I think this is a fun part about planning your wedding.  Flowers can do so much toward creating the ambiance, the feel you want your guests to experience. I once met a floral designer who I consider a “mentor.”  While taking a class from him, he talked about how he goes about throwing a dinner party.  It was funny to hear him say that he went shopping and decided his menu by going to the grocery store and seeing what looked good to him.  He said he picked out his menu by seeing what looked good, and looking good meant what color, texture, size, etc.  Then he did the same thing for the floral designs.  He shopped based on color, texture, size, form…all in an effort to present a cohesive look and feel for his dinner party.

Here are the places I recommend you put flowers at your ceremony and reception sites.

Ceremony

If you are getting married in a church, be sure to get a list from the church about what they allow and what they don’t allow, and make sure to have a copy of that for your florist.  Most churches are very picky about what they will let you do.  An experienced florist will know this already, and may already have that list from a previous wedding at the same church.  Things like how you attach flowers, bows and/or fabric to the pew ends, whether you can use rose petals in the aisle, and where you can place flowers on the alter are among the things most churches will govern.

Here are some of the places you may want to put flowers in a church:

Pew ends, alter area, aisle, entrance, doors, statue of the Virgin Mary…

If you are getting married in a location other than a church, you would want to consider places like:

Chair ends, aisle, front of ceremony site, entry doors, other…

Reception

For your reception site, you want to have flowers on your guest tables, at a minimum.  Besides the guest tables, consider flowers for the restrooms, bar, entry doors, credenza tables, cake table, head table, fireplace mantles, entry table… Each site is different and creates different decorating challenges.

If you are on a tight budget, I always recommend doing away with the ceremony flowers, because it is typically where you spend the least amount of your time.  If you do use decor at the ceremony site, consider using flowers that can be reused at the reception site.  Below is a picture from a wedding I did many years ago.  The decor on the outside chair ends might seem a little elaborate alone, but when you consider that they were taken off the chair ends and used inside on the guest tables afterwards, it was a great cost savings and added bigger WOW factor for the ceremony.

Personal Library

Conversely, below is a picture from another wedding I did a few years ago. This bride really wanted to decorate the outside ceremony site with cascades of flowers on the chair ends.  It was really beautiful, but this style of chair end flowers doesn’t lend itself toward being reused inside the reception site as easily.

Personal Library

It is a really good idea to have an idea how much you want to spend on your wedding florals before you meet with your florist.  A good florist will be able to give you suggestions about which flowers to use and where you can save money.

Of course, using flowers that are in season locally is one of the best suggestions for saving money on your wedding flowers.  But, let your florist know what types of flowers you like and don’t like, and let him/her give you ideas based on your budget. Otherwise, you will be unhappy and the florist will be unhappy, because they just spent hours putting together a quote that you can’t afford.  That is what we call a lose-lose situation!

When you are upfront with your florist about your budget, he/she will be able to show you how to get the look you want for the price you want!  This is what we call a win-win situation.

What are your plans for floral decor?