The Floral Hustle

Jeni: [00:00:00] [00:01:00]
You guys are in for a special treat today. I have somebody who I've been a huge fan of, um, with being in the cultural wedding niche, and that is Sarah Khan. So I'm so excited to introduce her because if you guys look at her Instagram, it is like out of the box, stunning. I'm always like screenshotting because I want to save like how beautiful these are and be inspired by them later.
So I'm, I'm so excited you're here today. And I'm excited
Sarah: to be here.
Jeni: Thank you. Like I mentioned, like, I'm just, if you guys go, go to Instagram. It is just the stuff you do is, is like so unique. So out of the box. Thank you so much. So I'm excited to just hear about a little bit about if you don't, um, mind sharing, like your background, um, how long you've been
Sarah: doing [00:02:00] flowers.
Uh, okay, so my background, I'm, I think I'm like, conditioned to give an answer parallel to probably what would be to your question. But, um, I think a lot of my ideas or concepts come from the amalgamation of my life experiences growing up, uh, and my background. So I was born in Queens, New York. I lived in Arizona for a part of my childhood.
I lived in Fairmont, Minnesota for, uh, like seventh grade. I learned, I know you mentioned Minnesota and I was like, I lived in
Jeni: Minnesota. My dad lived in Worthington. Oh, really, really close to there. Yeah.
Sarah: So Manchester Fairmont area was like familiar for me. So that was seventh grade, lived in Connecticut for a little bit, then moved to Maryland when I was I think about 14 or 15 years old.
Um, and then, uh, yeah, I think I was in eighth grade when 9 11 happened, which I will [00:03:00] mention why I mentioned that because again, who I am is an amalgamation of my life experiences, just like all of us are, you know, um, so moved to Maryland then when I was probably about like. 15, 14, 15. Um, and then I went to middle school, high school, and then I went to undergrad at University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Um, and I got my degree in financial economics and money markets, which I still love and I'm very interested in. And actually. We need to have like a broader conversation about economics and how world politics is going to like affect our industry, because literally nobody's talking about that. And it 100 percent is going to affect our industry based on what's happening in the world right now.
But that's the economics part of my brain. Um, so how this happened was, uh, well, growing up, I always liked making and building things and I got it from my mom who always liked making and [00:04:00] building things like. We built our kitchen island, not because we couldn't afford it, we just Like to making things and my mom would like reupholster the sofas and go to, we'd go to like Joanne fabrics and, um, go look at books on how to like, do upholstery.
And then my mom would buy a fabric and staple guns. And then me and her would like reupholster the furniture in our living room. And I don't know. We did all sorts of things like landscaping projects. So I just have all these like random. Um, my grandma and my mom taught me how to sew and do embroidery like, uh, Pakistani style.
I'm half Pakistani and half Indian. Um, so I don't know. I've just always liked making things with my hands. And then, um, when I was, um, you Graduating from undergrad, uh, the career path for an economist is kind of like, you get your master's, you get your PhD, you work for some sort of, like, statistics company, uh, or statistics, like organization, or you get, um, while you're getting your master's, you become like a, uh, [00:05:00] junior, like.
Economics aid type of thing. Um, and so I was getting married that year and I wasn't really finding anything. So I started working at Blue Crest Blue Shield as a health insurance underwriter. Um, and I also worked at Bank of America, uh, during undergrad in the credit card division. So I feel like. A lot of my sales experience came from Bank of America.
I was the person where if you lost your card, you would, um, call a number and I was the one who answered. If you lost your card or you had a question about your card, I was the one who answered. So in 90 seconds, which is a minute and 30 seconds, we would have to, uh, fix your problem. And then connect you with the sales of a product.
So either you refinance your home or you got an additional line of credit. Um, or there was a 3rd product too. I don't remember, but a little window would pop up telling you what this client is eligible for and we would match them. So, as a college student, [00:06:00] I got really good at within 90 seconds over the phone.
Assessing the needs of a person by asking the right questions, fixing their issue, making it better for the future and then also connecting them with the product. Um, but because I had to do so many of those in a day, like, I would do on average 90 to 120 calls a day because they had to be so quick. So, as a college student, I learned very quickly how to identify just through voice, um, and intonation If somebody was upset, if somebody was happy, if somebody, um, wasn't sure about something and then how to ask questions to better understand them, alleviate it and then.
Fix a problem that they may have. Um, I think a lot of my success in my business when it comes to sales came from that experience. It was like very high concentrated sales experience. I don't think it was meant to be, but that's what I took from it. So, um. Yeah, I was in health insurance underwriting. I was really, really [00:07:00] miserable.
I didn't want to do it. It was like copy and pasting like health data from one sheet to another. And I used to come home and cry because I felt so stupid and useless. I did so much math and economics, like in economics, your exam is like 10 pages and you have 2 sentences, which is the question on the 1st page.
And then you have 10 pages front and back. where you have to give the answer in math. So it is 10 pages front and back of just mathematically showing your work of how you came up with the answer or the solution to whatever the economics problem is. After doing that much math and then ending up in a copy and pasting job, I was.
It was terrible. You were done. Yeah, I felt, I felt like whatever skill or talent I may have was completely useless and it was all just going to melt away and die. Um, and so I started thinking, well, [00:08:00] maybe I want to be, uh, a lawyer. I can be a, um. International trade lawyer, I can use my economics degree and, um, would love to work with underdeveloped countries on how to create important export laws to become self sufficient monetarily and not have to take any money from the IMF or the World Bank and become find a way to become self sufficient on the resources that are within, you know, the country.
