A couple arrive with a folder of photographs. Every image is peonies in May. Their wedding is in October, their budget is a figure they have not shared, and the arrangements in the pictures would cost several times it.
The consultation takes ninety minutes and ends with everybody uncomfortable.
The checklist
Cover these and consultations produce bookings.
1. Publish realistic price ranges
By wedding size and scope. Couples have no idea whether wedding flowers cost hundreds or thousands and will not enquire without a reference point.
2. Ask the budget before the consultation
Kindly, in the enquiry, with ranges to choose from. It is not intrusive and it is what makes the meeting useful, as in qualifying by budget without being pushy.
3. Ask the date first
Because season determines availability, price and what is achievable. Everything else follows from it.
4. Explain seasonality plainly
Which flowers are available when, what costs more out of season and what the alternatives are. Couples plan around images taken in a different month.
5. Ask what they actually need
Bouquets, buttonholes, ceremony arrangements, reception tables, an arch, anything for the venue and anything to move between spaces. The list is longer than couples expect.
6. Ask about the venue
Whether there are restrictions, what is already there, whether candles or fixings are permitted and whether the venue supplies anything, which sits with ceremony licensing questions couples ask venues.
7. Explain the moving question
Whether ceremony arrangements can be reused at the reception, who moves them and whether it costs anything. It saves couples real money and nobody offers it.
8. Explain what the consultation covers
How long, what to bring, whether anything is priced on the day and whether a quote follows. Couples arrive uncertain of the format.
9. Publish the booking terms
Deposit, when the balance is due, how far ahead you book and how many weddings you take per date. Couples need to know before they commit.
10. Explain the change policy
How late numbers and arrangements can change, and what cannot change once ordered. Guest numbers move constantly.
11. Explain delivery and setup
Timings, who is there, how long setup takes and whether you coordinate with the venue. It is a substantial part of the service and rarely described.
12. Be honest about the budget gap
If the folder and the figure do not meet, say so early and offer what would. Couples respect it and frequently increase the budget once they trust you.
13. Capture the enquiry properly
Date, venue, budget range, what they need and the style, which is the structured approach in wedding flower consultation enquiries and what to capture.
13b. Explain what happens to the flowers afterwards
Couples rarely think about the end of the day until somebody is holding an arch at midnight. Saying who collects, whether arrangements can be given to guests, what happens to hired items and when the venue needs everything cleared turns a loose end into part of the service.
13c. Publish what you can do on a small budget
Many couples assume a florist is out of reach and never enquire at all. Naming what is genuinely achievable at the lower end, bouquets and buttonholes alone or a single ceremony arrangement, reaches a large group who would otherwise buy supermarket flowers and regret it.
14. Answer at the hour couples plan
Evenings and weekends, months ahead, alongside the everyday work described in same day delivery questions florists answer constantly.
Getting started
Publish price ranges, seasonality and booking terms, capture the date and budget at any hour and arrive at the consultation prepared. SpideyChat for retailers answers from your published pages, plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.