Weddings are uniquely beautiful, and precious occasions, and of course, flowers play an essentially glorious part in making a wedding visually aesthetically beautiful. The journey to making your dream flowers a reality is months long (unless of course, you’re one of the spontaneous few).
As a bride-to-be, you will already have an idea of the type of wedding flowers you’d love. You probably know your colour palate, your favourite style, and flower. You may already have a Pinterest board, or multiple corners of a bridal magazine turned over, all of beautiful glossy coloured photos of your dream flowers, your dress, and your wedding theme.
Choosing a florist is based on a particular flair and style you love, or because you know them personally, or they come with a recommendation, or often realistically your budget.
These things are just the beginning.
An extended conversation with your florist is begun and leads right up until your wedding – beyond, in many cases.
Your first communication with me as your florist is most likely to be a contact form on a website, or a visit to my workshop. I confirm the date set is available, and after some calculation, give you an initial idea of what your dream flowers may cost. You accept the estimate quote and then we enter a florist-bride relationship for the next however many months leading up to your wedding day.
I love weddings. I get excited about your flowers from day one, often going back to my notes to remember what we have discussed and to begin visualizing how they will come together. I love to work with you as the Bride, to get to know you a little, and to make your dream come true.
I send out a Wedding Consultation Form which contains all the details about the wedding – place, date, time, wedding theme or style – then the specific information required for the flowers – number of bridesmaids bouquets and groomsmen buttonholes needed, corsages, ceremony flowers, table flowers, installations, flower crowns, cake flowers, and so on...
Once this has been returned, I pour over all this information, most times followed by a video call or personal get together, trying to get my head in the same space as yours, visualising what your flowers may look like, working on flower availability and/or substitute flowers that you would be happy with, making up your actual quote, and then negotiating with you over what you can’t live without and what you can, in order to come in line with your budget. We enter a contract, with some terms and conditions, and a deposit is made to secure the two of us working together on your wedding. I set up a file with all the ideas and communication we have together. It gives me instant access to, and reminders of what we have discussed.
Designing a simple Mood Board is something I like to do, based on all the information and photos gathered from you, which is both a beautiful colourful visual portrayal of what you dream of for your wedding, and to ensure we are both visualising the same wedding flower dreams.
If your wedding is in the high-wedding season, December-April here in NZ, the ordering of your personal dream flowers starts months out, and may be sourced from multiple places including flower wholesalers, and local flower farmers. With the high demand of on-trend flowers, the need to get in early is essential, with every other wedding florist doing the same.
And I make sure that any little change is communicated with you so that on the day, there are no unwanted surprises – like, if a particular flower is unavailable and has to be substituted for another.
Depending on the wedding season, once the order is finalized, the final payment is made by you. This can be a month or longer before the wedding, and is necessary as the flower order cannot be canceled at this stage. Extras are gathered, like wires and ribbons, flower pots and stands, fabrics, and so on.
A week or so out, I’m checking with the flower suppliers that my order is on track. Certain flowers come in 4-5 days before the wedding to ensure they are at the perfect bloom stage for the look we are dreaming of. 2-3 days out, I have all the flowers arrive, either picking them up myself or having them courier delivered. This gives me a day or so to rush around and source anything that hasn’t turned up right. For example, the colour of a particular flower is not right, they now aren’t available like the wholesalers thought they would be, prices are higher that week, substitutions need to be made, flowers are closed instead of open, or open instead of closed, or I feel like I need an extra few stems of this foliage. This can be the high stress part of my week, but one I carry so you as the bride don’t have to. When all is gathered, buckets and boxes of flowers are scattered over my workshop floor, and fill the fridge.
Then starts the processing. This is done with much more care than a regular everyday bouquet. The stems of every flower or piece of foliage are carefully and thoroughly stripped of extra leaves, cut, and placed in cool water (if the flower has arrived too closed, the bloom will be forced to open up). If a medium sized bouquet has in excess of 30-50 stems, there’s a lot of time involved, just stripping stems. I separate and put into groups the flowers that are intended for a particular design so that I don’t use all the bouquet flowers on an installation, for example. And then on the day of making up all the designs, certain flowers and foliage need to be wired to make them create a certain angle, or to give them extra strength. If its dried flowers you dream of, much of the same process is involved. To be noted is that dried flowers have much thinner stems and so often a design will be of a higher stem count to get the same lush and romantic look.
Then arrives the day and night before your wedding: the design stage. The fun part, but also the busy part of this process where everything has to be created and come together, in time for the pick up or drop off of your flowers so they arrive to you before the photographer does. If there’s an installation, there is the on sight creation and set up, and the co-ordination with the venues. All of this keeping in mind that these are perishable products and need to be cared for in such a way that they arrive to you beautifully fresh, and are still looking stunning on the day.
This is undoubtedly the fun part, but for me, there are always moments of “oh, I hope she likes it”. I approach each design with a special few words to myself, “OK Lorraine, this has got to be your best work yet!” and I intentionally take time during designing and putting together all the components of your wedding day flowers, thinking on you, the bride - who I’ve come to know you as, what you will be doing at this current time, wondering how you are feeling, wishing the best for your day.
It’s fair to say that at this stage, my workshop is busy and messy as it all comes together.
I love to let the flowers have time to breathe, by having them back in water overnight in most cases, to soak up lots of good cool fresh water before they are taken out the next morning, and bound with whatever tie has been chosen. Often the clock ticks by furiously at this stage, doing the last minute things and then placing them in boxes to be delivered to you, ready for the beautiful and glorious and precious display they make, as part of your day.
Your day plays out. You get to wear the dress of your dreams. Your hair and makeup is done alongside special friends. You enjoy the beauty of your dream flowers. You walk down the aisle to make precious promises to your lover. You connect with other loved ones present. You dine. You leave in a flurry of excitement to an anticipated dream honeymoon – and, all captured in photo by your amazingly talented photographer.
I spend your wedding day in a down time phase – taking time out to breathe, drink coffee, sorting, and rescuing anything that can be used, emptying buckets, sweeping floors, a walk, or shopping. It is a good relaxing day for me. But on this day, and over the next few weeks waiting in excited anticipation for the photos, then me displaying you and your flowers all over my Instagram, FB, and website, as my inspirational/brag page for the next bride to visit my website, if you’ve given the permission to do so.
And if you desire, there is the opportunity for a keepsake design to be made from your flowers, weeks to several months later. See Ambah's Story
The wedding journey is complete. A special connection has been made. I’ve been privileged to be part of a day so special. It’s been a journey of collaboration and creation, bringing together many elements to make your dream flowers a reality – and for me, having creative fun all the while.