Have you considered silk wedding flowers for your bridal bouquet? In this episode of the wedding podcast, Andrew interviews Leanne of Silk Dreams Flowers to hear the difference between real flowers and modern silk and latex flowers. With the latest release of “real touch” silk flowers it has become impossible to see or feel the difference.
During the interview, learn about:
Toward the end of our chat, Leanne relays a story about a whole box of her silk flowers that were totally destroyed by heavy rain after they were dropped at the brides home a week before her wedding. The reason they were left outside and in the weather? The delivery driver was 100% sure they were real flowers!
Obviously silk flowers won’t be an option for every bride. If you’re sitting on that side of the fence, tune in and you may come up with a few ideas where you could supplement your real flowers with some silks and save a bundle.
Also on this episode, I cover the age old problem of wet wedding days following my wedding the day before which turned out to be the wettest wedding I have attended in my 12 years as a photographer. You’ll hear about the deluge, the photography options available to me and the big decision the bride and groom made to forget the back up plans we made earlier that week when we discussed the possibility of rain.
To make matters worse, of the limited time I had available to capture the photos of the bride and groom, 15 minutes were trapped alone in a lift between the first and ground floor of the reception venue! Talk about stressful. Listen to see how the bride and groom took my “time off” from shooting the most important day of their life.
Following the nightmare rain story, you can hear about a couple that are suing their wedding photographer for missing “the kiss” of which they suggested was the one shot a wedding photographer must absolutely capture.
The judge ruled in favour of the couple but not after deliberating on just how tough a photo opportunity “the kiss” actually is – particularly if it’s a quick peck.
Silk flowers can be used for more than just the bouquets.
Photo by Delisser Photography
The couple didn’t leave the court unscathed either as they were counter sued by the photographer for not paying in full for the photography package and for NOT supplying a meal to the photographer on the night of the wedding.
Have you ever considered your own personal wedding website? Following my interview with Leanne, I discuss four different websites that are worth looking at if this idea appeals to you. I cover the following aspects:
- The costs involved
- Domain name registration for your website – for example, andrewandlinda.com.au
- Website hosting
- WordPress and why it’s your best option
- Four different WordPress themes
- Who can set it all up for you?
- What to with your website after your wedding
It’s a big episode with a ton of information and I hope you can join the fun and get involved!
Items mentioned in this episode:Â
Silk Dreams Flowers:Â www.silkdreamsflowers.com.au
Find Silk Dreams Flowers on Facebook here:Â www.facebook.com/silkdreamsflowers
Wet weather options to consider for your wedding day: www.impact-blog.com.au/rain
For the Age newspaper article about the couple suing their wedding photographer for missing “the kiss” – click here
For domain name registration, website hosting and wordpress (plus theme) installation, speak to Andrew from Silver Dimension: Â www.silverdimension.com.au
The four Wedding Website themes I mention in the podcast:
Save the Date - the theme for the lead up to your wedding and your wedding day
One of my favourite wedding theme designs for a brides own website
Marriage - my favourite of the themes which is also a “responsive” clean and simple design which can easily be used beyond your wedding date
The Wedding - another relatively clean design with some good colour options
Wedding Album - designed for wedding photographers but perfectly adaptable to show off your wedding photos. This theme is particularly relevant with todays photography packages which mostly include the digital photos from your day.
Feedback
Feedback or comments are always welcome and I love receiving questions for the podcast – I’d love to hear from you. You can email me, andrew@theweddingpodcast.com.au or leave a comment below.
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Hope you enjoy the episode.
Speak soon!
Andrew
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Transcript:
Podcast Transcript Inside
SelectShow
[TWP 011 – Silk Wedding Flowers, Wedding Websites, and A Wet Wedding Day]
 [length: 00:59:23]
Andrew: The Wedding Podcast session number eleven.
[Intro music]
Andrew: Hi, this is Andrew Hellmich from Impact Images. I’m a wedding photographer in the Central Coast. This is The Wedding Podcast. If you’re looking for advice, tips or ideas on how to have the perfect wedding day, then you’re in the right place and this is the right podcast for you. I’ve got a pretty good episode lined up for you today. It’s grown a little bit bigger than I first expected. So I’ve got some local news. I’ve got a news article that someone emailed me about weddings and a couple that sued – or in the process of suing a photographer. I’ve also got an interview with Leanne from Silk Dreams Flowers so if you’ve ever thought about having silk flowers instead of the real thing for your wedding, then that’ll be definitely worth a listen to. And I can tell you now that the quality of the latest release of flowers – it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference. Actually, you won’t be able to tell the difference. The only way you’ll be able to tell is by actually smelling them and I’ve even got some news on that too.
After the interview, I’m going to talk to you about some wedding websites. I don’t know if you’ve ever considered having your own website or blog for a lead up to your wedding or for after the wedding. So I’m going to give you a few websites that you might consider if you’re looking at doing something like that. So you may have to be a little bit tech-savvy to start up your own blog but I’m going to give you a few little guidelines and tips and hints and certainly some places where you can start if that’s something that interests you. I think that’s totally relevant, too, saying that most of you seem to get your wedding photos on discs these days. So with the digital files, it’s certainly within everyone’s realm to have their own webpage if they desire. And before I go too much further, I’ve got a big apology for all of you out there. I don’t know. But if you’re subscribing to the podcast, this may have caught you out, but when I recorded the last episode, episode 10 of The Wedding Podcast, I actually warned you that I was a little bit sick when I was doing that recording. And while I was actually recording in little bits and pieces in between, in and around the interviews, I actually had a stage there where I had a bad, bad cough. And I didn’t catch it in the editing stage. I went back and listened to the podcast once it was uploaded to iTunes. Anyway, there was this horrible, horrible ghastly cough. And I really dread to think that you might have heard that while driving in your car or listening in headphones. That was certainly unpleasant and my mistake. I do apologize for that. If you have that episode downloaded but you haven’t actually listened to it yet, I urge you to delete that copy and just go down and re-download episode ten. Actually, I went back and re-edited the episode. I pulled it off iTunes and added a new one back up there. So I do apologize for that. If that did catch you out. I’m still getting over that cough so I’m going to pause this time and make sure I edit correctly before I send this out to you guys.
