This is a guest post from our friend Rebecca from Rebecca Shepherd Floral Design on how to choose your florist. Booking a florist can be easy if you know what to look out for.

 

My name is Rebecca Shepherd and I have been arranging and providing flowers for retail and events for 10 years. I am here to give you FOUR tips for booking your florist without the headache!   

 

The venue is really important because it’s the walls that surround your party! It helps dictate if the room needs some design element to blend the room whether is be elevated arrangements, suspended greenery, or small simple touches. 

 

 

Think about what you like overall. If you have always been a person that loves all things neutral and simple than stick to that! Don’t over think it. Think about what color bridesmaids dress you like and collect some images of flower arrangements you like.

 

Limit yourself to just a couple hours on Pinterest! You will go down a rabbit hole sending you in all kinds of direction that will skew you away from what you really like. Neutral and simple. It’s also really helpful to take a look at the venues Pinterest page if they have one. This will really give you an idea of how things look in the space. Make a Pinterest board OR just save them on your desktop and mail them to your floral designer.  This will help you choose your florist. 

 

Choosing and booking a florist can be really daunting! Pricing is so different and the amount of events taken on one day really varies depending on the size of the company. If you had a friend who loved her florist, then get in touch with them! Anyone who tells you they had a good experience is the way to go. If you don’t have anyone to give you tips, then research some companies in your area. Take a look at not only the website, but, the social media outlet’s. This is where you can get more personal and can see the more recent works plus our personality! Send us a message and find out what the next steps are. I work in every which way!

 

Many times we like to meet in person, but that is not always the case. I take a ton of care putting together the floral proposals and often clients feel totally comfortable moving forward with just a follow up phone call. It’s also really helpful to choose a floral designer that has worked at your venue. Anytime I am communicating with a client who is having an event at a space I have never been, I will likely do a walk through. Keep in mind that floral designers are often very response to images of spaces even if they haven’t been there.

 

Photos are worth a thousand words! I always research the venue and check out images before our floral meeting. I am able to paint a picture of the decor I would suggest (based on what you love!) despite having been to the venue. If the client books, I always go for a walk through so I know the lay of the land. Floral designers don’t have just pretty things to worry about! We want to know load in area’s, restrictions, storage, water sources and more! 

 

 

Come up with a realistic budget for your florals. This is a harder one to gauge. One example for how to gauge budget that I always throw out there is this: If you spend about $100-150.00 on Birthday or Mother’s Day flowers, how much would you want to spend per table at your wedding? Sometimes that number is the same and sometimes people want to double ++ that. It all depends on flower types, height of the arrangement and hard goods (candle both tall and short or props) you want to add to it.

 

The largest part of your budget is what you put on your tables. Once you have a realistic budget, share that with your floral designer. This should not be a game of numbers. The more accurate the number, the better we can write up a proposal for you! If you are low balling it, you might not get some really cool suggestions! If your budget is flexible, tell your floral designer that so they can make some fun suggestions. 

 

 

You can find Rebecca at:

 

 

Are you ready to choose your florist now?  For tips on wedding invitations, read the the Top 3 things you should know about Wedding Invitations.

 

Also, you might also find useful the the 50 Questions you should ask your Wedding Venue