Choosing Wedding Flowers and Decor | Wedding Planning Tips

Selecting your wedding flowers and decor can easily be one of the most fun (and, for some, most stressful!) parts of planning a wedding. In a world of Instagram inspiration and Pinterest-perfect weddings it's common to fall in a love with wedding look only to find that it doesn't quite align with your budget. In defining what you love about a look, finding a great florist, and allocating your budget in a thoughtful way, there's a way to make your floral and decor dreams come true.

Let The Venue Guide The Way

Whether you’re using a single location for the ceremony and the reception or a different spot for each, allow the venue to serve as your starting point. Floral elements have the ability to carry a theme for your day in a remarkable way that few other elements do. There are a few ways to approach it. One way is to look at your venue and find a complementary look - think a historic venue with painterly, classic blooms. The other approach is to go for juxtaposition - think adding super sleek, modern pieces to a historic venue. Similarly, filling a modern warehouse style space with lush, romantic garden bouquets can create a truly unique statement. While decking it out in contemporary arrangements would "make sense," sometimes juxtaposition is a great way to bring together your venue with your personal style. Regardless of the approach you take, your venue and florals can set the stage for the entire day.

Identify Your Budget

Whether the style you've decided on is classic and simple, romantic and wild, or sleek and modern it's time to bring that together with your budget and figure out how to get the look you want within your price point. Once you have that, you can find a florist and create a realistic roadmap of what your budget will allow for. According to a recent article by Brides, wedding flower budgets can range from $3,000 all the way up to $75,000, with couples typically spending an average of $6,000 and $11,000.

For DIY-minded couples, creating your own arrangements can still pack a big punch, so it’s certainly worth investigating whether or not that makes sense for your big day. However, as you calculate the savings there are a few crucial details to keep in mind. You’ll not only need to become well versed in creating the arrangements, but have an understanding that processing and preparing flowers can take several days. In addition to the prep time, you must figure the cost of vases and vessels and the time it will take to get them all finalized, stored properly, and installed at the venue. Once they're on site, someone will need to be available to place them and also be responsible for tear down at the end of the night, something florists would traditionally tend to. For many, the cost of all of the labor and day of wedding effort can push a DIY option from affordable to not worth the hassle.

California Wedding Planner — Jordan Voth Photography

Make The Most of Your Investment

For the budget conscious couple, versatile, multi-functional arrangements are key. Make the most of your investment by commissioning bouquets and statement pieces that can move easily from the ceremony space to the reception area. Whether that means flanking your head table or sweetheart table with the altar piece, or using bridesmaids’ bouquets as alternating centerpieces, planning for the maximum usage of each piece can help ensure that every piece has the maximum impact. With DIY floral pieces, remember that, someone will need to be assigned the job of transferring them around the venue quickly between the main events!

Thoughtful Decor

For budgetary and aesthetic reasons alike, a less is more approach is just the ticket to creating a chic event. Outside of floral arrangements, all other decorations should serve a purpose. Signs are a crucial part of the flow of the wedding day and using decorative informational signage is a great way to fill empty spaces at the venue. For many couples, honoring loved ones who couldn't join them is a top priority. Memorial sections with framed photos, personal items from the family, etc. are so special and so important. We recommend choosing one area to dedicate to this and make it absolutely beautiful.

Avoid purchasing random knick knacks and items to simply fill space. This can can tend to fill disjointed because it doesn't serve a purpose or bring anything specific to the space. Quirky signs, decorative figures, and other bits and bobs can be tempting, but if they don't fit into your life and home after the wedding day they're a bit of an unnecessary expense. We say, skip the knick knacks and add that extra pop to your flower budget for some greenery or simple blooms, where the effect is much more impactful.

Destination Wedding Coordinator — Stoffer Photography

As a final note, be sure to consider the last leg of the wedding day journey for your floral arrangements and decor. This is crucial especially if large statement pieces like altars or mantle pieces are part of your plan. Oftentimes these require metal or plastic forms to keep their structure and either the florist of a member of your wedding day team will need to remove these from the venue. Accounting for that tear down time and labor is an important part of building out the wedding day timeline. To give your blooms a second life, be sure to also look into donating them through a group like Random Acts of Flowers. What better way to send out your wedding day than to make sure your beautiful blooms keep the love flowing by bringing a smile to someone in need.