Our First Consultation With a Florist

The one aspect of wedding planning that had me the most worried was the flowers. I know nothing about flowers, we have a tiny budget for flowers, florists’ websites are generally vague when it comes to useful info, florists themselves always want to arrange a face-to-face consultation before they give you any numbers/ideas, etc., etc.

I had started making a shortlist of possible florists back in January but then stopped when I found out that our venue, the Berkeley, now had a preferred florist and not using her would result in us incurring extra fees. Shawn pointed out that since our original contract says we can hire whoever we want, we shouldn’t have to incur those fees if we go with an outside person but I said I was fine with this new arrangement and am actually quite happy that the Berkeley now has a preferred florist. I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to get some kind of comparable quotes out of florists and really, unless you’re DingIY or have some kind of inside connection, all florists are expensive.

We met with Jenn, the preferred florist last night and things went pretty smooth. She’s been working with flowers for a few years now, loves doing weddings and her website is currently under construction. She was quite friendly, great with my psycho dog and not at all offended that I know nothing about flowers and that we weren’t spending a ton of money of them.

She came prepared with a bunch of magazines and her own portfolio though we only ever looked at the portfolio. I had a few clippings that we looked at and she gently broke the news that the only flower I really liked, something called a Picasso lily, is really expensive. So we talked about a few other options such as callas lilies as well as great bang-for-your-buck flowers such as hydrangeas.

While I had an idea for our escort card table (which I’m now re-thinking), Shawn and I were wide open to suggestions for everything else and Jenn came up with a great one that involves two giant water-filled vases that can do double-duty for the ceremony and the head table.

Jenn is now preparing a quote for us though I think I’ll email her this weekend with some ideas that I now have. I spent most of our meeting being really vague and saying useful things like, “Whatever you think works best” and “We’re open to whatever” but as soon as she left I started picturing what I wanted.

Here are a few basic bits of info you should know before you meet with any florists.

1. Colour scheme and how much you care about it


2. Date
   
3. Venue location
   
4. Theme/feeling/ambience


5. What you’re going to need flowers for, complete with numbers (so number of centrepieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, etc.)
   
6. Any flower preferences


7. Any flower dislikes


8. Any “shape” preferences


9. Any venue restrictions (no open flames or no water for example)


10. And most importantly, budget

Over the weekend I’ll get a post up with some links to some useful flower-related sites along with my original florist shortlist.