Weddingbee boards

Hi, FI and I went to see another florist this weekend and he quoted us $175 for the tall centerpieces that we have in mind... and for some odd reason he refused to tell me what the cost per stem of each floower was... the idea was to use roses and hydrangeas and carnations as fillers... and he insisted on doing an equal amount of each flower but I know that roses and hydrangreas are alot more expensive than carnations so I figured I would do a percentage of each flower and of course with carnations being the cheapest I would use more of them... so Im just wondering did your florist give you a cost per stem? or just a grand total? Please take into account that there was no rental fee on any riser, vase or candelabra we used and the set up and break down price is also included... but my question is then why couldnt he break down the $175 so I could see what each component would cost?

I really didnt feel comfortable with this florist so I have no intention of using him (although they seem to come highly recommended on several wedding sites) but this is the 2nd florist we've seen who seems to not want to disclose the cost per stem or per unit... just one set price and then multiply it by the number of tables... he even said for $120 he would do a tall basket ball size centerpiece but again how does he know it will cost $120 without giving me the price per stem or unit breakdown cost... shouldnt I know this? I can understand youve been in the business for x amount of years but you cant just charge me a price without going over a cost per stem... how can I decide how many of each flower to use or what flowers I should or shouldnt use so we can stay within budget without knowing the real price... and not just a set price that you will charge me for this "look"... when I kept asking him, he just kept telling us you cant have this type of centerpiece for this price (when I said well I wanted to say under $100 per centerpiece and if youre not charging me a rental fee on equipment then I should just be paying for the flowers themselves... and with each flower being priced differently shouldnt I know the cost per stem?

Am I wrong? I feel that he was being kind of shady - he even told me people only assume calla lilies are expensive but in theory they really arent... now I think we all know how expensive calla lillies are so for a florist to tell me that arent is a little odd... no?

@kitzy: thanks for your reply... i did and his response was... well lets go with the basketball size for $120  and again no cost per stem

I concur.  It would be difficult to provide a per stem cost.  I think a cost per arrangement is very reasonable.  You might just ask them the average number of certain flowers in each arrangement.