Flower Buying & Recipe Building

We share what’s been going on in real life, from pre-trip anxiety and support systems to the chaos of designing an outdoor wedding in wildfire smoke and brutal wind. Then we get practical about the florist side of things, breaking down where we actually buy flowers and how we build recipes that scale from small weddings to huge stem counts. 
• highs and lows including stress, panic symptoms, therapy tools, and leaning on family support 
• what wildfire smoke, ash, and wind teach you about outdoor wedding logistics 
• the exact mix of suppliers we use, including farm-direct, traditional wholesalers, flower markets, and local farms 
• why no wholesaler is perfect and how to choose what to prioritize 
• how farm direct flower ordering works, including cost, freshness, and risk trade-offs 
• why local blooms often outperform shipped product for delicate varieties and unique textures 
• two recipe building styles, ordering on vibes versus structured recipes and spreadsheets 
• a simple practice method, counting stems from inspiration photos to build pricing confidence 
• tools that can help, including Mayesh product planner, Details software, and Petala 

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Transcript

Welcome Back And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Lunch Club podcast. We missed you. We are back on track. Johanna and I are doing two episodes back to back today. So I hope you guys are just ready for some more consistency from us. Um we're gonna just jump right in with highs and lows, but I guess I'll give you a little sneak peek about what you're gonna listen to this week. And we are going to be talking about wholesalers, so where we're ordering all of our flowers from. I wanna say that's probably one of my most asked questions from florists or just like random family, friends, strangers. They always want to know where I'm getting flowers from, and I think it's just always great to have different options, whether you're California-based, you're somewhere across the US, you're from Utah, all of these will be pretty applicable. So I think it'll be great. Then we're also gonna even tell you how we build recipes and what kind of goes into that process. So definitely pretty action-packed, and we're really excited. But let's jump into our highs and lows. Johanna,

Travel Stress And Panic Symptoms

SPEAKER_00 1:01

take it away. What happened to you in the last couple weeks?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Okay, so I leave for Italy the day after tomorrow at like three in the morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

She's always booking these crazy flights.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

And I think my low has just been obviously the stress of planning, and I'm not a person who regularly gets panic attacks, but there were two instances this week where I I felt them coming on, but you know, grateful for therapy because Yeah, I'm like, at least you can identify like know when it's coming. Yeah, and uh again, like I don't this isn't something that happens to me all the time, but the closest thing I could think of is like it felt like I was gonna throw up.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I could feel my whole body having physical reactions, and I was like, oh, I wonder if this is a panic attack, like if I'm starting to have a panic attack. But Krishna was there both times, and I was able to just kind of like talk through my like mental to-do list. That's kind of what was happening both times. I was just getting like bombarded with a million things in my mind, um overwhelm. Yeah, and kind of talked myself down a little bit. So I guess that's like a low great practice. Yes, it's a low, but like good job self, you know?

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, yeah, but like applicable. I just feel like this is just a quick moment on like we haven't done like a full mental health deep dive episode, and I don't know how much interest there would be in that. But Johanna and I are both very passionate about this, but just like a mini sector here would be like I thought I've also You were gonna say Johanna and I are both mentally unwell. Johanna and I both have we've been through some stuff. Depends on the week. Um, but we one thing I do love about our friendship is we're always very raw and real about our mental health and what's going on, but we've both definitely experienced anxiety attacks and stuff, and I just want to like say this because I feel like the first time I had a panic attack, I didn't I was like, there's no way that's what this is. Like, I don't know, the only ever time I've like understood a panic attack or anxiety attack is like in a show and they're just like hyperventilating, and I'm always like, hey, that seems pretty dramatic. Like I just I don't get it. But I think the first time I had a panic attack, it was very subconscious. It wasn't like anything had really happened, I was just kind of like kind of feeling sad. And for me, it was like my like my face was going numb. It's happened to me twice like that. It's like really weird where it starts making me think that I'm like having a stroke, and then then it really sends me into the panic. But it was really interesting because I was like, oh, like that's a pan, like it just hits everyone a little bit different, and like your body just like does weird stuff. So like my face kind of gets tingly and numb, and then I start hyperventilating, and then I just like can't pull it together, which is like such a weird, like I don't know. I'm like, I just like never, and then you're like, I felt like I was gonna throw up, which is yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

The other time, because I think there have been two other times that I'm like, yeah, that was probably a panic attack. The very first time it ever happened to me, I literally thought I was having a heart attack.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