So I started studying for, uh, my LSATs and. Everyone I knew that was graduating from law school and they were graduating from like top tenors, top five, nobody was getting jobs. So at that time I thought to myself, okay, well, if law doesn't work out, what am I going to be? I'm very Desi, which is a term for like being Indian, Pakistani or Bengali.
And I'm Desi. And so if I don't become a doctor, which didn't happen, and I'm not becoming a lawyer, I have to be something. So, um. At that time, I was getting married and [00:09:00] I looked around and there were only like a handful of companies that. Did decor for South Asian weddings, and I didn't think to myself that I'm gonna start a business.
I didn't know anything about flowers and there weren't classes, and Instagram wasn't a thing like it is now. I sound very dated, . But this was what, 11 years ago? Uh, no, 10, 12 years ago. So yeah, it wasn't a
Jeni: thing. Instagram was not a thing. Yeah, Instagram
Sarah: was not a thing at that time. Instagram was there, but people were posting like.
a really grainy sepia filter of them at the top of a mountain or like a really You know, pedestrian looking plate of dinner, like that's, that's what was being posted at that time on Instagram. So you weren't finding wedding vendors or anything at that time at all. So, um, yeah, I couldn't find anybody for my wedding decor and I did find a few, but they.
Everybody just had like traditional Indian fabrics and the [00:10:00] big kind of gaudy gold pillars, but everybody was at different price points. Somebody was charging 10, 000 for it. Somebody was charging 3000 for it. I thought it was kind of ugly. Anyway, I was like, we look. Indian Pakistani. Our food is going to be Indian Pakistani.
Everyone's going to be wearing Indian Pakistani clothes. Why does the backdrop have to match everyone's saris? Like, you know, why can't we have something that looks timeless? Like, I don't want to look at the picture and be like, oh, that's what was in. It was terrible. So. That's where the idea kind of, uh, was born of like creating something timeless.
So for my wedding, I ended up building everything myself. I was like, why would I pay thousands of dollars for something that I don't even like in the first place? You wouldn't do that normally in life. Why should I make an exception for my wedding? So I built the backdrops for my mehendi, which is a pre wedding event and for my, uh, wedding day.
And then. It wasn't until a few months after that, so I got married in what, like November, uh, end of November, and then [00:11:00] I decided over the next few months that I'm going to put together a photo shoot, and if I can't get into a law school that I want to get into, I'm going to move in this direction. If I can put together a photo shoot and I can get that photo shoot into a magazine without being a real company, then maybe I do have some sort of skill or talent.
And, uh, I'll take it as a sign from God that that's what I'm meant to do. So, while I was waiting for my LSAT scores to come back, I put together a photo shoot and. Literally the week that I was supposed to get my LSAT score back, um, the photoshoot got accepted to South Asian Bride Magazine to be featured in print and on the blog.
So I was like, okay, there's my sign. But then I was like, let me also wait for my LSAT scores. So the LSAT came back and I got to like average score a little bit above average, but it wasn't enough to get me into, I mean, I also kind of didn't try to push it, but just looking at it, it wasn't enough to get me into, One of the, like, top 20s that I would [00:12:00] want to in this area, I wanted to be in D.
C. and so I just decided I was like, you know what I made myself like a promise. And I said that if I can do this in this way, then I'm going to move forward with this. So, then I just did, I moved forward with it, but at that time I made a very. Critical decision. I named the company after myself because I felt like if I named it after myself, I would work harder to make sure it doesn't fail because then I feel like my failed.
So I named it Sara Khan event styling. And in hindsight, it's a very long name, but whatever here, here, whatever. Yeah, but then I didn't put a picture of myself anywhere because I didn't want anyone to. I don't know, have preconceived notions of who I was or what I do based on what I look like. Um, because I look Muslim, I look brown.
And so I really wanted to do non South Asian weddings. I wanted to do [00:13:00] timeless weddings. I felt like what is something that's timeless to really understand what is something that's visually timeless. You have to find something that's timeless and. In thinking about it, I realized the only thing that's truly timeless, although it's an oxymoron because it's ever changing is nature.
No matter how many millennia pass, I think humans and all creatures at some point, look at a natural landscape with awe and wonder at some point. But it's always like that and it's always been like that where we have a tendency to gravitate towards the Earth's fruits really. And so that's where the concept came from of being able to appreciate and bring indoors or create in a way where you can appreciate the beauty of what the Earth provides us and nature provides us flowers, greens, foliage, whatever it is.
But, um, yeah, so I decided, okay, yeah. This is the direction we're going to go. I don't want to put a picture of myself [00:14:00] anywhere because I honestly was afraid of discrimination. I was afraid that people wouldn't want to book me because maybe I wouldn't understand because I'm brown or because I wear hijab.
And, um, I think that was like conditioning, like post 9 11 where being. A Muslim girl growing up in a post 9 11 war also a post, like, um, Iraq war where the general American U. S. population doesn't look at someone who's not white as being inherently American, like, even if I was born and raised in the U. S.
And it feels weird to even have to say that to say I was born and raised here. I was born in Queens, New York. I've lived like all over Arizona, Minnesota, Connecticut, Maryland. Yeah, I'm from here.
Jeni: When you started, you tried to do like traditional American Western type weddings. Yeah.
Sarah: So I went to like Bridal shows where, um, it was all like Western [00:15:00] couples and clients.
And of course people met me in person. And so I think one bridal show that I did, I got one person. It was, uh, the groom was Irish and the bride was from Columbia. Um, so it was like a fusion wedding. So that was my first kind of like. Fusion wedding, it still wasn't like a full, you know, Americana Western wedding, which I thought I would want to get into.
