10 Essential Questions to Ask a Florist Before Hiring

Wedding florals are a big factor when choosing how you want your wedding design to appear.  Hiring a florist is one of the most crucial parts of the planning process for your wedding.  If you don’t have a wedding planner or if you are a “Day-Of” or “Month-Of” coordination couple that has to do the florist hiring process on their own, it can be overwhelming thinking of the most important questions to ask. You want to make sure you are getting good quality florals, the attention your wedding needs and the most bang for your buck depending on what your vision is.

Sweet Blossom Weddings has listed the essential questions to ask your florist so that you are able to leave your florist meeting feeling confident that you got all the information needed to have flawless florals on your wedding day.

1.    Do you have a minimum? What type of deposit do you require to secure your services? How do you do your pricing? 

Budget and how your florist prices their items are some of  the first things that should be brought up for discussion when having your first correspondence. There is no need to even meet with a florist if their minimum is higher than what you are budgeting for florals. Some florists do their prices in packages, some do their prices individually on each piece(arch, bouquet, centerpiece etc.) and some individually price by each flower you want. No matter what their pricing style is, make sure that you have the money accessible in your budget in order to put down the deposit to secure your date.

2.    How long have you been a wedding florist and when did you start your business?

Experience is important with a florist! Doing florals for a corporate event or birthday party can be a big jump from doing florals for weddings. Ask to see pictures of the florists work that you are considering hiring. Hopefully they have done florals similar to what you are envisioning so you can get a better look of what your flowers on your wedding day will look like

3.    How many weddings do you typically do over a weekend?

A florist is a vendor that can do more than one wedding in a day. This is an important question to ask because if a florist is doing more than four weddings in a weekend, your wedding might not be getting the attention it should be getting. If your florist has more availability in their day on the day of your wedding they can be more accessible in troubleshooting situations, just in case you realize you forgot something last minute; i.e a boutonniere for Grandpa.

4.    Is it going to be you or your associate designing the centerpieces?

If you are paying high dollar for your florals, then you should make sure that the owner or a lead for the business will be the one doing your florals. If you are getting a good deal on the flowers and the owner will be overseeing an associates work then that can be an option for you, it’s more your preference.

5.    Do you typically set-up the florals or does your team handle that for you?

Some florists have their team setting up everything on the day of and won’t be at your venue on the day of your wedding. This small yet important detail can be easily forgotten to be disclosed during the hiring process.

6.    What design styles do you work with?

Do they do tight bouquets or loose bouquets or both? Is there any types of floral styles they don’t do? Do they offer aisle petal designs? Do they work with succulents in their arrangements? Are they open to working with other items besides florals? (I.E Artichoke pictured below)

Just like any vendor, a florist will have different styles. There can be types of styled florals they don’t feel comfortable doing. Go on Pinterest before meeting with a florist so that you can show them your vision of design ideas. Show specific pictures and ask if they are capable of replicating it.

Tight Bouquet – Florist: Organic Elements Photo by: Alex W Photography Loose Bouquet – Florist: Native Poppy Photo By: Amy Lynn Photography Loose Aisle Petal Florals – Florist: Native Poppy Photo By: Amy Lynn Photography

Flower Petal Aisle Design – Florist: Organic Elements Photo By: Alex W Photography Purple Artichoke inside table centerpieces – Florist: Organic Elements Photo by: Ashley Williams Photography Artichoke in a display done by the florist – Florist: Organic Elements Photo by: Ashley Williams Photography

7.    Do you offer rentals?  Candles, vases, arch, chuppah, aisle runner, etc?

Many florists offer rentals. Votives are the most common rental to get from a florist. Unless you are buying the votives for your wedding or the venue you are at has in house votives you like, then you definitely need to ask the florist if they have votives they can throw in with your florals that go with the theme/design of your wedding. Since they will already be setting up centerpieces it makes it easy for them to throw in the votives.

Archs are another thing most florists have easily available for brides to rent. If your venue doesn’t have an arch or pretty ceremony backgroung then you should strongly consider going through your florist to get this important piece.

Florist: Native Poppy Photo by: Amy Lynn Photography The florist, Organic Elements, provided these two tree branches instead of an arch Photo by: Alex W. Photography

8.    Are you able to pick up at after the wedding is over?  Is there an additional charge for this?

Some florists do not come back at the end of the night when the wedding is over to get their items. If they don’t come back at the end of the night they are either gifting you all the floral items used or you will have to return them at a later time.

There are pros and cons to if they do not come back at the end of your wedding. One of the pros is you and your family/friends can leave with beautiful flowers at the end of the night. The greatest con of this would be the planner bringing all the remaining vases/votives/items to a place where you will have to deal with doing something with them later,  which sometimes isn’t ideal for the newlywed couple. As a planner, we like when the florist comes back at the end of the night to make sure their portion of what they set-up was cleaned up properly insuring the couple doesn’t get any additional cleanup fees from the venue. Ultimately, it is the decision the couple.

9.    Do you charge an extra fee if I need you to stay throughout the ceremony to move arrangements to the reception site?

Moving florals from ceremony to reception can definitely save you a lot of money. Just see if the pros of saving the money outweigh the price you are charged for the florals to be moved from ceremony to reception. Some florists charge for this, and some do not.

We have seen many couples use the florals on their arch moved to their sweetheart table as decor. Check with your planner to see if they would feel comfortable doing this. If your planner feels comfortable moving florals with the package you hired them for, then this could be a way to save money instead of paying your florist to stay longer to move the flowers.

Make sure if you are doing florals down the aisle that the florist or venue will be responsible for cleaning this up. Some venues charge expensive fees if flowers are left on the ground of the ceremony site.

Write here… Sweet Blossom Weddings Team moved this garland from the arch to the Sweetheart Table Florist: Native Poppy Photographer: Amy Lynn Photography

10. Are you able to provide a centerpiece mock-up prior to the wedding?  If so, how much do you charge?

If you want to be guaranteed that you are getting exactly what you envision for your wedding florals, then it is a good idea to set up a floral moc up meeting. Most florists do charge a fee for this.  However, if you saw that this florist already did wedding florals similar to what you are wanting for your wedding then the mock up might not be necessary for you.

Make sure you take good notes when interviewing florists so that you can look back and differentiate between the florists you talk to. Now you have all the essential questions to ask the florist you are potentially thinking of hiring. You can rest assured that you are not forgetting any important questions!

XOXO

Sweet Blossom Weddings