From Enquiry to Wedding Day – The Life of a Wedding Florist

Have you ever wondered how I spend my days as a wedding florist? I’d thought I’d guide you through the step-by-step process that I go through when creating stunning floral designs from your initial email to your wedding day.

What happens once I receive your wedding florist email enquiry?

First things first – congratulations on your engagement and a huge thank you for considering me to create your gorgeous wedding florals. I’m always so honoured to receive messages from couples who love my design style and are excited by the idea of adding timeless elegant and romantic flowers to their special day. But what exactly happens on my journey as the florist for your wedding?

I always begin by asking a couple to try and think about exactly what sort of style, theme and look they want to create with their wedding flowers. Modern, classic, romantic, traditional, contemporary? There are so many options, I know it can be overwhelming, but it does help me with selecting flower and foliage varieties if I have a few inspiration photos to look through so that I can really picture the size and style that you have in mind.

My Pinterest page is full of beautiful ideas to inspire you if you need a little help with this!

Have you thought about what arrangements you might need?

It can also be helpful if you have an initial idea of the type of arrangements you would need – how many bouquets, boutonnieres and table decorations etc. How would you like to decorate the venue for the ceremony such as the aisle, the registrar table, a table-plan or card table? Would you like a large scale installation such as an arch or a decorated staircase? Letting me know an ideal budget that would also be a helpful first step, as it will inform my suggestions for design and flower varieties, (I know for most people this is the first time they have ever planned a wedding and have no idea of costs, I can always advise on this. I also outline a price guide in my Welcome Booklet – you can request a copy of this through my Contact page).

I’m more than happy to chat via email, on the phone, by Zoom or in person with both my couples and their wedding planner. We can arrange a consultation to talk through all of your ideas so please don’t worry if you feel a little nervous when it comes to flowers. Part of the job of a wedding florist is that I’m here to suggest lots of gorgeous ideas and options for you to consider.

How do I create an estimate for your wedding flowers?

The next thing I do is suggest the perfect flowers and foliage that will create the arrangements for the style and colour scheme that you have in mind for your wedding. I think about the flowers that will be in season, which varieties will complement each other in terms of appearance, and also I love to consider blooms that have memorable scents too.

I begin to calculate how many of each type of flower or foliage I would need to order to create your arrangements. Many people don’t know that flowers often need to be bought in bunches of 10, 12, 20 or even 50 stems. This means I then share the stems of flowers or bunches of foliage across all of the arrangements to work out just how much I would need to order. I also then add on time needed for my team to create all of the arrangements beforehand, or on the morning of the wedding when setting-up at the venue, transport costs and also any other finer details such as beautiful silk ribbons, or the addition of hire items such as vases, candle holders, lanterns or urns.

What happens next?

Next I’ll create a proposal which includes a mood board that reflects the vision I have for the floral design of your wedding day. This includes inspiration images. I often use photos of my past weddings, or I’ll utilise Pinterest for this (I have lots of boards organised by colour and theme) along with a colour palette that shows the type of style and design that will be incorporated into your beautiful blooms. This will be accompanied by a detailed proposal which outlines the types of flowers and foliage that will be used and describes each of the arrangements.

Once you’re happy with the overall proposal of your wedding flowers a non-refundable booking fee is all that is needed to secure your date. You’re then officially booked into my diary!

Changes can be made to your proposal up until twelve weeks before your wedding date so please don’t worry about making all of those finer decisions a year from your big day. Choices such as the colour of ribbons, exactly how many boutonnieres or corsages you need and whether you would like to include any ‘thank-you’ gift bouquets for the bridal party are often made at this time.

This is also when your final balance is due so I’ll pop across an email reminder to you in good time and set up a consultation to discuss all the smaller details such as my arrival time, where you would like the bridal party flowers delivered (if not the wedding venue itself) and when I’ll return to clear down the venue afterwards.

What happens in the week before the wedding?

In the days before your wedding I will have taken delivery of your flowers. They often arrive as early as 4-6am so I’m well practised in early starts! The flowers will then be trimmed and conditioned, given a good drink of water and helped to bloom into the best condition ready for the wedding day. The wonderful Flourish and Grace team will then start creating all of the bouquets and arrangements, sorting out any vases or containers that need to be hired and counting out delivery boxes, candles, lengths of ribbon and pins for boutonnieres.

When your day arrives, rest assured that I’ll be awake bright and early putting the finishing touches to your beautiful wedding flowers. I’ll be performing any last minute checks of the bouquets, adding ribbons to boutonnieres and packing everything carefully into transport boxes before heading off with my team.

What happens on the morning of the wedding?

I’ll deliver the bridal party flowers (bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages etc) to you, whether you are getting ready at the venue, at home or perhaps at accommodation nearby. The team will also set-up the flowers at the venue or church for the ceremony as needed and arrange when any installations need to be moved if necessary (e.g. if you have flowers for the ceremony that are then moved elsewhere afterwards, or aisle flowers that are moved to decorate the venue etc).

If any installations need to be cleared or hired items (such as vases) need to be collected we will do this either in the evening or the following day depending on what works best for the venue.

What happens after the wedding day?

And that’s it! Afterwards I’ll treat myself to a well earned cup of tea and pop across an email a few weeks later just to congratulate you on married life and thank you for choosing me to be part of your most special day. It’s always lovely to hear from my couples, and I do of course appreciate it if you’re so kind as to leave a review for me on facebook or google.

One of my favourite things as a wedding florist is also to see your gorgeous wedding photos, so if you could let me know the name of your photographer or videographer that would be wonderful! It also means I can then share the images across my social channels and give credit to them. It’s so lovely to relive your day all over again!

If you’re looking for a florist to add timeless, elegant and romantic florals to your wedding or event I would love to hear from you. Please head to my contact page to enquire about my availability for your date.

Photography by Sophie May Photography