Exercises: Floral and Décor

The Part C exercises require you to touch actual flowers and talk to actual florists. They are the ones that matter.

Difficulty guide: ⭐ Foundational (5–10 min) · ⭐⭐ Intermediate (10–20 min) · ⭐⭐⭐ Challenging (20–40 min) · ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced (40+ min)

Part A: Conceptual Understanding ⭐

A.1. Name the four components of a floral quote and their typical shares.

A.2. State the chapter's threshold concept and what follows from it for a budget conversation.

A.3. Why does floral cost scale with the number of items rather than with what is in them?

A.4. Describe the four-day chain from delivery to install, and say which step is not compressible.

A.5. What does "market price" mean on a floral quote, and what does the client need to be told about it?

A.6. Name the four sourcing routes and the four conditions DIY requires.

A.7. Define, in a florist's sense: focal, secondary, filler, foliage, mechanics, vase life, conditioning.

A.8. State the four bounds of the substitution clause, and say which one prevents the most common complaint.

A.9. Where does floral sit in the load-in chain, and what must be finished first?

A.10. Give realistic stem counts for: a bridal bouquet, a standard centrepiece, a garland per linear foot, a boutonniere.

Part B: Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

B.1. Decompose a quote. A $72 centrepiece. Estimate the four components using §17.1's structure and your own market's wholesale prices. Then compute what a client saves by changing the focal flower, and compare it to what they save by removing four of thirteen arrangements.

B.2. Season a brief. For each date, name six varieties that are abundant and three that would be expensive or absent:

• (a) Second Saturday in September
• (b) Third Saturday in February
• (c) First Saturday in May
• (d) A New Year's Eve wedding

B.3. Price the four routes. For 15 tables, a bouquet, and eight personal pieces: price the full-service, à la carte, grower-direct DIY, and wholesale DIY routes in your market. Compute the saving per hour of unpaid labour for each DIY route and say whether you would recommend it.

B.4. Write the substitution clause. For a wedding with a rust-and-dried-tone palette in October, whose couple has vetoed carnations and anything orange. Write the full clause and the veto list, and then write the email that presents it to the couple in month four.

B.5. Audit a proposal. Run §17.7's eight-point check on this:

Floral proposal — Whitcombe/Nayar, 12 September Ceremony: 2 arrangements — $340 · Reception: 16 centrepieces — $896 · Bridal bouquet — $110 · 2 attendant bouquets — $130 · 5 boutonnieres — $75 · Cake flowers — $40 Subtotal $1,591 · Delivery and setup $150 · Total $1,741 50% deposit due on signature. Final balance due 14 days prior.

Find at least six problems. For each, say what you would write.

B.6. Fix the quantities. A proposal offers: centrepieces at 18 stems, a bouquet at 20, a 10-foot head-table garland described as "generous," and aisle markers at 12 stems each. Correct each against §17.2a and price the correction.

B.7. Plan a repurpose. Ceremony at 3:00 outdoors, ends 3:35. Cocktail hour 3:45–5:00 in a courtyard. Dinner 5:00 in a marquee. Two aisle-head arrangements and a 6-foot ceremony garland. Where do they go, who moves them, when, and what does it save? Name the failure condition.

B.8. Cut a budget. A $3,200 floral order must come down to $1,900. Produce three different routes to the number — one that cuts items, one that changes sourcing, one that changes materials — and say which you would recommend and why.

Part C: Real-World Application ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

C.1. Build one. ⭐⭐⭐ Buy $25 of flowers and foliage and build one table arrangement. Time every step: conditioning, design, cleanup. Compare your time to §17.1's figures and your result to a professional's. This is the single most instructive exercise in the chapter.

C.2. Map your market's routes. ⭐⭐⭐ Establish, in writing: does a wholesale market near you sell to the public and what does it require · which growers sell direct and what is their minimum · what a florist's à la carte scope typically includes. Report what you could not establish.

C.3. Interview a florist. ⭐⭐⭐ Ask: what is in your price · what do planners get wrong · what is your position on foam · when do you need to install and why · what would you take a hundred dollars out of, on a typical proposal? Write 700 words.