Speaking of the last episode, where we talked about – well, we had a bunch of interviews actually from my trip in Japan – and as usual we like to add in a big takeaway or a big tip from the last episode, in case you haven’t heard that yet. And I think the big take away from that episode was to make sure that you’re firstly marrying the right person and I think also that marriage isn’t for everyone. So I don’t think you should get pressured into doing something that you don’t want to do. And I think that marriage certainly needs to be given a fair amount of thought before you enter into it. So go back and have a listen and see if you agree. That was my big take away from the last episode.
As far as local news and what’s been happening with me and my studio this week, today’s a Saturday. I’d normally be shooting a wedding today, but I actually had a wedding yesterday. And I’ve got to tell you, it was the wettest, most horrible weather I’ve ever had in my 12 years of shooting weddings. It was absolutely torrential. I’ll give you a little bit more of a background of the day. I did actually meet with the couple; I even came before the wedding and we had a good chat about their options. So we did know there’s a chance of rain. I did meet with them early this week. So we had a definite backup plan for the ceremony, which was going to be where the reception was being held. There’s quite a large room there. So it was a fair bit of work for the reception staff, but it was going to be there as a backup plan if we did need that. As with most of my wedding photography shoots and weddings that I cover, there’s always some guys’ coverage and some girls’ coverage beforehand. The problem for Kane and Eve was one of their groomsmen wasn’t going to be there beforehand to get some of those photos. And that would’ve been a real drama if that had been wet because it would’ve been less chances to get the photos of the guys if we’re caught up in all that rain later. So we did a bit of juggling and some work to get him off and it turned out that I knew his employer. I made a phone call and we got him away early from work. Out of the intensive care nursing section at Gosset[?] Hospital, which is just awesome. So I’ve got to thank my good friend who got Alex out of work early. So he was there for those initial shots beforehand. The reason that was so important because I could get all the groomsmen together before the actual ceremony, it means that I didn’t have to worry too much about getting too many groomsmen photos after the ceremony when we go for the location shoot. So that was all done. The shoot of bride’s house at Eve’s place where she was getting ready with all of her gorgeous sisters and family, that went without a hitch. So we had plenty of shots of all the bridal party beforehand. So the rain was sort of on and off at that stage. But by the time I got to ceremony, up at the entrance, the weather looked like it was going to be clearing, but the call was already made by Jackie, the celebrant, to take the ceremony inside. And that was a fair call. It had been raining on and off all day. So the ceremony went off without a hitch but the groom’s fantastic. It was called the Glass House. As you can imagine, it was full of glass so the view was still spectacular right over the entrance, waterways and out to the ocean. Nobody even cared that the ceremony was inside. I’m sure even Kane didn’t notice. They were so caught up with themselves and having the actual ceremony and being married. It was just gorgeous. It was really a who’s who of the Central Coast. They’re at the wedding. Everyone was dressed up to the night and super glamorous. All the girls are definitely happy that the ceremony was happening inside.
So after the ceremony was finished and even Kane said Hello to all their guests and had hugs and kisses and being congratulated and all that nice stuff, it was time to get a few family photos. The reception stopped, they needed us out of that room to set up for the reception. So we made the call to go up into the rooftop where the ceremony was originally going to be. The roof was a little bit wet. There’s a few dry areas and a few sail [?] cloths coverings there which protected a little bit of the ground from getting too wet. And it was a little bit windy but it wasn’t too bad. So we went up with one half of the family first and lift, and we proceeded to get all those photos of Kane’s side of the family. They’ve finished and then up came Eve’s side of the family. And you wouldn’t know it – just as they came to the rooftop, it started bucketing down. It was absolutely torrential. So we’ve had the quick shot auto too. And for that stage, it was groomsmen running around trying to get the lift, we’re raising for umbrellas – it was totally unpleasant. So we did the best we could and got the hell out of there. The groomsmen looked like drowned rats; I looked like a drowned rat. Everyone was doing their best to keep Eve dry and Kane dry. And they were laughing and had a great time; they thought it was very funny Eve’s mom thought it was with their nice hairstyle and beautiful dress. But she put in a brave face, I think, just for Eve and for Kane. So we did get through that. But that wasn’t the worst of it. So after the family shots, we headed back down to the reception area. We all went down by lift because we didn’t use the stairs because it was too wet. Like I said, it was torrential. Torrentially pouring down. So once we get to the reception, everyone was so crowding around those very little room there. And my idea was to use some of the reception venue – the room there – for the location shoot. It wasn’t many other places to go. But what I thought I would do is have a quick look downstairs and see if we can find out a little area down there, as well, to add a little bit more spice to the shots so they’re not all just in one spot. So I go into the lift, click the Ground button, and sure enough it stops halfway between the ground and first floor. I’m three floors away down. So there, I’m stuck in the lift, I’m pressing the alarm, I’m thinking, “What am I doing in here? I should be getting these photos. There’s no time as it is.†And it took 15 minutes to actually get out of that lift. I was absolutely stressing out, worried about these photos. Finally, I got back upstairs, Eve and Kane, and would you know it – they didn’t even know that I was gone. They were still having a ball, they were getting photos with friends, and chatting and mingling. So yes, it just goes to show it certainly not all about the photographer. The day does go on no matter what happens. You might be thinking, “Do we have a backup?†Because I’m always so big about backup plans for your wedding day if it’s wet. We did. We did our backup plans. We planned to go to a couple of different spots if it was wet. But because the rain was just so torrential and so heavy, Eve and Kane both said, “Look. We just don’t want to go anywhere. We’re quite happy to do whatever you can here and we’ll be happy with that.†So that always sounds nice to me. It’s a relief in [unclear], to me as a photographer, to know that they feel that good about staying there and trusting me to get the shots there in the room. But I’m always thinking of the consequences later on. I don’t want them, in six weeks’ time or three weeks’ time, to come back and say, “Andrew, I really wished we had done this or done that. We really wished we had more variety to our photos. They’re not like the photos that we’ve seen in your album.†It was just little [unclear]. At the end of the day, they’re the client and I have to do what they suggest or what they prefer. I can put the options to them. And then I could totally understand where they were coming from. That was so caught up in the day as well [unclear] having a ball and I think when they look back in the day, they’ll still be full of good memories, great laughs, you could not wipe the smile off their face. And it’s couples like that that you just have that feeling that they really do belong together. That they’re the right couple to be getting married. And no matter how rocky the wedding turns up to be, it wouldn’t matter to them at all because you can see and feel that the most important thing for the two of them was the fact that they were getting married and nothing was going to spoil that at all.