So I was like, all right, cool. Whatever. It's like Irish and Colombian. This is kind of cool. How can I find a way to, like, for both of them to feel like their families are honored? And I think that started the process of, um. Figuring out the nuances of how to incorporate both families into make both families feel seen and appreciated, uh, during the wedding events and the reception.
So that was cool. And then, um, as much as I tried to, like, hide myself, uh, it didn't work because I had to be out there to be able to get clients. So I would try as much as I can to just do everything over the [00:16:00] phone. So I can speak to people on the phone and yeah, yeah. Have their inherent biases, but then with time, I started to, I started to kind of like, not care anymore.
And without trying, I kind of got stuck in like the South Asian wedding sphere. And I was like, I want to do like more non South Asian weddings. And then some, there's all these people that are desperately trying to get into South Asian weddings. They're like, how do you do South Asian weddings? I was like, I don't know.
You just do it. And I realized you don't need to have, you don't need to be South Asian to do South Asian weddings. You just need to. Yeah. No, that you're not going to sleep. Okay.
Jeni: Can you explain? Cause I mean, obviously I know, cause I'm in that niche as well. Like explain what a South Asian wedding is.
Sarah: Sure.
So, um, South Asian, I think is a very like Western blanket term for like Brown people from the South of Asia. But, uh, you'd be looking at people from India, Pakistan, uh, Bangladesh, uh, Sri Lanka. [00:17:00] Um, And I think, I mean, it depends because I'm not from the other, like, bordering countries and so I don't want to speak for them.
I don't know if they would also consider themselves to be South Asian, um, or if they would independently want to be considered just. Asian or East Asian, but when people say South Asian, the most common that you run around, run across is like Indian Pakistani and like Bengali. Um, so internally, like, in the South Asian diaspora, we refer to ourselves as Desi.
So the term Desi just means someone from. Like the country, like motherland. So someone who's like, if I was somewhere and I saw like, brown people, like Indian people or Pakistani people, I'd be like, oh, yeah, they were, they see people there. It's just, that's the term that we use the South Asian term is more of like the Western, but yeah, that's South
Jeni: Asian.
So that encompasses like, uh, what religions [00:18:00] are encompassed in that because that's a
Sarah: big part of it. There's a lot, uh, there's a lot of religions. The three most common ones that you run across, I would probably even say four, uh, because they do a lot of, like, South Indian Christian, um, and there's a lot of, like, Pakistani Christian, uh, communities, um, as well.
So, uh, we come across, uh, Muslims, uh, people who are Hindu people who are, uh, Sikh. Uh, I've also done Zoroastrian, um, which is a, uh, religious group from that actually originated from Iran, um, that migrated at some point over to India. Um, we've done. So Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian, uh, Zoroastrian, um, we've done some Buddhists.
There's a lot of religions, um, but these are, I would say like the three most common would be like the Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu.
Jeni: Okay. And is that, that's kind of the core of your, your business, like
Sarah: those three. Yeah. And, and Christianity as well. We have a lot of like South Indian Christian and like Pakistani Christian clients.
And you do a
Jeni: lot of [00:19:00] fusion and so it's like a fusion wedding is because like, I
Sarah: think people think, oh, it's an Indian wedding. They just put like this blanket term on it, but. It's actually very rare that I have couples where both families are from exactly the same area. Um, so in the U. S. we have all like, you know, all of our states and generally, yes, you can tell if someone's Midwestern by their accent or from like, California or from New York or Boston, like, they're very specific accents or, uh, terms that they use or behavior, right?
In India and Pakistan and. I think a lot of countries in the world, every state has a completely different language, not dialect, language, the food is different, even the clothes, you can tell where someone is by the clothes that they wear now, I think, because of like the internet and the world being a lot more, um, you know, like visible and available, you know, you can go to a party and you can wear whatever nobody's going to say, Oh, you're not from [00:20:00] that culture.
It just, it's just part of fashion now, but. Yeah. You can tell by what somebody wears and the language they speak and whatnot. So, yeah, for like, people who are not South Asian who are not, they see, they would be like, oh, it's an Indian wedding. But for the clients, I'll have a North Indian client getting married to a South Indian client.
And so the Hindu ceremony is very different. Um, even though it's a Hindu ceremony. South Indian people do it different than how North Indian people do it. Um, I had a wedding where the groom was Zoroastrian and the bride was Hindu. And so, but she was Hindu, but she was from her family lineage was from Afghanistan.
So people say Afghan, but it's pronounced Afghanistan for like Afghanistan. So, um, She was Afghan Hindu, and he was, uh, Indian Zoroastrian with Persian lineage. And so there's money incorporated all of that, but when people look at it, people would just make a blanket statement and [00:21:00] be like, Oh, it was an Indian wedding, you know?
So really almost every single one of my weddings is like fusion because it's still meshing two different cultures. I had a Gujarati client and a Punjabi client, which both Indian, but the cultural differences. Quite stark. It would be like someone getting married from like a different country, but kind of, yes.
So, um, yeah, we're very well versed in like fusion. Yeah. I do a lot of Hindu Jewish weddings as well. Yeah. So there's like a industry term where they call them Hindu weddings because it's Hindu and Jewish, but we do a lot of like Hindu Jewish weddings too. It's, it's really nice. It's really, really nice.
Jeni: So most of these events are like multiple days and are, I mean,
Sarah: three minimum, it would be two days, two consecutive days, but average, I would say like three to four, I think the most I've ever had was 18 for one client, 18 events over the [00:22:00] span of like 10 days.
