Long for the flowers, part II

We had two floral consultations yesterday. Our first was with an established floral and events designer who has done countless of high-budget, celebrity weddings but, with the current economy, is taking budgets of any size. The second consultation was with a younger floral and event designer with lovely style. Both had beautiful ideas and great experience at our venues and with our other vendors. I think once we meet with our last florist and receive all the proposals, the decision will get easier.

Before the consultations I read this article by Weddingbee PRO Nancy Liu Chin and this one by Offbeat bride as preparation. I also brought our floral inspirations, noting that they were just a starting point and we were open their ideas. We also provided a checklist of the flower peices we need.

Our checklist of florals we require are:
Bride's Bouquet
Bride's hair flower (gardenia)
3 bridesmaids bouquets
Groom's boutonniere
3 groomsmen boutonnieres
1 father boutonniere
1 grandfather boutonniere
2 mother corsages
1 grandmother corsages

3 arrangements for the ceremony (36" x 36")

20 table arrangements for the reception

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As a money saver, there were good ideas about using carnations. Tightly bunched carnations in small, white vases have a cute look. Their bright colors would give tables a vibrant look.

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Carnations could also create great ceremony arrangements. I like the look of the above photo, and would add some gerbera daisies for extra detailing.

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Boutonnieres were also a popular topic since we wanted a uniform look: gardenia bouquet for the bride and one gardenia boutonniere for the groom; carnation, rose, and gerbera daisy bouquet for the bridesmaids and carnation or rose boutonniere for the groomsmen. We also wanted to make sure the boutonnieres would last the night and not get squished by excess hugging.

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There were also the mothers' corsages to consider. We wanted a pop of color and since the mothers would be wearing purple, yellow flowers would be perfect.

We also had a checklist of questions we asked that include the following:
-What is your design style and what styles do you like to work with?
-Will you be creating our arrangements or will your assistants take charge?
-Will you check that the arrangements are perfect before the ceremony and reception?
-Are you available to do a walk through before our event?
-Will you label the bouquets, bouts, and corsages?
-How many weddings do you do per weekend? Per season?
-Do you prepare floral mock-ups or trial runs?
-Do you have a minimum requirement or are you open to any budgets?
-Are you flexible with smaller budgets?
-Will you add delivery and set up fees to the proposal?

Now we wait for proposals. The proposals, answers to our questions, and their style & personality will all affect our decision.

How did you choose your florist? Do you have any tips?


Blog title is from lyrics by 311