So as it turned out, we did get some shots in the reception venue. We also got back downstairs. We didn’t go by the lift. We went down the stairs with umbrellas. And we even got the bridal party up for a quick shot with the umbrellas that I supplied for the whole bridal party. We all came back in like drowned rats again. Eve was having a laugh. Her sisters were having a ball. It was good. We still got some great shots. I was totally drenched. My gear was drenched, but I’m sure we got some great shots and I’m yet to go through those. But I’m feeling confident. And you wouldn’t believe it – just as I was about to leave, we had a little bit of a sunset as well so it was just a strange, weird day. I guess that the lesson is to be prepared and to give the wet weather some thought when you bring the plans together for your wedding day. Without a backup option for the ceremony, I really would’ve been stuck. So bear that in mind if you’re planning your wedding day.
One other little bit of local news for me – I mentioned in the last episode that there must’ve been heaps of you guys getting engaged out there because I’ve had so many downloads of our pricelist for the website. It just seems to be continuing. So I don’t know if there’s something in the air in January or in summer that get these guys into action. But I’ve had five wedding appointments this week. And looks like we’ve booked all five of them for weddings later this year, and also in 2014. So it’s a great sign. It’s really good. It’s good for me, as a photographer, and it’s nice to know that guys are getting into action and making their girls happy. So if you’re a guy and listening, now’s the time to do it. Get in with the rest of the other guys there and make your girl happy.
So just before I move on to this newspaper article that I mentioned at the start of the show, I did forget to mention – just talking about the rain and the wet wedding from yesterday – I actually wrote a blog post on some different options you can look out for, for wet whether photography. So I’ll put a link to that in the show notes. If you’re looking for the show notes, just go to and I’ll have the links to all the things that we talked about today. That blog post just gives you some ideas, no matter whether you’re getting married on the country, the city or suburban area, we’ll give you eleven different options to look out for. If you got a good professional photographer, they will have these options sorted out for you anyway and they’ll discuss those with you before you book them. But if you’re using a friend to do the photography, or maybe a photographer that’s just getting in to wedding photography, then you might be able to actually go and locate these little spots yourself, these little gems, and work out what’s going to suit you and your style of wedding and you can suggest those areas to your wedding photographer. I hope that’ll help. And I’ll add a link to the show notes.
Also, if you do want to contact me – if you want to get involved with the show – I love getting feedback. If you have any questions, you can do all that via email and that’s to . Also, you can go to the show notes and there’s little comments section down there. So any feedback at all, I love receiving it. Particularly questions. If you’ve got questions, I’d love to answer them on the show. So that’d be great.