Oh, my yeah, you don't
Jeni: sleep sleep much. I'm guessing that's why
Sarah: that's why from like October to March. I'll do like an event and then the rest of the year. I just let the floodgates open so we can be paid. Well, uh, and then. From October to March, we just kind of like, you know, do client meetings, rest a little bit.
Um, everyone takes their PTO and goes on vacations, goes on ski breaks. So you have a
Jeni: pretty big team, right?
Sarah: Like, well, our core team is full time. We have about 6 people. It teeters between like 6 to 10. Um. And then our part time people who like come in and out freelancers, uh, people who come on site to help us like unload and install.
Uh, that's probably like between 30 and 40 people.
Jeni: Oh my, that's, that's a lot to keep track of. So you also have somebody to help keep track. And I mean, a lot of [00:23:00] people that are starting like wrapping their head around, even doing like 60 weddings in a year or 60 events. Weddings a lot. Yeah. But like, I think my
Sarah: first year I did maybe like.
7 or something and I think my 2nd year I did maybe 15 or 20. Um, now I don't know how many we do, but I do know that we did a record between June and July 4th. It was like a 6 week period of time where we did like 42 events. Oh, my six weeks. I don't know what the rest of the year was. I just know that I counted and I was like, that's wild.
That is wild.
Jeni: Oh, we did it. Yep. You did it. And in those events, like, so the first ones, they're usually like around like the Mendy or like the Sankey. Yeah. So
Sarah: actually, before we even, uh, get to the main, the, if people are doing like multiple events, um, depending on the cultural background and the religion of the [00:24:00] client.
So for like Hindu clients, a lot of times before the wedding events start, they'll do poojas, which are like prayers. So they'll have like different type of. Prayer events and, uh, they'll, it'll be small, like 50, 75 people. I know for like Western terms, it's not small. Sometimes it's like a guest list for us.
It's small because our families are big and you know, whatever.
Jeni: And like 500 people come to a
Sarah: wedding. Yeah, exactly. So the wedding ceremony will be like between. 350 to 450 on average, and then the reception will also be around there up to like 550 ish that you would look at between like 350 to 550 is normal.
So, uh, for the pre wedding events, usually they'll start with like prayers and things like that. Uh, and then the most common events across. All, um, religions would be some sort of a Sangeet or Mindy, uh, which Mindy translates to henna. I think henna is the more popular term in English, even though it's not an English word.
It's an Arabic word, [00:25:00] but that's kind of like the, um. Stain on the bride's hand or feet traditionally. Um, and actually it's used throughout like the Middle East and, uh, South Asian culture, um, going into like a little bit of like East Asian. So, uh, yeah, uh, Hena or Sangeet, Sangeet literally from, uh, Hindi translates to meaning like, um, singing.
So it's part of the culture to have lots of these, like. Old folk songs that you sing about like a new bride going to her new home. Um, and they're all just like really funny folk songs. A lot of them are like, I don't know, making fun of the new in laws or making fun of the groom or just like funny things like silly, just like silly songs.
Um, some of them are there to like, encourage the bride to like be brave and I don't know. It's like cute, fun songs. So and then the groom side will also have songs like that. So a lot of the pre wedding events will have that. And so that's why one of [00:26:00] the events is called a Sangeet because traditionally, or some people refer to it as ladies Sangeet, because usually the women of the family get together and sing all these songs together.
They get their henna done. It's just like a way to gather pre wedding. So as that event has evolved over time. Now, a lot of people will do a combined Sangeet with both sides of the family, and they'll have three, 400 people invited from both sides of the family, and they'll have a stage backdrop where the bride and groom are seated.
And then I know flash mobbing is kind of like newer, meaning like within the last like eight, 10 years, we've been doing that for a long time. So at Sangeets and Mehndis, Pakistani clients will typically refer to what Indian people call Sangeet as a Mehndi. Um, so. It's basically a giant singing and dancing party.
Yeah. So everybody pre prepares dance performances and the bride side has a dance performances and the groom side has dance performances. And it's kind of like a [00:27:00] dance off to, uh, like, there's no prize, but it's just kind of for clouds of like, oh, yeah, I'd The bride side had like, way better dance performances than the groom side had more.
So everybody really goes all out and you have flash mob dances where like, everybody comes in and dances together. Sometimes, uh, all the performances are just for the bride and groom. Sometimes the bride and groom join in and they've also like, pre choreographed dances. So it's nice. Um, so that'll be like a pre wedding event, a Sangeet or a Mehndi.
Then you'll have the wedding ceremony. So depending on the religious background of the families. Um. It'll be done however, you know, families with a Monday. Yeah. So either it'll be early morning, afternoon or in the evening. It just really depends on the religious background. Then you'd have your reception.
Um, so yeah, those are like the 3 main events that you see across the board.
Jeni: Okay. And are they often like you're doing all of all of their events
Sarah: usually? Yeah. And clients typically have us do all of them because there's consistency then in [00:28:00] the cleanliness of the design and also the design itself. And also that I'm better able to control that nothing is repeated, um, you know, between all the events.
So. The luxury aspect of it remains while you're also able to see something unique and different from the same person.
Jeni: So one thing, I mean, that really sticks out with your work is like everything does look really different. Even if it's a similar structure, you're like really spinning it differently.
Sarah: I'm so happy you say that because I'm always panicked about it. Oh,
Jeni: I know that. I think that happens because my You know, the person I do a lot of cultural weddings with, like, she's always like, I need to make a different need to make, you know, even, especially because these structures are so elaborate and time consuming to make and everything, you have to reuse them.
Like there's like really no way around that to recoup the cost in them and everything. Um, so how do you stay fresh with ideas [00:29:00] for that? Because they, they are so different. All, all the things that I've seen of yours.
