What to do Before Contacting a Wedding Florist

In the wedding industry, we know that our clients may only be involved in throwing a grand event one time in their lives. This means that many of our clients come to us as “first time buyers”. This status comes with a lot of questions to be answered.

If you’re anything like me, before even approaching a vendor, I am up late at night googling everything I need to know, and pre-planning. Every vendor has a check-list of questions they are going to ask you when you inquire with them. You don’t have to have the answers to all of their questions, but if you do, it will make your planning smooth and easy.

For those of you who like to be informed before talking to your vendors, I hope to answer all of those wedding florist prep-questions for you in my guide below!

What to do before contacting a wedding florist:

1. Scroll for inspiration. Use Pinterest, Instagram, and other social medias just to see which designs speak to you. Be wary that some photos have adjustments that can lead to floral colors not being exact.

   1. Create a mood-board (I like using canva for this. Pinterest boards work great too!). If you have a lot of styles that interest you, make separate mood-boards, and keep compiling inspiration until you decide on your specific vision. Your mood-board does not have to be wedding/event or even floral themed. You can pull inspiration from art, nature, and so much more.

2. Find a color palette that you like. Your florist can plan this for you, but it’s a nice touch to have something that really resonates with you.

3. Lay out the budget for your entire wedding. Since I mentioned making mood-boards, I should mention that these can warp your understanding of how much things can cost. Everyone is bound to have a different price range for what they want to spend on their wedding. Weddings are expensive, but for a good reason. They take a large amount of labor to produce. Once you have developed a budget for your entire wedding, divide it up to get an estimate on what you are willing to spend on each category. This is a good time to get your initial guest count started- you’ll need this number for most of your vendors.

   It can be difficult to figure out what a good budget to set aside for each category is. If you are a first-time event planner, these numbers feel foreign and are hard to estimate. You can review my blog on wedding pricing or arbor pricing to try to get an understanding. Since every floral arrangement is unique, so are their costs. It is hard for us to provide accurate estimates without knowing exactly what you want.

   If needed, you can go to a florist without a budget, and talk with them about what you are looking for, and they can give you an estimate of what it might cost. This may be the easiest route- but please remember when you inquire with a florist, they spend lots of time doing math and crunching numbers to give you their estimates- so be mindful of this!

   If budget is open ended- you are bound to find exactly what you want!

4. Consider your photographer. Does your photographer have a style that involves colors/filters that you need to note (This can be important when choosing your colors)?

5. General idea of what you want. This is probably the biggest question-mark for most folks! Yes, we can come up with a plan together, and nothing necessarily has to be exact/set in stone. We know that you don’t always have your final plan prepared before inquiring for your quote, and we know that plans change! However, if you want a design that covers the length of a long farm table, or we need to see if the giant centerpieces fit into your budget, then we need to have an estimate on the length of your table, or your table count.

   Here are some items to consider:

   1. Personal flowers -

      1. Bridal/ personal bouquet

      2. Boutonnière / pocket square

   2. Wedding party florals -

      1. Maid of honor/ person of honor bouquets (Do you want this to be different than the rest of your bridal parties bouquets?)

      2. Bridal party/ wedding party bouquets

      3. Groomsmen/ wedding party boutonnières (Do you want this to be the same as the groom’s boutonnière?)

      4. Flower girls

      5. Corsages/ boutonnieres for parents/officiant

   3. Reception table florals -

      1. Centerpieces vs. bud vases vs. other design

         1. Estimated count

      2. Sweet-heart table (Do you want this to be different than the guest tables?)

         1. Top of table arrangement

         2. Arrangement in front of the table

      3. Other misc arrangements

         1. Bar

         2. Welcome table

         3. Food table

         4. Gift Table

         5. Other

   4. Ceremony florals -

      1. Arbor or other arrangements (arrangements on columns, ground meadow, etc.)

      2. Aisle florals (Do you know how many aisle rows you will have?)

You now have the ground-work to answer the questions that your florist will ask you. Find your favorite local florist- and reach out to secure a date!

Feel free to comment below any additional questions that you might want answered before you contact your florist!