You may not be aware of what goes on behind the scenes after you place your wedding order. At National we have a core team of employees dedicated to overseeing your wedding orders, in addition to their regular responsibilities. Here's a look inside our operations.
Handling Your Wedding Order
Once a sales rep receives an order for a special event or wedding it's put into a priority system and kept separate from our everyday orders. The sales rep discusses the order with the team and they go into action. There is a dialog back and forth with the florist about each item, pricing and estimated availability.
Once the sales team secures the order with the florist, product is tracked, sourced and bought through a number of farms. The buying process takes considerable time, depending upon the requested item. The buyers go to work sourcing the product from across the globe, trying to get the product in time and at the right price.
Our inventory and logistics department set the dates and timing of the deliveries to National. Product comes in a few days before the delivery so it can be checked and inventoried. At that point in time if anything is missing or arrives in poor condition, it may be re-sourced.
The day before the delivery is made, the flowers go through an extensive quality control process and are scrutinized before they are shipped to the customer. During our busy wedding season (May-October), the entire production staff spends several hours in the afternoons going through product.
Meet the Wedding Team
Andrea Giatas - Our Vice President of Sales and Operations, Andrea has helped clients build their wedding businesses for over 30 years. She oversees both departments. Her wealth of knowledge and experience is invaluable.
Danielle Tomasi - Reporting to Andrea, is our Production Manager and Wedding Specialist, Danielle Tomasi. Dani has her own customers, as well as managing production and weddings. Dani does most of the buying for wedding work. Dani's passion for design and keen sense of the market ensures the customer is getting exactly what they ordered.
Kelly Fetsco. Reporting to Dani is Kelly Fetsco. With a "can-do" attitude and a cracker jack production staff, Kelly heads our Picking/Packing and Quality Control teams.
Together the team works with all the staff here at National to ensure that each wedding order is given detailed attention and care.
From Left to Right: Andrea, Kelly and Danielle
Tips for a successful event
I asked the team what advice they would give to wedding and event designers and here's what they had to say:
Discuss your needs with vendors well in advance of your event. If you have months of weddings ahead let them know. They can help you select color palettes and advise you on product availability, as the market changes.
Try to select product that is in season, as you will have a better chance of it being available.
Focus on the color palette rather promising specific flowers.
Offer substitutions for your clients, so that if a specific flower cannot be secured, your client has an alternative that satisfies their vision.
Order enough overage for waste. Flowers are perishable and there will be shrinkage, so ordering a bit extra is essential.
Order in reasonable bundle sizes. In other words, don’t order 8 stems of tulips if they are sold in bunches of 10. You will need to order the full bunch. Few flowers are sold by the stem.
Once you have your recipes down, use Excel or a similar program to help you count and organize exactly what you need. The more organization you do ahead of the event, the smoother it will go.
Place and confirm your order with the vendor at least 3-4 weeks before you need the flowers. The market is tight during peak season and without enough lead time, suppliers cannot guarantee your order.
Make sure you get your flowers 2-3 days ahead of the event. That way you can condition them and have them open in time for the big day.
Don't take on more than you can handle. Weddings are lucrative, but they require a tremendous amount of organization and labor. If you don't have the staff to take on multiple weddings during a weekend, hire freelance help.
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
Andrew Carnegie
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