Sarah: Thank you. I don't let clients pick from previous work that I've done. So that's probably the 1st step.
Um, although I will ask them to reference things that they like, that I've done previously, I asked them to reference it, but I will never do like a. Identical copy. I always change it somehow. But, um, so, for example, if I have them reference something, I really have them reference it so that I get an idea of their style.
It's not for like, you know, re, recreating it. It's more so. Okay, if they like this picture, that means they like things that look very full and they like things that look like they're like, overflowing with floral. Um, whereas, oh, they like this because they're minimalist and they really want something that's like, very, very simple, but strikingly elegant.
So, once I get an idea of that, then I ask them questions to figure out. What colors would be [00:30:00] appropriate and so most of the clients that come to me, they have no idea what they want, or even color wise. They have no idea. And most of them don't even have their outfits yet. So most people, most, um, South Asian clients, like basic lines, they go to India or Pakistan or Bangladesh to go shopping between like, October and February.
And so that's also why wedding season is a little bit like slower at that time, technically, because. Everyone's gone wedding shopping overseas because it cools down. It's really, really hot in India and Pakistan and Bangladesh. So, um, people go in like the fall and winter time. So that way it's like tolerable heat.
So you'll probably be in like the 70s, 80s ish. Okay. So, um, anyways, yeah, I'll ask them questions to understand the ambience that they want. And based on that, I'll select colors for them. And then once they get their outfits, then I make sure that the outfits are contrasting with the colors that we've selected because.
[00:31:00] There's no point of matching the client to the background because then they just look kind of like a furniture piece in a living room. We, I want them to be the centerpiece no matter where they walk in the room. So we do it based on that. Um, and I always like there to be, people say, Oh, what theme should it be?
Or what color theme should it be? You don't actually have to pick, uh, a theme per se. But I think it is important to have something that's familiar that's a through line for the whole entire room. I think it just makes for like a fun detail for guests to figure out. It's kind of like leaving clues behind throughout the space.
And then you suddenly get it. And I feel like my rule of thumb is like three things. You need three points of contact to get any idea across. So I'll focus on that once we get like. the color palette down, then I'll figure out what we're doing. Like, for example, I had a client who wanted something different for their Sangeet and they didn't know what it was.
And then I saw the bride's outfit and it was super colorful. And [00:32:00] then I thought, okay, well, it is going to be in the summertime or like kind of the end of summertime. And There's pinks and oranges, and we always use pinks and oranges and yellows for like Sangeet's, either jewel tones or like that color palette.
And then I was like, how can we do pinks and oranges in a way that's different than just like lanterns that we always see? And then I remembered that like, I don't know, fruits come in pinks and oranges. You can use oranges and you can use grapefruits for the pink and lemons for the yellow. Um, so then I thought, why don't we make it a citrus theme?
And the bride's mom was like, what the heck are you talking about? I mean, I was like, just trust me, it's going to be fun. And she was like, fruit theme. I was like, just trust me, it'll still look elegant. So it was really cool because then for the centerpieces it was actually really expensive. I didn't realize how expensive it was with the rising price of fruits and vegetables.
So we bought so many oranges and grapefruits and clementines and lemons and [00:33:00] limes and all like different shapes and sizes. And I had these beautiful bronze bowls that we filled with oasis and then we had to pick all of these little Like fruits into it, then I got jasmine vine, which has a beautiful fragrant flower.
And I use jasmine because so for South Asian clients, jasmine smell is very nostalgic rings because they have garlands and garlands of jasmine that's used at weddings. So. I really try to make sure that all the guests that are attending feel a familiarity with their culture. And the whole point of a Sangeet is to, I mean, for us being in the US, it's a way to honor who we are and part of our culture.
And so why not in every facet, you know, visual touch. Sound everything have that reverberated like parts of the culture. So I use jasmine vine with the pink buds on it. Um, and the fragrance kind of tucked into all of the fruits and then I use some gardenia as well. And [00:34:00] then I use freesia again. It's fragrant, but orange freesia kind of smells like oranges.
So I tucked in orange freesia into it. So I put a lot of thought into the floral variety that I use. Um, and the colors that I use. Per client and prevent so that way, it's something that's. I don't know. Nostalgic for them. Yeah. And it reminds them of, I don't know who they are, but in a very like delicate way, the dance floor, we got like a trellis made that had kind of like a Moroccan pattern that we all see, uh, but then the whole background looked like it was a, a garden trellis that had like lemon vines growing over it.
So we had all these citrus growing all over it. So that was the dance floor wrap. And then on the stage, I made a giant tree that was probably about like 12 or 14 foot tall. And then filled the entire thing with like suspended oranges and citrus fruits. And then the, you did buy a lot of fruit. Yes. And then the bride and groom's bench was seated right underneath of that tree.
So it almost looked like they were sitting inside of like a cute orange grove. [00:35:00] Um, and so, yeah, throughout the entire space, we had all this and we were able to incorporate the traditional colors of oranges, yellows, and pinks, um, with the smell and fragrance of Jasmine, with the smell and fragrance of the freesia.
While also having, like, the lanterns and it almost look like an elegant, um, fruit theme from a village in Punjab, but it was like, high end. It didn't look like a village. So, uh, not that a village is not high end, but it looks a bit more like rustic. So we were going for something that looked kind of elevated, but it had that, uh, vibe to kind of like.
Punjabi culture and the bride and groom were both Punjabi here. So, um, it worked really well. They're really happy. And the mom was like, this is not what I was expecting, but I love this. It worked out really well, but yeah, it's usually any, any and every event. Uh, the idea is sparked from some one random thing.
