First of all, to all my clients and future clients, thank you for your support of small businesses and choosing to purchase fresh, high quality floral designs for your wedding! We appreciate you so much!
I'm sure some of you may be a little nervous about your upcoming wedding especially if it is for a March, April or May wedding date especially because we have so many international clients this year and weddings with over 15 guests. We really hope this situation resolves quickly and that everyone stays safe and healthy. We will be in touch by email with all our couples planning weddings in March, April, May and June in the coming days.
Health, yours and ours, is a priority. If you would like to reschedule your wedding or event date due to COVID-19 please let us know as soon as possible. As per our client contracts, final payments are due 3 weeks prior to the wedding date. If you let us know of a rescheduling before this date there will be no additional costs and all monies paid (the non-refundable retainer) will be moved to the new date. We have a 3 week cut off as this is because flowers need to be pre-ordered specifically for your event and blooms coming from South America need this amount of time prior to the wedding date so that they can be sourced, packed and shipped. Flowers coming from British Columbia, Holland and the USA can be cancelled 10 days before the wedding date. If you reschedule your wedding after the 3 week and 10 days marks there will be additional expenses incurred that we will need to pass on to you. We are not a flower shop and can not resell our unneeded flowers to the public. We'd be happy to make mock ups of your wedding bouquet or centrepieces with these flowers in the event this occurs or we can donate them to a local flower-share company or deliver them to someone on your behalf to brighten their day. Our wholesalers are also working with multiple cancelled events and extra product that they, as small businesses like us, can't absorb either.
Depending on how this situation plays out we may need to ask you to be flexible with your flower varieties if airlines and ground freight of flowers become limited or borders are closed. Also, some flower varieties may become scarce and see a shortage of supply as flower farms and wholesalers are also slowing or stopping operations temporarily to minimize costs in the coming weeks. We will do our very best to work closely with our trusted wholesalers to provide you with the most beautiful blooms for your upcoming wedding. Keep in mind that if you are rescheduling to 2021 the cost of flowers will also be higher as the market price of flowers increases every year. We may need to substitute some flowers or change around the designs in order to stay within your current budget.
We also strongly suggest getting wedding insurance which helps cover costs if your wedding needs to be canceled last minute. Wedding insurance will not cover the current situation with COVID-19 but is a good idea at anytime as you never know when something might happen that will disrupt your plans- like the June 2014 flooding in Calgary and venue closures. We also suggest hiring a professional wedding planner as they come in extremely helpful in mitigating vendor contracts, rescheduling and being in contact with your vendors (among so many other things) in times like these. For a list of our preferred wedding vendors click here.
We will work with each couple on a case by case basis to talk over next steps if needed. Please reach out to me if you'd like to talk about COVID-19 or just want to chat flowers and weddings and other happy things!
If you are recently engaged and haven't booked your flowers yet we are still taking bookings for summer, fall and winter 2020 as well as winter, spring and summer 2021. If you are still planning a wedding for 2020 it is highly recommended that you book your wedding vendors ASAP, securing them with a contract and a retainer. Don't be afraid to ask vendors what their rebooking/rescheduling policies look like in case this pandemic lasts longer. You also don't want to be without your favorite venue and vendors if you are still planning a 2020 celebration. Many spring and early summer 2020 weddings are having to reschedule their weddings into the fall and winter of 2020 and early 2021 which may make some dates unavailable for venues, photographers, planners, florists and other vendors.
We have stopped all in person consultations consultations until further notice but will still be doing consultations by phone, Skype, or Zoom! You can book your consultation here.
Sending love and virtual hugs! xx
Janelle, Oscar + the team at Flowers by JanieBelow are a few resources I have found online that you may find useful.
Coronavirus Questions from Wedding Pros
Photo: Tara Whittaker Photography
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