The Essential Guide to Buying
Your Wedding Flowers
By Vanessa Gill
Copyright 2011 Vanessa Gill
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BUYING YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS
BY VANESSA GILL © COPYRIGHT VANESSA GILL 2011
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold
or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,
please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did
not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.
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Chapter One: A Good Place to Start
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Chapter Two: Choosing Style and Colours
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Chapter Four: The Consultation
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Chapter Five: Finding the Florist
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All in all, everything you need to do to get exactly what you want for your Wedding from your Florist
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Congratulations on your forthcoming Wedding!
You are about to jump on the Rollercoaster of organising, choosing, budgeting and re-budgeting, probably one of the most exciting and the most stressful times of your life!
My aim, in this Essential Guide, is to help you with just one aspect of all this, which is, in my opinion, one of the most important: your Wedding Flowers.
We will deal with style, theme and colour and how to choose the right Florist, as well as how to gather all the information into an easy-to-follow instruction manual to enable you to get it all across to the Florist, which will ensure that you get exactly what you want and that it all goes where and when you want it to on the Big Day itself (a surprising element that doesn't bite you until the day, when you really don't want to be worrying about it)
Before we begin, let me tell you a bit about myself and background in Flowers.
I am a Florist with 25 years experience in the trade, 10 of those years spent running my own Florist and Wedding retail shop based in the West Midlands. During those years, I helped dozens of Brides (and Grooms!) plan their Floral arrangements for their special Day.
In my experience, very few Brides arrive with an exact portfolio of their requirements. Most have an idea of how they want to look, or a theme they have to follow, but rely on me to advise them about shape, size, colours and varieties Many have no idea at all about flowers and one even said to me that she wanted some arrangements, but didn't like flowers so didn't want any in them at all! It never ceased to amaze me how many of them had been turned away from Florists who did not do consultations and wanted them to come prepared, knowing just what they wanted.
It is this single fact that has prompted me to write this Book. Over the next few chapters I will share with you all my experience and knowledge and show you how to bring your ideas together so that by the end, you will have a comprehensive plan to take to your Florist, who will then be able to provide you with the Floral arrangements you've always dreamed you would have on one of the biggest days of your life.
The most important thing to decide upon when you are choosing your Wedding Flowers is the Florist. We will discuss this in the final chapter, I know I just said they were the most important piece of the puzzle, yes, but once you have reached the end of the Book, you will have the means to go and find the perfect Florist with all your ideas clearly presented. I will show you what to look for and what to expect when you get there.
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You will be thinking at this point, “Recommended Equipment?” what kind of book is this?
Sorry, this is not one of those books you can just read I’m afraid.... It requires some effort on your part... although I would suggest you read the chapter A Good Place to Start first
An A4 lined pad
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A Pen or Pencil
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A Sharpie or other such marker pen
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Scissors
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A Glue Stick
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Roll of old wallpaper or several large sheets of paper
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Stack of Wedding Magazines and/or access to the internet and colour printer
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A4 Printer Paper
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Folder (wallet type - to keep your cuttings in one place)
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A picture of your Dress (or sketch) and Bridesmaids Outfits
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All will become clear, I promise!
Whether you have a clear cut, colour co-ordinated picture of your Wedding or whether you are clueless and colour blind, a Wedding Fair is a good place to start.
This can be a fantastic way to see every possible thing you will need for your Wedding all together in one place at the same time. If you choose a large fair, you may have to pay an entrance fee, but it is likely they will have regular fashion shows throughout the day and facilities for you to try on loads of dresses. If you do decide to do this, a good idea is to borrow a bouquet or two to try with them and get some idea of the shape, size and colour of the bouquet you will carry. Don’t be shy!
It is also an ideal opportunity to get to talk to the people who will be involved with your day. Many of the exhibitors will have home based businesses and will be happy to spend time listening to your plans, offering advice and showing samples. Most Florists will have a good range of their work on show. This is an ideal chance to have a good look at a potential Florists work up close. It is very unlikely (unless you walk in on the day they are doing a Wedding) that Florists will have made up bouquets for you to look at in the shop, although they should have a portfolio of their work.
Collect as many samples, brochures and more importantly, price lists, as you can. Try to make notes on these price lists about the particular Florists work. You may forget which is which and just a note about a particular arrangement or a comment about something the Florist said, looked like, wore etc will help you to remember. You could also take digital photos of their work and rename it using the Florists name.
You will often find, at most large fairs, wedding magazine companies will give away back copies and offer current subscriptions at greatly reduced prices. This is a must, as these mags can offer real treasure trove of pictures and ideas for your design boards…..
Another great place to look is, of course, the Internet. 'Google Images' is perfect, as you can see galleries and galleries of free photos of every flower, in every variety and colour you can think of, without leaving the sitting room. Sites such as ‘IPhoto’ have fantastic images for sale. I have included a research list of possible searches for you of popular varieties for Bridal Flowers at the end of this chapter. You can also try searching for 'Wedding Bouquets' and find some shapes you like. Once you’ve saved all your photos, print them out in colour and make a big pile for your design boards.