Okay. So this newspaper article that I was referring to earlier was I was sent a link while I was over in Japan on holidays. I’ve forgot to mention it last week. And we had [unclear] interviews anyway. But it came from The Age newspaper. And I’ll put a link to this in the show notes as well. And what it was, was that a couple had paid – I think it was almost $3,000 – for their wedding photography. And the photographer missed the kiss. So they took into court over this matter. Now, they hadn’t paid in full. I think they paid $2,200 of the balance. They still had $600 outstanding. And they refuse to pay that. So they were suing him for missing the kiss and [unclear] supply and for not supplying what he promised to supply and what he’d shown in his work in his studio. And he was counter suing them as well for not being paid in full, and also because the couple didn’t supply him with a meal at the wedding day. So the interesting part of the story was not the fact that it was a couple taking a photographer to court, but the judge’s ruling was that the kiss is actually a very tough thing to catch, particularly if it’s just a peck, as the photographer alluded to in this case. Apparently there’s a lot of to-ing ang fro-ing in the court case and the judge’s ruling was that, yes, it really is something that’s tough to catch. We talked about catching the kiss in an earlier podcast episode and I how I would tackle that if I did miss that, like I have in the past, by possibly recreating the moment. If it’s a celebrant, I’d ask them to get them to kiss again. If I knew them, I’d be happy to do that. I’d find out another way around. I certainly wouldn’t let it go without it. The other thing was the couples said that the kiss is the money shot of the day. Like if the photographer doesn’t get the kiss, then they’re not really a true professional wedding photographer. So I’d love to know your thoughts on that. To me, I know it’s one of those key shots that I have to get and that’s why I would do anything I could to recreate it if I missed it or there were some sort of mishap or the kiss was to brief. Or they’re going in with their mouths open, it just wasn’t a flattering kiss, I’d certainly want to reshoot that one as well. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on that one. This couple in the news story, they also weren’t happy with the way that he captured the signing. They didn’t think there was a very good photo of them signing the marriage certificate. The photographer’s argument was there was an archway with flowers over the signing desk, and that was causing irregular shadows and that was his excuse there. So have a read at the article. I’ll put a link to it into the show notes. The judge’s final ruling was that he didn’t supply the $2,600 worth of photography as he promised to. So he awarded them damages. So the company had to pay $710 back to the couple and the couple were ordered to pay $60 for the meal. For the photographer that they failed to supply. So in the end, it looks like they got a $1,500 wedding package supplied to them. I don’t think they’re going to get an album now. And that’s what they were really after. So I don’t think it was a win-win situation, that’s for sure. I think everyone’s going to be walking away from that one as a loser, really, because it’s not a nice wedding to be involved with and not a nice case either. I don’t know what the lesson is there. Have yourself a good photographer and have a good understanding of the shots that you want taken at your wedding. The kiss is a no-brainer. You shouldn’t have to explain that, that’s for sure. And same with the signing. As a photographer, we do see the same things week in and week out. And I guess some photographers may become blasé about certain aspects of the wedding, but the signing of the certificates or the registry, that’s part of the day. That’s one of the important shots that we have to get. So I guess you have to talk to your photographer and make sure that they understand that some shots are certainly important to you and if they fogged you off and they’re saying, “Yes, of course we know that’s important. Yes, we always do that,â€Â I still think it is important that you make sure that they understand that you really do want those shots. If you’ve actually stated that, then they really have gotten no recourse if they failed to deliver.
So it’s time to bring in Leanne and have a chat to her about her business, Silk Dreams Flowers. I started the interview by welcoming Leanne and just with a general hello. So let’s get into that now.
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Leanne: Hi Andrew! Thanks for having me
Andrew: You own and operate Silk Dreams Flowers. Is that right?
Leanne: I certainly do. And what a fantastic industry it is now becoming.
Andrew: The wedding industry, you mean? Or the flowers in general?
Leanne: The flowers in general. Because they are such high-quality.
Andrew: So I’ll actually have a blog post go up on the Wedding Made Easy blog. I saw that you made a comment there that the new flowers that have just come out in 2013, as almost impossible to tell the difference between them and the real roses.
Leanne: It was ridiculous. I opened the box up and I thought they were like fresh flowers! It was just the feel of them is just uncanny.
Andrew: So they feel real, as well as look real?
Leanne: Yes.
Andrew: Wow. I know that I’ve actually photographed quite a few silk flowers at weddings, and I know myself that it’s virtually impossible to tell the difference. So who are silk flowers for?
Leanne: Pretty much anyone. But I primarily address the wedding industry so wedding bouquets, table arrangements. For function centers and things like that, I can do custom-designed arrangements for them so they can then hire them. The list is really endless. But primarily, I stick with the wedding and the brides.
Andrew: So before I’m going to ask you budget questions or about the flowers and particularly to do with wedding, how did you get started in the least? Are you a florist by trade?
Leanne: I am a florist by trade. Eventually, my mother-in-law actually got me into it. She suggested for my wedding to have silk flowers. And I’d never thought of it. we went shopping together – yes, the mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law went shopping – and that’s how I got into it. My first bouquet was my own.
Andrew: So why did your mom suggested silk flowers?
Leanne: My mother-in-law, she is very well known around Newcastle for her class and elegance. And she’s just got this fantastic brain.
Andrew: Wow. So she just had seen them and thought it looked real, or just thought of a better option for you?
Leanne: Pretty much both. Because we got married in March so it was still hot, and I wanted roses so instead of going all brown and yucky by the end of the day when the photographer is doing the photo shoot, she suggested doing it that way. And I thought it was a fantastic idea. And it just rolled on from there.
Andrew: Okay. So by the sound of things, you still get on with your mother-in-law
Leanne: I do. I love her.
Andrew: That’s awesome. So after your wedding then, did the business slowly build up? Or you ordered a shipment of silk flowers? Or you make your own? How does it all work?
Leanne: Basically, I order my supplies in from all over Australia. From all different suppliers, all different grades of flowers. There’s silk, there’s latex, real-touch, and now like the real-real-touch. And I just order them in, trying to do the best color matching we can for the bride, which is pretty simple considering that purple is the new pink. And then I design them up how they want. They might want something in specific. Or I’ve got some standard designs that we can work from and grow from that.
Andrew: Okay. So have you seen a big change in the flower quality – from when you started to now?
Leanne: Definitely. real touch wasn’t in when I got married. I had silk roses and I only threw them out maybe six months ago, only because I didn’t take care of them. But they still lasted that long. But now we’ve got the real touch and the real-real-touch roses that are out, which are just amazing.
Andrew: Okay. So you said you’ve just thrown yours out six months ago. When were you married?
Leanne: 2004.
Andrew: So it lasted years.
Leanne: Yes.
Andrew: So, say, a bride’s coming to you then and they decide that they want silk flowers – even before they decide, what would sway you to silk flowers over real flowers? I know you said if it’s a hot day, that the real flowers may wilt or start to get brown.
