Wedding Flowers – Todich Floral Design Blog

Todich Floral Design LTD has been selected as a finalist for the annual Florist of the Year Awards! And here’s why…

Based in a warehouse in Camberwell, we offer designs to our customers for an incredible value for money. Being based in a warehouse means we have incredibly low over-heads. While some companies may pay from £60,000 – £100,000 per year in rent, we pay significantly less. And our savings translate into your savings.

Our passion for floristry has allowed us to truly push forwards and become an appreciated part of the florist industry in London.

Flowers24Hours.co.uk (our gift and flower delivery service) is the company that paved the way for all UK based internet florists today as the first automated same-day flower delivery replicating an offline shop in an online environment. Company founder and florist Todd Todic discovered a massive gap in the market in 2001 and utilized new technology to aid his quest of supplying flowers to London. Promoting solely in our early stages through SEO marketing, we were quickly one of the top search results for a large variety of keywords.

The beauty of our service lies in the absolute efficiency of our service. Mr. Todic developed a hi-tech web-solution to resolve the error of human mistakes that can be made with vast paper based orders whilst tackling the emerging issue of carbon reductions. This solution extends into our delivery software which optimizes drivers’ routes for the day. This, alongside keeping our vans serviced to mint condition, allows us to reduce our carbon emissions significantly whilst keeping optimum efficiency. This software also extends to our customer service, where customers can track their orders online and see exactly when the driver delivers their item, and if it was left with a neighbour, which neighbour it was left with.

Whilst we were delivering many bouquets and vase arrangements as gifts, Todd realised that this website wasn’t generating enough interest for weddings, events and corporate flowers. This was due to the fact Flowers24Hours.co.uk didn’t match the target market of this audience. Mr. Todic then launched Todich Floral Design, a website designed to cater precisely for this audiences needs. Unlike Flowers24Hours.co.uk, it does not do same day or next day gifts for the general public, only events; weddings; restaurants; hotels and corporate. This allows us to cater for both markets separately and successfully. We now have an extensive range of corporate clients and provide flowers for weddings and events on a regular basis!

We provide a valuable and efficient service to our customers at a fantastic value for money. We target our audience carefully to ensure our channels of communication are comfortable for our separate target markets. We consider the environment fully and utilize technology aptly to aid us in our service.

It’s your perfect day and you want it to go well. How can you ensure your whole wedding is going to run smoothly from start to finish? OK – unfortunately, we can’t tell you that, but what we can tell you are some safe steps in ensuring the floristry side goes well.

Here is a handy list of how you can prepare for your wedding flowers to be perfect on the day.

1) Congratulations! As soon as you have secured a date for the wedding, call or email your selected florists and ensure the date is available. Tips on selecting a florist – firstly, make sure you have seen pictures of their previous weddings and other event work. It is good to gain confidence in a florist, which can also be done by asking what they have done previously – ask about what contracts they fulfill with hotels, offices and restaurants. Generally, if they can supply to a 5 star hotel on a contractual basis, you are safe to assume they can carry out your wedding to meet your precise requirements! Secondly, make sure your florist has experience dealing with your culture of wedding. In Britain, it is generally safe to assume your florist has handled Christian weddings before. But have they handled Persian or Chinese weddings? Best to ask (We have! Amongst several other cultures – Have a look here for our others). You don’t want to spend 3 hours explaining what the Sofreh Aghd is, only to find it’s done wrong!

2) Make sure what your florist charges is good value for money! Especially important in an economic downturn is knowing that your money is going the full mile. Not to blow our own horn here, but for example, we operate from a warehouse instead of a high-street shop. This means we’re not blasting thousands of pounds a year on rental fees – if we were, those fees would inevitably be passed onto you as the customer.

3) You’ll probably have your initial colour schemes in mind – discuss with your florist your chosen colour scheme and particular choice in flowers if you have a specific variety in mind – while most flowers are generally available all year round, it is important to consider the seasonality as this can raise the budget dearly if your selected flowers are out of season. If you’re not sure at all, contact your florist for some advice on the phone or arrange a face to face consultation.