And then I start breaking [00:36:00] it down like a prism into like 27 refractions of itself.
Jeni: And so when you're doing something like as elaborate as you were just talking about, like the suspended oranges and things like that, what are the budgets that you're usually dealing with? I mean, um, sounds like a lot.
Sarah: So there was a time where I had to like come up with all these ideas and be constrained to the budget so I can only do a couple.
Now I would say most of my clients Everybody has a budget, even if it seems like it's an endless budget. Everybody has like a comfort level of like, how much am I willing to spend? And it's not necessarily because. You know, they don't have enough money a lot of time. It's just because how much do you really care to spend on the decor for your wedding?
I do this for a living, but honestly, I don't think people should spend wild amounts of money on their wedding decor. I love what I do, but I mean, it's also a party once there's enough that you can do that looks beautiful and nice [00:37:00] enough, um, for the wedding to get the point across and it's elegant and.
You know, it's a good environment, but I mean, now a lot of my clients don't really give me a budget. They do, but not really like it's more. So they say, okay, we'd like to stay within X, Y, and Z numbers. Um. But generally, what I do is talk to them about what during a consultation, I'll talk to them about what their needs are.
And I make line items for everything. And I sign a general dollar value of what I think they're going to be spending. Um, and then at the end, I give them a number and I say, well, based on all the things that you need, this is where you should be. Um, it doesn't mean you have to spend this amount. It just means based on my experience.
This is probably where you're going to land. And then the client either says, okay, that's considerable, or that's a little bit on the higher end for us. And then we'll, like, adjust from there. But to kind of filter, we give, uh, clients, like a minimum per day. So our minimum is 20, 000 per day. And it's not for any reason [00:38:00] other than.
If they're not at least spending 20 K, they're not going to get something that looks like what they see online that we post. So if clients are looking at our work and they're expecting that you don't get something that looks like that. Um, for like 5, 000. Yeah, I can do your wedding, but it's not going to look like this 80, 000 one.
And so you'll get the name of like, Oh, well, Sarah hunted our wedding. But visibly, it's not going to look like that. And so that's why we set a minimum of 20 K, because we know at least at 20 K, you'll get something that looks, um, I mean, depending on the demographic, if it's 20, can you have 400 guests? It's not going to work.
You probably need about, like, 35 to 40 K for that many guests. I would say for, like, 1 event. Um, but on average, I would say our clients spend between, um, 50 to 80. 16 to 80, 000 is our average contract [00:39:00] on a high end. I think the biggest one we've had recently was 297, 000. So that's like 300 K ish. Um, just for decor.
That's not including rentals. It's not including linens, chairs, glassware, flatware, China, treasure plates, bars, none of that or dance floor wraps. That was the
Jeni: flowers and decor. This
Sarah: is just for centerpieces and backdrops and Um, but yeah, on average, our client spends, yeah, in that range. That's
Jeni: amazing.
Sarah: It's nice, but don't think that just because the number is bigger that the expense is suddenly less. I think that was a trap that I did not realize was a trap when I first started. I was like, okay. I can't, uh, my mom tells me now, my mom's like, you know, it's so funny to hear you talk now, because there was a time where you said to me, mom, I can't wait until I get my first 20, 000 client.
I wouldn't even know what to do with that much money. And now I'm like, our [00:40:00] average labor cost is like, 8, 000. It's not 20, 000. It's like 000. That's still a lot of money. Yeah. Like, just the labor is that much because we need that many people. Like, we did a wedding at the National Portrait Gallery recently, a reception.
It was for 480 guests, I think. Um, I think our staffing that day, we had like 15 or 20 people working for us that day and we only had like, I don't know, 4 hours to set it up or 3 hours to set it up broken up into parts of the day. We had to load in at 5 am and be done loading in by 7 am, because you couldn't bring anything after that.
And then you couldn't work on it until 2, because it was a museum. So then all the stuff we loaded in in the morning, then only at 2 o'clock, we were able to start kind of working on it. And we had to be done by like. And not even 2 o'clock, I think 3 o'clock we had to be done by 530. Um, and guests were coming in at 6.
so we literally had, like, 2 and a half hours to, [00:41:00] like, build a structure and wait for them to put tables and linens for us to put centerpieces for. 55 tables wild, but I think our labor just for that, I think was probably 15 18 K something wild like that
Jeni: bigger weddings, bigger problems. Sometimes
Sarah: bigger weddings mean bigger expenses.
Yeah. Um, so you have to be very particular about how you price it out and make sure you're pricing it appropriately, or else all that money disappears. You have to be careful of like, what you're promising. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeni: That's crazy. I can't imagine in two and a half hours having to set all that up, but like some of the venues, they're just,
Sarah: you pretty much have to figure out what is the maximum amount of pre installation work you can have done.
So that way, the only thing you have to do that day is just like, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop everything right onto the tables because you also have to factor in just because they tell you, you have 2 and a half hours to set up. [00:42:00] That means everybody who's working that day has 2 and a half hours to set up.
Not just you, which means we don't have 2 and a half hours to set up. You need at least 30 minutes to do quality control and run through the entire room and make sure the tables look good and everything looks good. So now you subtract 30 minutes from the two and a half hours, you have two hours, but you don't have two hours because you need to wait for the people to put the tables down and the linens on top of the tables.
So maybe that takes, like, 20 or 30 minutes. So you actually have an hour and a half to set up everything. Yeah,
Jeni: and I know you, you also, yeah, for 550 people, which, like. For most people, like starting at 9 a. m. and they get till like 4 to do that. Starting at 9, that's so nice. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's, it's amazing, like, to just think of everything that gets jammed in such a short amount of time.