The most important thing, however, is to wait until you have bought your Dress and your Bridesmaids dresses, or are certain of your colours, before you go ahead with flowers. They will be essential to your planning and theme as they will determine your entire colour scheme. None of this will apply, of course, if you are having White or Ivory dresses for all of you, or plan to have all Ivory flowers!
So, I've been harping on about design boards for the last couple of paragraphs, so have a go at the next chapter, after the research lists.... This is where the wallpaper idea will become clearer :)
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Research Lists for Browsing Varieties
Roses
Lilies
Orchids
Varieties commonly used as a second flower
Fillers
Foliage
For a bold look, try Hydrangea heads, these come in lots of colours and can set a theme. A few tied simply with ribbon for yours and all the Bridesmaids, with one set in a glass vase on each table.
The same thing could be done with Gypsophilia Bunches of varying sizes.
I have listed the most popular and simple flowers to bring colour and contrast, however, there are many, many varieties that I haven't listed, try searching for 'Wedding Bouquets', 'Hand Tied Posy' or even just 'Wedding Flowers' and a mind blowing number will pop up in google images. A good Florist will know their varieties, or can take a copy of the picture to their wholesaler.
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A design board is a great way of working out themes and colour co-ordinating. Try to create several, go wild! They can be as complicated or simple as you want them to be, or as your creativity allows.
You will need the large pieces of thick paper or card from your equipment list or the roll of wallpaper, a suggestion from a Bride of mine, a few years ago, who used a length of wallpaper for her design board, which was great, as she wasn’t limited to the size of her paper and it rolled itself up afterwards! You will also be using scissors, your stack of magazines/ bits of fabric/ picture of your dress and bridesmaids dresses, sharpie or other such pen and a big glue stick.
Try not to think about it too much at first, just pick out everything you like, cut it out and add it to your pile of google images you made earlier. You can then go through it all and eliminate things gradually. Make good use of your free mags from the Wedding Fairs and snip out bits that you like, even if it’s just one flower or colour. If it’s a good magazine it will have a list of the flowers used underneath the photo, try to get that as well so you know your content. Don’t worry about this too much, though, your Florist should be able to identify most flowers and have a 'bible' of varieties under the counter.
First make your 'Master Board', which you will use for reference when you are working through the Chapter 'The Consultation' and will be taking it to your chosen Florist later when you go through your plans with them...Cut out and glue a picture of your Dress in the centre, then around that place pictures of the Bridesmaids Dresses, snippets of fabric or coloured paper to show your theme idea. Only put on this Master board the items that are fixed and decided upon. This is because these Dresses are essential to your theme and will determine the accent colours you use for your Flowers, favours, cake, invites etc, you see where I’m going with this. They are the aspects of the Wedding Theme that will not change. You will eventually choose just one set of your subsequent design boards to go with this Master Board.
Using your Master Board as your guide, you can make several sections of a separate design board for different looks or make lots of individual boards to choose from later. You may think I'm old fashioned, asking you to cut out pictures when I should be suggesting that you use the PC and a presentation software package, but the idea is that you can physically move small pieces of paper around the design boards and can begin to think differently when putting together your ideas.
Try grouping together your cuttings, according to the type of arrangement, colour or theme and try to include the shapes of the arrangements in each section or board. Although you may find it overwhelming at first, and it is a big job, deciding what goes with which and whether you can afford it will soon start to make sense as you see it all building in front of you. I promise you that your brainstorming will all be worth the effort! This part involves the most work, but doing your research really is the key to the whole process.
You can view images of many different shapes and styles of arrangements on the internet. Try searching for 'Shower Bouquet', 'Traditional Wedding Bouquet'; 'Contemporary Wedding Bouquet'; 'Hand Tied Posy'; 'Wedding Posy' or simply 'Wedding Flowers'. You are sure to find a shape that you like, or would like a quote on. Don’t worry about having the right flowers in the arrangement, just the shape. We will talk more about size and shape during the 'Consultation' chapter, but find out what you like first.
Lay several pieces of your paper out in front of you on the floor or table. When grouping your different cuttings together, have your Master Board in the middle for inspiration. Don't glue any of them down yet, just move the cuttings around, making different sections on the various boards for each of your arrangements. For example, One for your Bouquet, One for Bridesmaids, One for Buttonholes, for Table arrangements etc. Set your favourite looks aside on separates piece of paper/card or sections of the wallpaper. When you are happy with your boards, glue all your cuttings to them and make notes about each picture. If you have a cutting with just one flower in the middle of an arrangement that you like, circle it with your Sharpie and make a note next to it. If you like the flower, but need it in another colour, write that down too. Make your notes in a bubble with a line attaching it to the picture. You will eliminate most of the boards as you follow the rest of this Guide, but, if you need to reject a board, but still like one flower on it, snip it out or print another and add it to your favourite one. It will be less confusing for you and the Florist if you take just one set of your boards with you to go with the master board. If you are using the wallpaper idea, you can put both Master and your final flower boards on the wallpaper as one big board. Make sure you label each board in accordance with the arrangement it will correspond to. If you have just one picture per arrangement, then just use one board with all the flower pictures together, clearly labelled, circled and with your notes for each picture.
