It's going to be a bit different for everyone. Most churches tend to have 'flower ladies' who do the flowers regularly on a rota. Some of them are actually quite good at what they do, which is to make the church look pretty. Most will not venture into the intricate stuff like pew ends etc and just stick to the pedestals, alter arrangements etc. One of the churches used to just ask for a donation towards the flowers and invariably they would recieve a tenner maybe twenty quid. When i explained to them that if i was doing it, a pedestal would be minimum 100 quid etc and that they should charge a realistic price they did think hard about it and now do just that.

I think it's probably a bit dangerous to have a rigid policy on this. It could be a case of 'cutting off your nose....' You won't always know if someone else is contributing to the flowers in some way and they won't always tell you. If you try and press them for a guarantee that you will be the only one doing anything with flowers, they'll probably give you a funny look. Photographers try and do it this way, but these days, everyone has a digital camera and everyone takes pictures. So unless you're a celebrity and 'hello magazine' is covering the event with a few dozen 'bouncers' there's not much you can do about it.

You'll have occasions when a bloke walks in and says "i need 2 thank you bouquets for the mums at our wedding next week". You know you're not doing the wedding flowers, but when he throws a hundred quid on the counter..are you goimng to say "sorry..we don't do mixed weddings...go back to the other florist" I don't think so..

It's the one's that get your back up or just downright insult you that are the problem. Like.."xxx is doing my bouquet cos that's real important, but could you do the tables and buttonholes cos xxx is quite expensive and i don't mind saving money on those things and you'll probably be cheaper."

If you're desperate for work you may end up eating humble pie and doing it just to pay the rent. If you've got plenty of work on then it's most satisfying to be able to say "Sorry, we're fully booked for the rest of the year, try so and so"

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