Getting Ready

This time of year, most people are putting all of their energy into holiday preparations: getting a tree, putting up lights, buying presents, and getting ready to cook a huge meal. Thanks to years of practice, we tend to know when we need to do each thing. We know when presents need to be shipped in order to arrive on time, and we know how early to buy the food: early enough that the grocery store isn’t packed, but late enough that it’ll still be fresh and delicious on Christmas Day. There’s a similar science to wedding planning, but most of you are probably doing this for the first time, so you may not know all the tricks.

Luckily for you, we’ve done this before, and can help guide you through the process. As always, feel free to call if you have any questions, but keep in mind that there’s not much we can do before a month or two in advance. That’s when you’ll want to first contact us, to ensure that your flowers are available, talk about quantities and prices, and maybe even place your order.

We recommend placing your flower order at least two weeks in advance, but no more than two months. Longer than that, and we just can’t guarantee availability. After all, flowers are grown, not manufactured, and so our products exist at nature’s whim.

When you do place your order, we’ll be happy to help you choose a delivery date, but if you place your order online, keep in mind that we generally recommend receiving the flowers several days before the wedding: three for most flowers, but at least six for lilies. Most Flowerbud flowers will take only a few days to open, but you also want to leave extra time in case of FedEx mishaps, and give yourself at least a day to arrange the flowers.

When the flowers arrive, start by cutting an inch or two off each stem and putting them all in lots of fresh, cool water. Give them a day to recuperate from shipping before you start to arrange them, in order to ensure that they’re as healthy as possible while you’re working with them. Arrange them, bouquets before boutonnières, the day or morning before the wedding, and keep them in water as long as possible. If boutonnières and corsages need to be made a while before the wedding, they can be refrigerated, and might appreciate a few spritzes of water.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, about this newsletter or just about wedding flowers in general. You might also want to browse our Wedding Newsletter Archive, which is an amazing resource. If that doesn't help, just give me a call. I'm here all day Monday – Friday, and I'm always happy to hear from brides or grooms-to-be!

Thanks for reading, and have a great holiday!

Best Wishes,

Andrea Ashmore
andrea@flowerbud.com
Event Flower Specialist
Flowerbud.com