I was like Googling, like, should I go to the ER? I don't know what to do. And then like I felt so weird, ill, scared. I like had Christian come in and I was like crying. I was like, I don't know what's wrong with me. And I was looking up all these things to do. We like took a walk around the park, but I it was like again, I felt so ill. I felt I was like walking like a crippled person. Like I was walking so slow every few steps. I like had to pause to like catch my breath. I was like, what is going on? But yeah, our bodies and our mental health are just just so intertwined, and yeah, the physical symptoms are real. Um, so I have tried to take care of myself uh this week and also give myself grace. And I'm gonna say my high, since we're on the subject anyways, is uh that I called my dad crying. And I've just been thinking about dads a lot lately because of Father's Day. I like wrote my dad a nice letter, and then me and you had a chat about your dad when he passed away and kind of like how that's affected you and your Father's Day experience. And um yeah, just amidst all this, I was stressing about Italy and called him and just cried to him, and he gave me a million solutions and like tried to help, and it was just really sweet. And the next day I saw him and he was like, Are you feeling better?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

And I was like, Yeah, like that's so cute.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

And I was just grateful to have him. I was grateful like to be able to see him for Father's Day and just our relationship in general. Um, so that's my high, I guess. Oh my dad.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah. What a sweet little, what a sweet little. I mean, and glad that you have that support system on both ends, which we're gonna get into next week for next week's episode. Um okay, my high and low.

Wildfire Smoke Wind And Weddings

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Um probably just revolve around the same wedding that I did this week. Um, I would say I'm gonna do my low first. My low was that it was raining ashes. It was literally raining ashes. We were like in a smoke cloud. The winds this weekend were like a high advisory. If you're not currently in Utah, the wildfires are literally so bad. There are like four going on right now, like thousands of acres. And so, like the smoke has kind of come and gone just like with weather, but the wind was so intense that we were in Alpine and there's kind of like a canyon, and so like all the wind or all the smoke just got like really shoved into like this back end of the canyon, and like was kind of trapped there, so it was like yellow, like it just felt really weird, and I like have really bad asthma, and I didn't even have my inhaler with me, and it was an outdoor wedding, so there like wasn't really an option to like not be in it, and like I just kind of felt bad too for like the couple because obviously, like it just like was dirty, like there was that panic of like are guests gonna still come, like with the weather being the way that it is, but and even like is it gonna be evacuated?

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Because I have heard that has happened recently.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yes, in Utah, let's see a couple weeks ago, there were yeah, the fires were so close to certain areas that like literally weddings had to be evacuated. Um, but the the little high baked into that was that the wind actually it did push it through really quick. So it was probably about an hour and a half of like really bad like conditions, and then it got better, but part of the low also was that the wind was so bad that I had really tall calorie centerpieces, and we did everything we could. We like got like rocks, like heavy rocks from Home Depot, and like we were like, okay, like this is the this is gonna be great, and the wind just picked up so badly that like the reception ended like 15 minutes early. Like it was like uninhabitable wind conditions, like nobody could like sit down, like everything was flying away, like it was really bad. So it was just kind of like a bummer, like you just can't control it, and that was a bummer.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Um, have you heard the thing that's like a florist's worst nightmare isn't rain on a wedding day, it's wind.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yes, like that's 100% because like you just like literally can't like do anything about it. I'm like it was as heavy as it could be. We chopped down, and it wasn't even like the high at that point, like the lamps were flying over, like literally everything. It was just so windy. So that was definitely the low. But the high was that I got outside of my comfort zone doing a different style and color palette than anything I've done yet, and it was definitely still out of my comfort zone in a sense that like I'm not itching to do it again. I'm not like, oh my gosh, I love that. But like it was pretty, it was it it still came together, it's just like hard to do weddings that aren't like your natural like gravitation, and so it was a little bit of a challenge, but we made it work.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

I have actually changed my mind about that because like last year, basically my whole career up until this year, I have felt like when something isn't within like my style or like what I would choose, I'm like, oh, I'm like not excited about this, I don't want to do it, whatever. This year I've like totally flipped that and been like I'm so glad when it's not something I'm excited about. I'm so glad when it's something I'm not excited about because then I don't feel like this giant weight of it looking perfect. It's like the pressure's off for me because I'm like, yeah, this isn't my favorite thing ever, but it's pretty for what it is, you know. Like if it's if it's not something that's like my very favorite thing to do, it feels almost uh emotionally easier. Like I'm like there's less vulnerability to it because I'm not trying to make this amazing, unique design, you know?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Yeah, well, and I feel like I'm not as itchy, like I'm not trying to like overbuy as much because I'm like, oh, like no, like I know I got what I need, like it's fine. Yeah like I don't know, so kind of helps, but that is our highs and lows. So I hope you guys enjoyed.

