Choosing Our Florist

This post is long overdue, and I apologize for that. Let me first point out that our does not define Jay and I, it defines my mother and I. As you know from reading this blog, I have struggled with whether or not to hire a florist for just “personals” (bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages). Originally I wanted potted daisies on half the tables and bowls of lemons and limes on the other. I still love the idea, but the idea of having someone in my family or a friend coordinate this was just too much for me. Sometimes the money is just worth not having to worry about it.

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Therefore in January, my mom and met with a few florists to see what they could do for us. First of all, I was very surprised that all of the florists quoted us about the same amount of money. Two quotes were actually within $5 of each other. I think the most interesting thing was they all priced each individual piece differently, but the total came to our budget.

Before I delve into the three florists we met with, let me start by saying we went to all three florists with the exact same pictures.

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I found the above wedding this past fall. The wedding blew my mind for many many reasons, but the biggest reason is it is exactly what I was thinking. In fact, at the time Jay and I were between grey and khaki suits for the boys. These pictures convinced us that khaki suites would look fantastic. After finding these photo, this wedding became the template for our wedding.

We met with three florists, two of which are on our venue’s preferred vendor list and the last was suggested by my friend Hilary. The florist Hilary suggested, Local Color Flowers, only uses flowers local to Maryland. Both my mom and I loved her companies platform. We also did not mind that she could not tell us what flowers she would be using because she uses the flowers that are available that week from the farmers. She was able to guarantee the look and feel we were going for. The big kicker for us was that she doesn’t use roses because they are not local to Maryland. Seems silly, but it was important to my mom.

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The second florist was Wicked Willow. We met with Randy, who was fantastic and had a lot of great ideas. He was the florist who suggested reusing our aisle pieces also as centerpieces. He suggested hanging the mason jars from shepherds hooks down the aisle. My mom and I loved the idea. Not only did this save us a little money, but it fit in perfectly with our theme. Randy also suggested throwing some flower petals under the hanging mason jars. My mom LOVED this idea.

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Overall, we loved Randy’s ideas, but we had really clicked with the florist we met with first, Christine from Fleur de Lis Florist. Christine owns the business and started it in her twenties. She also blew us away with her knowledge about flowers. My mom and I met with her right before Christmas. Christine was a little late to our initial consultation due to her children, but she called first to let us know. Once she arrived, she got right to business and even ordered us coffee from Starbucks.

She was the only florist who seemed really invested in the day and making it just the way we want. She seemed to get very excited about our vision and wanted to make it come to life. On top of all that, she sent us home with a sample bouquets the day of our initial consultation and then gave us a sample centerpiece at our follow-up appointment. Yup, we were hooked.

After meeting with all of the florists, we went back to Christine and asked if she was willing to incorporate Randy’s ideas into her original proposal. Christine responded no problem and had a new proposal to us within days.

Overall, I am very grateful for our florist experience. Each vendor we met with was very professional and I know we could have chosen any one of them and been very happy with the results.

How id you choose your florist? Did you have a vision, or did your florist guide you?