Wedding flowers fell apart!!!!!

[Mocha Rose]

This is where Dazael's signature of "evolve evolve evole..." comes into play.

Unless a bride specifically requested that you used a holder, there is no way that it should have been used for this design. It is an unnecessary cost, increases production time, increased risk and is viewed as very outdated (even tacky) to the modern bride.

If you care about the business this issue should be addressed ASAP. NO bouquet holders unless it is a large cascade or it is specifically requested by the client.

Your designer could say she was rough with it and doesn't care. As a business owner, I would be furious if this happened. Not only do you have an unhappy bride, but you have an unhappy bride with the power of the internet. She could be writing reviews of your services all over the internet. One bad review can negate 100 good ones.

I hope that bride received a full refund for her bouquet at the least. Stand up to the designer. One bad review could mean wedding revenues lost that are greater than his salary, I guarantee.

 

[hcflorist]

....the holder came apart, plastic, foam and all....

/QUOTE]


Had that happen once. Flowers stayed put in the foam. But the holder came apart. It was on one of the bridesmaid bouquets and happened before it was her turn to go down the aisle. I had it back together, wire reinforced, and ready to go again well before it was her turn. Hardly anybody but the bridesmaids even knew there was a problem. That's what they pay us the big bucks to hang around for.

Since then, when we get a new box of holders in, we glue them together BEFORE they go to the design area. Don't want that to happen again. And it hasn't. But I still consider that weakness to be a design flaw and I much prefer hand tied bouquets.

 

[RWK]

I have to disagree quite strongly about bouquet holders being an out-dated neccesity. The bouquet holder does one thing that a hand-tied cannot. That is to provide a source of moisture for the flowers at all times.

There are any and all manner of handle treatments - from faux hand-tied stems, to leaves, decorative ribbons, to the coutour treatments ( like Posy Pockets for instance ), Not to mention the ever widening assortment of holders that resemble the more fancy posy holders.

A bouquet holder design - PROPERLY EXECUTED with IMPECCABLE MECHANICS - is every bit as beautiful, trendy, and as current as your bride wants it to be.

 

[JCT]

Todd - I need to look up antipodes to see what that is. Thanks for todays lesson.

I'm afraid some of the 'tools' that we have available to us are making alot of designers lazy. They are not learning the proper way to create bouquets and alot of them are using a bandaid effect to hold them together. I think the next 10 years in this industry are going to be very interesting. We read that cascades are coming back - designers need to know the proper way of making them - like you said, with stems wired and wrapped around the oasis cages. In my opinion your bouquets have much more 'movement' when some flowers are wired. A flowing bouquet is much prettier to me than a bunch of stems glued into a bouquet holder.

Like Shannon said (yea - we agree on something ) - 'Commit to the Insertion'. I think that needs to be our new battle cry!! This applies to every day work as well. I've seen designers make and insertion, then back it out, then place over here, then place over there...Aaaagggghhhhhh. Commit, commit, commit!

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

Heck yeah cascades are coming back!

I've been on a mission for the past 3 years to bring 'em back! Woo HOO!!


Hey I have never seen a holder fall apart! That info kinda gave me the willies!

 

[makescents]

I have never, ever had anything fall apart - that I did - but... I did have a new girl.. that went to design school have bouts fall apart---- I was mortified!!!!!

She blamed it on the size wire I use.. that I have always used and still use today with no probs... It was not the wire - It was her lack of design skill.

It doesnt matter how great something looks if you have to handle it with kid gloves and if you dont it falls apart - maybe your designer needs a good lesson in mechanics - and what I call "deliverability"

Most "CLEAN" designers (like myself) never have this problem because we make clean cuts in our flowers.. especially carns.. even in just a vase arranement i make sure that the stem is clean and even... if you have one "leaf" that is below the surface then if it dies and the consumer pulls it out of the bouquet.. the whole bouquet comes up out of the vase... This is a BIG DEAL to me... Some of my staff look at me like I am crazy...

Watch the designer next time, tell her you want to learn - make sure the flowers are clean with no "edges" that would make the insertion hole larger than needed... this is key to bouquets not falling apart. also with carns.. I ALWAYS use toothpicks - they swell just like a wooden pic.

PS I am with Mocha Rose.. Carns dont need a water source for a LONG time.. should have been a hand tied...

 

[Johan]

I would say nods pushed into oasis definately. Big whole. I always cold glue and wire the trail of a shower but and glue a large percentage of the rest of the bouquets. I would send this designer on a refresher course personally if her workmanship is sloppy.

