In this blog post, we thought we would bring you something a little different to the usual, beautiful photos you're used to, and give you some information regarding the booking process with A Beautiful Occasion, and the very first step; The Enquiry.
A few years ago we integrated an amazing system that allows us to really harness a lot of information from the initial enquiry, right through the consultation process to then the execution. It really is our saviour and keeps us all organised.
Your initial enquiry comes from our website and allows you to attach 5 photos each for your bridal flowers, ceremony then reception inspo ... why only 5 images of each? Because any more and we find that your vision really starts getting lost. We know you will probably have a stunning Pinterest board or screenshots on your phone, but we just want the top 5 images of each so we can get a clear idea of your vision. We also ask you to make sure you're staying on track with your images and not sending completely contrasting ones like pink flowers in one bouquet image and blue in another. From the inspiration images you've gathered, you should really be able to see a theme of colours or styles in there somewhere but if you can't we 100% will!
We also encourage all our couples to send their enquiries through our website otherwise, it creates more work and time for us going back and forth with you to get all the information we need which is exactly what the form on our website asks anyway! If we do get the odd email coming through looking for a quote, we generally point the enquirer back to our website to submit the form.
Among some of the other questions like where your wedding is and the date, we also ask what your budget is, and have a few different bands that you can select. We don't ask this so we can put you in a box, it's really so we know what you're investing in your wedding florals and styling and where you want that money allocated. We recently had a couple say that their budget was $5000, not a cent more or less and gave us a list of what they wanted. We then allocated that budget to where we saw they would get the best value, and they were thrilled with the results!
On our website, we have recently added a rough price guide ... this allows you to really get a good idea of what you're looking at spending in key areas. You might have a total budget for all florals and styling of $2000 but have 6 Bridesmaids, so we can tell you straight away, that around 75% of your budget is going to be swallowed up with just your bridal and bridesmaids bouquets, and we haven't even looked at your reception or ceremony as yet. But if that $2000 is for florals only and you don't want any flowers or styling for your ceremony or reception, that would be achievable. And that is why there is a check box of what you need us for: Florals & Styling; Florals Only or Styling Only. (And no, we won't get offended if you don't want us for your florals and have your own florist!)
So while the enquiry form might be long, we ask that you really spend the time thinking about your wedding and what you want. The questions we ask on there are so important when we begin the next step of putting your personalised proposal together.
Of course, we know that things change and you'll need to adjust your proposal which we'll get to that over the next few steps, but for now, when you complete your enquiry form do it as an honest, and thorough overview of what you are after for your wedding flowers and styling.
Next up, why we take our time putting your proposal together and why we don't have "packages".
Talk soon,
Amy and Sara x