Is a Valentine's Wedding a good idea?
ARE YOU THINKING OF GETTING MARRIED ON VALENTINE’S DAY?
Valentine's Day is traditionally a day associated with love and romance. Because of this it is also a popular day to get married.
But if you are planning to get married around Valentine's and flowers are important to your day you may want to allocate more money to your flower budget. Generally, any fresh cut flowers and/or plants shipped February 1-15th will be more expensive. In this blog I have tried to explain why.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
According to a survey by www.evolutionmoney.co.uk, in 2015 the UK spent a total of £262 million on flowers and that figure is expected to rise year on year. That is a lot of flowers! It was also estimated that around 250 million roses were produced in 2015 to supply the demand for Valentine's Day. Of course the most sought after flower is the red rose, followed by pink, white and lavender roses. The price of roses, even non-red and pink roses, is also higher (close to double their normal cost) during this time. This price increase also affects red, white and pink flowers of any variety which are also at a premium during this time of year.
Flower farms need to prep their field’s months in advance to meet the demand of flowers sold on Valentine's Day. They need to time the growth of their roses and other flowers perfectly so that they are ready to harvest in high quantities at the beginning of February to be shipped on time prior to February 14th. Due to the fact that these farms are producing more flowers as well as limited colours (more red, white and pink than usual), the growers need to increase the cost of these blooms to cover the loss of flower production to other colours/varieties that might normally be grown. Following the Valentine's harvest many farms need to restart production and will not see more crops for some time; meaning that the cut flowers from production near Valentine's Day have to maintain these farms and their staff after this harvest. Due to the fact that flowers are at a high demand around February 14th, your wedding flowers will also arrive with this increase in price.
TRANSPORTATION AND LABOUR COSTS
Furthermore the number of transportation vehicles and workers increases at the farm, wholesaler and even your retail flower shop or wedding florist's location. Increased demand requires more trucks and flights needed to ship the flowers, which leads to fuel surcharge increases and holiday freight pricing to accommodate the overhead. In short more workers, trucks and flights are required to get millions of flowers to their destinations.
QUALITY
In the floral industry like any other you will always find a cheaper option. If you aren't looking for quality flowers and exceptional customer service you can easily purchase your wedding flowers from your high street store. Retail and wedding florists purchase high quality cut flowers from reliable, trusted wholesalers who have established relationships with farms year round; not just during Valentine's Day. When you purchase Valentine's Day flowers and wedding flowers from a wedding florist rather than a chain store you are paying for experience, creativity, high quality flowers, beautiful designs and great customer service that you won't find elsewhere.
HOW CAN I KEEP COSTS DOWN?
So you have your heart set on getting married around Valentine’s Day. First of all read my blog ‘Money Saving Ideas’ https://www.petalpowerwales.co.uk/blog/money-saving-ideas Then I suggest that you stay away from ‘traditional’ Valentine’s flowers; after all, you don’t want to follow the crowd. Stick with locally grown seasonal flowers. Daffodils (so many varieties to chose from), Narcissus, Tulips, Helebores, Muscari, Hyacinths. The list is truly endless. After all, red roses are not the only flowers which say ‘I Love You’.