Leanne: That’s a big one, especially for somebody who want a beach wedding, like Frangipanis or lilies or something like that. Because with fresh flowers, those two flowers brown really quickly in the heat. So photographers will love them because if they miss out on during the photo shoot with the flowers, they can do it later on at the reception and they’re still going to look perfect. So that’s a really, really big plus. The other one is allergies. If the bride or groom have got allergies, you won’t get any sneezing or rubbing the nose or the watery eyes while you’re trying to say your vows, if you’ve got these silk flowers.
Andrew: I didn’t even consider that for one second. That makes total sense.
Leanne: It’s huge. I’ve got allergies today, actually. And I don’t have fresh flowers anywhere. But it is. The last thing you want is to have to swallow tablets and tablets and tablets so you don’t have the watery eyes or things like that. Whereas you just don’t have to worry about it. It’s just peace of mind.
Andrew: So while we’re looking at pros and against between real flowers and silk flowers, is there a cost difference?
Leanne: Yes.
Andrew: Which way?
Leanne: Which way?
Andrew: The way you said that, I’m thinking silk flowers are cheaper.
Leanne: Silk flowers definitely are cheaper. And best part about them as well is that you can get flowers which aren’t in season. Because my flowers are always in season.
Andrew: Okay. Say, a bride loves Frangipanis, and I know they’re only up for, say, a month or two in summertime. Would you discourage your bride then, say, it’s a Sydney winter wedding to having Frangipanis? Would that look strange?
Leanne: It’s really up to the bride. I would do anything the bride tells me to do. If she really wants the Frangipanis, no problems at all. But if she’s looking at fooling everyone – if it is winter – using the winter flowers instead of the summer flowers, then we can do that as well. It basically comes down to the bride’s choice.
Andrew: Do you find that that’s what most brides are trying to do? Are they trying to fool everyone with the silk flowers and pretend that they’re real?
Leanne: Not fooling them. Like I said, with allergies and [unclear] reasons. It’s not to try and trick everyone.
Andrew: I know how real they look. You really can’t tell the difference.
Leanne: Yes. It just comes down to the bride’s choice, really.
Andrew: Okay. So, say, I’m a bride and I’m coming to you to organize my flowers. I’m going to go with the silk flowers. What’s the first thing I’ll look at when I come to you? Do you need to know colors? Do I have to tell you the type of flower that I’m after?
Leanne: Yes. Color is probably the top runner, only because the color goes through everything – through the bridesmaid’s dresses, through to your reception, your invitations. Say, you’re using like the Cadbury’s chocolate purple, you’d want to carry that through the whole theme. So obviously we’re looking at that sort of color first, and then integrating the different flowers, whatever flowers we could do for you.
Andrew: So you don’t get every color with every flower? So it’s all realistic?
Leanne: It is all realistic. Some come in different colors that normally wouldn’t come in fresh flowers. But the majority, yes, keeping to that realistic tone and doing it that way.
Andrew: So is that the way most girls go? They’ll look at the realistic colors and then go with something that looks very similar?
Leanne: Yes. The first one’s the color.
Andrew: Okay. Say, they want a champagne-colored flower. Then you start looking at actual flower types.
Leanne: Yes. You’ve got the roses, you’ve got lilies. You can integrate the orchids. There’s just so many. It really comes down to personal preference. A lot of brides – which is really great with this technology – is they bring their iPhones with them, or their iPods, and they’ve got photos and we can either just completely copy that, or go, “Okay, I’ll want to change that and put different flowers in.†So we can do that as well. I love technology when brides bring photos and things.
Andrew: Cool. Okay. That makes it easy.
Leanne: Oh yes.
Andrew: With the actual bouquets, I know that with real flowers, each flower is wired and then you put the bouquet together. Is that the similar process for you?
Leanne: Yes. They all come in different styles, I suppose. The orchids will actually come on an orchid stem so I have that to chop that and wire it, and then integrate it into the bouquet. Whereas a rose will come with a stem, and that doesn’t need wire. It just goes straight in.
Andrew: Okay, right. And then you can create any style of bouquets you can do – like a teardrop or a round bouquet with different flowers?
Leanne: Definitely. I love the weird and the wonderful bow. I’ve been getting a few of those after the bridal fair in January. I’m doing one for Lady and it’s red and black roses with skulls.
Andrew: Okay. That sounds like an awesome wedding. I’d love to photograph that.
Leanne: It’s like a total skull theme. I can’t wait to see the finished product and for them to send me some photos.
Andrew: What color wedding dress, do you know?
Leanne: I think it’s red.
Andrew: Oh really? Okay. Cool. It’d look good on a photograph.
Leanne: That’s why I said I can’t wait to see the photos.
Andrew: And with the pricing with the different flowers, does it change only with the quality of the silk? Or does it depend on how large the bouquet is?
Leanne: It goes on a couple of things. I’ve got some different-sized bouquets that we start off with. And then we add some, say, real touch roses, they’re obviously a little bit more expensive than the general silk ones. But it goes off the size of the bouquet and what type of flowers you use.
Andrew: Okay. And you said there’s latex as well as silk, and then you’ve got the real-touch.
Leanne: Yes.
Andrew: So the real touch is the most expensive one?
Leanne: The real touch is the most expensive, then you go to your latex, which is more of a rubbery-type feel, which is pretty much real touch as well, to me. And then you’ve got the silk ones, the fabric. So it’s basically the three levels.
Andrew: So the latex is actually more realistic than the basic silk one?
Leanne: Yes.
Andrew: Wow, okay. So what is it with the real touch ones? They obviously look fantastic. They actually feel like a real flower too, do they?
