Wedding Flowers & Décor: The Professionals' Advice

An insider's perspective on planning your wedding decor & flowers

Tips & advice by leading wedding professionals

~ compiled by Geneve McNally

Flowers and décor are such an important part of any wedding reception. They bring life to the event and really help determine the look and feel a client is going for. Professionally presented, good quality, fresh flowers are not cheap so to prevent any unfavorable situations of miscommunication or disappointment on the wedding day follow some of these guidelines to ensure a happy outcome. Take advantage of the time you have with your florist in your consultation by coming prepared. Bring along magazine tear outs, notes, and color swatches to help the florist fully understand your preferences and expectations. Once you have hired your florist and relayed your vision, it must then be about trust. True wedding florists are artists, not order takers, and telling them that a centerpiece must have exactly 9 red roses and 7 pink ones and must be exactly 12 inches high takes out all the fun in brining to life an extraordinary arrangement. As long as you have shared with them what is most important to you, you should trust that the florist will be able to exceed your expectations by delivering an even more fabulous end result than you could have ever imagined.

Major holidays will increase the price of flowers - most often the two weeks prior and one week after the holiday itself. Especially if the colour is one that is popular during that holiday i.e. red and white at Christmas, white (especially lilies) at Easter, orange or red at Thanksgiving, red at Valentines, etc. These increases are not set by the florist but by the law of supply and demand so Bride's looking to stretch their budget should steer clear of any holidays.

Consultations are so important. Bring anything and everything that has caught your eye with you, even if you hate it. Sometimes a florist can guide the bride in the right direction just by knowing the types of things they hate. Also, ask if the person you are consulting with is going to be the person actually doing the work and putting together the arrangements. Details can get lost in translation so you want to be sure you are relaying your ideas to the right person.

Research your florist. All florists get their flowers from the same places but each one of us is as individual as the bride herself and not every florist takes as much pride or care in making their arrangements as others. Also, price will affect the product. If a florist is quoting $20 for a centerpiece that another florist quoted $40 for there is a reason for it! Most likely the "behind the scenes" efforts that help make an arrangement as perfect as it should be are not being utilized. i.e. life lengthening products, glues to ensure that arrangements don't fall apart in transport, proper storage temperatures, etc.

Lastly, have a realistic budget. Do not expect to have a whole wedding done in roses, orchids, callas and stephanotis for a couple hundred dollars. Have a budget in mind and a list of what you want and bring that with you. A good florist should be able to tell you what is realistic and what is not and work with you to get what you need in a price range that works for both of you. And when shopping around make sure you are comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

Geneve McNally is one of two Principal Planners of DreamGroup Productions Wedding & Event Planners in Vancouver, BC. Geneve and her business partner, Sarah Shore, created DreamGroup in the Summer of 2004 and now represent one of the top planning companies in the city executing over 60 weddings and special events annually. In her "spare" time Geneve teaches Wedding Planning at Vancouver Community College and also writes for several local publications. She is happily married and the proud mother of two year old son, Harrison Law.