Flowers by Roxanne shares her top tips on choosing a florist for your wedding.
How to Choose? When looking for a florist it’s definitely worth meeting 2 or 3 to see how they engage with you and how they respond to your wedding brief. Thinking “I know exactly what I want!”? – You may believe this before meeting your florist but more often than not my clients will fall in love with flowers they never knew existed! Talented and well established floral designers are creative little creatures and will want the opportunity to show you what they can come up with, so don’t limit them by asking them to price up a specific selection of blooms. Let them tell you what they believe evokes your style; and th is will help to you work out which florist understands you best and ultimately establish why you choose them
What Do you Get for your Money? You should definitely ask your florist what sort of commitment you will get on your big day. Can you ensure your wedding will be the only one they do that day? There may be a minimum spend to secure that exclusivity during peak season, but it’s definitely worth having. If you have developed a relationship with your florist, ask if it will be them who delivers your flowers. Will they help groomsmen with buttonholes and set up the venue arrangements too? Ensuring these things are in hand will really help reduce the stress levels on the morning of the wedding!
Talk Budget! It’s important to discuss budget at the very start. This way the florist can steer their recommendations towards things you can afford. If some blooms are out of your price range, a good florist will recommend a suitable alternative and won’t pressure to spend more. There’s nothing worse than pouring over peonies and hydrangeas to then find out your budget won’t allow for them!
Recycle, recycle, recycle! Ceremony arrangements like pew ends and pedestals are beautiful inclusions to your wedding flowers but can push your spend up considerably. So, look to reuse them wherever possible. Pew ends could become table arrangements, pedestals can be venue entrance displays and if you have lots, bridesmaids bouquets can adorn a top table – making the most of your flowers for the whole day!
Be Open Minded! Thinking “I know exactly what I want!”? – You may believe this before meeting your florist but more often than not my clients will fall in love with flowers they never knew existed! Let your florist inspire you with what they know, they are the experts!
Contractual Agreements It’s quite normal for your florist to have a wedding flowers contract, especially if you have to pay a deposit. It’s important you’re aware of the cancellation and substitution policies, exclusivity clauses and delivery information that your florist has. Make sure you read this in full to ensure there are no scary surprises, with your florist if you’re not sure what everything means.
Sharing the Workload? Keen to save costs by doing some of the flowers yourself? This is a great way to evoke some of your own creativity into your wedding, however it can be very stressful just days before your wedding. Make sure you’ve done plenty of research before taking on this burden. Be sure to check that your florist is happy for you to do this too, as many floral designers will request full exclusivity within their contracts, to protect their reputation.
Get in the mood! Mood boards are a great way of creating the look that your wedding flowers will be based on and strengthening that understanding between you and your florist. Pinterest.com is a fantastic place in which to do this. You and your florist can access the same board and it can become an active inspiration hub you can both post ideas, designs, colours and flowers on; right up until the wedding.
Make it Personal Make your flowers completely unique by choosing flowers that have meanings that are important to you. Or incorporate a special keepsake into your bouquet or wrap confetti cones in the sheet music to your first dance. Every couple is different and there are many ways in which flowers can interpret these unique qualities.
See Flowers by Roxanne on stand N69 at London Olympia 20-22 February