Those wedding floral centerpieces and bridal bouquets won’t arrange themselves like a vine snaking around your garden. This is why you must know how to find a wedding florist, a reliable provider of wedding flowers.
Don’t believe others who tell you that finding a wedding florist can be done a week or two before your big day. No. It takes meticulous preparation and careful planning with these individuals to give your wedding event the most unforgettable floral scene. Therefore, here’s a nine-step guide on how to choose a wedding florist.
When to Start Finding a Florist for Your Wedding?
Your mind must be preoccupied with all the things you need to consider to make your wedding day successful – the food, the invitations, the giveaways, the wedding papers, and whatnot. You also need to compose yourself as the bride or groom, right?
Then, you must also think about your wedding flowers. Choosing wedding flowers is just as crucial as planning for those listed earlier, but you can make things easier if you look for and partner with a florist for a wedding.
It is recommended to research your wedding florist about nine months before your wedding, on average, or better yet, around a year before your big day. In other words, as you already have a wedding venue and a date, you can start looking for florists. You can begin searching “wedding florist near me” on Google, but the earlier you secure a slot with your florist, the better, especially if you’re a June bride, right?
How to Find a Wedding Florist: Follow These 9 Steps
As promised, here’s a nine-step guide on how to pick a wedding florist.
Step 1: Choose a Florist That Matches Your Wedding Style
Simply look around online, and you’ll find tons of recommendations on wedding flowers, ranked according to style and season. Florists are also artists who have their own methods, techniques, and styles.
Some of them specialize in ornate centerpieces, while others treat minimalism as their friend. Thus, you must find a florist that will fit not only your wedding budget but also your wedding flower style.
Step 2: Identify the Right Floral Services for Your Needs
After knowing your style preferences, it is also important to be certain about what you need. It is important to find a florist who specializes in providing what you need. For instance, does the florist specialize in centerpieces and bouquets?
Step 3: Set a Realistic Budget for Wedding Flowers
The ballpark budget for your wedding florals is a rough estimate of their cost or value. It is vital to have a general wedding flower budget in mind before beginning to meet with a florist for a wedding.
The final price will depend on several things – the season, design requirements, flower type, style, and more – but in general, the rule of thumb is that flowers must be about 10 percent of your overall wedding budget unless you want to cut costs on other important matters for the wedding, which you do not want.
Step 4: Understand the Difference Between Florists and Floral Designers
This is where most clients commit mistakes. A floral designer is responsible for curating the design and working with a vendor team. Meanwhile, a florist for a wedding is more likely working out of a brick-and-mortar shop, selling arrangements like à la carte meals. So, most likely, you will need to coordinate with several florists to come up with every flower you need for your wedding.
Step 5: Explore Florist Options Online and Through Recommendations
Here is where things can get complicated. Nowadays, when looking for something, where do you usually turn to? Google, right? You search for terms like “wedding florist near me.” This is a very reliable method, but don’t underestimate the power of asking your friends who have held their weddings before and consulting with your networks, such as your co-workers. They may provide you with leads.
Step 6: Schedule a Consultation With Your Top Choices
Choosing wedding flowers and speaking with a florist for a wedding is like partnering with an architect and an engineer for your new property. You’ve got to arrange a consultation first. This consultation is crucial as both of you will talk about your needs and whether they can provide them or not. While you can meet virtually or over the phone, in-person consultations are still better.
Step 7: Reviewing Design Proposals Before Committing
After the consultation, the florist will hand over a design proposal or mood board outlining their ideas and estimated cost. There are still no required commitments at this stage, except that you must have an open mind because the last thing you want to happen is to sign the contract only to find out that you don’t agree on some parts. Schedule a second meeting when necessary.
Step 8: Ask the Right Questions Before Finalizing a Contract
At this point, you are steps closer to realizing your vision and bringing it to life. It is recommended that you ask more questions. The more inquisitive you are, the better. Some of the crucial questions to ask are:
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How many weddings does the florist work on per weekend?
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Will they personally be present to oversee your event installation, or will they send someone else from their team?
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Who will be handling the clean-up?
You can add more.
Step 9: Make the Final Decision and Secure Your Florist
Sit down with your partner over coffee or dinner and talk about the flowers on the side. Do both of you agree with their terms? If you are satisfied, you will need to get back to your florist, for they will turn the terms into a formal contract. Once handed over to you, be sure to read it in full before signing it. Once signed, the work will commence, and there’s no holding back.
How Much Should a Wedding Florist Cost?
Wedding florist costs vary from $500 to $5,000+, depending on location, flower types, arrangements, season, and customization preferences.
Looking for a Wedding Florist in Miami?
After you have signed the contract with the florist, the only thing you can do is to prepare yourself for what they will create. You’ve done your part, and now, have them do theirs, too. Those are your nine steps to finding a wedding florist.
Are you looking for a wedding florist in Miami? Neroli Blume creates stunning, customized floral arrangements to make your big day unforgettable. Contact them today for a consultation and bring your dream wedding to life!