 

[herndonflorist]

Novice does not translate into lacking common sense. Instead of accepting excuses you need to find out how the bouquet was made and then correct the problem. there is no way carnations, even 15 of them should be falling out of a bouquet holder. If this is the style of bouquet your brides ask for then by all means use stem lock, it takes just a few minutes to insure the flowers stay in place. It seems like you really care about your shop, so I will say this, education education education!!! Make it your business to learn and question, that is how your business will become the success you want it to be

 

[DistinctiveFlorist]

I also think that you need to nip this in the bud and have your parent address it rather than waiting or hinting. No one is as careful with the bouquets as we are. ( I say this after being at several of the weddings that we did the flowers for.) Expect them to be flung about and if they stay together for that then you know you don't have to worry.

We have a gal that worked with us for four years and does great work but too frequently cut her stems too shorts and when we moved the piece to the delivery vehicle, we would have one lean sideways. Never understood it but she did good work otherwise. All that to say that I think that she probably did cut the stems too short but without a doubt she should have used Floralock!!!!

Wanda

PS I wouldn't use carns in bouquets either since they snap too easily.

 

[Tuberose]

Thanks to Rick for strongly disagreeing about bouquet holders!! Fifteen carnations are nothing for a bouquet holder, give me a break. There may be those that only do hand ties, fine go for it, but don't slam the rest of us for using a bouquet holder. Not once have I had a bride specifically request a hand tied bouquet, but I offer them if it is something that fits the situation.

I just sat through a five hour wedding design class with Susan Ayala AIFD who teaches wedding classes at the Teleflora school. She is all about the bouquet holder as a water source and as an added design element. I've included a few sample pics from the class. I'm sure she would strongly disagree that she is old fashioned and her bouquets were not old fashioned.

Trish

 

[shannonlovesflowers]

Good stuff Trish!

Don't you just love Susan!

 

[Tuberose]

I really enjoyed her seminar, she wasn't afraid of going outside the box, I didn't post pics of the stuff that was really different and she shared all the tidbits about good mechanics and floral design for weddings.

Trish

 

[thebloomcloset]

Customers Choice

You can use bouquet holders or not, but honey, you are the bosses daughter, and I assume that you will be the boss one day. Do not be scared to say something because you are a novice or young, it is common sense that a bouquet does not fall apart if made properly. It is your name out there and that one incident was talked about the entire wedding, after the wedding, and will continued to be talked about for a while by that bride. If you dont find out the issue, you may become the daughter of the person that used to have the flower shop...

As for terminology of Head designer, titles are not that impressive unless you can back them up, and if your designs fall apart, well, I will leave it at that....

 

[makescents]

I too use bouquet holders as you can see from the lovely Robin's bouquet (and all the bridesmaids)..

I was just saying that with the carns.. a water source was not neccessary. & I would have done a hand tie..

 

[Tuberose]

Really pretty bouquets! Don't have many requests for tussie mussie holders and I think they are so pretty.

I would worry about carnations snapping off in a hand tie, or do you wire them. I agree they don't need a water source so much, pretty hard to kill off a carnation.

Trish

 

[floralverde]

The bouquet holder does one thing that a hand-tied cannot. That is to provide a source of moisture for the flowers at all times.

I don't worry about having a water source for my hand-tied bouquets... I just stick them in a vase with an inch of water right after I make them, leaving the stems long for delivery (so the wrap doesn't get wet). Then I cut the stems short when I hand them off to the wedding party. I often get reports from my brides that the bouquets lasted a week after the ceremony.

 

[RWK]

Hand-tieds are beautiful - The only thing I have pointed out is that the bouquet holder is a viable, useable, tool for us as creative designers to have and to utilize in our repetoire.

Now, the three most oft used tools/methods for bride's and attendant bouquet creation are foam bouquet holders, wired and taped stems, or natural stem hand-tied......As someone who has done judging on the AIFD level - I will say this - All things being equal - if it comes down to technique execution alone to differentiate between first, second, and third place in a competition - then a well executed bouquet done in a holder can score higher than a hand-tied because of the techniques used in holding the bouquet together.

Is one technique/method better than the other.....No.....Ultimately, It is whichever method best suits the creation of the bouquet style chosen by your customer.

 

[floralverde]

Hand-tieds are beautiful - The only thing I have pointed out is that the bouquet holder is a viable, useable, tool for us as creative designers to have and to utilize in our repetoire.

Oh, I don't disagree with you. I was just pointing out that a hand-tied bouquet can be in water right up until it's used. I didn't mean to step on any toes. Sorry!

 

[RWK]

No offense taken and no toes stepped on.

It's all good.

 

[marie g bushnell]

A bouquet in a bouquet holder, glue, glue, glue. I cringe when I have to make a cascade in the bouquet holder. I use flora lock stem adhesive. . I would make sure you always have two cans, and always Clean the straw and turn can upside down and push the spray nozzle to clear out residue, so the next time you use this, it will work.