What to Bring to Your Floral Consultation

Your floral consultation is the first step in making all of your wedding dreams a reality! We looove the floral consultation process, it’s like making new friends—we get to know you and your fiancé or family, learn about your preferences and hear all your hopes and dreams for your big day. We ask you lots of questions and do lots of listening. While you might come to the cottage feeling underprepared, unsure, or overwhelmed by all the possibilities, by the time you walk out the door you will feel clarity and excitement for what’s to come!

If you are engaged and have:

*set your wedding date,

*locked in your venue, and

*selected (or have a set idea) of your bridal party attire

--—then you’re ready for your first floral consult! We’ve put together a few tips below to help you prepare for the next step :)

what to bring to your floral consultation

know your numbers

Setting a budget can be difficult and confusing when you don’t know how much flowers cost! Floral pricing is so dependent on the types of bouquets and centerpieces you like, what flowers we’re using, how many tables you have, etc. We really need to have some idea of what your budget is though, in order to have a productive consultation and create a floral proposal for you that is within your means and won’t cause major sticker shock!

If you’re unsure where to start we find the best approach is to-

1. Decide how big of a priority your flowers are in comparison to all the other elements you need for your wedding. If flowers are the most important thing to you, then know that you may have to borrow or sacrifice from other categories in your wedding to put more towards your floral budget.

2. Decide a “do not exceed” number. If we know what the max you would spend on flowers is, we can create a proposal off of that and know that you can always trim or tweak things back from there.

Other important numbers that we need to know are how many people are in your bridal party and how many guest tables you’ll likely have (bringing along a floor plan is so helpful but we can work with a rough estimate too!)

visuals

We love to see the photos you’ve been saving! Pinterest can be a great way to organize your wedding inspiration when used the right way! Don’t get hung up on every detail in the photo- just pin photos that give you the feeling you want to create.

Pin flower photos abstractly.

Look at the size and shape of what you’re pinning. Feel free to pin paint swatches, textures, and interior room photos. Try to avoid fixating on the exact colors or flower types in the photos. We’re not setting out to replicate another person’s wedding- your event is special and unique to you and your fiancé! It is so helpful to see the types of photos you’re pinning so we have an idea of the vibe you’re going for and then make additional suggestions from there!

When you are brainstorming how to best describe your vision for your day, take into consideration what else in the world around you inspires you? What colors you are most drawn to? What inspires your fashion or home interior choices? Working off the colors and ambiance of your wedding venue is also a great place to start!

Try not to limit yourself to just 2-3 colors for your wedding. Flowers exist in a wide spectrum of colors and Mother Nature always has a way of doing her own thing:) So by granting us the freedom to play with various tones or shades you will easily achieve the look and feeling you’re going for!

an open mind

You don’t have to know everything before we meet—just come in with an open mind! We’re not setting out to nail down every single detail in our first consultation, it’s just a starting place for us to create a pricing proposal for you. Your design is going to morph and develop as you make more planning decisions along the way! And we’re to help you adjust your decor accordingly throughout the whole process. You don’t need to be a flower expert and know all the specific flower types or all the spots at your wedding where you’ll need flowers. That’s our job!

Just come in with an idea of your style, and if you’re not sure what you like, it can be just as helpful for us to hear what you don’t like and then go from there. We’re going to guide you through the process and make the right suggestions for your style, budget, season and priorities!