diy wedding flowers? tips here!
(photos by Due West Photography)
Building your own wedding floral arrangements can be a great way to save money and actually build more flowers and greens into your event budget.
But, there are a few things you’ll want to consider before you dive deep into DIY flower work.
First, make sure you have someone(s) who can dedicate themselves to the flower work for your wedding. It is easy to underestimate the time that it takes to work with flowers, and all of that work will need to be done just a day or two before the event. For larger events, we’ll have 3 designers working side by side for a couple of days before an event and then its all hands on deck wedding day to get everything out at the right time - not too early on a hot day, but not late for the show, either! I’m only now, after about 45 weddings, feeling like I have a really good sense for how long it takes to set up each order at a venue.
Next, make sure you order (or grow) enough material for your event. We suggest that our DIY bucket-order customers take a 2 gallon bucket (because that’s what most of our DIY flowers are provided in) to the grocery store and fill it with flowers, just to see what that looks like. Then the customer will have a clearer sense of how many flowers come in a bucket. It’s always best to order up a little. We try not to estimate how many flowers DIY customers should buy. Everyone uses flowers differently in design work, and we’d feel terrible if our estimate was off.
If your future mother in law says she wants to grow all (or even just some) of your wedding flowers for you, be prepared with a back up plan. I can’t tell you how many panicked calls we’ve received because that family member or best friend (who really is an amazing gardener) lost all the flowers to Japanese beetles or couldn’t keep up with the weeding, or planted the seeds too late or too early- you get my drift. And- just so you know, none of those problems is surprising. We deal with them all the time on our own farm, but we grow at a scale that allows for the occasional “whoopsies.”
Then, make sure you have the proper tools and storage for your flowers. You’ll want some nice, clean, sharp pruning shears or flowers snips (not scissors) and a cool place, like a basement or garage, to keep the flowers until the event.
And lastly- make time to practice the designs you hope to produce. Don’t forget that the images you find on Pinterest (even those labeled as DIY) are often the product of hours and hours of design, staging, and photo editing. We often receive images from clients and have to tell them that these photos have been edited so much that the flowers colors aren’t true to life. Or that what seems like a simple design is actually quite expensive. Just be cautious and intentional about figuring out what you want to make for your special day.
For a little primer on vessels and DIY arrangements, click here.
I hope this little article was helpful, and that it might make someone’s special day a little easier. Have questions about floral design or DIY projects? Drop me a line in the comments section and I’ll get right back to ya!
Best,
