When booking a florist for a wedding event for you or your friend, timing is everything. When is starting a meeting with florists too early? How late is too late? In this guide, you will know the most pertinent details about when to book wedding florists so your flowers are fresh and right for the occasion. Let’s get to it.
Things to Finalize Before Booking a Wedding Florist
Photo: Lifelong Photography Studios
Believe it or not, the actual start of booking a wedding florist isn’t the day you begin your conversation or phone call with them. Rather, it starts from the moment you need to iron out details before the official signing of documents. Here are the most important things to finalize before booking a florist for a wedding:
The Wedding Date
Plain, simple, and straightforward. Never dial the number of the wedding florist or send them an email without a wedding date first. Florists cannot work blindfolded. The only way to ensure they can work efficiently and deliver the freshest flowers is to decide on your wedding date before calling them.
The reason for this is very direct. If you jump to meeting with them without a wedding date, you are just plunging into scheduling conflicts. The last thing you want to happen is to find out the florist isn’t available once you have made up your mind about a wedding date and informed them later on.
Your Wedding and Floral Budget
The same goes for your wedding and floral budget. Without a budget prepared and having spoken with the florist, you are just leading them to become annoyed at you if, all of a sudden, you realize your budget isn’t enough for their price. It’s like window shopping without actually checking out products. That can be irritating and frustrating for the store owner, right?
Now, if you do not have the budget yet, but the wedding date is fast approaching, it is safe to say to allot eight to 10 percent of your total budget to flowers. This is proven and tested. For ease, it is recommended to do your homework and research first.
Your Wedding Style
Next up are your wedding style and preferences. Even if you have the date and money finalized, without a clear vision of what you want to see, you are just playing it with your potential florist without getting serious about hiring them.
Don’t worry because this vision doesn’t have to be specific from the minute you meet with them. However, there should already be colors, formality, venue compatibility, and the number of guests in mind. Keep the theme at the forefront of your mind, too. These shall give the florists a blueprint of how they can get started, rather than telling them, “We have no idea yet.” You can’t expect them to read your mind.
The Venue
For example, when planning your wedding date, it is necessary to have your venue finalized and booked before contacting a wedding florist. Finalizing and booking your venue must be done as soon as you’ve decided on a date. This is ideally nine to 12 months before your celebration, yes. This should also have a dual purpose in case the venue you are targeting isn’t available or is booked by another couple. You do not want to tell your florist you’re changing venues, especially if they’ve already plotted the flowers for that space.
So, be sure to tick off those things on your checklist before phoning a florist for a wedding.
When Should You Book a Florist for Your Wedding?
Photo: Freepik
How far in advance should book a florist for a wedding? Some schools of thought say it’s around six to nine months, but to make sure no hitches will happen along the way, it’s really between nine to 12 months or a year. Here’s why.
10 to 12 Months Prior
At this point, this is not to be strict, but there should already be a wedding date and venue. You must also use this time frame to find florists online and compile a list of those that pique your interest. You can chat with them or engage in an email exchange. Ask them what their offers and their prices are. Canvas and compare.
After initial conversations, personally meet with the top three choices on your list. Considering your schedule must match theirs, this stage may take a few weeks.
9 to 10 Months Before the Wedding
Notice that in this guide, you won’t get details about six months or three months out. Rather, between the ninth and 10th month before the big wedding day, you must book your wedding florist. However, consider peak wedding seasons like June, so if you are planning to get married at this time, you may even book more than 10 months prior.
How to Brief Your Wedding Expectations to the Florist
Photo: Mary Costa Photography
You don’t want conflicts to arise when communicating with your florist, especially when your wedding day is approaching, so know how to brief them concerning your wedding expectations.
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Relay your vision and theme with them: These constitute the overall theme, color palette, and aesthetics. You can share inspiring photos, mood boards, storyboards, and Instagram clips of your desired floral arrangements.
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Specify key floral elements: There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to floral pieces. Specify which particular flowers you want, your seasonal preferences, and allergy considerations.
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Set your budget and logistics: Lay down your budget with them and try to negotiate if they can adjust the price a bit according to what’s convenient for both of you.
When Should Flowers Be Delivered for a Wedding?
So, your wedding day has arrived. Should you expect to see the flowers already set up the night before the wedding? Or perhaps an hour before the ceremony? What’s the real score on this?
Wedding flowers should be delivered on the wedding day, ideally two to three hours before the ceremony. Bouquets and boutonnieres should arrive first for photos, while venue arrangements should be set up just before guests arrive.
If the wedding is early, flowers can be delivered the night before and stored in a cool place. Confirm with the florist to ensure freshness and proper setup timing. But then, this is on a case-to-case basis. You’ve most likely seen some weddings of your friends when there are already some flowers set up the night before, during the wedding rehearsals.
For captivating wedding flowers that are delivered fresh to you on the day of your wedding, check out the catalog of Neroli Blume. Subscribe to email information on special offers, updates, holiday specials, and behind-the-scenes looks.