Refer to your Price Lists for a guide when doing this and remember that the guide price for an arrangement will be a starting price and will only go up! I have given a rough guide and go into much more detail in 'Budget', the next chapter, for approximate costings. For the time being, we are deciding what you would like to have, so, try not to do all the chapters in one go! There’s always room for manoeuvre later :)
Colour
Next, decide on colours.... Once your colour scheme is established, then we can search through the varieties that we know exist in the colours you want. A good Florist will come into their own, during this section. If you need help in deciding contrast colours, try a colour wheel. Lots of these are about and you can undoubtedly find one online in minutes. This, if you’ve never seen one, is a pinwheel with colours that 'go' together opposite one another, including all the differing shades.
I have listed some of the most popular colour schemes to give you an idea....
Nothing beats all Ivory for a clean, classy look, but a splash of colour contrast can look stunning. If you are having all ivory, try adding texture with different foliages or the fillers I have listed in the research list. Foliage is very underrated. Some designs I have put together over the years actually looked fantastic before the flowers went in!, but then, I am a big fan of foliage :)
Buy some coloured beads or crystals online and ask your Florist to incorporate them into your designs. This is a great way to add some colour in a very delicate way. Similarly, ribbon loops could be used to add a splash of colour. Many brides and bridesmaids dresses will need some form of alteration to them, usually the length of the dresses. Have the seamstress save this fabric, which could be used to tie the posies or little loops could be added to the content of the posy or bouquet. Then, of course, they match perfectly! If not, there are a dazzling array of ribbons at most Florist wholesalers, so a snippet of fabric can usually be matched up quite easily by your Florist if they haven’t already got something in the drawer!
There are many ways of bringing in colour to your Wedding theme. Remember, though, once you have set the theme with your flowers, to carry it throughout the Wedding. If you have a bit of purple, for example, with your lilac dresses, you could add a touch of purple here and there, to tie everything together. For example - a touch of purple on the cake, Invitations, Tables, Balloons etc.... it all helps to add to the overall effect of the day and is worth the bit of effort as all your guests will notice your cleverness :)
Once you have chosen your Bridesmaids dresses, then you could go for an accent colour for good effect. For example, for the Bride to complement her Ivory dress and the Bridesmaids lilac dresses, you could go with both those colours and a dark purple for contrast and to add depth. Similarly, yellow would be an excellent accent colour with green Bridesmaids dresses.
If your Bridesmaids are wearing dark colours, bear in mind that you will want to be able to see the flowers on your photographs. Dark colours can become 'lost' against a dark background. I would suggest, for example, to go with dark purple dresses, some hot pink and ivory with lilac or with dark green dresses, some bright yellow or orange .
This is not usually the case with lighter fabrics and flowers, especially if you use foliage amongst them.
Another idea you could think about is to swap the colours around. For example, if you have Red Bridesmaids and are wearing an Ivory Wedding Dress, you could have Red Roses for yourself and the Grooms Buttonhole and Ivory Roses for the Bridesmaids and the other Wedding Party buttonholes with mixed Red and Ivory Flowers for your tables. The possibilities are endless!
This might be the hardest section, but it’s still the most fun :)
If you have an unusual colour for a flower to match to, for example, black, gold or silver, burgundy or blue, although its not impossible, by any means, it can sometimes be costly or difficult to get the right shade, depending on the time of year.
A good way to bring these colours in is to use a chiffon ribbon in small loops through the Bouquets or around the handles. Pearls and beads also come in loads of colours and can look stunning amongst Ivory flowers. Coloured pins can add a touch of colour to Ivory Roses.
I remember once having to spray Longiflorum lilies (the trumpet ones) with black spray paint for a Wedding Bouquet! Another time, I did a dried wedding using grasses and all manner of pieces of wood and plastic sprayed bright gold. Use your imagination and don't assume you can't have the colours you want. I would go so far as to say that no colour is impossible to incorporate somewhere in the flowers.
So, hopefully, now you have your design boards, having all your ideas and snips of different flowers, shapes and now, colours in one place. This will help you enormously when putting your ideas across to your Florist, He or she will instantly be able to visualise your thoughts.
It will also help you when you get ready to tackle the next couple of chapters, the first being about setting a rough Budget. Now you are starting to see the picture building, let’s have a look at what it’s all going to cost....
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Budget – How to set your Budget
Budget is a tricky issue in many respects. You may be one of the lucky few who have a lovely, 'money's no object' budget, hurrah! But in all my 25 years experience, I have never met one of you, sadly. You may be on a very tight budget and think you will have to compromise on your quality or design, this is not always the case, but that is for another Book, coming out Spring/Summer 2012, where I will show you how to work wonders on a very tight budget. These days, when the economy is so uncertain, it is wise to be realistic. However, none of that is any of my business and so we will assume, in this ebook, an average spend.
It is best to have a rough idea of your budget for flowers at the beginning as costs will vary from Florist to Florist. Many factors will be involved including; qualifications of florists (award winning florists can charge eye watering prices for Wedding arrangements), the location of venue, distance for deliveries, there are lots of factors, so take your whole Wedding budget and give yourself a proportion to work with, deciding exactly how many arrangements you will need.