The weather is warm and summer is in full swing, that means its wedding season!
Not a bride or groom yourself? Share this... they'll thank you later!
The excitement of the proposal has generated dozens of likes and congratulatory comments on your social media, you keep looking down at that shiny rock next to your pinky, and all of sudden it hits you... there's a wedding to be planned! Keep reading to learn the Top 3 Tips you need to know when picking wedding flowers.
Colors:
The bridesmaids dresses are picked and being tailored, so the flowers now need to match those exact hues, right? Not necessarily. When picking a color for your wedding, it's always helpful to have a complimenting "secondary" color in mind. Flowers can match tablecloths and bridesmaids dresses but we encourage you to have fun contrasting hues that compliment each other. This will add dimension to your decor.
When you come in for a consultation at Andes' Florist, we'll sit down, brainstorm ideas, play with colors, blooms and samples. It's a team effort to bring your visions to life, and we understand those visions can change, so rest assured we are flexible!
Bonus: If you're able to confirm a food tasting at your event location, ask the venue coordinator to have a fully displayed table setting. We'll bring a sample of your centerpiece to the meeting so that we can make sure everyone is on the same page and your vision was brought to life.
Instead of flowers matching each different colored dress, the bridesmaid bouquets matched each other. This was a great way to communicate decor across 4 different color dresses in this bridal party.
Here's a closer look!
Budget:
If the price point is a priority there are creative ways to save without sacrificing decorations. Wedding ceremonies usually make up only about 15% of your entire wedding day, but account for roughly 80% of your wedding photos. Needless to say, ceremony decor is important though not enjoyed for very long in retrospect. The best way to save isn't to skip decorations but rather repurpose, repurpose, repurpose!
When building your wedding day schedule allocate a "cocktail hour" (10min - 35min) that will serve as a transition time for your guests to arrive at the reception area. This is also the time when the photographer to take photos of the bridal party. Hint: Ask your florist to stay for the entire ceremony and be ready to transition floral arrangements as soon as the guests have moved from the ceremony area. If the ceremony area will not be accessible after the ceremony is over, repurpose everything!
Here are some ideas:
- Gazebo/Chuppah/Altar decorations can be repurposed to decorate the entrance/sign-in table, cake table and/or sweetheart table
- Aisle decoration, such as bundles placed at each or every other sitting row can be repurposed as cocktail table decorations during cocktail hour and can be enjoyed all night long. (Make sure your florist has vases with water ready so that they can transition the decorations swiftly while the bridal party is taking photos)
- Leverage your bridal party's flowers as floral decor. Have the florist bring vases with water and place them at the bridal party seating area. (This is especially great if the bridal party is all sitting together). The bridesmaid's florals will serve as additional or replacement centerpieces standing upright in the vases (with water) that the florist provided.
This was a repurposed centerpiece that was originally used for one of the gazebo decoration pillars, see below:
Creative Entrance:
The guests just watched you confess your vows, the kiss was shared, now its time to party! The entrance into the reception area is a great way to leverage a personal touch. Get creative with more than just a sign-in guest book. Think of something meaningful to you and your life partner and remember this is something you would want to keep for the rest of your life. An example of a wedding we did earlier this year was of a couple that met skiing. They placed a set of skis on a table at the entrance of their reception hall with permanent markers decorated with a few (repurposed) arrangements. Guests left congratulatory notes written onto the skis, which are now mounted in the couple's home.
If you enjoyed these tips, are engaged or know of someone getting married, send them our way. We are an open book and have worked with dozens of venues all over the South Bay, Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
Happy planning!
