Weddings have been a big part of Charmed’s story. Over the years we have become a part of some of your lives. Seeing couples through from engagement to wedding and now we have watched as several of our past brides welcomed new babies. We cherish all of these special moments.

Over the years as a designer and business owner I have had many triumphs and a few very low points. As we juggle weddings and our busy every day floral business we have realized this year that we need to put some policies in place. Although I will miss the adventure of our open door wedding policy, the business simply cannot continue without some time management strategies. Although we have staff, we are still very much a one woman team when it comes to designing and project management.

One of the major things I have learned over the years is that no matter the size of the wedding, they all take an equal amount of our time. That might sound odd to you; how can a Bridal bouquet and boutonniere involve the same amount of time as a wedding that has 8 bridesmaids and 20 centerpieces? The simple answer is that every Bride is special. Every Bride worries about their wedding day and dreams about all the perfect little details. Beyond that, every Bride deserves the same amount of care and attention that goes into custom work. Every custom order(big or small) involves a detailed consultation, proposal, and many many emails.

As an example: I took an order last year against our minimum order policy as the Bride seemed really easy going and laid back. She wanted a small bouquet at a price point under $80. She came in to show me a few color inspiration photos. I thought “Great! She will be happy and I will still have time to focus on my other weddings coming up” That was not the case. Once she starting thinking about flowers, it seems she could not stop. And who can blame her? They are in all the photos and a big part of your bridal look. She sent me many emails with various photos. For each photo I had to explain what would and would not be in season and also a price for each of them,. When I added them up, it was the same amount of emails as an elaborate wedding I had coming up in a few weeks. When I thought we had settled everything, her Mother came in to discuss/email as well. As much as I think of this Bride as special, and honored that she wanted our flowers for her wedding day, this is a business and this was a small order.. Sometime’s in business we have to make tough decisions. This can be very hard for our customers to understand it comes to an emotional purchase such as a wedding bouquet. As we continue to grow, we must stay focused to keep the design work consistent and to our standard. We want our Bride’s and our everyday customers to have experience the high level of design that is our standard.

Our solution? Charmed’s A-la-carte service, coming this September. Some of you have been customers for years, you walk in and are happy with anything we make and we love you for that. So if you don’t need to know every flower going into your bouquet, the exact shades etc this service is for you. The examples you see in our wedding store are characteristic of our style and flowers that are easily available so you can shop with confidence. This eliminates the need for an in depth consultation and multiple emails. In the end, we hope this new design process benefits everyone. What’s great about this service? Unlike a pinterest photo the person who made the bouquet pictured will in fact be creating yours.

To read more about our two new levels of service click here.

Thank you for your support and love over the years. We look forward to serving you in this new way!