In my previous blog, I discussed what wedding décor styling involves and the difference between generic one-size-fits-all packages and a more bespoke service. When you book wedding styling, regardless of what form it comes in, you aren't only paying for someone to turn up on the day with some props to make the place look pretty. That's actually the smallest part of it. There are so many other factors to consider that are included in the cost of a wedding styling booking. I think it's important to have this transparency, as the majority of our couples are wedding planning for the first time and have little understanding of the work involved. I like to break everything down so you know exactly what you're paying for!
Previously, I discussed the obvious factors that need to be considered when pricing our work, such as our immediate overheads to keep the business running and the cost of stock replenishment and new products. But what about the less obvious elements? What goes on behind the scenes when creating your big day?
In this blog I'll break down our less obvious "behind the scenes" jobs and provide an overview on the time we spend on a single wedding booking. I'll discuss how we try to keep our prices fair for top-quality products while covering our overheads, time, and having something left at the end of it- Which is ultimately the goal of any small business: to provide our own earnings while doing something we love.
Planning
After all of the initial client admin and consultation time has been done, our planning for your wedding setup begins weeks in advance. Around 8 weeks before your date, we will begin planning for your day to ensure we have all necessary stock. Items such as chair sashes, making sure we have enough in the correct colour, candle holders and vases to suit the style we're planning, colour theme ribbons, napkins, candles etc. The more elaborate your décor setup is, the longer it takes to plan, and this is all time which has to be factored into our cost. You're not only paying for our time on the day. This is why it's a common misconception that "people hear the word wedding and the cost goes up"- The cost doesn't go up; there's just more involved in planning a wedding. Our items cost the same individual prices whether they're for a wedding or a birthday party. It's the admin, consultation and planning time involved that changes, and weddings are generally a much more elaborate occasion than a general party (there are exceptions to this, of course).
If planning your wedding was like working in a supermarket where you clock in and out for your shift, we'd already have put in a day's work by this stage.
Preparation
When we have finalised all plans for your day and we have all of the stock we require, the prep work begins. If we are providing signage such as a table plan, we start putting this together a week in advance and this is a long task that often takes up a full day. Then, depending on what items are required, we have to iron chair drapes/sashes, check chair covers for stains/wear & tear, ensure charger plates are clean and polished, clean vases, candle holders, replace batteries in LED candles, etc. If we are providing custom florals, we will put these together. The day before your wedding, we will pack everything up and load the van. This takes longer than setting up on the day. We are now at a few days work in total for 1 person, with part-time assistance for prep and loading.
Wedding Day
Wedding mornings vary depending on access times at the venue or the size of the setup. Generally, it's a very early AM start, and we're usually onsite before the wedding team at the venues. The longest part of the morning is unloading the van and unpacking. Then we begin set up. There are always at least two of us, three or more if we have chairs to dress and more "faff" as we call it! We will dress your ceremony and, venue dependent, if we can dress any tables we will do this. If we are providing charger plates and colour theme napkins this all adds additional time to a set up, there are no magic fairies who make it happen. Many venues turn the ceremony space around to the wedding breakfast, so there are no tables to dress at this stage. If required (we will have planned this in advance), we will either return after your ceremony or remain onsite to move items from your ceremony across to your wedding breakfast setup. Items we use for your ceremony generally have two uses, all of which we will have discussed at your consultation.
There's been times when we have arrived onsite at 9am for a large setup and we're still there at 3/4pm if it's a later ceremony. That's a full day's shift for two or three people before we even consider the physical items on hire. Then we have travel time home.
Pack Up
We will generally pack up the following morning. However, sometimes we need to pack up at 1am after your reception has finished if the venue require everything to be cleared or if we are travelling too far the next morning for another wedding. Most commonly, we will travel back to the venue the following morning and pack up (that's 2 round trips and travel time to your venue, 3 if we leave and return for turnaround). Pack up is generally a little quicker as we tend to be much less neat with it, but it still involves a lot of heavy lifting and moving boxes in and out of vans. But your wedding booking doesn't end there... we still have hours to go washing and packing used charger plates, cleaning wax from vases and candle holders, washing and drying chair covers and napkins, repairing damaged items, and putting everything back on our shelves.
None of this is a complaint about how hard we work. We chose to start this business and didn't enter into it under any false pretences. I've personally given up my day job to commit to my business full-time (a mixture of dedication, passion and insanity!). I have much less personal time and make every sacrifice in my own life to create beautiful days for our clients... my abandoned full washing basket and unfinished household tasks will testify to that! But we love what we do, I simply want to help potential clients understand that you're paying for so much more than our time on the day.
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