Any large scale event is a big investment.  Its an investment of your money, time and emotions.  So when it comes time to making decisions during the planning process, there are typically several issues that you are weighing.  Do you go with the least expensive option because you’re on a budget?  Do you pick the option that came with the most recommendations because you can’t decide?  Do you pick the most expensive option because that has to mean its a quality choice?  I say that at the end of the day, it boils down to Comfort and Confidence.

Let’s say you’re selecting a florist.

First, make sure you’ve asked all the questions of your vendors.    Try to get the quotes you receive from each florist as similar as possible in terms of the product you are receiving or the price you are targeting (comparing apples to apples is better than apples to oranges).

Make sure you have done your research on each company’s track record.  If you found this vendor through recommendations, then ask the folks that made the recommendation what their priorities were (because they may be different than yours).

Then consider how important that vendor is to you.  This is key. Budget, Your Vision & Quality go hand in hand, but your decisions will usually be based on one pulling rank over the others and how that vendor is able to make you comfortable and instill confidence in their abilities.

• If maintaining Your Vision is critical to your florist selection, then the florist that is best able to translate Your Vision (sometimes regardless of budgetary concerns) will take the lead.
• If Budget is critical to you in this category, then the concept of “You Vision” will probably take a back seat to Budge & Quality.
• And if just straightforward Quality of product is key, then Budget and Your Vision are at the bottom (A vendor can have a great Quality product that does not necessarily match Your Vision)

Whichever key is critical to your decision, the top priority is that you should have a comfort level with the vendor you are hiring and confidence that they will deliver the product you two have agreed upon.

If you don’t feel comfortable telling your florist what you like and what you don’t like about the options they have presented to you, then you may end up with something that you are not completely happy with.  And if you are not confident that your florist can deliver on the ideas you have discussed, then you’re going to be concerned the entire time.

But if you are comfortable and confident, then it makes the entire planning process much less stressful and much more enjoyable!

Happy Planning!