Especially when, with these designs, so many of the things you have to design on site because they just don't travel. And so do you do a lot of on site [00:43:00] installations or mainly try
Sarah: to So the thing is, everything, to an extent, there are things that have to be done on site. Right. But, uh, we do 85 percent of the work in studio.
Okay. And we try to leave 15 percent of it for on site. I would say it's usually like 75 25. 75 percent to 85 percent of it is done in studio. And then the rest is done on site. Um, and we do this regardless. Regardless of whether we have 2 hours or 6 hours to set up. Because When you get on site, something always goes wrong.
Like maybe the elevator broke or maybe there's too many trucks in the loading dock and you can't load all your stuff in and you can't use the elevator and you have to walk it up the stairs and maybe the tables aren't set or maybe you get there and you were told that the tables and linens would be set on time, but then they're like, Oh no, linens won't go down until 3 p.
m. And we're like, but we're here at 9 a. m. because you told us they would be. So it's always random nonsense. It always happens. I mean, [00:44:00] it's. Not anyone's fault, but it is somebody's fault. But, you know, what's the point of getting mad about it? You just know to expect it. And so you just prepare and make sure your stuff's already ready.
Um, and sometimes everybody does their job the way they're supposed to, and then you get done five hours early. And then you're like, okay, I guess we'll all come back to light candles in, uh, four and a half hours. Oh my
Jeni: goodness. So I think you also, like, Teach people about this whole process and I mean, this process sounds like it's got so many different moving parts to it.
What do you think is like a couple key points that you really try to, to like, get it ingrained in their head to understand about doing this type of wedding when somebody wants to get into this niche?
Sarah: Yeah, so I, um, I've wanted for quite some time to be able to teach a class, uh, but I just didn't have the time because we have so many weddings.
Well, and
Jeni: big weddings, I mean. Yeah,
Sarah: and so then I realized, well, in the wintertime, I do [00:45:00] kind of, like, tone it down and it would be a great, like, supplemental income for those, like, winter months without, like, continuing to, like, Exhaust our team by working these like wild hours. So, um, I thought, okay, well, let's give it a shot.
Let's do our first, like, hands on masterclass. And so I'll do 3 days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, because I feel like it's very difficult for people to get away from home or kids or work for that long. And I keep it on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So that way, if people have events, they're able to get back to like their Friday, Saturday, Sunday events because it's for industry professionals.
So. In the class, my whole goal is to create an industry standard for us, because I feel like there isn't one. People say there's an industry standard, but, like, Where did you learn the industry standard? You don't know it. You don't just inherently know the industry standard, especially if you're starting.
And so I think equipping other professionals in our [00:46:00] industry with how to be more organized, how to be able to calculate time. How to have time management, how to order product, where to order product from, how to prepare and do prep work in advance, how to deal with, um, having things that are missing, how to like load supply bins, how to make a munda, how to order flower product for it, how to increase your profit margin on it.
So that way you can be profitable and continue running your business, how to make sure that the client gets the most, um, for what they're spending while you are also able to make money because ultimately. You want your, like, the reason we do this is because we love making beautiful things for people.
And so we want the client to be happy and excited once they get our final product. But you are going to go home very sad if you ended up paying out of pocket for this person's wedding. So it's not a win. It's actually a very big loss. And the more you do that, where you are spending money out of your pocket because you promised something and [00:47:00] you're honoring that and the client doesn't even know that's what you did.
If you consecutively keep doing that to yourself, you will no longer have a business that brings you joy. It will just be this monstrosity that eats you and you're wondering why you started in the first place. So, um, and I've definitely been in that place many, many
Jeni: times. I think everybody has. I mean, like you, you don't know what you don't know.
Sarah: Yep. Yep. And so I thought, well, why don't I do this class? The whole first day focuses on the business aspect of how to run the business and what to do. And actually, I've had a lot of people join my class that are not floral designers that are not, uh, like floral Wedding design professionals or florists.
There are people from the wedding industry that just wanted to know how I run my business. How do I handle inquiries? How do I handle marketing? Uh, what do I focus on? How do I, uh, work on client satisfaction? How do I work on my client flow to keep communication with the client to make sure that the customer is happy all the way from.
Start [00:48:00] to finish. So I actually had a lot of, um, wedding photographers and planners that joined the class just for the 1st day to be able to get that part from us. And then, so the 2nd day and the 3rd day are hands on where you're learning how to do floral. So we work on creating a bud base, the anatomy of a bud base, which may not seem like a big deal, but having that basic.
Information helps you then grow so I have everybody work on making a bud vase. I have everybody make a compote. And then after that, we do a month up together with a ceiling install in the month up and then the next day we will do a cake and I teach how to do flowers on a cake, which has been a great way for us to like.
Make money. Uh, honestly, a lot of our clients will just get like a 4 tier buttercream cake completely plain from the bakery. And then we do all the flowers on it. Yeah. All sorts of like, cool, pretty well designs. So I teach you how to do a cake. And then I also review how to do a ceiling installation.
Above a dance floor, um, we [00:49:00] don't necessarily physically do the ceiling install in my studio, but I will talk about and show all the different equipment we use for it. And the type of material where to purchase the material, um, and then how to price it out, which I think is extremely important. And then after that, we will do a.
Long head table with a canopy built on top of it. And so we'll throw the ceiling of that with flowers and chandeliers. And I'll show you guys also how to repurpose floral from the Munda that you did earlier onto this head table. So that way in real life, when you have a client, you can do that. And then also.
