Multimedia Reporting (Kuhr-Musser)

Keri Davenport will walk down the aisle at St. John’s church holding bright pink and orange lilies and roses on June 2, 2007. In front of 250 guests, she will be wed to Phillip Rodriquez.

As grooms pop the question, and brides say “I do”, small florists feel business stress this wedding season.

“They don’t see it as a profitable part of the flower business," said Susan Engle, owner of Englewood Florist. "I think that’s a mistake.”

At a Kansas State Floral Association conference a couple weeks ago, Engle learned that many small florists are getting out of the wedding business. In order for a florist to be profitable, there should be 12,000 people per florist, Engle said.

“We have too many florists for this size of community,” Engle said. “We should have half the number of florists we have now.”

She said because Lawrence is so saturated, it is hard for small shops to find a customer base to pull from. This makes business highly competitive.

Wedding business accounts for varying amounts of overall business at local flower shops.

“They don’t have the volume,” Engle said. “You have to have a pretty good daily business to have a profitable wedding business. If we have old flowers that have to be thrown out, we loose money.”

Not every shop can afford this loss, but larger companies like Hy-Vee have more latitude.

“We have a pretty much unlimited cash flow that gives the freedom for variety,” said Dee Seetin, Hy-Vee floral designer. “As a company, we are ordering thousands of dollars per week.”

“It’s a challenge because they have more buying power than we do,” said Sharon Reynolds, president of Owens Flower Shop Inc. “They buy volume, we buy quality.”

Franchise florists aren’t trending well, Engle said, and FTD stock is down. However, she says the thing that hurts Lawrence business is the lack of facilities that can hold 300 plus people.

Local flower shops' income depends not only on the percentage of money spent on wedding flowers, but also on the actual number of wedding arrangements.

“If the Holidome is booked, people go to Topeka or Overland Park companies,” Engle said. “The convention center will be good for us. It levels the playing field.”

The cost of wedding flowers depends on attendance and decorating at the church and reception. Laura Landgrebe, owner of University Floral, says that floral budgets are higher in Lawrence this year, but Katie Mitchell, Owens wedding specialist, says many people are doing receptions without flowers to save more money for the honeymoon.

This year, Mitchell sees less church weddings and more at venues like Liberty Hall and the Eldridge Hotel. It’s also becoming popular to have the wedding and reception all in one place. For local florists, this means smaller orders. Same-sex weddings can also mean fewer flowers, Engle said.

Five to ten percent of a wedding budget is spent on flowers. The national average floral budet is $4,000. Lawrence florists see lower averages.

Because Hy-Vee owns their own wholesalers, they get flowers a lot cheaper, Seetin said. On the other hand, Owens gets their flowers directly from the grower which skips the wholesaler and saves about 24 hours.

“We have lots of people tell us that our flowers last longer,” Reynolds said.

Seetin says the difference is negligible.

“Our stuff gets pulled first so we get the best,” she said.

Local florists agree that June has always been a big wedding month, but that September and October are becoming bigger. Because flowers are so gorgeous in October, this time of year is becoming popular, said Cindy Goldring, Hy-Vee floral manager. More weddings are being booked in the fall than in June because of the colors. Fall colors like orange, yellow, red and burgundy are popular, and brides like to accent them with lime green, Seetin said. She also said there are better honeymoon deals in the fall and it’s harder to book churches in June.

“People are just really busy in May with other holidays so it’s an economic thing too,” Seeting said.

The amount of time people take to plan their weddings is changing too. Englewood Florist does more weddings with people planning within a couple of months rather than in the long-term. Engle said since they are located across from the courthouse, they sometimes get orders two hours before the wedding.

However, with a floral budget around $600, Keri Davenport is planning her big day more than a year in advance.

“I think that’s an interesting trend,” said Engle. “This is, for many people, the biggest day of their life. One wilted rose makes the difference.”