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Tips & Advice
You’ve been dreaming of your wedding day, and the one thing you know is, you’ll be carrying something down the aisle, whether it’s a full, formal bouquet with trailing ivy or a single flower. So here are some tips about wedding flowers, what you’ll need and what you’ll want and how to tailor them to your destination wedding.
Find a florist by asking friends for recommendations, finding out who did the flowers for a wedding you went to and really liked or ask local/regional wedding vendors who they might suggest. Then set up interviews with your top three choices, so you can do some shopping around. This can be done by phone if you’ve already made your scouting trip or won’t have time to make one.
Know what you’ll want/need to make your wedding what you want it to be. If you only want flowers for the wedding party and parents, if you need table decorations or chapel decorations or anything else, you should have a list, so you can jot down prices and know what your total budget will need to be. For table decorations or stairway/archway flowers, know the dimensions of the tables or stairway/archway so you can help the florist give you a more accurate estimated cost.
Locally grown flowers are you best choice, especially for a destination wedding. Whatever flowers you choose should fit into your theme and color scheme. You might want to do a little research ahead of time on what flowers are local to your destination wedding locale at what time of year, so you’ll have an idea of what you want before you even contact the florist, or you can let them suggest, since they should be more familiar with what’s available. For example, orange marigolds are plentiful in Mexico, or you can use the bright-colored paper flowers so popular there for your decorations. Caribbean flowers include beautiful hibiscus and white oleander among their most plentiful flowers.
Try not to choose a date near a flower-giving holiday. Valentine’s Day, for example, is a very romantic time to get married, but roses are at their highest cost around February 15. So make sure your date doesn’t conflict with a time when flowers will be more in demand and, therefore, higher cost. It will also help because your florist and their staff aren’t rushing around to fill all the other orders and can take their time and do their best work for you.
Flowers traditionally associated with weddings, like stephanotis and lily of the valley, are always higher, because they are small, not easily cultivated in large bunches and are more in demand for brides who really, really want them and are willing to spend a bundle to have them. You can use touches of them, but fill out your bouquet and other arrangements with less in-demand flowers. And use your bouquets (yours and the bridesmaids) double as decorations at the reception, either at the wedding table or around the cake, to save a little more time and money.
And what about after the ceremony? Donate your centerpieces and chapel arrangements to a local hospital or nursing home to let the patients enjoy a special day after your special day.
Sample list of floral needs:
Bride’s bouquet
Bridesmaids’ bouquets
Groom’s boutonniere
Groomsmens’ boutonnieres
Flowergirl/ringbearer
Mothers’ corsages
Fathers’ boutonnieres
Other wedding party flowers
Chapel and pew decorations
Reception centerpieces |
