Wedding Florist preparation?

lollyjane  @jen_kristin We have just been through this and both of our consultations were very different. For the first one we had a brief conversation with them about any ideas we had (I took my laptop with me and showed them a few pictures) and then talked about colours etc. Then we spent the next 30mins going through photos of their work that they had bought along. We found this a bit overwhelming and felt it was all a little one-sided. Our second consultation was completely different. She asked us loads about what we had ideas wise already and then made a few suggestions based on that. She asked to see my dress and the BM dresses, asked what H2B was going to be wearing and asked if there was any particular flowers that we really liked. Much more of 'consultation' rather than just showing us what she had done previously. Needless to say we went with florist number 2! There's no need to stress as they should be professionals and should be well prepared. They are offering you a service at the end of the day and the initial consultation should reflect that. Good luck! xx

rainbowflorist  If you could also give your florist a rough idea of your budget as this also helps with suggestions for flowers, designs etc. Don't be frightened to be clear about your ideas as this does help a lot so we can suggest flowers which will tie in with your theme. The final nitty gritty of the order won't really be required until about a couple of months before the wedding day so the consultation is mainly to exchange ideas and get a quote. The main thing is to book your date to be sure you won't be disappointed once you've chosen your florist. It's also important to 'gel' with your florist (hate that word but you know what I mean!) Make sure you have a good look round the shop, look at the flowers - do they look fresh, is it a good variety for sale, if there are bouquets waiting to go out for delivery, do they look like something you would like to receive? All these things speak volumes about the type of work that they do and whether you would like it or not. Hope that helps.

essex_bride  From experience when we were looking for a florist for our our Wedding day I found that having some sort of an idea of the flowers that I liked, colours of different blooms and what I would like incorporated within the wedding was helpful ( alothough in the the end I ended up going with something completely different to what I had imagined that the florist herself came up with lol) .Art our first meetings I took lots of pictures of flowers and flower designs that I liked for inspiration as well as a colour swatches of my wedding dress and the bridesmaids dresses. If you can work out your budget for flowers your florist will be able to work along with this budget to give you a quote and and idea of what they can offer you. When it does come to the meeting ask to look at their portfolio, if your getting married at a specific venue ask if they have dressed that venue before and ask to see photographs and also if your going to their shop and they have any made up floral pieces look at them to see what the quality of the flowers are and the way they arrange them. Good Luck xx

jen_kristin  @lollyjane just had 2 florist meetings and it was just like your experience! The first one said basically what she wanted to do (which was the same as everything else she had done) and when I showed her pictures of things I like she said two of them were 'horrible'. I said that i didnt want my bridesmaids to look like my bouquet and she quoted me for them to look exactly the same, apart from mine is shower and theirs was posy! lol
Anyway 2nd one was fab - she really listened to what i liked and suggested things rather than telling me. Lovely lady, think as long as the price is right we will be going with her x

boycee  @becky260512 was also wondering what to take to the florists:
I am going to speak to some florists tomorrow with my mum neither of us have any idea what we need to take! I have a few pics of what sort of thing i like is their anything else anyone can suggest i should take with me?
Yesterday at 18:28

cicmatag @becky260512 if you have swatches for your colours take those with you and also a picture of your dress so the florist knows what style bouquet to make you x
Yesterday at 20:39

becky260512 @cicmatag thanks I will do that
Yesterday at 21:22

mrslightfoot @becky260512 make a list of everyone who'll need Buttonholes/corsages, don't forget people like step parents or grandparents. Also think about pew ends if you're in a church, I completely forgot them and had to go back (luckily the florist is just at the end of the road) x
Yesterday at 22:06

becky260512 @mrslightfoot thanks we are have artifial button holes htb has hayfever and we didn't want to worry about him sneezin through the ceremony! I haven'tcounted pews in the church. Oops.
Today at 07:28

ruthee  I took one of the ties and BM dress and accessories - she wanted me to give my ideas, but I didn't know what I wanted so she provided lots of ideas whiche we adapted as we went along. The only thing I was definite about was for my BMs.