How many florists

kgrawedding

How many florists did you or would you recommend meeting with?  Two, three, more?  I have a slightly sticky situation in that the church requires we use a certain florist for altar flowers, however, after reading the Florist vs Teleflora thread below, I think I want to go with a separate florist for the bridal party flowers, etc. because the person's website only has FTD flowers.  I was thinking of getting a florist for the other flowers, and then closer to the wedding call the church's florist and say we are getting married and using these types/colors please, please, please do something similar (we are required to pay the florist directly, so I think we should get some consideration).  The church hasn't had a wedding in over a year and I am one of two weddings this year, so I'm not sure how much experience the church's florist has with wedding flowers.

fallbride1109

I met with 3 and had a 4th scheduled but she ended up not being available on my date.  I think 3 is a good number.

I have never heard of a church having a specific florist.  I would definitely want a consultation with them as well.

Maggie0829

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_flowers_how-many-florists?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:28Discussion:b088bfcc-4f9d-4de7-9f82-8d02b5c36a64Post:fe133be9-80ef-47c7-920b-1065eb273f65">How many florists</a>:
[QUOTE]How many florists did you or would you recommend meeting with?  Two, three, more?  I have a slightly sticky situation in that the church requires we use a certain florist for altar flowers, however, after reading the Florist vs Teleflora thread below, I think I want to go with a separate florist for the bridal party flowers, etc. because the<strong> person's website only has FTD flowers</strong>.  I was thinking of getting a florist for the other flowers, and then closer to the wedding call the church's florist and say we are getting married and using these types/colors please, please, please do something similar (we are required to pay the florist directly, so I think we should get some consideration).  The church hasn't had a wedding in over a year and I am one of two weddings this year, so I'm not sure how much experience the church's florist has with wedding flowers.
Posted by kgrawedding[/QUOTE]

1) You shouldn't just go by what is on a florists website.  A lot of times they just use a generic FTD or Telefora website and slap their name on it because florists best advertisement is their work at events and word-of-mouth recommendations.  You should always talk to friends and family in the area to see if they would suggest certain florists.

2)  Just because the church hasn't done many weddings in the past year or so doesn't mean that the florist they use hasn't done many weddings.  The florist isn't tied to only doing wedding flowers for that church and not anything else...if that was the case the florist would be out of business.

I would recommed seeing 3 florists.  You need to actually go in and see what their store looks like and look at pictures of events that they have done.  Just because they may associate with Telefora or FTD does not mean that those are the only arrangements they do.  Florists actually welcome customers who want to stay away from the FTD/Telefora box because they can actually stretch their design muscles and do something creative for a change.

I would suggest getting recommendations from your local board, friends and family members who may have used a florist or two in the area.

jagore08

I agree with pp about not going by the florist website.  My florists site looked like it was stuck in the 80s but my venue had pictures of flowers from recent weddings she had done and they looked so much better than what I saw on her site.

As far as how many you should meet with, that's up to you and your preferences.  I only met with my florist.  She had what I wanted (and more) for under my budget.  All of my vendors I had already booked had worked with her and recommended her shop.  I was happy with that and didn't see the need to meet with anyone else.