Your best flower tip?

Knot Annie

Hey All,

I’m looking for your very specific planning tips for flowers and finding a florist and finding wedding flowers that you love. We’ll use some of these in the magazine and your Knot name. What's your best tip?

Knot Annie

future-mrs

Go with what you can afford.  Flowers are and can still be beautiful on a budget.  Think about DIY if need be.

kmetzger0389

Stick to your budget! You don't have to go overboard with flowers. There are so many centerpiece alternatives, try something different I'm using preserved flowers in my centerpieces, they are much less expensive and they look nice.

nicholestranz

Before meeting with a florist, make a list of all the flower elements you will need; Centrepieces, bouquets etc... Go with feature flowers that are in season and limit the variety's you select to help keep you on a budget.

Jaytee501

Save pictures of floral arrangements you like to give your florist an idea of what textures and shapes appeal to you. You may prefer a loosely-tied, natural look to a tight, well-rounded bouquet. Visuals help!

Muffin'sMom

In season flower picks are the only way to go!  They will save you a ton of money and look better.  We also picked a florist who had done work that we had seen and LOVED.  So, we gave her general guidelines on size, style and pricepoint, and only one specific request, that the bridal bouquet have a couple of yellow roses, and then we let her do what she is does best.  Everything was beautiful!

Ayla10

If you find a good florist who comes highly recommended, you've seen examples of their work, and are comfortable with them - DON'T be afraid to give them some freedom with creativity. We had a great and well-respected florist in the community. I basically told her what flowers I'd like to use, what type of vases for the centerpieces, and she came up with the rest. It was stunning! The morning of the wedding, she also threw in a different type of flower (that I'd never heard of or seen before) as an accent flower because she thought it would make the look more layered- it was gorgeous, and I never would have thought to do something like it.

APW2010

I think the first thing is - don't feel like you have to do flowers! Even though I'm not much of a flower person, I rushed into choosing a florist and picked floral centre pieces because it seemed like what you had to do. Even though I really like them, since then I've had several other ideas for center pieces that would probably have suited us and our theme better.

As for choosing a florist, make sure you find someone who has examples of work similar to what you want. If you feel comfortable and trust them, let their experience and expertise work for you and they'll come up with something more beautiful than you could have imagined.

TwoBridesNYC

Buy your own centerpiece containers-glass bowls, vases or whatever you'd like to use.  We found rustic wood boxes at a floral supply store for $5-$6 which leaves almost our entire floral budget for the flowers.  The florist was showing us options that we similar to what we found but 3 to 4 times the cost.

iarguello

DIY! It's cost effective and if you're nervous, use roses...they last such a long time (with a spritz of hairspray) and are in season in most places year round.

schadbourne

make sure you or your fiance especially is not allergic to any of the flowers you use! My fiance was being a great guy two days ago and bought me a wonderful 20 dollar flower arrangement, turns out he was highly allergic to the flowers and we had to put it outside! I do not want that on the wedding day so we will be doing lots of little samples to make sure he is not affected by the flowers (thank goodness we know he isnt allergic to roses)

kayla.tastikk

Don't be intimidated into thinking you have to do real flowers, or flowers at all. Be you and stick to your budget.

jboldtWed28472

One of my main regrets were flowers. The job my florist did was so dissapointing when I saw it really ruined my happy moment! she brought in the buquets i couldn't believe it, mine was supposed to be large to XL, it was a small one and flowers were not fresh, messy ribbon wrapped aound it. the bridesmaids had simple arrangements, theirs were $40-60, nothing like i showed her or talked about it, was really hurt about it and still trying to let it go!
I was mad did not think of this before. you can order on proflowers or some flower website and use their premade big arrangements as centerpieces. for buquets, go to a central market or market street where they always have big fresh flowers. put it together yourself with your bridesmaids. wrap a ribbon around the stems decorate with a broach, each buquet will be less than $20. I could have been so much happier by spending so much less for better by making my own buquets than what my florist did. and her shop was highly rated on the knot!

SarahSmile23

don't be afraid of "cheap" flowers like carnations; when carnations are bunched together, they resemble peonies for a fraction of the cost!

CA2MT4EveR

Don't DIY unless you KNOW what you are doing.  Flowers are messy and take a lot more work and supplies than you think.  It's a time consuming task and should only be done a day or two before the wedding.  Only use actual floral supples, not household items. (NO on hairspray!)

Keep in mind that many of the photos you see online and in magazines are silk flowers.  You may find a photo you love and want a replica of those flowers.  Your florist should get as close to possible as the photo depicts, but if it was a silk, it will not be the same.

Using silk flowers will not always save you money.  Yes, you can get a coupon weekly from Michaels, or you can hit the 50% off rack here and there at Hobby Lobby.  But to get a high quality silk flower, you often spend more than you would on a real flower.  Then what are you going to do with the flowers after the fact?  I kept a silk bouquet from a wedding I was a BM in for a couple years.  I toted it around in moves before finally just throwing it away.  I felt guilty wondering if my friend would ever ask to see it when she came over, then I got over it and threw it away. And if you use silk for your centerpieces, what are you going to do with those?  You may get a person or two who does want to take them home, but you are still left with 25 others.  The best thing to do there is donate them to nursing homes.

Don't rely on online retailers to send you bulk flowers for your DIY project.  They can come in wilted or the wrong color and you are stuck figuring out what to do.  Just support your local retailer and know that you will be getting the quality you want.

JenO24

Search through pictures online of possible flowers that you like and bring them to your meeting w/ a potential florist.  Let them know your budget, low ball the pricing so you're able to go up a little if need be, but don't let them know that.  Figure out what all you need and let the florist know (like X amt of BM bouquets, X amt of GM bouts, how many family bouts you'll need- men vs women, how many centerpieces you'll need if you're doing florals, etc).  The more info you're able to tell a florist the better ballpark quote they can give you.  Talk/meet w/ more than one florist before you make your decision.  Make sure the florist has plenty of photos to show you in their portfolio to see how they're work looks...should have a few books to show at the least.

puokgirl

Let your florist know what you DON'T like as well as what you DO like. 

Don't feel like you have to go with pastel colors if brights are your passion.

The color of your flowers doesn't have to match the color of your dress or the wedding party's clothes.  My colors are royal blue and silver, but our bouquets will have circus roses (orange with red tips) and a mix of other colors with only a touch of blue. 

Be up front about your budget, but also be realistic.  Give your florist a bit of leeway with figuring out how to make your order work within your budget.

whirlybird27

Ask around and see if anyone you know has experience working with flowers. That's what we are doing. A church friend is learning how to arrange flowers as an after-retirement hobby and does beautiful work! We get her artistic eye for the price of the flowers and she adds to her portfolio. Win-win!