Trust your florist, and all your vendors
My husband and I got married just over a week ago, and yes I did my own florals.
It was hectic to say the least, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The story of our wedding flowers’ saga is an allegory as to why you should trust your florist, and all your vendors, really.
It started back in March. I had been working on my general wedding design board for a while, but it was time to start thinking about the florals in more detail. I found a flower farm very close to where we were getting married in northwestern New Hampshire. The area is pretty remote, but this farm seemed perfect to source flowers from and had a great selection. I chatted with the farmer via email and gave her some varieties and stem counts that I was looking for.
Unfortunately, the summer brought SO much rain to New England. Enough so, that farms were thrown out of whack for their typically fruitful months. I still held out hope that the summer weather would turn around, especially because the rain might affect our tent placement on the property.
Additionally, I decided to order garden roses from California, to supplement my order from the local flower farm. I was super excited for garden roses, dahlias, and cosmos in addition to many other gorgeous filler flowers.
In late August, the flower farmer told me that unfortunately she didn’t think she would be able to supply what I had asked for, given how the season went. Instagram was swirling with posts and stories about the flower shortages. I knew I had to get an order into my local wholesaler in Boston as quickly as I could with sub-3 weeks until my wedding. I also decided to increase my order of garden roses as one of my main focal flowers.
Fast forward to the week of the wedding, we pick-up flowers in Boston on the way to New Hampshire. The garden roses were supposed to be arriving that afternoon, getting shipped directly to the family property where we were getting married. A random twist of fate—I got an email from a person in Philadelphia that she had received my order by mistake. The rose farm couldn’t get me another order in time. So now I had foliage, secondary and filler flowers along with 40 stems of anthurium, but nothing else to round out the arrangements with. There was no other option but to find more flowers as early as possible the next morning.
My dad and I drove 3 hours roundtrip to the “nearest” wholesaler with our fingers crossed that we would find some beautiful focal flowers that would fit in with what we already had. We are so incredibly lucky that the wholesaler had flowers that fit our color palette perfectly. We ended up buying bronze football mums, wabara miyabi garden roses, and peach shimmer roses.
We got back to the property, and I was still unsure of this incredibly random-seeming selection of flowers that I had scrambled to bring together. I started arranging nonetheless because it had to get done. The colors and textures of all the different flowers came together beautifully in a sea of peach, gold, pink and burgundy.
It was truly a series of unfortunate events but it came together in the end. Not because of luck, but because of expertise. I knew the approximate colors I was looking for and the function of the flowers that I needed to fill in the gap. I knew what I already had and what I needed to make beautiful arrangements for my very own wedding.
The flowers were not even close to what I had originally planned but it was ultimately better than I could have imagined myself. The current flower shortage is only going to make this story a rule and not an exception. If there is a flower that is particularly meaningful to you, I will do my best to incorporate it. I certainly can’t make promises, especially not now. The results will be far better if you provide an approximate color palette and the vibes you are going for. Leave the rest to your florist. We will be able to make informed decisions about the colors, quality and prices with more creative freedom. Hire vendors you trust. Period.
Final bridal bouquet ingredients: bronze mums, anthurium, wabara miyabi garden roses, shimmer standard roses, light apricot lisianthus, light pink snowberry, flowering cotinus. Finished with ribbon from Silk & Willow.
Complete vendor list
Florals & event design / Moonflower Design
Photographer / Avonné Photography
Planner / Wright Up the Aisle
Invitations / Moonflower Design
Save the date / @pilferpebble
Calligrapher / @kates_calligraphy
Rentals / Accent Tent, Refined Rentals
Hair stylist / Jaime Maloney
MUA / Makeup by Madeleine
Nails / @pressedinparadisenails
Rings / Aardvark Jewellery
Earrings / Dea Dia
Suit / Hive & Colony
Dress / Made With Love, Vows Bridal