Leanne: It’s just unbelievable that the quality in these new roses that came in in January, to me, I just can’t get over how real they feel. They’re just so soft. I’ve compared them. I’d be honest – I went out and bought a bunch of fresh roses just to feel the difference. And I couldn’t tell the difference.
Andrew: Yes, right. Okay. It’s amazing. What’s going to be the next step? Are they going to have smell introduced as well?
Leanne: Actually you can do that to my bouquets as well. I don’t scent them myself only because if the bride is with allergies, but you can put your favorite scents through them as well if you wanted to do that.
Andrew: Really?
Leanne: Yes. You get the best of both worlds.
Andrew: Wow. Okay. I know with the weddings that I photographed, and I’ve had silk flowers, I’ve seen family come up and actually smell the flowers and be totally blown away and shocked that they’re not real. I know how real they do look.
Leanne: I know. I love it when people tell me that. Or when people come to my studio and say, “Oh. Are these like silk flowers?†And I’m like, “Yes, there’s nothing fresh here.†And they’re like, “Oh my God!â€
Andrew: That’s awesome. And can you do more than just the bouquet? Can you do the flowers for the hair, flower girl arrangements and things like that?
Leanne: I do absolutely anything and everything. I do all the buttonholes, the pin corsages for the mums and grandmas, hair flowers, table decorations, flower girl, [unclear] – what else is it? It’s just so much. Anything.
Andrew: And what about the actual reception or the ceremony? Do you do arrangements there for the tables and the church?
Leanne: I can do anything and everything.
Andrew: Wow. So anything you can do with a real flower you can do with a silk flower.
Leanne: That’s it.
Andrew: Perfect. So when brides are ordering flowers from a florist, I know you have to have a little bit of lead time and there’s the run to the market before the week of the wedding, what happens with the silk flowers?
Leanne: When a bride goes, “Yep, I’d like to order the flowers.†They’re filling a booking form, which has got all main information on it, which obviously got all their information on it. And then I order their flowers, get their bouquets done up. Normally, I had them done about two or three weeks ahead of the wedding day so they’ve got time to come and pick them up or if I need to post them. And that’s basically it. So it’s really good because when I get it done a couple of weeks beforehand, and they come and pick it up, if there’s something we need to change, we can do it there and then. So instead of on the wedding day, and their flowers turn up and you go, “That’s not exactly what I wanted. I’m not really happy with it.†You don’t get that with my flowers either. We can change it or whatever the case is.
Andrew: So with the flowers they’re ordering, do you have an exact replica or a copy back at the studio?
Leanne: Of the flowers, I do. I do have a wide range of sample bouquets done up, as well as there’s so many photos on the website. And all the prices are on the website as well.
Andrew: Okay. Cool.
Leanne: And there’s just all these samples done up. I’ve got all the different flowers out on display so instead of trying to explain what the flowers look like, you can actually see them and feel them. We can put something together rather quickly and make some changes or add bits and pieces. So you get to actually see it before it’s actually done, really.
Andrew: Okay. So it’s not like that you just order a whole bouquet from a supplier. You order the flowers and then you build the bouquets still.
Leanne: That’s right, yes.
Andrew: So everything is still made custom-order for the bride.
Leanne: Definitely. There’s not one bride which has ever had the same bouquet, I don’t think.
Andrew: Right. The more I talk to you, the more they sound like real flowers. So how do you find most of your orders come through, Leanne? Do they come to you to the studio at Toronto? Or do you find most of the orders come online? Who do you supply and what sort of area?
Leanne: I supply internationally. The other day, I set one over to New Zealand. Last week I sent one to Canada. So a lot of things come directly through the website. Other people find me – like I said – at the bridal fair that we had in January. There have been back-to-back appointments since the 20th of January. And yes, people just come here to the studio. They give me a call, make an appointment, and list down [unclear] what they need.
Andrew: Okay. So it’s pretty easy.
Leanne: I’m so simple to get along, it’s ridiculous.
Andrew: I know when I rang you to do this interview, it’s, “Yes, no worries. Let’s do it†and it was very simple. So if you’re like that with your brides, I’m sure you’d be very easy to deal with.
Leanne: Yes. There’s no point in making things intricate or hard. That’s the way I live my life and that’s the way I live the business.
Andrew: Very good. So with your website, the couples actually order through the website? Or they still make then contact with you when you guys chat at the phone? How does it work?
Leanne: I don’t have an order form or anything like that on the website because like I said, not one bride has ever been the same. They might see a photo that they like and go, “Aw, I really wish it was this color†or wanted to add something else. So 9 times out of 10, they will send me an email and then I can just send a customized quote, which has got everything detailed listed out in it – pictures of bouquets, similar bouquets that I’ve done, the actual photos of the flower that I’d be using. So all the information is in that email. So it’s the best way to contact me. Or via telephone. My phone just doesn’t stop ringing but that’s okay. I like talking. Either way, I’ll send a quote via our email because then I can send all those pictures and all the colors and take it from there.
Andrew: Okay. So it’s all pretty easy.
Leanne: Pretty simple.
Andrew: Okay, cool. And then obviously you would just post the flowers out if they’re not local and then they get them before the wedding or couple of weeks before the wedding.
Leanne: Yes, that’s it. I love it when people come and pick the flowers up because I like seeing their face when I open up the box.
Andrew: Sure.
Leanne: So a lady came and picked two flowers up last Thursday, I think it was. And she was getting married Sunday. The big stormy Sunday that we had.
Andrew: Yes, right.
Leanne: And I helped her take the flowers out to the car. And we’re standing on the driveway and she’s like, “I just can’t believe that that’s exactly what I wanted. It’s absolutely perfect.†And she just ran over and gave me this huge kiss and huge cuddle.
