toss in some padding (because it’s just smart to do that) and then when you meet a vendor who you feel is amazing and the perfect fit, take a look and if the pricing matches up, go for it … DO NOT COMPARE PRICING BETWEEN VENDORS WHO DO THE SAME THING!!!! It will just drive you insane.
AND A QUICK TIP???
Do. Not. Negotiate. Pricing. With. Your. Vendors. I don’t care what f*cking ‘KNOT CORRECT’ article you read telling you to negotiate … it’s not ok!!! Worse??? Calling up a florist after you have your 6 (which is way too many IMO) quotes in front of you and asking someone to PRICE MATCH (ew, gross) … does it go something like this? :
“HEEEEY YOU … I REALLY LOVE YOUR WORK AND KNOW IT’D BE SO GREAT FOR OUR WEDDING … BUT I HAVE THIS OTHER QUOTE SEE … AND WELP, IT’S A LOT LESS … CAN YOU MATCH IT!!??”
Dude. Don’t do that. Just like all quotes are different, ALL businesses are run differently! For instance, pricing will be applied based on:
Does that company have employees?
Does that company have a longer drive to your venue?
Does that company have a space they lease?
Is that company more experienced (a fun meme to follow … get excited)
are there more reasons!? yeah … but guess what: none of the reasons matter because: IT’S NOT OK TO NEGOTIATE PRICING!!!
here’s that fun meme I promised:
Look, planning a wedding is CONFUSING as heck … pricing doesn’t make sense … there are TOO MANY options out there … the wedding and event industry is mostly made up of of small business owners and start-ups and passionate, creative driven badasses and 'trends that change on the daily’ just to keep us all on our toes … so my advice? Find a KILLER wedding planner / coordinator … who KNOWS what they doing doing … key: someone who knows what they are doing … << don’t forget!! And let them run the show ;)
XO~ Heather
