Understand What You’re Getting Into

Probably the main advantage of DIY wedding flowers is the cost saving. You will not have to pay for the florist’s time and expertise. If you are a control-freak you may also like the fact that you are in control of when the flowers are made and delivered to the venue.
The first step is to familiarize yourself with all the challenges that floral designers must deal with in order to pull off fabulous displays. The first thing you must realize is that this is going to take real effort, the stress, loading and unloading boxes, running around and wondering if everything will get done on time.
Unless you have the right kind of help, you’ll work up a sweat. Make sure you have enough “good” hands to make the job go smoothly. You may pick out the flowers yourself and you alone might decide the design of the arrangements, but on the days leading up to the ceremony, assign a buddy or two who will be completely committed to assist with the flowers.
The process leading up to the wedding day is work, too. For those buying their flowers directly from a flower market, expect a rough-and-tumble experience. It has all the jostle and intensity; you’ll be hauling cartons of long-stemmed roses and gangly branches of flowering trees.

Jump Right In…With a Plan
It’s never too early to ponder your wedding flowers–your budget, color scheme, favorite blossoms. It’s also never too early to visit the flower market or farmers market. There, you can begin to determine costs, availability, and minimum purchases. It’s also a way to become familiar with the vendors who will offer invaluable information when the time comes to make your final selections.
Flower availability is a critical piece of knowledge because of the sensitivity of the product. What looks bright and fabulous at the beginning of June, for instance, may not be available two weeks later. In short, while it’s good to know what you want, it’s more important to know that what you want you can get.

Advantages of using a Florist

The main advantage of using a florist is that they are experienced. You can easily tap into this expertise – will tulips or calla lilies look best with my dress? What color flowers work best with my wedding theme etc. Here are some of the things that a florist will take care of.

Creativity
Your florist will be able to work with you and come up with a host of ideas so that your day is memorable for all the right reasons. They are knowledgeable about seasonal flowers, color schemes and how to get the best out of your budget.

Less Stress
One of the nice things about having a florist is that they take care of everything. You don’t have to worry about getting up at the crack of dawn to get the arrangements made. Or the logistics of how you are going to get all of the flowers to the ceremony, reception, bride, and groomsmen (who are often all in different places on the wedding morning). Rather than getting stressed out, shouldn’t you be enjoying the build up to the big day?

Timing
Timing is everything when it comes to wedding flowers. From when to order your flowers and get them delivered to when to start making up the arrangements. The arrangements should generally be made up on the evening before the wedding or on the morning of the wedding itself so that the flowers are as fresh as possible. This is particularly important for boutonnieres and bouquets that are not in water. This gives a relatively short window of time to get everything prepared – experienced florists are quick as well as skilled.

This past weekend marked our first wedding of 2011. It took place at Sandrock Farm Bed and Breakfast in Aptos, CA.

Our couple Nic and Brittany wanted to incorporate the natural beauty of the redwood groves and the remains of the old wine cellar into their wedding. This allowed for rustic simplicity. The only other request from our couple was to include shades of purple throughout.

The ceremony took place in the old cellar. The ceiling hung with lanterns and the walls were covered with ivy (some occurred naturally overtime, others we had to construct to look that way). The aisle was set with mason jars filled with mixed blooms in shade of purple, finished with a tie of rustic baling twine. The reception was really a blank canvas, tables of classic ivory linens were dressed with centerpieces that consisted of vintage oil lanterns, mixed with various purple blooms (roses, lisianthus, kale and succulents) and conifer foliage to mirror the surrounding environment. As we like to make sure all of the flowers are put to good use, we moved all the mason jars from the aisle after the ceremony into the reception and used them around the various service stations in the reception area.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Cocoanut Grove Bridal Show 01/30/2011
Salinas Chamber Awards Luncheon 02/10/2011