inspiration · July
How to Choose Your Wedding Flowers
DIY or full-service? Budget, venue, dress, seasonality — everything we help couples think through before we design their florals.
For us it doesn't matter if you are clueless on whether a flower is an alstroemeria or an astrantia — choosing your wedding flowers is more about the look and feel you are after. Have fun — start a Pinterest board, cut out things you like from bridal magazines, or shamelessly save social media photographs of florists you love. Over time your thoughts will evolve. We quite often see this when we look at a bride's Pinterest board from the beginning to more recent pins.
Your wedding flowers will play such an important part in the look of your day and of course be in photographs for you to keep forever.
Lots of questions will of course jump into your mind and hopefully we can help you with some of these.
DIY?
The biggest decision you will make is whether you are going to ask a florist to handle your wedding flowers, handle it yourself, or a combination of both. Here at Field Gate we offer all these services. Around 90 percent of our wedding services are a full prepare-and-installation service. If you are going to do any part yourself, please bear in mind the following:
- It may be hot on the day before and you will not be able to put your flowers out until the morning of your wedding. You will need to store somewhere cool overnight. Also, some venues do not allow access until 10am on your wedding day so timings will be tight.
- Some brides have relatives to help, which is great, but make sure this is not your Mum who should be with you on your wedding morning… (I am a Mum.)
- It can be stressful to handle your own wedding flowers — sorry but true.
- Talk to us and we will talk over all the pros and cons.
Budget
For budget purposes the average cost of wedding flowers is around £1,300–£1,500. This is higher if you desire flower arches, flower clouds, flower hoops or any other large installations. It is better to be honest on budget. For us as growers, our largest cost is labour. An average full-installation service wedding will require a minimum of 30–50 hours. If you require church, full bridal party flowers, and marquee flowers you will need a budget of between £2,000–£3,000.
Venue
The venue will help with deciding on the look and feel of flowers. Elegant venues such as Rushton Hall are more suited to more formal flower arrangements, whereas barn venues such as Dodford Manor are more suited to natural and romantic blooms. Please talk to us. We have worked at over 30 different venues across five counties and are happy to share our expertise with you. Bear in mind if the venue is large and has tall ceilings the flowers will need to be taller and make more of a statement so as not to be lost.
Should I choose seasonal blooms?
OK we are a little biased on this one — we are flower farmers and provide seasonal blooms. Seasonal flowers do look better, are of a higher quality, are fresh and of course scented. We are often asked if they are cheaper. Honestly, they are not from our point of view as most of our costs are labour. If however you have chosen a high-street florist then the cost of flowers will vary per season. In the main, flowers are bought in from Africa and continental Europe and flower costs are affected. One favourite is peony for brides, and these are only available in the UK from mid-May to early July. Please do talk to us and we will guide you on this.
Does my wedding dress affect my choice of flowers?
Yes, it does. Your flowers need to complement your dress and not take over. We suggest you discuss this with your florist and share photographs of your dress (away from the eyes of your prospective groom of course). You also need to bear in mind your height — a long cascade floral arrangement tends to drown a bride under 5ft 3", whereas a small formal bouquet gets lost with a taller bride.
How far in advance should I book?
If you would like a florist, we would recommend you book your florist as soon as you can. Some florists like ourselves only take on one wedding per day. This is to allow us to completely focus on one wedding. Others may take on more — just ask your florist.
Above all, enjoy the process. Have fun selecting images and creating your perfect wedding flowers. Working with your florist should be a partnership and it should be an exciting fun experience.
Enjoy this time. Think of scented, beautiful blooms…
Ready to chat? Book a complimentary wedding consultation with Roz and the Field Gate team, or see our wedding pricing.
