2009 bride

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Carrieann

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Jun 3, 2007
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Plattsburgh
www.nelsonflowershop.com
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NY
I had an appointment today with a bride who is getting married in April, 2009!
Anyone ever have someone who looked at flowers two years in advance and accually went through with the wedding??
She says she is coming in so far in advance because she wants LOTS of flowers and is planning on making payments. She is budgeting around 5k-7k for flowers! This is a HUGE wedding for my area. I am trying not to let myself get too excited about this wedding as I am nervious of her booking so far in advance. Anyone have any experience with this?
 
One girl, 2003 I think, came in two years prior to leave a deposit. I spoke with her for about 20 minutes, to get her ideas ( she had none ). Mostly, she wanted to reserve the date with us - she did not have any colors chosen yet for dresses, linens, nothing...... left a $500 deposit. She was a very nervous nelly, and everything went fine - I think the wedding ended up being $4000-$5000.

The early appointment might be wasted if she doesn't have color themes chosen yet - that would be my only concern. A bride might love pale pink roses, but decide against them when she ends up with a tropical theme for the decor.

Did she leave a deposit?

tracy
 
no, she did not leave a deposit today. She is intending to I am going to give her a rough estimate in a couple of weeks. She already has her colors, dresses, venue, etc.. picked out. She picked out some pretty elabrate pieces for her reception. I normally only require a $50.00 deposit, but lately I have been thinking of changing that to 10%. I have not yet told her what I require for a deposit, and since this estimate is going to require more work than normal (due to the pieces she wants) I think I am going to require a 10% deposit on the initial estimate.
I have only been doing wedding appointments for a little over a year. Since my parents bought the shop. Before that my mom did a lot of them for about 10 years. She said they have had brides come in years in advance for flowers but never had them go through with it.
 
Carrieann:
It's pretty common for brides in our area to start to book: the church, the reception site and the photographer 2 years in advance. If she wants a LOT of flower stuff, then she should be booking you this far in advance also.

Quote her very general prices....."wedding will cost between 5 and 8,000" for instance. And, most importantly, then get a NON REFUNDABLE HEFTY DEPOSIT. Your 10% is very, very low. Most vendors would want 25% down as the non-refundable part.

If she agrees and wants you, then set up a VERY FIRM payment schedule, like the banquet halls, and caterers do. (Another 25% due in 9 months; 25% due in 18 months and the final payment, with all final changes 30 days out.

On a wedding this large, for your shop, the DEPOSIT IS TOTALLY NON REFUNDABLE!! (Be sure to state that). If the wedding is cancelled in the last 90 days, then NOTHING she has paid you is refundable, and is held as LIQUIDATED DAMAGES. (Be sure to state that also).

Good luck on this one!!
Regards,
Cheryl
 
Not uncommon at all here. It's what they'd better do if they want to get the vendors they want and the sites they want on the date they want. Our area is a destination wedding site. The more scenic and popular sites and vendors are often already booked up for popular dates two or more years in advance.
 
CHERYL BAKIN said:
On a wedding this large, for your shop, the DEPOSIT IS TOTALLY NON REFUNDABLE!! (Be sure to state that). If the wedding is cancelled in the last 90 days, then NOTHING she has paid you is refundable, and is held as LIQUIDATED DAMAGES. (Be sure to state that also).
Click to expand...

Slightly off topic, but..

Do you guys word it as "deposit"? I was told (by a couple different lawyers over the years!) never to call it a "deposit", because if they cancel, they're entitled to it back. I don't remember all the specifics, something to the effect that a deposit is to pre-pay goods, and that if the goods are cancelled/not received for any reason.. refund.

I've had my contracts done as "retainers", for this reason. Retainers are non-refundable. Again, not remembering the exact reason, something to the effect of acknowledging that they're purchasing your time (getting quotes ready, design, research, etc) in the meantime, and that even if they cancel the flowers, they retained your time for what you did do.

Thoughts?
 
I like the word retainer much better than deposit. That is a great suggestion.

My area is very rural (most people don't know we exsist, lol) For years the "deposit" has been only $50. I have been thinking it is too low. I am going to contact some other venders in my area to find out what they require, and go from there before I decide what to make it for my shop.
 
One of our brides for next weekend booked her wedding with us 1 1/2 years ago. She is a teacher and came in during Christmas holidays for her first consultation, and she returned a time or two during that summer to revise some things. She, her mom, her sister, and her stepmother-in-law-to-be-zilla have come in several times this summer to change some things. This bride has been very easy to work with, and she came in so early because she did not want to be stressed about the wedding during the school year.

All payments on weddings are non-refundable, as stated in our contract. (Gotta change that deposit word today! Thanks for the head-up on that one, Wink) The retainer fee is 1/2 of the total amount. If the wedding is going to be over $2000, we require 25% at the signing of the contract and another 25% shortly after. The wedding must be paid in full at least 2 weeks before the wedding, or if hard-to-find flowers are used, before that. The bride is informed that no flowers are ordered until the wedding is paid in full. Some hard lessons learned about weddings.....
 
Wink:
The word "retainer" is the one that you want to use....."Deposit" would be refundable under most State as well as Federal UCC laws.
sorry for the mis-statement.....we are all talking about the same thing.

Carrieann: Most reception sites/ photographers/ etc work on a 25% down at the time of booking. If it is a fire hall, banquet hall, etc, the % often goes up to 50% down. I would suggest that you re-think & raise your "retainer" fee.

Cheryl

ps.... the "liquidated damages" part of the previous post then applies to all payments if the wedding is cancelled. (this courtsey of my other half, the attorney.) This specific wording needs to be in your cortract though, in order to inforce it!! Hope this helps.
 
We already have several bookings for 2009 and take a Booking Fee to secure the date (not deposit) & (not refundable). I had a previous bride who booked us 2 years in advance and was being married in 2006. From the initial consult she changed her mind twice over the two years, had another baby and stressed herself out so much about planning her wedding that at the age of 28 and 4 weeks before her wedding she had a pacemaker fitted due to stress. Sadly her wedding only lasted 8 months.... she left her husband and strangely joined the terratorial army.
 
She, her mom, her sister, and her stepmother-in-law-to-be-zilla have come in several times this summer to change some things.


We put in our contract that we would only be taking direction from one person. I did not care who it was, whether it be the Bride, them Mom, whoever, but only one of them. Then they had to sign that line on the contract. I can not tell you how many headaches that elminated.
I started doing this after a particularly difficult wedding where the Mom and the Bride kept coming into the shop on different days by them selves and making changes. Then the other would come in and not like the changes.
The "one boss" rule made life a whole lot easier.
 
jbarb said:
She, her mom, her sister, and her stepmother-in-law-to-be-zilla have come in several times this summer to change some things.


We put in our contract that we would only be taking direction from one person. I did not care who it was, whether it be the Bride, them Mom, whoever, but only one of them. Then they had to sign that line on the contract. I can not tell you how many headaches that elminated.
I started doing this after a particularly difficult wedding where the Mom and the Bride kept coming into the shop on different days by them selves and making changes. Then the other would come in and not like the changes.
The "one boss" rule made life a whole lot easier.
Click to expand...

The bride's mother came to make payments. The bride's sister is her wedding coordinator. The stepmother-in-law-to-be-zilla was ordering for the rehearsal dinner. They never came in at the same time. The stepmother and the bride came in together only once, but steered clear of each other after that.

Jbarb, I do like your idea!
 
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