This post is guest-post from the extraordinarily talented Carmen Dunnet from The Green Petal here in Fernie. Carmen and her team have a distinctive, yet versatile, style that is instantly recognizable. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge Carmen! All of the images in this post are her work that I’ve captured at some of the weddings that I’ve photographed here in Fernie! You can find her work at the links at the bottom of the post.
Is something I hear often in wedding flower consults.
Luckily you really don’t need to know much about flowers to plan them for your big day. Just considering the following questions will get you well on your way to having the perfect florals for your wedding.
Where are flowers on my priority list? Some people love flowers in their day to day life, and so it is natural for them to envision a floral filled wedding day. But what if you appreciate the beauty of flowers but can’t see how that translates to your wedding? My advice is to take a look at your Pinterest board (or create one!) the weddings you are drawn to: are the pictures filled with floral touches or is it mostly non-floral decor? This is a pretty good visual indication of your preferences (it will also show the style/types of florals that catch your eye). At the very least most people opt for a beautiful bouquet, and an arch or some type of focal piece for the ceremony, as these tend to be the most photographed pieces.
What is our floral budget? Florists spend a lot of their time quoting for couples because it is such a tailored thing: the size of your bridal party and number of guests have a huge influence on your bottom line (see example breakdown below). Other factors include size of arrangements, types of flowers used, and difficulty of the style of arrangement. Ultimately your budget is going to be set by your comfort level, as well as your answer to the first question (priority?), but most people ultimately spend 10-15% of their wedding budget on florals.
BREAKDOWN EXAMPLE:
$1000 budget
WEDDING A: (1Bride, 1BM, 2x Bouts, 6 CP’s)
Will leave you with $100 for each Centrepiece
WEDDING B: (1Bride, 6BM, 7x Bouts, 6 CP’s)
Will leave you with $20 for each Centrepiece
When you have answered the two questions above, take that information to a florist whose work you love (Instagram and Pinterest are great for discovering this). An experienced florist can take the above information and help guide you to your perfect floral match!
All of the images in this post are Carmen’s work!
Check out Carmen’s work at the following links: