Today we are going to focus on you, yes you, and your choices for your wedding flowers. I can give you all the flowers and designs available out there but ultimately it is your choice on what you have.
Some brides know exactly what they want and have done for a long time, others, mmm not so much. If you are one of these brides where do you start with deciding?
There are many tools out there and one of the best (and worst) is Pinterest. This is a fabulous way to start with ideas but do be careful on budgets, it is easy to get carried away - hence the worst place!
Set up an account, if you haven't already and create boards, you can make them secret if you wish. Then while searching the internet and seeing that fabulous dress, or perfect hair style or must have flower, you can save them to your boards. I would also suggest here you make a board for each part of your day - dresses - flowers - hairstyles etc because one you start pinning you will be surprised at how many photos are on there. At least with separate boards you have chance of some sort of order. Then when you go see a supplier you can forward the link on and we can see your style, colours and preferences without 100's of emails and all your designs are in one place.
As I say search the internet for ideas, not just Pinterest, for flowers follow our blog and pin our photos, just click on the Pin it icon and save to your board. Follow the many large wedding blogs out there that are fitting with your style, they have many real weddings for you to see how everything works together.
Once you have pinned some ideas have a look through your bouquet choices, I bet there is a bit of a theme. Usually the style of bouquet you keep going back to is your favourite, so if your board is full of country style hand ties that is your first love, if it is full of structured teardrops, then there you go. You have started to narrow the huge choice down. Same with flower varieties, if you don't have a favourite look through your saved images and see which pops out the most or ask me to look for you, I can usually see straight away. Use this knowledge as the basis for your displays. We can add in accents of other flowers to create the style or add in foliage/grasses for a softer look, this is where I can guide you to the perfect blooms but it starts with your choice of look and style.
Then research your suppliers - pick out some you want to speak to and book an appointment. We don't bite, we don't expect you to know everything, that is our job.
I will ask you the following:
Date of wedding (to check I'm available)
Venue (Some venues are blank canvasses, some are a particular style. Plus I can have ready photos of previous work so you can see the room dressed)
Colours
Style - Modern, Vintage, Traditional, Glitz, Black tie, country
Budget
Items required
Budget - a very difficult and awkward question but a very important one. Be honest, I know you don't know how much stuff costs but if your budget is £500 or 50,000 everyone has a budget and I don't know what that is unless you tell me. There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours doing a quote for someone to say you are too expensive when a simple 'x is our budget' would help me advise you to go with different table arrangements or a different flower. I usually ask for a range so say under £500, £500, £750, £900, over £1000, £1500, over £2000
Look here for our price point guide http://www.sandrasflowerstudio.co.uk/flower-packages/
Items required, this is only as a guide and helps to formalise the day in your mind and the more accurate you tell me the better the quote.
Brides bouquet, bridesmaids, flower girls, buttonholes, hair flowers, Church flowers, venue flowers, guest tables.
Your venue will have given you a quote based on numbers attending and most give estimated number of tables, use this to help you.
So now before a meeting you will be aware of what items you may need, add in everything that way this will be your top number, your preferred budget, your style of wedding and colours. This in itself will help narrow down the choice of flowers. With this information and your saved images of flowers will help me guide you to the perfect blooms for your day.
Other things to think about, style of your bouquet, see this post. Do you want a modern hand tie, traditional shower bouquet etc, what about your maids? Similar to you or different? What colour dress are they wearing?
Buttonholes - who wants one - tradition says Groom and best man have a double - dads and ushers have singles
Corsages - do the mum's or significant ladies want to wear one?
Are you wanting hair flowers or are you wearing a veil? Tiara?
If you are having a church ceremony, do you want flowers in church? Pedestals, pew ends, altar designs, archways etc
Venue flowers - Flowers for aisle? Ceremony table?
Guest tables high or low, or a mix?
Don't worry I go through all this with you at our meeting but arming yourself with knowledge is going to make this meeting so much more useful to you and a more successful outcome overall as you will see if we are a perfect fit (or not).
There is so much to think about, and that is just for flowers, I usually allow an hour to hour and half and we can get through all this information. Bring as much information with you as you can, colour swatches, photos of dresses all help and bring someone who knows you well who can help. Grooms are more than welcome but not many have preferences on flowers so mum or a bridesmaid may be more helpful.
Remember, this is planning your day, ask lots of questions and look at many pretty flowers to help you choose. Nothing is set in stone until you are happy. And lastly, don't stress, have fun!!
