Quiz: Floral and Décor

Target: 70% or higher.

Section 1: Multiple Choice (1 point each)

1. In a typical floral quote, flowers and foliage account for approximately:

  • A) 10%
  • B) 25–35%
  • C) 50–60%
  • D) 75%
Answer **B) 25–35%.** Labour is 35–45%; hardgoods 8–15%; overhead and margin 15–25%. **A floral quote is a labour quote with flowers in it**, and every conversation about reducing a floral budget that discusses flowers is a conversation about the wrong number. *Reference:* §17.1

2. Floral cost scales primarily with:

  • A) The rarity of the varieties chosen
  • B) The number of items made
  • C) The distance from the wholesaler
  • D) The guest count
Answer **B) The number of items made.** *Why:* each item carries its own product, hardgoods, design time, and conditioning time. **Two large installations cost less than twenty small arrangements containing the same volume of flower.** **Which is why removing four of thirteen arrangements saves close to a third, and downgrading the stems in all thirteen saves about 10%.** *Reference:* §17.1

3. Conditioning is:

  • A) Storing flowers cold
  • B) Stripping, cutting, and hydrating stems so they drink — 6 to 24 hours
  • C) Treating flowers so they last longer in a warm room
  • D) The florist's term for design
Answer **B).** And it is why the floral chain is four days — **delivery Thursday → conditioning Thursday night → design Friday → cold storage → install Saturday** — and not compressible. **Stems that have not drunk wilt in four hours in a warm tent.** **It is a Chapter 13 dependency and it is almost never on the load-in chart.** *Reference:* §17.1

4. "Market price" on a floral quote means:

  • A) The retail price
  • B) A price guaranteed by the florist
  • C) The price on the day the stems are bought, 10–14 days out
  • D) A wholesale price fixed at signature
Answer **C).** **A floral quote is a forecast.** A 15–30% swing in a specific variety between quote and purchase is normal, driven by weather at the growing region, Valentine's and Mother's Day, freight, currency, and occasionally a single large buyer clearing a wholesaler. **And sometimes a variety is not expensive — it is absent.** *Reference:* §17.2

5. The DIY floral saving works out at roughly:

  • A) $20 per hour of unpaid labour
  • B) $75–$90 per hour of unpaid labour
  • C) $150 per hour
  • D) It is not quantifiable
Answer **B) $75–$90 per hour.** **A good rate, and not free.** Chapter 13's principle applies exactly: labour costed at $0 is charged to somebody's attention — and the person whose attention it is has to be asked, by name, before the plan depends on them. *Reference:* §17.3

6. DIY floral requires four things. Which is NOT one of them?

  • A) Cold space at 2–8°C
  • B) Buckets, water, and somewhere to dump it
  • C) A florist's licence or trade account
  • D) One person who has done it before
Answer **C).** The fourth is **named, confirmed bodies who will actually turn up on the Friday** — not four people who said yes in June. **And the experienced person is the single largest predictor of whether DIY floral looks good.** One experienced person and five willing ones works. Six willing ones does not. **If any of the four is missing, price the à la carte studio instead and present both.** *Reference:* §17.3

7. A realistic bridal bouquet is:

  • A) 12–20 stems
  • B) 20–30 stems
  • C) 35–55 stems
  • D) 70+ stems
Answer **C) 35–55 stems** — **more than a standard centrepiece** (30–45). Couples routinely budget the reverse. The bouquet is held, photographed hundreds of times, and at arm's length all day. **It is the best-value floral item at any wedding and where an extra $60 goes furthest.** *Reference:* §17.2a

8. A 12-foot garland contains approximately:

  • A) 40 stems
  • B) 70 stems
  • C) 120–180 stems
  • D) It depends entirely on the material
Answer **C) 120–180 stems** — at 10–15 per linear foot. **More than three centrepieces**, plus a mechanic and substantially more design labour per unit of visible flower. **Garlands look economical and are not**, which is worth knowing before a couple asks for one down a farm table. *Reference:* §17.2a

9. The cheapest route to making a table look full is:

  • A) More focal blooms
  • B) Foliage
  • C) A larger vessel
  • D) More candles
Answer **B) Foliage** — the cheapest material by volume, at $8–$18 a table. **A focal is the most expensive stem in the arrangement and it contributes the least volume per dollar** — which is exactly the route couples reach for first. Other cheap routes to "full": bud vase clusters, a low run rather than a mass, and dried material. *Reference:* §17.2a

10. The clause in a substitution agreement that prevents the most common complaint is:

  • A) The colour range
  • B) The price cap
  • C) The requirement that stem count and physical volume not decrease
  • D) The veto list
Answer **C).** *Why:* the failure mode of an unconstrained substitution is not the wrong colour — **it is a smaller arrangement.** A florist substituting under price pressure reaches for something cheaper, and cheaper usually means smaller or fewer. **The couple say "it looked smaller than the picture," which is the most common floral complaint in the trade**, and clause (c) is what makes volume the thing that cannot move. *Reference:* §17.5

