How To Pick the Right Florist For Your Wedding

Wedding flowers are one of the most important elements of your big day. Not only do they provide color and decoration, but they symbolize life, growth, and rebirth. Good wedding flowers are also a conversation starter and after the food and dress, one of the things guests will remember most. The right wedding florist can help make wedding planning a breeze, while a difficult florist can make designing your wedding a total nightmare. 

That being said, finding the right one for you can take some work and a lot of brides are already overwhelmed with the thought of even having to plan a wedding. Depending on how important the flowers are to your overall wedding look, it can get expensive and many brides have sticker shock after meeting with their florist for the first time. To help ease the pain of making sure you pick just the right one, we have compiled a list of questions to ask your potential florist. Hopefully this will not only help you narrow down the list, but will also help clarify what you're looking for for your wedding. 

• What is your design philosophy? Do you prefer modern arrangements or more traditional ones?
• Will you be the person arranging my flowers?
• How many other weddings and events will you do the same weekend as my event?
• What flowers will be in season and less expensive for my wedding? How can I maximize my budget?
• What ideas do you have for my wedding? What are the most successful ideas you've had for past weddings?
• Is it possible to see a sample of my centerpiece and/or bouquet?
• Will you deliver and/or set up my flowers? How long do you generally spend at a site set up? Is there an extra delivery or set up charge?
• Is it possible to reuse the ceremony flowers as reception decorations? Will you transport them, or will we need to? Is there a transport fee?
• Are there any other additional or hidden costs I should know about?
• Do you have rental supplies (such as vases, urns, candelabras and potted plants) or do I need to use a separate rental company?
• If I need to add, subtract, or change arrangements or bridal bouquets, how long to I have to do so?
• Will you write up an itemized quote of what we've discussed?
• How soon do I need to put down a deposit to reserve your services? What is the minimum deposit?