Bridal Blooms
Sure, dress and the location are key, but it’s the flowering accessories that make a wedding blossom
By Darcel Rockett
CTW Features
Selecting a florist entails knowing your wedding venue, first, and asking the manager of your reception site for a list of recommended floral vendors that are familiar with the space, second. Some wedding locations may require you to work with specific florists. Be sure to ask.
If you don’t mesh with the recommended florist, share your concerns. Most of the time, management will work with you to accommodate your wishes, but they may require more from you if you want to use your own florist, like extra insurance or an added fee.
Friends, family members or a great local hotel where you’ve noticed great flowers are helpful resources. If a florist doesn’t stand out after your research, talk to a wedding planner or ask other players in the wedding (baker, photographer) for suggestions.
When armed with a list of potentials, call each florist with a list of what you might need for your reception venue and the number of tables. Then, narrow your options to a few based on who you think understands your ideas, and arrange an in-person meeting. Make sure to tell them basic information about the wedding location, which can entail the flow or movement of guests from one space to another, table sizes and shapes and decorative focal points, such as dramatic staircases and fireplaces. The basics will help convey your overall vision and ensure an accurate budget quote. Request detailed proposals with labor and delivery costs from at least two or three florists so that you can compare prices, and so you don’t encounter hidden charges later on.
Choose your Blooms
According to Karen Bussen, a New York-based floral designer and author of “Simple Stunning Wedding Flowers” (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2006) your wedding flowers should enhance the mood of your event.
“The overall effect is more significant than the exact type of flower,” she says. “For example, if you envision an English garden, but peonies are too expensive, there are many other varieties that will give the same feeling.”
Bussen suggests going through design magazines and pulling out photographs of situations that present a mood you find appealing – be it a room in a house or an actual floral arrangement, before talking to your florist. Pulling out pictures of things you don’t like also can help your florist eliminate dozens of options and focus their ideas about what to present to you. Remember that it’s less about botany and more about feel, so it’s not important that you know every possible type of flower. If they suggest a flower you don’t know, simply ask to see a picture. You can plan to spend 5 to 25 percent of your budget on all things floral, depending on your decorative choices. Consider your priorities and needs, and be as specific as possible.
“Just make sure your flowers match the tone you have set with your choice of dress and location,” says Bussen.
But remember rules are made to be broken, on this of all days. So, if your dress is simple and you want to carry a lavish bouquet, do it. It’s your day.
Meaningful Accents
Bridal bouquets can be hand-tied, cascading and on-the-arm (for bigger flowers or those with longer stems), but regardless of what you opt for, the presentation can be much more meaningful if you add a creative accent to your handheld flora.
• Tie a handkerchief that belongs your mother or someone special in your life around the stems, which comes in hand for tears and nervous palms.
• Wire beads or crystals on the hand held part of the bouquet. After the wedding, have them strung on a bracelet or pendant for a keepsake.
• Make a wish bouquet, where each bridesmaid writes a wish for you on a small piece of paper, folds it into a ribbon-like strip, then pins or ties the wishes into your bouquet for good luck. After the ceremony, save them for your scrapbook.