C.4. Price the same brief three times. ⭐⭐⭐ Send the same one-page brief to three florists in your market. Compare on total, itemisation, stem counts, substitution language, and install window. Report the spread and what explains it.

C.5. Track a variety. ⭐⭐ Pick one flower and record its wholesale price weekly for eight weeks. Report the volatility as a percentage and compare to §17.2's 15–30% claim.

C.6. Find the disposal route. ⭐⭐ For your area, establish whether any hospice, care home, or hospital accepts donated event flowers, what they require, and whether Sunday works. Most planners assume this and have never checked.

Part D: Synthesis and Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

D.1. Cross-chapter integration. Chapter 16's through-line, Chapter 13's load-in, Chapter 14's table, and this chapter's install chain all meet on one table on one afternoon. Build the single page that carries a floral item from brief to strike, with an owner per field.

D.2. Critique the substitution clause. §17.5 gives authority to the florist. Argue that this is the planner outsourcing an uncomfortable conversation — that a couple who has never been told a substitution happened has been managed rather than served, and that "notification, not approval" is a euphemism. Then respond, and say whether your answer changes at a $12,000 floral budget.

D.3. The DIY question. §17.3 prices DIY at $75–$90 per hour of unpaid labour. Argue that a planner should never recommend it — that it transfers risk to people with no expertise on the one day it cannot be redone, and that the saving is illusory once the planner's supervision time is counted. Then respond.

D.4. Foam. Research floral foam's environmental profile and the trade's response to it. Then construct both positions honestly: the case for a florist who still uses it, and the case for one who has stopped. What would you require of a florist you work with, and why?

D.5. Transfer. Compare wedding floral with another perishable, weather-dependent, single-date supply chain: restaurant produce, a farmers' market stall, a fashion collection, or fresh-food retail. What does the comparator do about volatility that events do not?

D.6. The bouquet argument. §17.2a says the bouquet is the best-value floral item at any wedding. Construct the case that this reflects a photography-centric view of weddings rather than a guest-centric one, and that the surface hierarchy is being applied to one person rather than to a hundred. Then respond.

Part M: Mixed Practice (Interleaved) ⭐⭐–⭐⭐⭐

M.1. (Ch.16 + Ch.17) A couple's through-line is "nothing was bought for a wedding." Their florist proposes a foam-based arch with imported roses. Write the response.

M.2. (Ch.13) The florist wants to install at 10 a.m. The tent goes up 9:00–13:00 and the flooring 11:00–14:00. What do you say, and what is the earliest honest start?

M.3. (Ch.14) Dinner is family style with four vessels per table. What does that do to the floral specification, and what would you have specified differently for a plated dinner?

M.4. (Ch.6 + Ch.7) Your floral order is quoted at market price in month four and purchased in month fourteen. Where does the volatility live in the budget, and how much should be reserved?

M.5. (Looks like one thing, is another) A couple says their floral proposal is "too expensive." Name four different things they might actually mean, and give the diagnostic question for each.

M.6. (Ch.9 + Ch.17) A hanging floral installation over a dance floor. Name every liability and insurance question it raises.

Part E: Research and Extension ⭐⭐⭐⭐

E.1. Research the cut-flower supply chain from grower to event: where flowers are grown for your market, how they travel, what the auction or wholesale structure is, and what the margin looks like at each step. Write 900 words. This is the single best thing you can do to become a credible client of a florist.

E.2. Investigate the environmental and labour footprint of imported cut flowers, and the seasonal/local floristry movement's response. Write 800 words with sources. Present both sides fairly, including the economic case for growing regions that depend on the export trade (Chapter 35).

E.3. Interview two couples about their flowers, a year or more later. Ask what they remember, whether anything was substituted, whether they were told, and how they felt about it. Report honestly against §17.5's claim that a bounded substitution discovered afterward is fine.

Solutions

Selected solutions: appendices/answers-to-selected.md. The substitution clause template: appendices/appendix-d-contract-clause-library.md. Seasonal availability chart: appendices/appendix-b-quick-reference-cards.md.