11. Substitution authority should sit with:

  • A) The couple, because it is their wedding
  • B) The planner, because they hold the through-line
  • C) The florist, bounded by the clause, with notification afterward
  • D) Nobody — substitutions should be forbidden
Answer **C).** *Why:* the florist is the only party standing in front of the actual stock, and the only one with expertise about flowers. The couple cannot be reached at a wholesale market at 6 a.m.; the planner cannot see the flowers either and will default to the florist's recommendation with a delay added. **The clause resolves the objection.** An unbounded florist may substitute down; a bounded one cannot. **The general principle: delegate a decision to whoever has the information, and control it with a rule rather than with an approval.** *Reference:* §17.5

12. In the load-in chain, floral installs:

  • A) First, so the room looks finished
  • B) After flooring, tables, and linen, and after lighting
  • C) At the same time as the rentals
  • D) On the morning of, always
Answer **B).** Floor → tables → linen → **floral**. And behind the lighting, because **nobody puts an arrangement on a table that a technician is about to stand a ladder beside.** **Floral is fourth in a four-step chain and it is the step everybody schedules first**, because it is the one the client is thinking about. It has the least slack in the entire build. *Reference:* §17.6

Section 2: True/False with Justification (1 point each)

13. A couple can reduce a floral budget meaningfully by choosing cheaper flowers.

Answer **Mostly false.** Flowers are 25–35% of a quote. Downgrading the stems across thirteen arrangements saves roughly **10%** of the total. **Removing four of the thirteen saves close to a third**, because it removes their product, hardgoods, design labour, and conditioning labour together. **Reduce the number of things made, not the contents of each.**

14. A quote with no strike line is a good deal.

Answer **False. It means either it is buried in the design price or nobody is coming**, and the second is more common than it should be. Somebody has to be there at 11 p.m. or 8 a.m. Sunday: vessels recovered, structures dismantled, water emptied, organic waste removed — at a raw site, in a field, against a 10 a.m. Sunday deadline. **Ask.** Chapter 13's strike plan needs a name against every item.

15. An inspiration photograph is a reliable guide to what an arrangement will look like.

Answer **False, and the reason is optical rather than aesthetic.** Inspiration photographs are shot close, wide-aperture, from above, in daylight, with the arrangement isolated. **A guest sees the same object from four feet, at an angle, in a room with ninety-nine other people and a platter of pork beside it** — delivering perhaps a third of its apparent presence. **Put dimensions in the proposal**, and if the couple are unsure, have the florist build one and photograph it at the venue at the hour it will be seen. $50–$90, and it settles the question permanently — **the floral equivalent of Chapter 14's tasting.**

16. A hanging floral installation is a design decision.

Answer **Partly false — it is a rigging decision first.** A hydrated 8-foot garland runs **25–45 lb**, and that weight hangs from a tent frame or a beam. **Somebody qualified has to say it can, in writing, before the design is agreed.** **And it drips** for the first hour onto whatever is below — over a dance floor that is a slip hazard and Chapter 9's liability chain. Foam-free hanging work is usually dried or foliage-only for exactly this reason. **Third: it is on the critical path** in a way a table arrangement is not. §16.1 — a design that has not been scheduled is a wish.

17. When candles are banned, the answer is convincing battery candles.

Answer **Partly false, and the better move is different in kind.** Battery LED in amber glass is the standard answer and it is fine — **and a guest can tell**, and it should be said out loud rather than oversold. **The better move is to change the strategy rather than imitate the object.** Instead of forty fake candles, put the warmth in the light overhead and two or three real light sources on each table. **A fake is judged against the real thing and always loses; a different strategy is judged on its own terms.** **The general form: when you cannot have the thing, ask what the thing was *for* and buy that.**

Section 3: Short Answer (2 points each)

18. Write the volatility conversation for month four.

Sample Answer > "One thing about floral I'd rather tell you now than in August. > > **The quote is built on today's prices and the flowers get bought about ten days before the wedding**, at whatever the market is that day. That's how the whole industry works — flowers are a crop. > > So two things follow. **One: the price can move**, usually a little, occasionally a lot, on weather in Colombia or Holland that neither of us can affect. > > **Two, and this matters more: sometimes a thing just isn't available.** Not expensive — absent. And it happens about eight days out, when there's no time for a conversation. > > So I want to set something up now so it isn't a crisis then. **We'll agree what the flowers are *for* — the colour, the shape, the feeling — rather than a list of species. And we'll write down who makes the swap, which I'd like to be the florist, with a rule.** > > Then if the dahlias are wrong that week, she uses something that does the same job, you find out afterwards, and it was lovely. **The alternative is her ringing me at eight days out and me ringing you at work.**" *Rubric:* Must explain market timing without blaming anyone; must distinguish price movement from absence; must propose the mechanism rather than just warning; full credit contrasts the two outcomes concretely.

