Valentine's Day is only two days away and you'll probably be getting flowers before then. Before you do, there's a few things you need to know.
1. Do NOT order through FTD, proflowers, or anything like that. They aren't a flower shop. They wire their orders to a flower shop, but only after taking a part of the money you spent. So you get less for what you spend, and often you don't get the arrangement you picked out, because not every shop carries those vases or flowers. Do yourself a favor and find a place in your area (or the recipient's) to get your flowers.
2. Roses are expensive at Valentine's Day. I'm pretty sure you all know that. However, that's not just the flower shops marking up their prices because they are greedy. It's because of a domino effect. Roses are in high demand for the 'holiday of love.' So the growers raise their prices, and the wholesalers have to raise their prices, which makes the flower shops have to significantly raise their prices in order to make a profit. If you don't want to spend that much, buy mixed flower arrangements. The prices won't be inflated and you'll get more bang for your buck.
3. Flowers bought for Valentine's Day just might not last as long. It is the busiest holiday for flower shops, and I mean insanely busy. Because of the high demand, they have to get started making arrangements in advance, or else they won't be able to fill all of the orders that come through. They start pre-greening the arrangements (putting the foliage in the vases) up to three weeks in advance. Most greenery lasts a long time, so they can get away with this. However, they also get flowers in a week in advance. So you may be buying a week old arrangement. They obviously do their best to make sure the flowers look good and are as fresh as possible, but just know that Valentine's flowers may not last as long.
4. Again, because it is such a crazy holiday for flower shops, they often have to hire temporary workers. It's sometimes necessary because of the shear volume of customers that come in. However, the temp workers may or may not know anything about flowers. So if you go in to a shop you and talk to one of the customer service workers, they may not really know what they're talking about. And they are told to sell, sell, sell. When I worked at shops, if we didn't ask if a customer wanted at least two ad-ons, like cards, balloons, or chocolates, we would get in trouble. So go in knowing want you want so you don't get distracted or inundated.
5. Flower shops run out of flowers. We've established that it's a busy holiday. If you don't pre-order or get there early, there's a chance you won't be able to get flowers, at least not the ones you wanted. So think ahead for Valentine's Day. Pre-ordering is the way to go. If you just can't pre-order, make sure to go early in the day to get the best choices.
6. Don't think you can go in the day after Valentine's Day and get lower prices. It takes a few days, sometimes even a week, before the rose prices go back down. The wholesaler has to drop their prices before the shops can drop theirs.
Hopefully this is helpful for your flower buying needs this weekend. Of course I have to put in a little plug for my business here. Since I run an at-home business, the flowers I use are fresh. (In fact I am picking them up from the wholesaler today!) And you deal directly with me, so you will know for sure that you are talking to someone who knows about flowers and can help you get what you want. I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!