I look forward to hearing from you soon
Sandra x
Some brides know exactly what they want and have done for a long time, others, mmm not so much. If you are one of these brides where do you start with deciding?
There are many tools out there and one of the best (and worst) is Pinterest. This is a fabulous way to start with ideas but do be careful on budgets, it is easy to get carried away - hence the worst place!
Set up an account, if you haven't already and create boards, you can make them secret if you wish. Then while searching the internet and seeing that fabulous dress, or perfect hair style or must have flower, you can save them to your boards. I would also suggest here you make a board for each part of your day - dresses - flowers - hairstyles etc because one you start pinning you will be surprised at how many photos are on there. At least with separate boards you have chance of some sort of order. Then when you go see a supplier you can forward the link on and we can see your style, colours and preferences without 100's of emails and all your designs are in one place.
As I say search the internet for ideas, not just Pinterest, for flowers follow our blog and pin our photos, just click on the Pin it icon and save to your board. Follow the many large wedding blogs out there that are fitting with your style, they have many real weddings for you to see how everything works together.
Once you have pinned some ideas have a look through your bouquet choices, I bet there is a bit of a theme. Usually the style of bouquet you keep going back to is your favourite, so if your board is full of country style hand ties that is your first love, if it is full of structured teardrops, then there you go. You have started to narrow the huge choice down. Same with flower varieties, if you don't have a favourite look through your saved images and see which pops out the most or ask me to look for you, I can usually see straight away. Use this knowledge as the basis for your displays. We can add in accents of other flowers to create the style or add in foliage/grasses for a softer look, this is where I can guide you to the perfect blooms but it starts with your choice of look and style.
Then research your suppliers - pick out some you want to speak to and book an appointment. We don't bite, we don't expect you to know everything, that is our job.
I will ask you the following:
Date of wedding (to check I'm available)
Venue (Some venues are blank canvasses, some are a particular style. Plus I can have ready photos of previous work so you can see the room dressed)
Colours
Style - Modern, Vintage, Traditional, Glitz, Black tie, country
Budget
Items required
Budget - a very difficult and awkward question but a very important one. Be honest, I know you don't know how much stuff costs but if your budget is £500 or 50,000 everyone has a budget and I don't know what that is unless you tell me. There is nothing more frustrating than spending hours doing a quote for someone to say you are too expensive when a simple 'x is our budget' would help me advise you to go with different table arrangements or a different flower. I usually ask for a range so say under £500, £500, £750, £900, over £1000, £1500, over £2000
Look here for our price point guide http://www.sandrasflowerstudio.co.uk/flower-packages/
Items required, this is only as a guide and helps to formalise the day in your mind and the more accurate you tell me the better the quote.
Brides bouquet, bridesmaids, flower girls, buttonholes, hair flowers, Church flowers, venue flowers, guest tables.
Your venue will have given you a quote based on numbers attending and most give estimated number of tables, use this to help you.
So now before a meeting you will be aware of what items you may need, add in everything that way this will be your top number, your preferred budget, your style of wedding and colours. This in itself will help narrow down the choice of flowers. With this information and your saved images of flowers will help me guide you to the perfect blooms for your day.
Other things to think about, style of your bouquet, see this post. Do you want a modern hand tie, traditional shower bouquet etc, what about your maids? Similar to you or different? What colour dress are they wearing?
Buttonholes - who wants one - tradition says Groom and best man have a double - dads and ushers have singles
Corsages - do the mum's or significant ladies want to wear one?
Are you wanting hair flowers or are you wearing a veil? Tiara?
If you are having a church ceremony, do you want flowers in church? Pedestals, pew ends, altar designs, archways etc
Venue flowers - Flowers for aisle? Ceremony table?
Guest tables high or low, or a mix?
Don't worry I go through all this with you at our meeting but arming yourself with knowledge is going to make this meeting so much more useful to you and a more successful outcome overall as you will see if we are a perfect fit (or not).
There is so much to think about, and that is just for flowers, I usually allow an hour to hour and half and we can get through all this information. Bring as much information with you as you can, colour swatches, photos of dresses all help and bring someone who knows you well who can help. Grooms are more than welcome but not many have preferences on flowers so mum or a bridesmaid may be more helpful.
Remember, this is planning your day, ask lots of questions and look at many pretty flowers to help you choose. Nothing is set in stone until you are happy. And lastly, don't stress, have fun!!
I look forward to hearing from you soon
Sandra x
