Florist Contract Questions

Hi. We are seeing the 3 florists we like this weekend and want to book one asap to hold our date. I wanted to know how detailed the contracts for flowers get? Do they mention exact colors and things like that? I am still up in the air with some stuff but just want to make sure we dont lose out on getting a good person for our date and want to leave a deposit. Is there room to grow on the contract, like add and subtract things, change colors, etc? Any info you have would be great.

Can someone also tell me the typical deposit thats needed and when the final balance is due?

Also, how many times will I meet with the florist as the wedding draws near and I am more decisive at that point?

THANKS

I knew exactly the flowers and quantity that I wanted so that made price comparison much easier.

My flowers are less than $700 and I was required to leave a $100 deposit to hold the date. Everything must be finalized within 60 days. Not sure what my payment schedule is but now that I'm at the sixth month mark, tomorrow I'm getting on top of it.

I'd be very specific as to type, color, auntity and size tof flowers you want. For example, I said my bo-kay must be light blue hydrangeas (at least five stems) and white roses (12) no smaller than a dinner plate (approximately 11' in diameter). Same with MOH and FMIL. My florist sent me a picture of my sample centerpiece with how many stems in it.

Bumpity. Anyone else?

I went in to the meeting knowing pretty much what I wanted. I knew I wanted all red & white roses and low centerpieces - 4 per table (20 tables). He didn't get very specific on our contract but he did make a lot of notes to make sure that we didn't forget anything (I booked it very far in advance)!

He was very cool about most of it though...I wasn't sure of the exact number in the bridal party so he put 6 maybe 7 bo-k's and threw in as many bouts as we needed.

The best part was when he asked me how much I was looking to spend on everything (and I needed a lot!) I told him no more than $2500 so he wrote huge on the bottom '$2500 - NOT MORE.' If that day I am under the $2500 he will just add to the centerpieces.

He also didn't take any deposit...when I asked him how much the deposit was he said 'I get paid when you get your flowers.' I left my first meeting with a giant bo-k of roses for mothers day, a sample of my centerpice (and I can get another when it gets closer) and a bunch of fresh cut flowers that he was working with while i was there all for free.

Good luck!