3 years ago
{ Flower Markets } My family and I had a budget fo...
{ Flower Markets } My family and I had a budget for a wake and funeral and needed to organise flowers for the event at short notice. We spent $200 on flowers and supplies to produce two pedestal bouquets, a large casket bouquet and 2 decorative displays for the food table. We would have had to spend 4 times this amount if we were to go to a conventional florist.
The catch for going wholesale is that you need to be there as early as 5am to get the best stock & cuts, by 7am some of the best picks were gone. By driving in you pay $10 entry at the gate, and drive up a ramp to access public parking for the florist. When entering the wholesale floor you need to wear a high visibility vest, we weren't aware of this before hand and so the 4 of us had to pay $10 each for a vest at the door. For safety reasons, I get the reason behind this but you could always do a sneaky, and swap out a vest with someone to take turns looking through the floor or if you're especially sneaky you can go inside unnoticed. I did notice there were people roaming without a vest.
Best tips is, bring an empty bucket to fill with water and put flowers in as you collect and buy. This keeps the flower hydrated and avoid early wilting. Plan ahead and decide what you want to buy, and walking around and see options before buying so you get the best value for your buck.