I am delighted to share some more wedding tips that will help all of you during this exciting and crazy wedding planning journey. Today the extremely talented Dawn Kelly, of Soiree Floral shares some great advice on getting the most out of your floral experience. Enjoy!
“When I meet with clients it’s usually after they have booked the venue, hired the band, found the ceremony location – and they are starting to see stars. Planning a wedding can be quite overwhelming when you dive in to the details. So I always tell our clients the flowers/decor are the fun part. We help ‘make the pretty’. With so much imagery online brides can get caught up on that idea that they have to do what’s trendy, what the latest pantone color is, to have the scene set exactly like the pages of an Anthropologie catalog. The best advise I can give a bride is to stay true to you and your style. How do you decorate your personal space? Is it clean and modern, do you like ecclectic items and have layers upon layers, are you more of a traditionalist? Take note of how you surround yourself. That is a good stepping stone for creating your wedding look.
When we meet with a client there’s the initial meet and greet and scouring through imagery to get a sense of the client’s style. It’s always helpful to have color swatches of the bridesmaid’s dress along with photos. Believe it or not, the ‘maids dresses play a big role in the overall tone and color scheme for your big day. More often than not we have clients start out in one direction and after dress shopping they take a completely different turn – and that happens quite often.
A floor plan is essential. Your floral designer can’t put a design/estimate together without knowing if you are using round, square, or rectangular tables. Are you using wooden farm tables, colored linens? Will there be a charger on the table and how formal is the place setting? Knowing how much real estate there is on the table plays a big role in your floral designer creating pieces and tablescapes that fit the space (you don’t want flowers overflowing in to your guest’s glassware).
Imagery – Pinterest has really changed how we do business. So many of our weddings are destination weddings so imagery is a great way for us to quickly get on the same page. Often times, the client may not see any rhyme or reason to photos they are pinning, but as professionals, we can see a common thread throughout and can use that as a building block for the proposal.
You don’t have to know what flowers you like – there are so many and there are new varieties all the time. But your floral designer can’t just create something out of nothing (well, they can, but it most likely won’t be what you want). Spend some time before you meet your floral designer to gather images so you can sit and talk about designs composition and color. What about the container the arrangement is held in? Do you like glass, mercury glass, wood, pottery, fabric covered containers? There are a million options so spend a little time getting to know your taste.
Candles and ribbons – believe it or not, every client seems to be quite opinionated on these two topics. Not every client likes floating candles, some people think pillar candles are too chunky. Lighting is such an important element and most floral designers will have an inventory of different lighting accents for the tables so take some time to be thoughtful with those little details.
Ribbons – the trend in bouquets has been more of an organic, oversized look with an abundance of trailing ribbons in various textures, colors and mediums (silk, lace, vintage ribbons, hand dyed ribbons, burlap – the list goes on and on). Get to know your style – again, these are the little details that get caught on camera and show up in all your detail shots. Be sure you have taken the time to think through them with your floral designer so when you look back at your album, you’re smiling for many many years to come!”
– Dawn Kelly of Soiree Floral