Then for the head table itself, I walk everyone through how to figure out the rentals for it. So the glassware, flatware, china, how to figure out what the measurement is of how much space you need for a place setting and how to calculate how many people can be seated on a table. I think this is all extremely important information to know.
There's a lot of math involved that people don't realize until they get into it. Um, we also review how to, uh, calculate [00:50:00] stage sizes, riser sizes, and that's a big part.
Jeni: Like that. Yeah. It's not how think
Sarah: your rise needs to be for like a MANUP or for a HIPA or for an arch, um, for a stage for a sing or for a Mandi, um, or a reception.
And so I talk about the stage sizing the dimensions. It should be the ccma for the stage. Um. So, and, and like floor covering options. So I really like from A to Z go over all of it. It's a lot of information. Actually, the last class I did literally none of my students would break for lunch. It would be lunchtime and everyone would be like, wait, wait, but what about this?
What about this? So I think having intimate class sizes also. Helps with that because then people feel that freedom of being able to ask questions. Everyone also becomes friends and becomes a great resource for each other, which I think is really, really wonderful. So it was great. I love my last class. I love the students.
The students were all happy. They became friends. It was just like really heartwarming.
Jeni: And you have one coming up too, [00:51:00] right? Really
Sarah: soon. Yeah. We have our second one coming up now. It's going to be January 30th, 31st and February 1st. So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Um, And more than half of the class is already filled, so we have a few spots left, and we'd love for people to join us.
Jeni: I know you're having one coming up soon, and then after that, you're just going to have some more throughout the year, maybe depending on people's wedding seasons. And
Sarah: yeah, so we have, uh, a couple of different ways to learn.
Um, masterclasses. It becomes difficult as we go into the wedding season. I may do one, uh, between February and March. February's. Gotten really busy for us, but I will do at least 1 or 2 more before April comes. And then again, in like October, November, December, probably of 2024, we'll have classes, but it'll always be like 3 day.
We also have 1 on 1 mentoring with me where somebody can schedule time. They're 1 hour blocks, but I make you purchase 2 so that you can have [00:52:00] a mentoring session with me and then. We do a follow up to talk about the things I recommended and whether or not you implement them. And did they work? So I like that accountability portion of it.
I think it serves to be much more helpful for students. So we have the master classes, then we have the 1 on 1 mentoring. And then we also started something where somebody can shadow us through a wedding week. So you can come in on a Wednesday. And then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, you would stay with us and you would shadow different departments within my company to learn for yourself, um, all the way up into the wedding day.
So you can see in the studio, how things are organized leading up to the wedding and then see how they're implemented on site. I think that would be very important. And I feel like
Jeni: invaluable. I mean, I feel
Sarah: like when I. Uh, I mean, I would still love to do that with other like bigger companies and see how they work and function, but, uh, I would have loved to be able to do that.
So I've also made that as an [00:53:00] option that's available. That's,
Jeni: that's amazing because like that is the part that I think scares so many people is like putting, putting all that together and then like, how am I gonna even a 5, 000 wedding for somebody sometimes it's just complicated. Yeah. And the complexity when you're in your size events is just.
Sarah: On another level, if somebody had like a 5, 000, if their average is between like 5 and 7, 000 or 5 and 10, 000, I would recommend that they get maybe the one on one mentoring with me, which may seem like it's a lot, but it like dollar wise, but I can help you actually develop a plan for the week leading up to that wedding in that hour.
Um, of like, on this day, you're going to do this, this, this, and this. And then on the day of, this is what your itinerary should look like of how you're going to do your installation to literally make that entire, you know, weeks itinerary. I mean, we have internal itineraries for the week as well. [00:54:00] We have the itinerary for the day of for the install.
And then Monday through Friday, we have an itinerary for every single person who's working, even if we have 15 people working in the warehouse. Every individual person has a list of things that they need to get done within certain windows of time. Um, that's the only way to be efficient.
Jeni: Yeah, I imagine.
Well, it's been so great talking to you. I love and I hope this is really like eye opening for some people just see like. Niching down, like this is what that can do. And that there are these big budgets out there cause so many new florists just get stuck in these small budgets and there's so much more potential out there and your classes sound amazing.
So how do they find out info to connect on the class and how do they find you on social media?
Sarah: Yeah. So we are on Instagram. We're on Facebook too, but I don't really. Posts on Facebook is actively, but Instagram would probably be the best way to get in touch with us. Uh, our Instagram handle is at Sarah Khan event styling.
com. S. [00:55:00] A. R. A. H. K. H. A. N. event E. V. E. N. T. S. T. Y. L. I. N. G. I said. com. Why did I say that? Our website, our website is sarahladermanstyling. com, but then our Instagram handle is just the company name. Um, but I post on there all the time, either about the class or just weddings that we're doing, thoughts that I have, um, things that I'm seeing happening in the wedding industry.
So, uh, yeah, come connect with us there. And then if you're interested in the class, you can email my assistant, Jenny. Her email address is contact at. Sarah kind of at styling. com, so we are working on making a lending page for it, but we've had such an overwhelming response from even like one post on Instagram.
Yeah,
Jeni: well, I mean, you have a huge following too, so that's helpful.
Sarah: Yeah. So, uh, but I would, uh, this was a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. And, um, I really admire, uh, your ability to be able to do this and also floral. It's a, [00:56:00] and you're also a mom. It's a lot of things, uh, to balance and a lot of jobs, but you do it so
Jeni: well.
Oh, thank you so much. Well, it was so great talking with you. Yeah.
Sarah: I look forward to keeping in touch.