Valentine's Day is a popular day for weddings as it is the only day of the year where love and romance are celebrated all day long. While it may seem romantic to get married on or near February 14th you can be guaranteed that your wedding day blooms will arrive with a higher price tag.
Generally, any fresh cut flowers and/or plants shipped between February 1-15th will be more expensive and subject to holiday pricing. If flowers are a top priority for you and you are planning your wedding around Valentine's day, more money will need to be allocated to your wedding flower budget to cover the increase in flower costs. You might be asking yourself why does the cost of flowers increase so much during this time of year? I'm here to explain.
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Here are three reasons why you can expect to pay more for your wedding flowers, anniversary flowers or any other gift of flowers on and around February 14th.
1. Supply and Demand
According to a survey by the National Retail Federation, in 2015 Americans spent a total of $2.1 billion on flowers and are expected to spend $1.9 billion this Valentine's Day! That is a lot of flowers! It was also estimated that around 250 million roses were produced in 2015 to supply the demand for Valentine's Day. The most sought after flower for this holiday is of course the red rose, followed by pink, white and lavender roses. The price of roses, even non-red and pink roses, is also higher (close to double their normal cost) during this time. The pricing increase affects not only roses but also red, white and pink flowers of any variety which are also at a premium during this time of year. Other flower varieties in non Valentine's colours also see an increase in price from beginning to mid February.
Farms across the USA and South America, where the majority of Calgary florists receive their cut roses from, need to prep their fields months in advance to supply the demand of flowers sold on Valentine's Day. They need to time the growth of their roses and other flowers perfectly so that they are ready to harvest in high quantities at the beginning of February to be shipped on time prior to February 14th. Due to the fact that these farms are producing more flowers as well as limited colours (more red, white and pink than usual), the growers need to increase the cost of these blooms to cover the loss of flower production to other colours/varieties that might normally be grown. Following the Valentine's day harvest many farms will need to restart production and will not see more crops for some time; meaning that the cut flowers from production near Valentine's day have to maintain these farms and their staff post harvest. Due to the fact that flowers are at a high demand around February 14th, your wedding flowers will also arrive with this increase in price.
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2. Increased Labour and Transportation Costs
Since it is a one-day holiday, all of the Valentine's Day flowers need to arrive to your wedding florist in the days prior to February 14th. Most flowers designated for Valentine's Day wedding and event orders will arrive 3-5 days prior to February 14th in order for your wedding florist to clean thorns from the roses, de- leaf flowers and re-cut and condition each individual flower stem so that the blooms will be in pristine condition for your wedding day. Due to the tight time frame of having all of these flowers arrive basically for a single one day holiday; and considering the demand for Valentine's day flowers as well as Valentine's wedding flowers, more transportation and staff are needed at all levels of the floral industry.
The amount of transportation and workers increases at the farm, wholesaler and at your retail flower shop or wedding florist's location. Increased demand requires more trucks and flights needed to ship the flowers, which leads to fuel surcharge increases and holiday freight pricing to accommodate the overhead. More workers, trucks and flights are required to get millions of flowers to their destinations. More staff are needed to harvest, ship, sort, process, design and deliver the end floral arrangement as well.
Since Valentine's day is a popular day for weddings, Valentine's day brunches, special dinners etc. as a wedding and event florist we need to hire more staff for the days leading up to Valentine's day to assist in the processing and design of our event orders.
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3. Service and Quality
In the floral industry like any, you will always find a cheaper option. If you aren't looking for quality flowers and exceptional customer service you can easily purchase your wedding flowers from your local grocery store. Retail and wedding florists purchase high quality cut flowers from reliable, trusted wholesalers who have established relationships with farms year round; not just during Valentine's Day. When you purchase Valentine's day flowers and wedding flowers from a wedding florist rather than a chain store you are paying for creativity, high quality flowers, beautiful designs and great customer service that you won't find at your grocery store.
Our team at Flowers by Janie is excited for a busy weekend of weddings and events this February 13th and 14th. If you are planning a Valentine's day wedding or a wedding on another day of the year and are looking for Calgary wedding flowers we would love to help.
Thank you to Kelly Crawford from Florists Supply Ltd in Calgary, Alberta for offering so much insight into the reasons why flowers cost more around Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's weekend everyone! May your day be filled with love and flowers!
Flowers by Janie is a boutique floral studio located in Calgary, Alberta. We specialize in fresh floral arrangements for weddings and events. We service Calgary and the Canadian Rocky Mountains. You can view our portfolio here or book a consultation directly on our website.