Guest Contributor: Jane Earl, Ilam Florist.
Jane lives and breathes floral art and I am delighted to welcome Jane as a guest contributor and have her share her knowledge on how to choose your florist, what you need to consider when choosing your wedding flowers and what is trending in wedding florals this season.
Wedding flowers at Ilam Florist
At Ilam Florist we are a team of qualified, professionally trained florists that have worked in leading florist shops around New Zealand and abroad, giving us a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to wedding flowers and designs for bouquets and decoration to enhance your day in order to reflect the individual personality of each couple we see.
Many of the couples we see these days have a clear idea or vision how they would like the flowers, colours, style etc. to be before they even step into the shop. These ideas can be gleaned from many sources including Pinterest, magazines, friends or family member’s weddings, bridal Facebook pages, Trade Me and bridal shows or events. One thing to bear in mind when you see your dream flowers on Pinterest or online is they may or may not be in season or available at the time of your wedding so it is wise to initially have a couple of options when you first visit your florist.
Choosing your florist
When deciding on a florist for your wedding day. We recommend you chose a few florists you have heard good reports about, are experienced and known for wedding flowers of quality, or maybe you know or deal with on a regular basis and get in touch with them around six months to a year out, depending on time of year you are holding your wedding or how set you are on that florist, as many do book up, and make time to have a consultation to discuss your ideas. Remember to take all the ideas, pictures, fabric swatches, scrapbooks etc. that you have gathered, as this helps us build a picture of your day and expectations of how the flowers are going to play their part. During the consultation be sure to share any ideas, flowers or colours you specifically don’t like.
Most florists will offer advice and guidance to help you refine your ideas and may also have albums of past wedding they can show you for inspiration. During a consultation at Ilam Florist, we will take down all the details and ideas you have discussed with us and submit an initial quote for your consideration. Ideas and pricing will often change along the way as your ideas become more definite however, based on the initial consultation and costs you will probably have a clear idea which florist you wish to work with, should you have consulted more than one florist. The crucial point at this stage is that if you want to use your chosen florist that you contact them to advise you would like to make the booking and pay a deposit to secure your day. Details can be changed as the day draws nearer, and at Ilam Florist we like all the details and pricing to be finalised at least a month out from the wedding day to enable us to order from growers well in advance to give the best chance of getting the flowers and colours of your choice.
I’ve chosen my bridal flowers, what’s next?
Along with the bridal party flowers you will also want to take time to consider the following:
- Will you be having flower girls or pageboys? Consider their ages and suitability of what they may or may not be able to carry.
- Will you supply buttonholes for men outside of the immediate Bridal party, for example ushers, Master of Ceremonies, parents, step parents and grandparents?
- Do any of the ladies on your family wish to have corsages? Take in to account the type of fabric of the ladies outfits, if it is a delicate fabric would a wrist or bag spray be more suitable? Size of the corsage should also be considered as often elderly members of the family would prefer something small and dainty.
- If you are planning on having petals to scatter down the aisle you need to check that your venue allows it as some don’t due to the clean up involved.
- If you are having arrangements and table flowers delivered to the venue your florist can often liaise with the venue or wedding planner directly on the delivery times so to keep your stress to a minimum on the day!
- Florists will offer delivery or collection of the bridal flowers. When you are planning the timeline of your day give thought to timing of this; are you having photos first? Do you need to travel? What flowers go with what i.e. does the Mother of Bride corsage go with bride’s bouquet, will all the button holes be collected or delivered on the same board? All these details play a part in a florist ensuring the flowers all get to the correct people without any fuss.
- If you have a relative or friend collecting the flowers make sure they know what florist they are going to, the time they need to be there, what they need to collect and have a suitable vehicle to transport these little works of art in! This may sound like common sense BUT you wouldn’t believe what we see!
What’s trending right now?
This season we have seen a lovely range in wedding flowers and style from the more structured formal roses, freesias all in whites and bound in immaculate white satin with pearl detail to cottage garden flowers naturally bound in twines and hessian, some with lace detail in the bindings to brightly coloured posies. Then there have been the interesting textural ones with succulents and nuts moss vines etc.
Table decorations have been just as varied; the traditional centre pieces with candles and trailing ivy with jasmine, collections of lovely little jars with single blooms, scattered petals with vines twined around candlesticks to lovely birch bark pots with country posies.
The choices are endless and only limited by imagination, not budget, as many looks can be achieved in different ways without spending a lot. This is our job at Ilam Florist, to work within your budget and bring your vision and dream to life. We love all the ideas our couples have as this is what makes our job interesting, challenging and so satisfying, especially when we receive the photos and emails after the day showcasing our designs as part of a beautiful wedding day!
Contact Jane to discuss your wedding flower requirements:
03 358 5396
jane@ilamflorist.co.nz
www.ilamflorist.co.nz