Book Club And Magnolia Parks

SPEAKER_00 10:18

I just realized you're wearing the sweatshirt that I got you. Uh yeah. So Johanna's like the best friend ever, and we've talked about our favorite books. So I have a sweatshirt from from one of the uh books series, and it was my birthday present, and it's like one of my favorites. Actually, someone said something to me about it the other day. I can't remember where I was. I was at Book Club actually, and they were like, Oh, that's such a cute sweatshirt, and I was like, So, fun fact if you guys had read all the books in this series like I did, you're like, Okay, everybody sit down.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

We will be talking about Magnolia Parks now.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

I have a PowerPoint presentation. We read the first book at Book Club, and then like I read all other five of them, and like everyone else was like, Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

So, since the podcast that we talked about it, Maddie has started to read it, and she has done Magnolia 1, Daisy 1, and then she's finishing Magnolia 2 right now. Oh my gosh. I'm so good, you guys. That's the point for me at the end of Magnolia 2, where you're just like, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Like it all just my gosh. Um, so yeah, if you need a new book, once again, Magnolia Parks during this episode. But it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Okay, we can actually talk about our topic now, which is basically building recipes and ordering flowers where we order our flowers from.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah. Okay, let's just let's just jump right in. We're gonna cut the nitty gritty. Wait, how do I say that? We're gonna we're gonna get into the nitty-gritty. Cut the fluff. Cut the fluff.

Wholesalers We Use And Why

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yes. Um, okay, so I'm based in Utah and this is the current list of places that I'm ordering flowers from. I will just tell you a brief pros and cons or what I like from certain places. Um, and we'll, you know, dependent on time, we'll maybe give you our this is why I don't order from certain places. Yeah. I will preface, I think for both of us, that there is no perfect system. I've never worked with a wholesaler that I'm like, oh my gosh, they nailed this. Like, whether it's their ordering system that's annoying, pricing, quality, like there are so many boxes that you can work with. So just know that it's not like I prioritize one over the other. You're kind of sacrificing something no matter who you're using. So for me right now, I'm using probably a solid three different suppliers, um, sometimes up to five. Um, my main wholesaler I would say for a typical wedding for me, which is usually more garden style, very colorful, is I use Inspiritera, um, which is a farm direct source. Um, they actually just added their online ordering option, and that has actually probably put that at the top of my list for sure in Solidified because they've added like the Wabara spray rose, they have the Alexandria Farm Garden Roses. Um, so they get a lot of things. So you can literally order anything from roses, ranunculus, sweet pea. I really like getting sweet pea there.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

That's like their sweet pea is top tier. Also, if you use Inspiratera, tell them Andrea sent you.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, you can tell them that I sent you. Unfortunately, they're not giving as much of a referral fee anymore, but I'll be able to do it. Because you're doing so too well at referral. Because they're yeah, we're doing too good. They're like, okay, never mind. But um, yeah, so I usually get for sure my sweet pea, my ranunculus, butterfly, and standard, and then sometimes my roses. Um, just because I have another guy for roses, that sometimes I feel like the price is a little bit better. Um, and they do like Lisianthus, Campanula. Um, I'm trying to think. They have really good amaranthus, bells of Ireland. They have the mini cala's, but they're like mini mini. They're so mini mini. But price-wise, yeah. Price-wise, good. They're really good, and even with tariffs, it's just way cheaper than like a standard wholesaler. Come straight to your door, which I really like. Um, some people get so stressed about it, but I just think it's still gonna be fresher and like has a bigger chance. And like literally, I'll see the same boxes at my wholesaler. Like, they're literally ordering like from them. Um, so now that they're also getting garden roses, I just think it's been a game changer for pricing and availability. Kind of my one-stop shop.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Um, my second kind of tier option is Wait, can I just laugh at the fact that you just said one-stop shop? Because that's like such a joke when it comes to ordering flowers. You're like, yeah, so I order from three, sometimes five.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Like, they're they're like my the bulk of my orders, probably, yeah. Like the bulk of the stuff, yeah, it's coming from them. Um, the second little tier for anything that's like not domestically grown, dependent on the seasons, is enzyme right now, is like the cream of the crop. Like in Utah, I think everyone's kind of abandoned everywhere else. I don't know who's in charge of the buying there, but they've done an amazing job. Like the cooler is stocked with product, they're getting good pricing, and they're getting a lot of availability. Um, so anything that I can't get from Inspirera, sorry, Blitz just felt like he really needed to come and be involved here. Um, anyways, anything that I can't get from Inspirera or like add-ons, maybe just some greens, um, enzyme's been really great for that, and um, I really liked their quality as well. The downside for me is it's just a little bit further of a drive, but it's definitely been worth it. Um, and then of course I'm getting tons of local blooms, and I don't even know how to list all of those places. Some of them are individual farms, um, but the two biggest for me would be the Utah Flower Market. Um, they're kind of more localized in Utah County. And then I also use Picklink. They're further north, they're actually closer to Enzyme, so that's nice for me when I'm already going up there. I can stop at Enzyme. Um, both of them have obviously like different availability because they're based in different areas, like the farms are set in different places, so they may have like more availability versus somewhere else based on location. Um, and like their ordering processes, they're very different, so it's it can be kind of exhausting because you're trying to remember like how to how like how do I communicate with them for this. Um, but between those, those are like my three main places that I'm ordering from for a wedding.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

