You’ve just got engaged, you’ve got your date and your venue, sorted out your photographer and are thinking about your outfit, but what are you going to do about your flowers? Planning a wedding is a lot of work and can be intimidating when you are trying to hold down a job, look after yourself/ a family and generally live your life. Some people have been planning their weddings since long before they met the love of their life but for others wedding planning and finding the right suppliers is an overwhelming process.
It’s one thing filling your Pinterest boards with dreamy images of florals but how do you find the right person to make that wedding flower fantasy a reality? These days new florists are popping up all over the place like spring flowers and other suppliers such as stylists, prop hire companies, growers and planners are adding floristry to the list of services they offer, sometimes as something of a loss leader to bring in other business. This can make it bewildering to know who to choose when researching wedding flowers. Pricing can vary hugely between florists and often newer suppliers will offer lower prices to get the business and experience they need to start off.
Social media
In the age of digital media many couples do most of their wedding planning and research online. Whether it’s looking at wedding blogs or stalking potential suppliers on Instagram and Facebook. Instagram is a great tool for a florist because it is a visual medium and it allows couples to follow them every week showing you that they are turning out a consistently high standard work.
Search for your venue using hashtags and see which florists have worked there before and what sort of things they have done with the space. Does the florist post frequently? Do they have good relations with other suppliers? Is their work in a style you like? While you can’t get a full test version of all your wedding flowers, following your florist’s work online shows you that they are trustworthy and creating beautiful work throughout the year leading up to your wedding.
Some florists work in a variety of styles and some stick to one consistent style for which they are known. In the case of Briar Rose Design you will never see us using diamontees or producing “lollipop” shaped tight bouquets, but there are plenty of other very talented florists out there that love working in that style. However if you like all things wild and natural we are the florists for you. Follow us on Instagram to see some of our recent work or take a look at our wedding flowers gallery. Photos below by McGlynn Sisters.
Cost - Choose a florist or another supplier who offers flowers?
setting up at The Engine Works with Joy Story photography
When deciding who to get to do your flowers, as with other aspects of your wedding, it comes down to your priorities. We don’t all have a wedding budget like Meghan Markle so things that are important to you should take priority in your budget. If you have scouted out some potential people to do your flowers but their prices seem low compared to others check out how much experience they have got. We all have to start out somewhere but are you happy to take a gamble on a new start up or a supplier whose main experience and training is not in floristry? When I was a student I often got haircuts from trainee hairdressers and sometimes they were great, other times they were not. It comes down to a personal choice as to the importance of flowers in the context of your wedding and how comfortable you are with risk.
It takes more than creative flair to set up floral installations, you need to have the skills and experience to know which materials are going to be available and last well in those specific conditions and the training and experience to be able set up installations safely and on time with minimum impact to other suppliers and the venue (and a head for heights helps too).
If you are getting multiple quotes the cheapest florist might not actually be the best option for you. Most people come to Briar Rose because they have seen our style and love it, have had a recommendation or are keen to find an ethical florist. If you are getting multiple quotes we will not be the cheapest florist you find but we are not trying to compete on price, and think we can offer a lot more value than just pounds and pennies. We want to work with couples who are excited about their flowers and have fallen in love with our style, not because they think we are a bargain.
Photo by Green Antler at Harvest Moon near Dunbar
Green Credentials
Are you concerned about sustainability? The environment? Do you try to minimise your carbon footprint in your day to day life? If so then consider looking for a florist who has green credentials. At Briar Rose we compost all green matter and recycle all other packaging as much as possible. Since our first year in business we have been creating and expanding a cutting garden at our country studio near Stirling where the flowers and foliage we grow attract lots of beautiful pollinators and other wildlife every year. We avoid pesticides and other chemical nasties, re-use and recycle netting, posts etc and are also trying to adopt/re-home some injured hedgehogs to help with the slug population but that is an ongoing project!
We also are part of Flowers from the Farm, an organisation that promotes and supports flower farms in the UK. As well as our own grown flowers and foliage we buy from other Scottish growers in Fife, Perthshire and the Borders and aim to use British sourced products wherever possible to reduce the air miles associated with imported goods and support other local small businesses.
We have also been trying to reduce our use of floral foam (also known as oasis) which is harmful to the environment as it does not biodegrade and pollutes our waterways. We hope 2020 will be the year we go entirely foam free. Read more about sustainable floristry in our blog post about floral foam.
Recommendations
Photo by One Big Picture
Has your florist worked with any of your other wedding suppliers? Often people who work in similar styles will frequently work together throughout the wedding season and if you’re looking for reassurance you can always ask your other suppliers for recommendations of people they like working with. Equally, your florist can recommend great planners, photographers, dress makers, cake suppliers etc if you are at a loss in your planning journey.
Your venue may well also have a recommended suppliers list. This will help you choose someone who has worked at your venue before and knows the score in terms of access times, layout and can suggest what sort of displays have worked there before. It is worth bearing in mind that some venues ask their recommended suppliers for commission for each booking taken as a result of the venue’s referral, so while a venue recommended supplier might be very talented there are sometimes competing motivations behind referrals.
Photo by Rhiannon Neale
Ultimately only you can decide which florist you want to work with on your wedding flowers. Since starting up Briar Rose I have been much more aware of supporting other small businesses and choosing products or services not based solely on price but because I believe in the supplier, I can see their passion for what they are doing, I feel they understand me and what I want and need and I want to support them to make a living doing what they love. If you feel all these things for your wedding florist you can’t go wrong!
There are lots of ways to find your perfect suppliers out there (have a look at the Braw Brides website for a start) but if you are looking for help in planning your wedding as well as a fairy godmother on the day itself to make everything run smoothly think about hiring a wedding planner – Cat at Fin Flukra comes highly recommended and we’ve worked with her on numerous occasions.