Tips to help you choose the best florist for your wedding. Different flowers are discussed, sample photos are given, flower books are recommended. All the caveats to avoid, questions to ask, and what you should have included in your contract. This section assumes you are having a typical wedding at a decent hotel or resort. However, many ideas expressed apply to any scale wedding.

Choosing the florist for your wedding is the most fun during your wedding preparations. Most are not as bad as the bridal shops, who remove labels from dresses so you can’t see who the designer is and comparison shop. Make sure you get to tour the flower shop facilities and see other people’s wedding flowers in production. Your florist bill could range from $1000 – $15000 for your wedding; the price of a decent vacation. It is amazing the difference in price you will find out there. You should try to select a florist who actually does weddings for a living, not just run a flower shop. As one florist put it, “This is your special day, so find a florist who has passion and love for what they do, this way, you know you’re getting the best”.

When is a florist not a florist?

Some wedding florist and decorators don’t have a shop. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t produce quality products for you. They can stay up all night decorating for weddings, and can wake up in the middle of the night and do bouquets. Sometimes they can be cheaper than a conventional wedding florist shop, and sometimes they can be more. We don’t always get the best vibes with a business like this because there is lack of tractability or contracts, and this happens with many self employed home service people too, not just wedding florists. Did you ever call an electrician or plumber and have them not show up? No that never happens! So the private florists are good to use if you use one that is reputable and recommended to you by someone who was happy with their service. They also have the ability to be creative and provide beautiful cost effective decorations for you that rival the cookie cutter florists so there are arguments for both sides. If not, stick with a tried and true wedding florist shop. All we are saying is there is a higher risk of things that can go wrong, or prices are higher, as we have seen personally ourselves, and have received complaints from brides who visit us here at BridalTips.com. Be careful and use common sense.

You want someone with trucks and the experience of delivery and setup of flowers at receptions. You should determine if your “psuedo-florist” has a good connection to the delivery trucks. They may have done some weddings successfully in the past or have some contacts in the industry, but the main issue is they have NO CONTROL over trucks belonging to other people. Also, since they do not have the buying power of a wedding florist shop, their prices are usually higher. Now you are wondering “Hey, they don’t have the overhead of the big shops, why aren’t they cheaper?” Usually they sell the same products, so they still charge the going rate. In fact, with one such florist that we received a quote from, the exact same package was $1000 more than the wedding florist shop we ended up choosing. She also had a huge invitation album, which is the EXACT same one I see in all the Mitchell’s Formal wear shops, the bridal warehouses, and other wedding vendors. She charges the same full retail price as the other vendors, so where are these huge savings? But it is not their fault, because again, they do not have the buying power. Keep in mind too, that florist’s wholesale price can fluctuate. If they can promise you a price, get it in writing. I don’t care how good the florist is, or how much they care about you, if they don’t put it in writing, no deal. There’s no way in hell they’ll remember 11 months from now what they “promise” you today.