Co-ordinating the wedding flowers – the practical planning

So you’ve chosen your wedding flowers, matched the colours exactly to your overall scheme, planned bouquets and buttonholes as well as the table centrepieces and church arrangements. Can you cross wedding flowers off your to do list?

Well there are still as few practical considerations to plan:

You florist will need access to the ceremony and reception venues early in the day to install all the flower arrangements you have discussed. You will need to check with both venues whether there will be any other events booked in before your wedding. What time will your florist be able to have access. Where will the keys be available from. Make sure that the florist has contact numbers for both venues, so he or she can double check arrangements before ht day. This will save you any last minute hassles.

What time on the day will you need your bouquets and buttonholes delivered? Will there be a photography shoot before the ceremony? In which case you will need them early enough for that. Don’t ask for them too early however, especially in summer. As soon as they are sitting around exposed to heat and sunlight they are in danger of wilting, so guesstimate the timing right, in consultation with your florist.

And one last thing: you may well have the bouquets sitting in cool water to keep them fresh before the ceremony. Remember to dry the stems thoroughly before they are handed out to the bridesmaids and the bride. The last thing you want is for dresses to have water drip marks all down them just before you walk down the aisle!

Tossing the Bouquet - Wedding Flowers Planning

Traditional has it that the bride tosses her bouquet before the end of the wedding and the girl who catches it will be the next to marry. Whether or not you believe in the old superstitions, it’s a fun thing to do making for great photos too, as all your girlfriends leap to be the ones to grab the bouquet.

Maybe though you’ve got plans for preserving your bouquet, as a permanent memento? Or perhaps you just want to enjoy it a little longer without it getting thrown and spoilt? Very often, if you order a grand and complex bouquet your florist will be happy to make a smaller and simpler tossing bouquet at a small extra charge, using the same types of flowers, just fewer in number and with less of the expensive blooms and more fillers. THen you can happily toss this one into the crowd and hang on to your special bridal bouquet.

Another idea would be to have a few extra loose blooms ordered with the bouquet and throw out several single stem roses for example so that all your girlfriends get the chance to catch one. It may not be as traditional, but why not create some new modern traditions!