So they're so same same for me for Inspirera. Um, I probably don't get as much there as you do because I do a lot of ordering with Mayesh in San Francisco. Um the San Francisco flower market is really interesting because you just set up your account with the flower market, you pay a fee for the year, and they give you a badge, and then you can go in and shop all of the different stalls, like all of the different wholesalers there with your badge. Um, so that's really cool. I don't go there. And that's like, do you pre-order anything? You just show up. Mayesh I pre-order. I pre-order with Mayash. But the San Francisco. Yeah, I mean, you would have to like pre-order with each individual like vendor. So like Torchio's right across from Mayesh, and you could pre-order from there. Um, but then there's other stuff that's just kind of more like local stuff, like the Green Sky that brings all his greens. Oh god, you kind of just see what's there. Um, but Mayesh, I order you can order online, but I usually just send an email to my rep. Yeah. Um, and then they do deliveries to Sacramento. They just drive it to uh the like the local wholesaler here twice a week. So I usually will go pick it up uh from their van and then I go over to my local wholesaler, kind of like your version of Enzyme, which is FloraFresh. I don't really buy a lot from there, but it's always good, you know, if you need like a last-minute thing. Yeah, you need options, yeah. And and I can actually look just because yeah, so much of my ordering is online now, like from Inspiratera, from Mayesh, that it's good to go peek in there and see if I need any last-minute things. And then my local flowers are through the they keep changing their name. I think it's California Bay Collective now. Um, but that is a bunch of different farms that you can order from all of the farms on Rooted and then you can pick up at one farm location because they all meet up on Wednesday and then they swap flowers. So if I ordered flowers from seven different farms, then they put them into one girl's truck and she takes them back to her farm and I pick up there. So that's really nice. And um Andrea, you some of your ordering with the Utah Flower Market is on Rooted as well.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, like if I do a wish list, it's like a Google forum, so I'll be like, hey, this is what I'm hoping for if I'm shopping like add-ons or just like the two weeks or the one week before I think it is. You like log on to Rooted and you select like picking up at Grove Station, and so yeah, they use Rooted as their platform, but it depends, yeah, like how far in advance you're ordering, because with Rooted, like you can only order like I I can't remember if it's two weeks or I think it's one week. It's one week, that's what I do, and it's kinda hard. Yeah, it's really hard, but I kind of feel like over the last three years I've been ordering locally, like half the time my order is getting like tweaked anyway, like even if I've pre-ordered far in advance, just because it's like you just don't know like what's actually gonna be available, yeah, or if there's crop damage. So it's like half the time I don't actually know what's gonna be on there until about that time frame, anyways. But if it's such high quantities, you really need to like lock that in. That makes sense. If it's a smaller event, because I feel like florists have asked me, like, oh like do I need to place my order? And I'm like, if it's a smaller event, meaning like $500 of product or less, which I feel like is pretty easy to hit right now. I would even say like a thousand dollars or less in product, like I think shopping the coolers is doable. Not that I like recommend it, but like it'll be okay, like as long as you've got some flexibility or like a chill color palette, like it's really sometimes I love that more, but it's just like when you have so many stem counts, like you have to just do the math ahead of time and not really allow for that like complete flexibility.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

So yeah, and if you're wondering, like, okay, why are we ordering from a million different