4) Think carefully where you want flowers placed – besides the standard bridal bouquet and buttonholes, there are many aspects to consider – almost every surface can be decorated with flowers and it is up to you (with advice from your florist of course) where you want these to go. The possibilities are limitless – from table centre arrangements, candelabra’s and chair back bouquets, to buffet table displays’ and reception entrance decorations. You can even get everything from your dress and your shoes made in flowers! This is where your budget will start skyrocketing – stay safe and realistic with our guideline downloadable pricelist. It is also important to consider the size of each arrangement as it can vary massively in the minds of different people (for example, our picture at the top has two sizes of table arrangements and also two very different budgets!). Also consider the number of people attending – how many buttonholes and bridesmaids bouquets will you require and how many table arrangements and thank you bouquets will be required?

5) Contact your florist to let them know precisely what types of locations you want to fill (and make sure they can do it in the case of the dress and shoes made with flowers!). This is probably the best time to arrange a face to face meeting with your florist. Here, you can discuss your colour scheme, flower choice and types of floral decorations you require in further depth. The florist should then provide you with a comprehensive quotation. Once you’ve agreed to this you can relax! The florist will take it all from here and contact you if and when necessary.

Table arrangement used for the event

We’re very happy and honoured to have been given the chance to decorate a small royal event at end of July, a dinner at the Westbury Hotel, with Prince (and princess) Michael of Kent as guests of honour.

Our part of the job was to create a formal but private atmosphere, befitting the presence of such extinguished individuals. The event was decorated with table arrangements and standing arrangements in four niches.

This was a great experience, where our professional approach was shown in full light. We were very excited and nervous at the same time – expectations were high, but luckily our experience and expertise helped us hit the target dead center.

Private events are great occasions for strengthening bonds between friends, family, business partners, employees. This very broad category of events allows many different approaches in organising. Whichever way you choose to organise your private event, it’s good to have at least some idea as to what things you need to consider before you delve into the deal. Here are a few things we think are common for any kind of private event.

Pick a topic for the event

What’s the occasion? Are you celebrating someone or something or simply getting together for a good time? It’s good practice to give a private event specific meaning. For example, if you are organising a private event celebrating your parents 50th anniversary, than that should be the main topic, and the center of the event, at least for the first part of it (introductions, toasts, best wishes). After this, the event will take its own course, and transform into a more informal shape.

Make an invitation list

This may seem like an obvious thing to do, but it’s surprising how many times people neglect this very important part of organising a private event. Depending on the intended size of the event and the occasion, you may want to make a selection of guests you will invite to this particular event. If the private event has a more formal character, or it has a business dimension, than picking the right people to invite will help keep the focus on the goal of getting together in the first place.

Event location

What would be the best choice of location for the event? If you are considering your own space, make sure it can indeed accomodate the number of people you plan on inviting. Otherwise, a hired venue may be a better choice (many offer their clients exclusivity – for the right price of course). Make the location easy to get to (with proper instructions), and take into account whether you’d prefer low level exposure towards the public or no exposure at all.

Decorations

Even though you are organising a private event, there is no reason not to make it a bit festive by incorporating appropriate decorations. Floral decorations are always good, as they bring a little life to the space where the event is taking place. As these are details everyone will notice, we advise you hire a professional to do the job. Our services for private event decoration are always at your disposal.

Catering

Food and refreshments are going to be the “background support” for your private event. Make sure you serve food that’s appropriate and that the service is good. These may seem like less important things, but no one forgets a bad taste in their mouth. Probably the best thing is to hire a good catering service, so ask your friends and colleagues for advice.

Entertainment

Are you planning entertainment? Background music can be played from an appropriate sound system, but nothing beats live performance, so if you aim to have some relaxed fun, consider hiring a couple of musicians.

When you’ve covered everything in the planning process, then and only then send out invitations. The last thing you need is to invite everyone, and then run into problems that may not be surpassable at the time.

If you need advice or would like to find out how we can help you make your private event memorable, please don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.