Blog Post #4: Hiring a Florist

Another big expense you will incur will be flowers for your wedding party and for the reception. There are many ways to cut down on costs for your flowers, but if you want a truly professional job done and want beautiful real flowers for your big day, hiring a floral designer is a must. You will want to select your floral designer as soon possible after you secure your wedding venue. As anyone who is really good at floral design will book at least a year to 6 months out. Most floral designers can do more than one wedding in a weekend and usually have help delivering and setting up. Unless they are super exclusive, you should have a much easier time securing someone to do your wedding flowers than a venue date. Once your date is secured with your floral designer, you will want to set up a meeting with them to discuss your wedding style/vibe, colors of the wedding party, type of flowers you want and budget. Bing photos and examples of bouquets you like. As well as centerpieces. Many of them also rent out centerpiece items that you can use and then you won't have to purchase these items. However, if you decide to purchase your own, you can usually resell them after the wedding.

There are ways to do real flowers cheaper by buying them yourself, but I would recommend having someone else create your bouquets, as the bride will be way too busy with all the other details to worry about putting them together on your wedding day. Sometimes brides do the centerpieces themselves and hire a floral designer to do the bouquets and boutonnières Another advantage to hiring a florist is that they will have coolers that can be used to store your bouquets. If you do decide to do your flowers yourself, you will need to buy the flowers the day before and assemble them the day of the wedding so they will be fresh. The sky is the limit on flowers so setting a budget ahead of time is crucial and will ensure you get what you want but don't overspend. You can have as little or as many flowers as your heart desires if you plan well ahead of time.

Photograph by: Marci Hoard-Lily Grass Floral Design

Photographs by: Kellie Strong