Farm Direct Supply Chain Explained

SPEAKER_01 20:40

places? The answer is getting straight from Ecuador is cheaper, so that's why we do that when we're getting less.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Because let me explain this as well. If you're a little bit newer, here's like the chain of command or whatever you want to describe it as, and it can vary a little bit. So supply chain, yeah. There you go. There is a farm in Ecuador, right? They make a connection with a essentially a broker. That broker is then in charge of filling any orders from a standard wholesaler, okay? So a enzyme or Red Mountain for me. Um, and then they're like, oh, Andrea placed her order. We now need to place the order through this broker. The broker contacts the farmer, and then the farm sends it to the wholesaler and I pick it up. So you're really just cutting out like the extra essentially money, like the extra person, and you're able to keep that cost that you're paying them for their time and whatever. And granted, it there is that flexibility or safety net of oh, if it comes in and I don't like it, you have the ability to be like, I don't want something, I'll swap it out. At a standard wholesaler, when you're doing farm direct, like you're not getting a photo of it, like they are sending it, and you're kind of needing to be a little bit more okay with mistakes being made. Um, but even Then sometimes I'm like it's still just like a better price for me, especially because at least in Utah, wholesalers have been already adding like a tariff surcharge, which honestly pisses me off because I'm pretty sure that that's like it that it just doesn't make any sense. Like, if I'm ordering blue delphinium, I know it's from California. Why are you charging me a tariff? Like, sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's illegal. So it's just like been more pertinent for me to like just like order straight from the source because I'm not gonna be spending money on these extra stupid fees, and I know that it's the literally the same, like fresh, it's fresher than it would be making a little pit stop.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

So so pros with uh ordering Farm Direct, and you can do this with other places too. You can order Farm Direct from Holland through Mayush. Um, you can order Farm Direct from other companies in Ecuador or Colombia. Pros are that it's cheaper and the product is fresher. Cons are that you can't see the product before you get it and you can't say, No, I don't want this after it shows up at your house, and you have to order in higher volume. So if you need a few things, you you can't just order 10 hydrangeas, you gotta get a full box.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Yeah.

When Local Blooms Change Everything

SPEAKER_01 23:13

So then the reason why we order from local farms is the flowers are gorgeous, they're so pretty.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Things that you can't get from a hustler because they don't ship well, or they're too delicate. Yeah, like even dahlias, they do okay, but like my life changed when I started buying local dahlias because A, again, like variety options, it's not just like burgundy, coral, orange. You're like, oh, Linda's baby, rock, run, peaches and cream. Like, there are so many specifics. And they're in way better shape, obviously, because they they are kind of divas, they don't look as good. Like Xinia's too. I never understood why people liked them until I saw them local and was like, oh, like that's what they're supposed to look like. These look actually really cute. And like agra stemma, like if you've bought even like Cosmos, if you've bought it from a wholesaler and you're like, these are wimpy and sad, like that's what shipping will do to those. They're just they're not meant for that. So I just needed to answer that because I really just didn't get it. I didn't get it. I was like, well, I can get Cosmos here, but they're not the same, they're very different.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Pros of farms, uh, beautiful flowers, great texture. You can get really, really unique things that I feel like totally bring your design to the next level. I don't know what are the cons. I guess that it's not as easy as what you want.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Availability is so quantity, you just yeah, you don't know what will happen if there's a hail storm. Like you're you're dealing with a lot more logistical weather and issues like that. Or sometimes quantities is hard. Like if you need a crap load of something, um, that's when it is important to like pre-order. Like, I will pre-order cafe Olay dahlias for an August wedding, like in February, because like I know that they're a hot commodity, and depending on how hot it is, like it might be too soon. But we're getting dahlias right now, which is so crazy because it's still technically June, and normally like the earliest is like mid-July. So yeah, that's kind of the uh the good old con. But um, I I will just say, like, just know if you're like, wow, why don't I love any of my wholesale experiences? Um, if there's somewhere out there that does, I'm impressed because I've never had one experience with one wholesaler and been like, oh, this is so perfect, they're filling every single need and want, and the price is good, and the quality's good, and they have a lot of variety, like it's like it's an impossible task, and that's why we get paid for what we do because we're not just doing a quick click of the button and it's done. Like we're spending hours contacting different wholesalers, picking things up, getting things shipped. Like, it's not an easy job, and that's why.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Yeah, I would say if you're just starting out and this all sounds extremely overwhelming to you, I think the good middle ground is just your local wholesaler. So if you're close to San Francisco, San Francisco Flower Market, um, if you're in Utah doing an enzyme or a Red Mountain, if you're in Sacramento, Flora Fresh, and that like the pros of that, it you can pre-order things, but you also can shop the cooler and see what's there. Yeah. You can request specialty product. Cons, maybe it's a little bit more expensive. And again, if you're shipping in those delicate flowers, they're not going to be as pretty as local.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

