Most of our couples have never thrown a party the scale of their wedding before. They aren’t professional event planners and they don’t host 100s of their closest friends to dinner every month. So why do we expect our couples to know all the steps they need to go through to book all of their wedding vendors? Hell why do we expect them to even know what kind of wedding vendors they need? You’ll find tons of information on how to book a wedding florist that fits your style and budget below so don’t get overwhelmed, we are here to help. Once you are done reading all about how to choose your ideal wedding florist, check out our “Services” page to see if we are the right fit for you.

Here’s an overview of the timeline:

Let’s all agree that a year is the standard length for an engagement. Sure, some people can plan a wedding in 3 months and tons of our couples have had to postpone their wedding multiple years because of COVID but on average most couples take about a year. First up, you should book your planner and your wedding venue. These two wedding vendors are going to set the tone and budget for your event. Caveat, if flowers are the be all end all most important thing to you for your wedding, by all means reach out to us first, we love talking to couples super stoked on floral design.

Given that you are working with a fabulous planner; they probably have pointed you in the direction of some floral designers they think fit your wedding. Check out their website. You should be able to see a portfolio showing their style and abilities. There should be different events that showcase a few color palettes, aesthetics, and locations. Check out their Instagram. Do you get a sense for who they are or does it feel impersonal? Your wedding vendors are going to be a big part of your day going exactly how you imagined so try to find a florist that feels like a friend and an expert.

So between 6 months and 1 year, you should be hiring your wedding florist. Especially if you are getting married in the busy seasons, aka spring and fall, plan closer to that year mark to ensure you aren’t hearing a lot of “all booked up” responses. For us, our busiest months are April – June and September – November. If you are planning in the off season, it will be way easier to accommodate those shorter timelines.

Credit: Kate Simon Photography

Budgeting for your Wedding Florist:

Now since you have already hired your planner and you have already chosen your venue, chances are you have a general sense of what your overall wedding budget is going to be. When you are looking at that wedding budget, plan on allocating between 10-20% on your wedding flowers. Some fast math for everyone following along (with round numbers because ya girl is not good at doing math in her head), for a $100,000 wedding budget with a 100-person guest list, that equals between $10-20k on wedding flowers. You’ll get a more detailed sense of how that budget gets allocated in your floral proposal (what your wedding florist will send you after your consultation call) but for us that means ceremony flowers, personal flowers, and reception flowers plus rentals of all our fabulous candles, vases, arbors etc AND full service delivery and breakdown.

Most floral designers will have an inquiry sheet on their website. Please fill it out. A detailed inquiry form allows us to jump right in to your consultation process and not have to bug you with a million questions like; what is your partner’s name or when are you getting married. We pride ourselves on being super responsive so our timeline from inquiry to proposal is usually less than a week. We know how stressful it is planning a wedding, especially if you are stuck in email limbo waiting on responses from 10 different wedding vendors and we never want to add to that stress.

You’ll see the space on our “inquiry form” to link to a Pinterest board or upload some inspiration photos. We love photos. Florals are such a visual medium that it can be super hard to communicate in words. But let’s all agree that these are inspiration not carbon copies. No two events will ever be the same so when you are looking at Pinterest try to identify what you like about a photo. Is it the shape or the colors or the texture? Instead of “I want you to recreate this exactly” let’s go for “I love this vibe or aesthetic how can we incorporate it into my wedding”.

After filling out the inquiry form, you should get a response in a day or two. If a vendor is taking super long to respond to emails that is probably going to be the case throughout the whole process. Once they respond, you will be scheduling your consultation call. We conduct most of our consultation calls on the phone or over Zoom to accommodate everyone’s schedule but we are always down for an in person meeting, don’t tempt us with a good time and a cute coffeehouse!

Credit: Kate Simon Photography

The Booking Process:

Our consultation calls are usually about an hour. We like to first get to know you a little as a couple so it is great if both of you can be on the call. We want to hear about how you met, how you got engaged, your dog’s name and the silly hobby you both share. We are designing wedding flowers that feel like you so it’s so important that we know who you are as people not just checking off lists of arrangements. Then we get to brass tacks, how big your wedding party is, do you have round tables or rectangles, are you disco ball people? You know, the important things.

Once we get off the phone, we start creating your floral proposal. Your floral proposal should have pictures, examples of flowers that should be in season, descriptions of the color palette and aesthetic, examples of the vases, compotes, and candles that will be elevating your design and pricing information. You should feel like you have a full understanding of what you are being promised. We promise at most a week’s turnaround time for your wedding proposal. Let us know you received it and any questions that we haven’t fully answered. Until we have a signed contract and deposit paid your date is not held so be sure to communicate with us your timeline for booking. You can take as long as you like to weigh all your options but just know that we can’t hold your date.

But since we have taken the time to learn the nitty gritty about you and your wedding, chances are you love your proposal and you want to book us. Yay! We will send over our contract and an invoice. All we require is a 50% deposit and a signed contract to guarantee you will have the most fabulous wedding flowers. Between signing and your wedding date, we are here for you as much or as little as you need. At the very least, we will check in with you in the 2 month out range to get final guest counts and any changes to the design plan. We can accommodate changes up to 1 month before your wedding date. That means you could go from an all-white color palette to neon yellows and we will make it happen. Although if you are making a drastic change like that, let us know as soon as you know J At that 1 month mark, your final payment is due and we are full steam ahead.

Credit: Kate Simon Photography

Hiring the right wedding florist is a big factor to the look and feel of your wedding. It can be an overwhelming piece because it is a part of almost every moment of your wedding day. Your wedding florist should be your guide through this, helping you figure out who needs a boutonniere (hint its less people than you think) and what flowers are in season. When you are ready to start the fun part of wedding planning, fill out our “inquiry form” and let’s get chatting!