Wedding Flowers FAQ
1. How far in advance should I book my wedding flowers?
Typically six to nine months prior is a good time to start making your enquiries. This not only gives us enough time to plan out the day in proper detail, but also allows you to lock in your preferred date well in advance, to avoid disappointment.
2. What will my wedding flowers cost?
This will differ greatly depending on the size of your wedding. As a very general guide, personal flowers only may cost from $500 - $1,000. A full wedding including table centrepieces, focal arrangements etc could be from $2,000 - $6,000, again depending on size, logistics and mechanical requirements. Large weddings would be closer to $10,000. When we meet with you, we’ll discuss your budget and be honest and realistic with you.
3. What if I don’t know what I want?
No problem! Most people feel this way at the beginning of their time with us. It’s our job to open up the world of flowers and show you your options. We will work with you on a design brief to ensure that your wedding flowers reflect you.
4. Do you deliver?
Absolutely. We offer full delivery, installation and pack down services and will liaise with you and your wedding venues regarding timing.
5. How does the process work?
When you’re ready to talk wedding flowers, call or send us an email to arrange a consultation. This can be in person or by phone. Once we’ve consulted, we’ll email your initial quote within seven working days. After your response, the quote can be updated once more. If you’re happy to go ahead, a 30% deposit secures your booking. Next, a mood board/design brief will be sent to you. The balance of your booking is due six weeks before your wedding date. We may ask you to fill out a vendors list so that any social media images can be appropriately credited. The week of your wedding, we’ll email you to check in and go over final details. After this, you can put your feet up and drink champagne while we take care of the hard work!
6. Do you offer hire items and styling?
At this stage we don’t provide styling items such as tea light votives and linen. We can, however, hire items such as plinths and arbours on your behalf to use in conjunction with your flowers.
7. Why are wedding services so expensive?
This is a perfectly valid question. Wedding flowers, and services in general, are more expensive because of the amount of work that goes into producing them. Often there are many more points of contact than with other events, and quite rightly. You want to make sure your wedding is everything you imagined. Staffing, materials and many other factors contribute to this as well. At Chinaclay we are open and realistic about budget requirements and will always work with you toward a solution that respects your budget.
8. What will Chinaclay ask during my consult?
We’ll discuss your requirements regarding personal flowers, venues, timing, budget, colour palette and style. We like to be comprehensive at this stage to avoid having to bother you with questions further down the track. We will also ask for your venue contacts so that we can talk to them about on the day coordination.
9. What if the flowers I like aren’t in season?
This will depend on the type of flower in question. At Chinaclay we generally follow the seasons. However, if the flower you love is out of season locally, there may be an imported version that we can use. Alternatively, there are always lots of options to substitute for your chosen flower.
10. Will you post pictures of my wedding on social media?
Yes! The vendor list that we ask you to fill out during the wedding process is for this purpose. For people in creative industries, intellectual property is hugely important. It’s for this reason that we want to make sure we credit other vendors (in particular your photographer) correctly. If you’d rather not have your pictures featured on our social media, please let us know and we’ll be happy to oblige. If you’d like to be tagged, feel free to include your Instagram handle in the vendor list.