Choosing your wedding suppliers can be pretty daunting! With so many businesses out there how to do find the perfect wedding florist for you?! Here are my top 3 things to consider before booking your wedding florist.
1. Do you like their style?
This is definitely the *most important* question to ask yourself! As tempting as it can be to choose suppliers based on budget alone, I would strongly advise against it - it usually ends in disappointment (if a price looks to good to be true, it probably is!). Check out your florist's website and social media pages, and take a look at their portfolio. If you love their work, enquire. If not, keep looking.
I would also advise against getting quotes from every florist in your area. All florists have their own style and so it is very difficult to directly compare quotes. For example, Florist A might charge £100 for a traditional ivory bouquet containing roses and one other type of flower. Whereas Florist B might charge £150 for a relaxed garden style bouquet, but theirs contains 5 varieties of locally sourced flowers as well as luxury garden roses. Neither is right or wrong, and neither is trying to rip you off. It just depends which style you prefer and what your budget allows.
2. Are they available and willing to travel to your venue?
Some florists have a set radius which they are happy to cover, others require a higher minimum spend for further locations and some are happy to work further away as long as you pay for delivery. It's always worth asking to be sure.
3. Do they have a minimum spend?
This is one that I think a lot of couples don't consider... mainly because it's a little complicated - so bear with me!
Some florists (usually those with a physical shop) are more than happy to create a single wedding bouquet and buttonhole, but others require you to spend a minimum amount with them. This is due to the amounts that the florist is required to purchase from the flower wholesalers - those with a physical shop may be able to sell any additional flowers as gift bouquets etc, but if you are hiring a wedding specialist, without a shop premises, they will need you to order enough designs to use everything that they are required to purchase.
If an order requires 9 roses in a mix of three different colours, a florist can not simply order 3 of each colour and be done with it. They are required to purchase a certain amount of each variety... And to make it even more complicated still, the amounts change dependant on the item, we call these "wraps".
Most flowers tend to be sold in "wraps" of 20, 25, 50, 100 or even 200. Whereas, garden roses are typically sold in wraps of 12, 24 and higher! Foliage is a whole other ball game as this is typically sold in weighted bunches...
The long and short of this is, ordering flowers is complicated. Your florist has will need a variety of different flowers to create the designs for your wedding and so many set a minimum spend.
The main takeaway from this is; don't assume. Approach a florist whose work you love and ask about their usual wedding process. They will be more than happy to talk you through their preferred method of working and if you have any further questions - go ahead and ask! There are no silly questions here!
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