FAQs

WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?

Our studio space is located in an old warehouse in Fountain Hill, zip code 18015. We accept visitors by appointment only. When you make the appointment to meet, we will send you the address. Flowers love cool temperatures, so the studio is often a bit chilly. Be sure to dress so that you are comfortable. Also, our space is located on a second floor up two flights of stairs. If you or any of your guests who are helping you to plan cannot make it up those stairs, we can easily find a place to meet that would be more accessible.

WHAT ABOUT SAMPLES?

We order flowers specifically for your event. This is why we work so closely with your inspiration images, so that we can pinpoint the look and feel you are going for. Since we often add local, seasonal touches to make your bouquet unique, we may not know what bloom may be just perfect to use at its peak until a few days before your event. This is primarily the case with weddings. While it is rare, we are always prepared to edit bouquets the day of the wedding if needed. Giving us a little room for creativity often results in bouquets and arrangements that take your inspiration pictures even further.

We understand that some clients feel apprehensive about working this way. If necessary, we can order in flowers for you if a sample is something that you require. Our clients do cover the cost of these blooms, but they are yours to keep following the sample session. We also try to coordinate your sample session closer to the event itself, so that the seasonal blooms you are using may actually be available. In some cases we have weddings that may be using very similar blooms to yours. If that is the case, we can occasionally do samples with those florals at no additional cost, but those typically happen a week or two out from the wedding itself.

DO YOU DO SITE VISITS?

We have done weddings at most of the venues in the Lehigh Valley, and many outside of it. If we have not done a wedding/event at your venue, and you are looking to order more décor than standard centerpieces, we are willing to travel to your venue at no additional charge. If you require a site visit to a venue we are familiar with, there may be an additional design fee.

HOW MUCH WILL MY WEDDING COST?

Well, that depends on many factors, including how many people you have in your wedding party, how much décor you need, how many tables you have and what kinds of blooms you hope to feature. We do work with a wide range of budgets and if we know that you have a fixed, yet realistic budget in advance, can often make design suggestions to help you meet and work within that budget.

SEASONAL FLOWERS WILL MAKE IT CHEAPER RIGHT?

Not always. Somewhere out there a rumor started- if I use flowers that are in season, my flowers will cost less. This isn’t always the case. There are some flowers, peonies for example, that are available at limited times of the year and are costly, even in the late spring, when they are most readily available. Also, we often work with local growers to source beautiful, unusual and sometimes delicate blooms that wouldn’t make the journey from commercial growers in Mexico or California. These artisanal growers need to make a living wage and they charge accordingly for these seasonal blooms. I can assure you, they are worth every penny. They will really make your florals something extraordinary.

HOW MANY WEDDINGS DO YOU DO IN A DAY?

We can do up to 7 weddings in a weekend and in prime wedding season (May, June, September, October) it is not unlikely that we would do up to 4 weddings in a day. We have an incredible team of 20+ artists that deliver and set up weddings. They are the heart and soul of Allium Design and are incredibly helpful for couples and venues on the day of the wedding. You will always have a seasoned floral designer as a part of your delivery/set-up team who can make any adjustments you might need. It’s rare, but in some cases, you may want a portion of your bouquet changed. Maybe you thought you loved the look of a big overgrown bouquet in pictures, but when you hold it with your dress you want it scaled back a bit. Our kind and confident designers can make those edits on site for you at the wedding, if necessary.

DO YOU HAVE A MINIMUM?

Over the last 15 years, we’ve created a team that provides you with efficient communication, creative resources and clear, beautiful, celebrated design. The Allium “experience” is unlike any other, and for our full-service weddings we require a minimum investment of $4500 before tax. Other minimums may apply if event is over 30-minutes away from Bethlehem, PA.

But really, what do wedding flowers cost?

This is a great question! We always say that Pinterest would best service clients if they added a tiny price range at the bottom of each gorgeous inspiration picture. Often clients will bring in what Pinterest may bill as “simple” or “budget-friendly” designs, not realizing that the flowers in them might put them over their desired budget. This is what’s great about working with an experienced design house. We can select florals that fit within a realistic budget. Google will tell you that you can expect to spend $1500 on  your wedding flowers. This is not the case for our region or level of service. The types of flowers you select, the style of your design and your individual wedding needs will be what dictates how much you spend. Google doesn’t quite yet have the ability to figure out all those nuances to tell you. I’m sure that day is coming though. So, what is a “realistic budget”? Most of our 80+ guest weddings average $3500-4500, without high centerpieces or over the top design pieces, like flower walls or photo backdrops or dramatic sweetheart table designs. All of those will add to the bottom line. But, we can always help you prioritize what’s important for you, and what your guests won’t miss if you have to do some editing, to make the numbers work. 

If I send you another florists proposal, can you beat their price? Can we negotiate your prices?

No. Just, no.  I draw a firm line here, and I wish that more of the professionals in our industry did the same. We’ve honed our craft for the last 15+ years, over the course of hundreds of weddings. We know the ins and outs of what it takes to give our clients a seamless experience with exceptional florals. Risking a solid reputation on poor quality flowers, or shortcuts in the customer experience to try to price match is never a good plan for any business. We use widely accepted standard industry markups on our florals and materials. We aren’t in this business to make a fast buck. We are here because we love creating beauty for our clients time and time again. Like any small business we have substantial overhead, including our marketing, studio space, and fair compensation for our incredible staff. We get it. There will always be someone out there with less experience, or who might not know what the professional industry standards are, who can “do it for less”. But, remember, you only have ONE shot to get your wedding flowers right. Experience, proven quality, and customer reviews all matter. There are no do-overs, and you want to make sure if something goes wrong on the day of your wedding, because, believe me, it can and will, your design team has the experience, professionalism and know-how to fix it, without you even knowing there was a problem.

Transparency is so important to me. I want to make sure our clients are comparing “apples to apples”. So, yes, please send me that other proposal. I am always happy to go over it with you step-by-step and show you where they might not be providing the same florals, or where a vague description can lead to surprise upcharges down the line. And believe it or not, on some occasions, I’ll even tell you to take their proposal, because I fully trust the product they are offering to you. Occasionally we even run into big corporate design firms who have buying power that we can’t touch. It’s why a dozen roses will cost you $10 at the grocery store and $40+ dollars at a local florist. It’s the difference between the pricing at Amazon and your local book store, or Target and a local clothing boutique. I really love talking about the intricacies of the floral industry, so if that’s your thing and you want to know the how and why behind it all I’m always happy to share that with you. I think sometimes clients are surprised at how much time and critical attention to detail goes into beautiful flowers showing up on time, looking PERFECT the day of the wedding. Each of our weddings usually have over 40 hours of labor in them from start to finish. A FULL WEEK of time for just a few hours of gorgeousness! That’s why it’s so critical to hire someone you feel confident will take the time to finesse every last bloom and work closely with you every step of the way, offering guidance as you want it.