Andrew: Isn’t it good when it works out like that?
Leanne: It’s lovely.
Andrew: That’s awesome. So where do you see the silk flowers in five years’ time. Do you think there’ll be many changes?
Leanne: I hope more real touch flowers come out. They’re just becoming so popular since the bridal fair. That’s pretty much all the quotes I’ve been doing – it’s for the real touch. Like the Casablanca lilies as well, they’re the real touch and they blow you away as well but you don’t get all that yucky stuff all over your fingers. So I’d hope that. And more colors. Even there is an abundance of color, there’s always one bride who has an in-between-y color.
Andrew: Right. Okay. So when they order the colors, there’s actually different shades of each color as well?
Leanne: Pretty much, yes. Say, the roses. I’ve got like 12 different types of roses you can select from. And say, it’s a red one, there’s 12 different shades of reds. Like this lady, she’s got a red wedding dresses with the skulls, we actually could match – because she had a swatch of her material – we could actually match the exact red to that dress.
Andrew: Wow. Okay. So there really is a big range.
Leanne: Huge.
Andrew: Awesome. Unreal. Look, is there anything I haven’t asked you that you think brides should know before they order silk flowers?
Leanne: I don’t think so. There’s a lot of us around. I’m sitting in the mid-range. By no means the cheapest. I don’t hide my prices or anything like that. I think that’s just ridiculous. And I sit probably the middle to high range just because of the quality I use. I don’t use the really low budget down $2 shop flowers or anything like that. I just use that quality. What else is there…
Andrew: Let’s say that someone was listening to this podcast and they’re from overseas or interstate, and for whatever reason they want to use someone local to them, and there’s another silk flower supplier, how do they tell whether they’re a good quality silk flower or they’re not? Is it purely by look?
Leanne: No. You can look at some silk flowers and go, “Yes, they’re not really good quality.†By feel. Definitely by feel. If people say to me – email me through and say, “I really want to know what the difference is between this one and that one?†I’ll say, “Look, give me your address, I’ll send you a sample and go and compare it. If you’re happy with theirs, that’s fine. But mine are really high quality.†And again, it’s up to the bride what she wants to do. And I’ve got no problem with showing the quality of my flowers.
Andrew: Cool. So if someone is from oversees or interstate, like I said, and they did want to use local, they should go and actually see the flowers and touch them?
Leanne: And touch them, yes.
Andrew: And that’s the best way.
Leanne: That is the best way. Even though saying that, I’ve done so many international and national orders myself. Again, I’m confident in myself that the brides will be happy with them because of the quality I use.
Andrew: Sure. Okay. Is there any risk of them getting damaged when you post them out?
Leanne: Not really. I use a courier for Australia deliveries, which the boxes are just totally marked all over it – top load only, handle with care. And I only use the best courier as well. I have had little incidents with some couriers, but I don’t use them anymore. And for international, again, the box is quite marked quite well. And I always tell the brides to insure it and to track it as well. So it’s a little bit more expensive, but there’s that guarantee – hopefully that guaranteed that it all arrived in one piece.
Andrew: Yes. Perfect. And I guess with your lead time, it would give you the chance to redo something if there was an incident.
Leanne: That’s right. If there is an issue, I can do something about it. A lady in Queens ordered last year. She ordered some frangipanis and the courier left the box because he thought that they were fresh flowers and they’re allowed to leave fresh products out. He left the box out the carport while it was raining. And the box was open. So her order got absolutely destroyed and she rang me out and she absolutely panicked. She had three weeks until her wedding and this has to happen, “Oh my God, it’s only three weeks.†I’m like, “That’s fine. I’ve just dropped everything. I’m working on your next order. I’m going to do this and because of this hassle, we’re going to add an extra couple of buttonholes or extra flowers or something just so you’re happy.†So in the end, she got her flowers a week later. That was an interesting week. A few late notes.
Andrew: I bet.
Leanne: And she used a different courier company obviously. And the flowers arrived safely and she was over the moon. So I do anything and everything to ensure that my brides are happy.
Andrew: Sounds like you fool the courier up, right? Because he thought they were real flowers. He thought he was doing nothing wrong.
Leanne: Well, that’s it. But the box shouldn’t have been opened in the first place.
Andrew: True.
Leanne: A lot quite happens along the way. But he thought that they were fresh flowers as well.
Andrew: Yes, right. Okay. Let me ask you one last question about the flowers. Because they were left out obviously in the torrential rain or whatever it was, if the girls have silk flowers on their wedding day and it’s raining, do you have to be extra careful with the silk flowers in the rain?
Leanne: No. They will tolerate a fair bit. When the flowers were left out in the carport, it was like the floods up in Queensland.
Andrew: So they got hammered.
Leanne: They got pretty hammered. A lot of people, what they do, is you can even spray them with just a little bit of water just to give them a little fresh look, so they’ll actually look like – even though they do look like – fresh flowers. But just to give it that extra oomph, you can spray them a little bit of water. But no, water won’t damage them at all.
Andrew: Okay. Perfect. So how can people find you?
Leanne: Okay. You can either find me at bridal fairs. I pretty much stick with the ones at City Hall in Newcastle, run by the Grapevine. On my website, which is . And my contact details are on there as well. I love talking to brides so please feel free to give me a call.
Andrew: Just so with your website, it’s actually Silk Dreams, with an ‘S’ on the end, and then flowers.
Leanne: With an ‘S’ on the end, yes. Or you just do a search on Google for Silk Dreams and it will come up.