I would even say do that and then give yourself a little fun money or pad your budget and go get something local just for a couple pops of like luxe kind of feel. Like give yourself 200 bucks to go to the flower market to add something a little bit special, but get your base roses, your carns, you know, anything like that. Get that from. Yeah, get your basics and then just fluff it with a little extra local stuff. I think that's like the gwin. Um, and once you're hitting larger weddings or high stem counts, then you'll really find the advantages of doing something like farm direct. So if you guys have more questions about farm direct ordering or wholesalers, as always, our DMs are open. Please just ask away. We're happy to help. We're not believers in gatekeeping.

Building Recipes Vibes Vs Spreadsheets

SPEAKER_00 27:25

So we're going to take our little pivot into building recipes and ordering because I think this is a question I get a ton from interns or people learning from me. Um, and I think everyone does it a little bit different, and I think it's great to kind of hear what options are out there. If what you've been doing isn't working for you or you're struggling, you might be able to take a page out of either of our little books and let us know how it works for you. So why don't you start, Johanna? What is your recipe building or ordering process like?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

If a wedding is under 7,000, maybe eight, I would say 7,000, I'm ordering on vibes. Uh, this isn't gonna work for everybody. And I think something that we need to remember is that we've been doing this for a while, and the way that I order now doesn't stress me out at all. I feel very confident in how I'm ordering, um, even when they're really big events, and that's just because we've been doing it for a bit. I do remember in the beginning it was like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I've had two different florists recently ask me, like, how like I don't get it. I don't get how you like build a recipe, I don't get how you feel confident ordering. And somebody just DM'd me and was like, I don't even know how you're ordering for Italy with like such large stem counts because even doing a teeny tiny wedding is so stressful to me. And I told her, and I'll tell you, when you can order, when you can build a recipe for a small wedding, you can build a recipe for a big wedding. When you can order for a small wedding, you can order for a big wedding, you just multiply it.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Like just math.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

It's not just math. So um, yeah, $7,000, $8,000 under that uh threshold. I'm ordering on vibes. I look at my um list of like what I'm making, my bouquets, my centerpieces, my arch. Yeah, and then I kind of just like feel it out. I'm like, okay, feels like four bunches of Rununculus and Peach, three bunches of Rununculus and Pink. I'm gonna get my sweepie, I'm gonna get, you know, like I just kind of yeah, it's a vibe. And then I total everything up. Um, the when I order things, I'm not usually told the price before I send in the order, so I'm just kind of doing the math myself or like mentally. Again, I I'm type B, so like this is not good advice. If you're type A, you're gonna be like, what the hell? Like, what do you mean? What do you mean you vibe it out and then mentally do the math and think, yeah, that that works.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

It's it's funny though, because I feel really similar when like my team's like, How do you know like how much to order? Because I'll be like, okay, let's build a recipe together. And I'm like, I just like I don't know, I just know, like, yeah. My brain just is like, you only need three pieces of stock. And I'm like, okay, that's all I need. Like I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

So yeah. So that might not be your way, but uh it also it might that might work for you.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Do you spreadsheet this? Do you like where do you do you make any recipes?

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Or you just like for these types of weddings? No. Okay. I don't I just like send it, I literally like have my email open and I'm typing it out to my buyer. And like usually I'll have all three open at once. I have my email open um for emailing uh Mayesh, and then I have Inspiretera open, and then I have Rooted open all at the same time. And I'm kind of like, okay, like where am I getting each thing? It's good. Weddings that are bigger, I recipe things out. I mock up in Canva what it's gonna look like so that I have a visual of it, and then next to it, I write out the recipe, and then I open up a spreadsheet and then pull all of those recipes into the spreadsheet, have it add the totals up for me, um, and then purchase that way. So, like a wedding that's above seven or eight thousand, that's what I'm doing, and then these really big events that I'm doing. Um again, it's like if I'm doing a wedding and I'm making four aisle pieces, I'm gonna recipe out the one aisle piece and multiply the ingredients by four. If I'm making 40 of these pieces, I'm gonna make the one recipe and multiply it by 40.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah. It is funny because I think so much of our job becomes emotional when it really doesn't need to, like it feels emotional to tell someone the price, but like it's again just math. Like, it's just math. Um, okay, mine is honestly in a way super similar, but I am a little bit more type A, so now you'll know. Um, I used to. This is a couple little tips that I'll give if you are starting out, um, that I will make my interns do sometimes because it's just it's so it's not funny, but it's funny. Like I just hear the same comment. Like I've done interns like four different groups now, maybe five. And the comments are usually the same. It's like I still just like don't understand pricing or like how to make a recipe.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

