Twelve Things To Consider When Choosing Your Wedding Florist:
We understand planning and paying for wedding flowers can be a big investment. There are many good online sources that help walk you through choosing a florist for your wedding flowers. Here are a 12 tips from our perspective that we think will be useful during your search.
- Ask your friends and/or family members who they used in the past. What did they like or not like about the florist they used?
- If you are using an event center ask them who they recommend.
- Does the florist have experience with the event center? This can be helpful because they know the center, staff and how well the flowers will hold up during different times of the year and location (outside/inside)
- Does the florist have good online reviews and reputation?
- Can the florist show you pictures of their own personal work?
- Is the florist booked for several events on the same day? (Too many events on the same day can be problematic if you have issues with your flowers and need the florist to come back to fix something.)
- Will the florist deliver, help with set-up, and pin on corsages and boutonnieres?
- Do you feel comfortable with the florist and do you feel like they share your vision?
- Does the florist offer a free consultation and estimate?
- When you meet with your florist do they seem attentive, helpful, and interested?
- If your dream flowers are over budget does your florist offer alternatives so you can get the look you want and stay within your budget?
- Does the florist have reasonable booking and cancelation policies?
A final word of advice when comparing florists estimates. We hope you visit more than one florist before choosing the right one for your wedding flowers. However, make sure you are not just comparing on price. It is very easy for one florist to take the estimate from a previous florist and shave costs with fewer flowers, different flowers, inferior flowers, or lack of services (like staying to pin on boutonnieres and corsages) and try to convince you the “other” florist did not know what they are doing. Steer clear of any florist that talks bad about their competition. This is a sign they are trying to make themselves look good at the expense of someone else. Do you want this type of negative person working for you at one of the biggest days of your life? Their work should speak for itself without having to talk bad about the competition. Make sure you compare “apples to apples” with your wedding estimates. Know what you are getting for you money. And if everything looks very similar, then go with the florist you feel most comfortable with, shares your vision, and has the best reputation.
A friend of mine is getting ready to have her wedding, and she was thinking about having quite a bit of flowers at the venue. Since she doesn’t really deal with flowers often, we wanted to know how you would choose the right person for the job. I love your point about seeing if the florist offers a free consultation and estimate! I know that she would want to see how much it’s going to cost from a few different options.
Hi Frank, thanks for writing. The best florist should be familiar with the venue, staff, and location. If the florist is not familiar with the location they need to do a sight visit and get to know the staff and location. It is important to know which flowers will do well in the environment where the event will take place. Is it inside, outside, is there shade, and how much set up time will you have? The time of year is also very important. Will the flowers have a good water source? If it is in the summer and outside consider flowers that do well in heat. Also the florist should consider how long the event will last. Finally, I encourage the customer to get at least two estimates. We want our wedding clients to be happy with our service, quality, and price over other florists they may have considered before they choose us.