Andrew: Perfect. And like you said, you ship nationally and internationally.
Leanne: I certainly do.
Andrew: And if someone books with the Wedding Discount Card, you even offer a discount with that?
Leanne: That’s right, exactly.
Andrew: Cool! That’s unreal. Look, thanks so much for chatting to us today, Leanne.
Leanne: My pleasure.
Andrew: And you guys have an awesome rest of the summer, and a great wedding season!
Leanne: Yes. Well, I’ve got [unclear] orders to get out already this month. So I better stop chatting and get on with that.
Andrew: Awesome. Thanks again Leanne!
Leanne: Thanks Andrew!
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Andrew: I hope you enjoyed that interview with Leanne. And if you are looking at silk flowers as an option for your wedding day, I can absolutely truly promise you that the difference between them and the real flowers is impossible to tell these days. It really is amazing. Definitely worth checking out if you’re thinking of going down that road. I’ll also add links to Leanne’s website if in case you want to get in touch with her, and also some links to her Facebook page if you want to get in touch that way.
I mentioned earlier in the show that I’ve seen some different blogs for weddings. Particularly if you’re looking at starting your own blog about your wedding and your wedding day, not something your photographer would do, there’s a few great options out there that I’ve come across. I don’t know if it’s something you’ve considered. There’s a couple of different ways you can approach it, but the easiest way is to have your own website. And that’s not hard to do; I’ll tell you a little bit about how to do that and the costs involved. Once you have your own website, then you would have a WordPress installation added to your website. That’s a simple process that the person who does your website, they will do that part for you. And then you would purchase a theme that goes over the top of that WordPress installation. So it might sound a little bit technical, but it depends on how web-savvy you are. But it really isn’t that difficult at this stage. So basically, you have an empty skin there or a theme that you’ve chosen or that you’ve purchased. And then you just have to populate or fill that up with the information that you’d like to add. So that’ll include photos and texts about you and your partner and your wedding day.
To get started, the first thing you would need to do would be to find a domain name. That’s your or . So it’d be a matter of coming out with a name that’s available and free. And you can find that out just by searching for the name that you’d like to put down for your website.
Once you’ve got that name, you need to register that. Again, the guy that I use for all my website stuff is Andrew from Silver Dimension. I’ve asked him for some prices just for someone starting out and setting up a website for the first time. And to actually register the .com.au domain name, that costs $66 excluding GST, and that’s for two years. So you’re looking at about $36 per year. What you can do, you can have the website stay live forever and keep adding to it if you like. Or you can have the website populate it with all your information, have it as beautiful as you like right up until your wedding. You could continue that for another 12 months after and talk about married life and that first year, or have your honeymoon images in there. You can make it as big and as fancy as you like, or as minimal as you like.
Once you’ve finished with the website, or you don’t think people are going to keep going back there, or you’ve had enough of working on it, instead of paying a certain fee every year, what you can do then is just have the whole website put onto a disc, DVD, and you can keep that as an archive and back that up, keep a copy at your place, a copy somewhere else, and you can have that memory forever. You can certainly leave it on the web, as well, but then you will have to pay those fees per year.
Once you have your domain name sorted out, you’d also have to pay for hosting, and that’s where the host actually holds your website. He’s a guy that actually looks after it. And for 200 megabytes of disc space, which is a fair bit, if you have quite small photos, you’re looking at about $120, excluding GST, per year for that. So that’s the part that’s probably going to hurt you the most if you want to keep this website live over a long time. And another fact that you will have to consider if you’re looking at doing this is if you’re having a lot of photos on there, you have to make sure that your photos are quite small, otherwise you’re going to use up that 200 megabytes of disc space quite quickly. So the smaller your images, the more you can have on there for that space. You can up the size of your hosting space and obviously the price will go up proportionally as you add more space. But it isn’t much more expensive to do that.
That’s the hard and scary bits out of the way. Once you’ve got your domain name and your website hosted, you ask your web guy to install WordPress and then it’s on to the themes. And that’s the good stuff. I found the few themes that I think is certainly relevant if you’re looking at doing this. The first one is called Save The Date. The cost of the theme is $70. That’s a one-off cost. So once you buy the theme, that’s yours for good. Again, you’ll install that over the top of your WordPress installation on your new website. I’m going to add links to these in the show notes. Again, you just go to and I’ll have the links to all these different themes and pricings and things like that.
The Save The Date website, that’s a pretty cool one. I guess that the only limiting factor with this one is it’s design to go up until the wedding day. And then it finishes there. It certainly can add your wedding images on there, but it’s designed to tell your story the lead up to your wedding. It’s got little sections there for RSVPs, you can add about your proposal and how that went down. You can send this out to all your guests, to actually save the date. And then you’ve got a little blog section to add stories along the way as you make your preparations and as you’re heading towards the actual wedding day. And you can customize the blog to suit yourself. So the example that I’ve got up here on the screen in front of me, there’s a section there for the groom as well. I don’t know how much input you’re going to get from your partner when it comes to the blog, but it’s certainly nice if the guys do get involved. I guess it just adds another dimension to the website. It’s just not you guys or you girls doing all the work.
The next theme that I really like the look of is called Marriage. The special thing about this particular theme is that it’s a responsive WordPress theme. Responsive means that it doesn’t matter where people look at your website – whether it’s on a computer, a desktop, a laptop, a phone, or an iPad – it’ll actually resize and look nice on all those different devices. So if you think a lot of your friends and family will look at your website on their phone or on their iPad – chances are, they will – then it’s nice to have a responsive WordPress theme. And this particular theme, Marriage, is only $40. Again, it’s a one-off cost. Once youâ
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