And I it's just this blanket overwhelm.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

It's just like I can't do it, right? So I literally will say, like, okay, go to Pinterest, open up a photo that you like for eight centerpiece, open it up right now. I'm going to have you name the items in this photo one by one and count them, and then multiply it by two. If you can't see the back of the arrangement, you're gonna assume that the recipe is the same front to back, or like depending on how much depth you can see on the arrangement, whether that's an arch or a centerpiece or a bouquet, like you can do this with anything. Um, if you're starting out and you're just like, I don't know what to put in my recipe, I don't know how many stems, just do this for fun. I'm not messing around, like, do it for fun. I used to do this all the time. I'd be like, okay, I would look at the bouquet picture, I'd count out my roses, I'd count out my stock, I'd count out my scabiosa, you know, la di da di da, and add up the total. And then as I create my list for other items, I kind of refer back to that bouquet to remember, like, oh, that's what I put. I always start with the bouquet as the like I don't know, the marker of like this is the like the whole total vibe I'm trying to capture. And then if it's like an aisle piece, maybe add more line linears and line flowers. If it's a centerpiece, maybe do some more floaty product. Like you can adjust it, but kind of just keep referring back to your initial like recipe or ingredient list. And again, just do that math. And if you're having a hard time picturing it, it doesn't even need to be an inspiration photo of the same colors. But if you're like, oh, this is a pedestal piece that I would like to recreate, well, just like count it out, and that's that's how you start building the mental muscle of oh, I just know how many stems it is, because you've done it so many times, it will be consistent, and that's also where your pricing consistencies will come into play. Again, we'll get into this on another one, but your pricing consistencies will be overall the same if you're using similar items. Like if those are your go-to items are Lysianthus and stock and sweet pea, like you'll be like, Oh yeah, like I know how much that costs, I know what I need to price myself at. So it really just comes from practice as far as how you get what your recipe is built out of, but it starts from you know, inspiration of other places, so use that tool of opening your and also identifying flowers. You need to be able to know what they're what they are to shake up your list. So if you're like, man, I feel like I order the same stuff every time, go scroll on Pinterest, go to another florist page, go see what they're working with, or walk the flower market. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Sometimes when I'm doing ordering, it's good to like just actually be there physically. And I did that a lot when I was first starting out. I would walk around with the paper in my hand and I would be circling items of like, oh yeah, this would be pretty.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Also, when you're talking about like looking at a picture and like writing things out of what yeah what's in the photo, you can get little worksheets online um that are just like a florist price worksheet. And as you're writing that out, you would write delphinium and let's say we see four stems in the photo, so we're gonna write four, or we see two stems and we're gonna multiply it by two, so we get four. Then it's gonna say how much is a bunch of delphinium? We'll say 16 bucks for one bunch of delphinium. Then divide it by ten. We know ten stems come in a bunch, that means it's one point six or one dollar and sixty cents per stem. And then it has a line for okay, now multiply the one point six by your four stems, and then you end up getting, I don't know, that's like seven bucks. Um, and then it'll have a line where now we're like totaling all those things together, and it will give you the total price of your design. So that's kind of helpful, like little practice as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Yeah, and I just think people need to understand like it does take that time. Like, you need to put in the work and doing it, it will take hours, and like you won't be able to, like, it's just like any other dang skill out there. If you're a musician, don't expect to pick up the guitar and just be like freaking Aerosmith out here. Like, you're gonna need to put some time into it. So, like, as a florist, don't be looking at these luxury florists and expecting that you're gonna be there next year without some serious like skill and building. Um, so yeah, for my recipeing, I I make uh my you know proposal, my visual proposal for my clients. So when it comes time to order about a month out, I'll pull up that visual proposal so I remind myself like what the inspo is, like what their bloom board had on it. I've kind of basically already pre-selected my flower ingredient list. Um, and then yeah, I just go item by item. I've been doing this literally just on Google Docs lately. Um, Maesh has a great free tool called the product planner, and you can use this. I used to use this when I used Mayesh to submit my orders. You can literally build your recipes on there, and if you just don't submit it, you can just have it total things up for you, and then you know how many stems you need for each thing. Um, but I just basically do that in Google Sheets just so I can adjust things a little bit. So I just Google Doc, I'll do Bridesmaids, I put how many, you know, I need to multiply by. I make my one recipe. Um, I do that with everything, and then at the end I total everything up. So if I have, you know, 47 stems of stock, I'll actually round to the nearest bunch. Um, so if it's 47, I know I need 50 stems or five bunches, and I'll usually just add an extra. I'll go up to 60 just to pad for any product loss or you know, if I've missed anything. Um, and sometimes if you're like if it's a larger quantity with like roses is 25 stems, and if I needed like 28 stems, I'd probably just find a way that I could cut back a little bit so I didn't end up with like an an entire extra bunch of roses. Um so I do stuff like that, and then I separated um usually I'll color code where I'm ordering what from. So I'll like make a little like oh, purples and spiritera. So I'll highlight at the bottom of my recipe, like, you know, rununculus, roses, lyzianthus, um, so I remember where I need to order what from. And then, you know, if I have like local blooms like Dahlia's or Snapdragons or whatever, I'll highlight those in a separate color. And then I'll go and email each of those places um separately what my totals are, and then I'm done. So well, let us know if you guys have any additional questions on ordering recipe building. Like we've said, you know, it takes time, it takes practice, but I think everyone finds their specific like order of operations and what works best for their own brain and like their their needs and processes. And I will also say just like leave room for yourself to evolve. Like this is not like a one process fits all forever. Like we kind of talked about, like, we've gone through different evolutions of you know how I used to order, where I used to order, like it just changes over time, and I think you'll always know when you need to change your system and when you need to like be flexible with that. So just let yourself grow.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

