Consultation questions that settle scope and budget

What has to be settled before you can quote

You cannot price a wedding you cannot describe. Working backward from the pricing arithmetic tells you exactly what the consultation has to extract, and it is a shorter list than most consultations get around to.

1. The piece list. How many bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, installations, and anything else that has flowers on it.
2. The size of each piece. A bridal bouquet is not a unit of measurement.
3. The palette and any non negotiable flower, because one requested variety can move the recipe cost more than the piece count does.
4. The date, which decides availability and price exposure.
5. The venues, plural, because ceremony and reception are often different rooms or different buildings.
6. Access and timing: when you can get in, when you must be out, and whether anybody can come back for strike.
7. Who is responsible for what: are you moving pieces between spaces during the event, and is anybody else touching your work.
8. The budget.

Asking about the budget

The question is uncomfortable mostly because of how it is usually asked. Asking a couple to name a number invites them to name a number they have not thought about, and then to feel committed to it or embarrassed by it.

Asking instead about the shape of the spend tends to work better and gives you more to price against: whether flowers are a centerpiece of the day or a supporting element, whether the ceremony or the reception is the priority, and whether there is a figure the whole wedding has to live inside. A couple who cannot name a flower budget can almost always tell you which of two rooms matters more.

It is also the moment to be plain that scope and budget are the same conversation. A piece list and a budget that do not fit each other are not a brief, and the kindest thing you can do is say so in the room rather than in a proposal three days later.

Scope is a list, not a mood board

Reference images tell you about palette, density, and style. They do not tell you how many of anything there are, and they are frequently pictures of installations several times the size of the one being discussed. Both of you can be looking at the same photograph and pricing different weddings.

The fix is to convert images into counts and dimensions while you are still in the conversation. How wide is the arch. How many tables, and are they round or long. Does every table get the same piece. Write the answers as a list and read the list back before anybody leaves.

Have the substitution conversation now

The best time to explain that a specific flower may not be available is while nobody is upset about it. Said at the consultation it is professional context. Said the week of the wedding it sounds like an excuse.

Questions this chapter answers

What questions should I ask during a wedding flower consultation?

Enough to write a recipe and quote it: the piece list with counts, the size of each piece, palette and any required flower, the date, the venues, access and timing for setup and strike, who is responsible for moving pieces, and the budget. The chapter works backward from the pricing arithmetic to explain why each one is load bearing.