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? Most traditional florists are able to show their clients samples and then take them apart and resell the flowers. We only 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 with creatives in 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, 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 find Allium weddings tend to average around $3,000-$4,500. More itemized averages are available upon request. 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.