19. Write the substitution clause.

Sample Answer > **Substitution.** The parties acknowledge that floral product is subject to seasonal and market availability and that specified varieties may be unavailable or of unacceptable quality at the time of purchase. > > **The Florist is authorised to substitute** without prior approval, provided the substitution: > > **(a)** maintains the agreed **colour range** and **overall scale** of the affected item; > **(b)** does not introduce any variety on the **veto list**; > **(c)** does not reduce the **stem count or physical volume** of the affected item; and > **(d)** does not increase the **agreed price**. > > **The Florist will notify the Planner** of any substitution within 24 hours of purchase, in writing — **notification, not approval.** > > **Substitutions outside (a)–(d)** require the Planner's approval, given or refused within four hours during business hours. > > **Veto list:** [named varieties, with reasons where relevant]. **Clause (c) is the one that does the work**, because the failure mode is a smaller arrangement rather than a wrong colour. *Rubric:* All four bounds; must specify notification rather than approval; must include a response window for out-of-bounds cases; full credit identifies (c) as load-bearing and says why.

20. Six problems with this proposal: Ceremony 2 arrangements $340 · 16 centrepieces $896 · Bouquet $110 · 2 attendant $130 · 5 boutonnieres $75 · Cake flowers $40 · Subtotal $1,591 · Delivery and setup $150 · Total $1,741. 50% deposit on signature, balance 14 days prior.

Sample Answer **1. No stem counts or dimensions anywhere.** "Centrepiece" is not a specification. **$56 a centrepiece is 30-ish stems and the couple do not know that** — this is where "smaller than the picture" is manufactured. **2. The bouquet is under-specified and probably under-priced at $110** against two attendant bouquets at $65 each. A bridal bouquet is 35–55 stems and should cost meaningfully more than a posy. **Ask what is in it.** **3. "Delivery and setup $150" and no strike line.** Who collects the vessels? Who clears the waste? **If nobody, that is now the planner's Sunday.** **4. No substitution clause.** §17.5. **5. Hardgoods not identified as rented or purchased.** If rented, strike acquires a recovery task with a deadline. If purchased, the couple own 16 vessels on Sunday morning. **6. No install window**, and it must be checked against the load-in chain. **This is the one that kills designs.** **And two more worth raising:** the final balance is due 14 days prior, which is **before the stems are bought** — so what happens if the count changes, or if a substitution alters cost? And **what is not included**: family flowers beyond the five boutonnieres, restroom arrangements, and anything the couple assumed. *Rubric:* Six of the above; must include the missing strike line and the missing substitution clause; full credit raises the payment-timing/count question.

Section 4: Applied Scenario (5 points)

21. A couple, 175 guests, 22 tables, a converted stable block with its own courtyard. Late April. Ceremony 2:30 outdoors in the courtyard; reception inside from 4:00; dinner 6:00; curfew 1:00 a.m.

Their through-line, from Chapter 16: "Nothing is symmetrical and nothing is white." Their floral budget: $4,600. Floral is ranked third of twelve. They have asked for: a ceremony arch, 22 centrepieces, a 14-foot head-table garland, aisle markers, and "flowers in the bathrooms."

Produce: (a) a seasonal assessment; (b) an itemised order to $4,600 with stem counts; (c) the substitution clause and veto list; (d) the repurposing plan; (e) what you say about the garland.