The Canva mock-ups now are so helpful for me, and that's something I just used to feel like was a waste of time.

Tools Details And Petala Discount Codes

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Um, one last thing I will say, I have not used details software. I don't think you've ever used details either. But I hear people really like it. And details essentially does kind of the same thing that the Mayesh product planner does. Um, it helps you build your recipes and the prices like are already built into there. So if you're feeling like overwhelmed and it's worth the investment, because it is kind of pricey, if it's worth the investment to you, that might be a good thing to look into if you're starting out. So it's called details software if if you're interested in that.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Um, I also have another one for you guys to try out um that I I wish it had existed when I started as a florist, but it's called Petala. Um, it's a florist software that kind of combines pricing and invoicing for clients. Um, and I actually have a discount code for you guys to try if you're interested, which is so like fun because like I'm so special. I have a discount code. Um, but I have two codes for you to try, and you guys can go look at them on Instagram. It's called pedala.floral. Pedal uh, like with an A at the end. Yeah, pedal a pedal uh floral dot floral. And they have a couple like tutorials that really show you like what they offer. But this is huge for new florists. Again, like at this point, Johanna and I we have our systems kind of in place, but if this had existed when I started, I think it would have been a game changer. But it helps you essentially make recipes ahead of time and have your pricing built out so you can easily send invoices to clients knowing that your pricing is sound, and then when you're going to build those recipes, you can like pre-input the pricing of different items. So when you make your recipes, it will even tell you like exactly how much you should be charging, and you can be billing your clients from that same system. That's cool. So obviously, it's going to cost money, but it's one of those things that it's probably worth the money to not have that stress. Um, so you will get a little discount code. Um, you can get 20% off their annual plan or 20% off your first two months, just depending on if you're wanting to try it monthly, or if you're wanting to just kind of full full send into an annual plan. So you can just use day LaFloor 20 and then an M for the monthly plan or Day La Floor 20A for the annual plan. So if you have more questions about this, please DM me. I'd love to help you get a little bit more confident. And yeah, that's kind of it

Practice Mindset And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 41:52

for me.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Good luck ordering everybody. Again, practice, practice, practice. If it feels overwhelming to you, just start and it will get better the more you do it. You'll get to a point where it's not stressful to you, and it truly is just so fun. I love opening my box. Uh, if I've ordered, you know, I like pre-ordered a month ago, and then I open it and I'm like, what's inside?

SPEAKER_00 42:13

Yeah, like you forget. I also will just say too, like, if you want to make this process fun, like I used to love doing like unboxing time lapses and videos, especially when I started. I felt like that was great content for me and a really great way to double dip, like you know, the behind the scenes, and I just think that that is such a fun aspect of our job. It's like picking up our flowers and getting them all out and next to each other. So just enjoy the process and let yourself figure it out. It's not supposed to be easy. Trust me, if it was, everyone would be a florist, but unfortunately, you gotta put in the work. So thank you for hanging out with us today, and we can't wait to see you next week. Thanks for sitting with us. Bye.