Sal Pavia is a native New Yorker, a proud Dad, husband, and the founder of Flora + Dean: A Boutique Floral Studio. He was a professional actor for over a decade until Covid-19 put a pause on the Entertainment Industry. In order to continue contributing to his family he sold floral arrangements out of his kitchen with flowers purchased from Trader Joe’s. Fast forward 3 years and floral design has become his focus and future. Sal has designed florals for companies such as lululemon, Baked by Melissa, and Bonne Maman and has curated wedding florals for countless couples.
There is something so unique about Floral Design. It’s creative, innovative, and can deliver the same adrenaline rush as opening night does.
Check out more from Sal Pavia
2 comments
I have been asked this so many times... does the wedding industry inflate prices when they hear it's a wedding?
Here is my honest answer (as a former wedding photographer)... NO. Did I charge more for a wedding than a 50th birthday party or a family portrait session? Yes, absolutely. I charged A LOT more for a wedding.
Was I taking advantage of the emotional sell? Absolutely not.
The main reasons I charged more for a wedding were: the unseen amount of work involved in the 12+ months leading up to the wedding, the skill level needed on the day, the INTENSE pressure to create perfect "portfolio level work" no matter what the reality of the situation- but mostly it is to compensate for the time AFTER the wedding in post production.
Little known fact about wedding photography - the real job is sitting at a computer editing photos. Photographers spend many hours behind the computer carefully selecting and editing photos. They make adjustments, crop, and adjust colors to ensure each image it's best. Don't forget the time it takes for batching, renaming, importing, exporting and uploading the photos and preparing them for delivery.
Do you think this justifies why photographers charge more for weddings than for other types of shoots?
Couldn’t agree more! And on the videography side its an absolute ton of data + editing discipline.
Its a double sided coin- weddings are extremely high pressure but also high reward when we nail it.
Our products (photo video) in particular are the only thing that genuinely will last forever . Having fun and ALSO nailing the product is worth the price of entry and frankly more.