Sample Answer **(a) Seasonal assessment — late April.** | Abundant and reasonable | Expensive, poor, or absent | |---|---| | **Tulip, ranunculus, anemone, narcissus, hyacinth, lilac, blossom, sweet pea, early spring foliage** | **Dahlia, peony (too early in most markets), garden rose at peak, grasses, most seed heads, anything dried and autumnal** | **April is a genuinely good floral month** and it suits "nothing is symmetrical" exactly — ranunculus, anemone, and blossom are loose, irregular, and asymmetric by nature. **A brief written for April is working with the market.** **The one warning:** peony is the single most-requested wedding flower and late April is **before** most peony seasons in temperate markets. If the couple have peony images on their board, **that conversation happens now, not in April.** **(b) The order.** | Item | Detail | Stems | Cost | |---|---|---:|---:| | **Ceremony installation** — asymmetric, one-sided, blossom and branch | 8 ft × 6 ft, deliberately unbalanced | ~180 | **$1,150** | | **Centrepieces**, 22 | Alternating: 12 low runs (30 in × 6 in) and 10 clusters of 5 bud vases. **Deliberately not uniform** | ~30/table | **$1,320** | | **Bridal bouquet** | Loose, asymmetric, hand-tied | 48 | **$185** | | 3 attendant posies | | 16 each | $195 | | 7 personal pieces | Boutonnieres and two corsages, **listed by name** | 4 each | $105 | | **Head table** — see (e) | **Not a garland.** 5 staggered arrangements + 9 bud vases | ~200 | **$580** | | Aisle | **4 markers only, one side, asymmetric** | 25 each | $290 | | Bathrooms, 2 | Small, and they earn their place — **proximity factor 3** | 15 each | $85 | | Cake | | — | $60 | | **Subtotal** | | | **$3,970** | | Delivery, install, **strike** | Stated separately | | **$480** | | **Held back** — volatility reserve, §17.2 | | | **$150** | | **TOTAL** | | | **$4,600** | **Note three things.** The centrepieces are deliberately **not all the same**, which serves the through-line and costs nothing. **Strike is a named line.** And **$150 is held against market movement** rather than committed — a floral quote is a forecast. **(c) Substitution clause and veto list.** The standard clause from §17.5, plus: > **Veto list:** baby's breath · carnation · anything white or cream · **anything the Florist would describe as "classic" or "symmetrical."** > > **Additional bound (e), specific to this event:** *substitutions must maintain the asymmetry of the affected item. Where a substitution would require a symmetrical construction, the Planner's approval is required.* **That last bound exists because this couple's through-line is a shape rather than a colour**, and the standard clause only protects colour and scale. **Read your through-line and ask what the standard clause fails to protect.** **(d) Repurposing.** | Item | From | To | When | Who | |---|---|---|---|---| | **Ceremony installation** | Courtyard | **Behind the head table** | 3:00–3:30, during cocktail hour | **Florist's team — 2 people, 25 min, stated in the contract** | | 4 aisle markers | Courtyard | **Flanking the bar and the entrance** | 3:00–3:15 | Same | **Value: the installation would cost $1,150 to duplicate.** Moving it costs 50 minutes of labour, and it is why the head-table line in (b) is $580 rather than $1,400. **Four conditions checked:** there is a window (3:00–3:30, courtyard empty, reception not yet in the room) · **it is a named team in the contract**, not "someone" · the installation is built one-sided and freestanding **because it was told it would move** · and the second position wants the same object, since a one-sided asymmetric piece works better behind a table than at an aisle head. **(e) The garland.** > "One thing on the head table, and it's a number thing rather than a taste thing. > > **A fourteen-foot garland is about a hundred and eighty stems** — that's more than five centrepieces, and it's the most labour-intensive thing on any florist's bench. Quoted properly it's around fourteen hundred dollars, which is nearly a third of the whole floral budget for one table. > > **And there's a second problem, which is that a garland is symmetrical.** You've told me nothing is symmetrical. A garland is the most symmetrical object in floristry — it's a continuous even line. > > **So here's what I'd do instead.** Five arrangements down the table at staggered heights and nine bud vases scattered between them, **deliberately uneven.** It's about five hundred and eighty, it looks more like you, and it frees eight hundred dollars. > > **And I'd put most of that eight hundred into the ceremony piece** — which we're then moving behind you at the reception, so you get it twice." *Rubric:* | Criterion | 0 | 1 | 2 | |---|---|---|---| | Season (a) | Names a season | Lists abundant and absent | Both, **plus the peony warning raised as a month-now conversation** | | Order (b) | Itemised | Itemised with stem counts to budget | Stem counts, **a separate strike line, a held volatility reserve, and non-uniform centrepieces serving the through-line** | | Clause (c) | Copies the clause | Copies it with a veto list | **Adds a bound the standard clause fails to protect**, derived from this couple's through-line | | Repurposing (d) | Proposes a move | Names window and value | Names window, value, **a contracted team rather than "someone"**, and confirms the piece was designed to move | | The garland (e) | Says it is expensive | Gives the stem count | Stem count, **the second and better objection (it is symmetrical, and their rule forbids it)**, a costed alternative, and reinvestment into an item that gets used twice | *Scoring: (a)=1, (b)=1, (c)=1, (d)=1, (e)=1.*

Scoring and Next Steps

Score Assessment What to do
Under 50% Needs review Re-read §17.1, §17.2a, §17.5. Redo Part A and B.1.
50–70% Partial Do B.5 (audit a proposal) and B.6 (fix the quantities).
70–85% Solid Proceed to Chapter 18. Do C.1 first — build one arrangement and time it.
Over 85% Strong Proceed. Deep Dive: case-study-02.md, then C.3 and E.1.

Regardless of score: do C.1. Twenty-five dollars of flowers and one afternoon, and you will never again misprice a floral quote or misjudge what a stem count means.