TIME

When planning a wedding most people need to know how much do flowers cost, how much should I budget for? I saw a poster on a telephone pole today, bulldozer $75 per hour. How much does a plumber charge per hour, or the electrician or the Dr? How much does a florist charge per hour? I am not sure, I cant speak for every one but I can give some information of how long it takes to put flowers together for a wedding.
-initial consultation 2hrs
-writing a proposal 3 hrs
-second consultation and a meeting at the venue 2hrs
- approximate number of emails per wedding 86
-preparing and placing a flower order for the wholesaler 2 hrs
-pick up flower order drive time to and from wholesaler 4hrs
-clean and process flowers 6hrs
-clean and prepare containers 3hrs
-design time 30 hrs
-load van and drive to venue 2hrs
-set up ceremony and reception 3hrs
-wait until reception is over 6 hrs(we wont even count these)
-tear down decor and leave reception site as I found it 1hr
-unload van, wash buckets, put everything away, sweep etc 8hrs

OK lets say 75 hours for an average size wedding bride, 5 attendants, corsages, bouts, 15 centerpieces, ceremony flowers maybe a small arbor, cake flowers. That is 75 man hours!!!! Lets just say a designer needs to charge the low low rate of 25 per hour, a fraction of what other professionals charge, this comes to $1875 not including flowers. Just something to think about as you prepare your flower budget, there is so much more time involved other than just the arranging of the flowers.