How to work with us as your florist

Flowers are the first thing you think of when planning how to make your reception photo-fabulous. But where do you start? Are you after dramatic, heavenly blooms or do you want to keep it simple? Or maybe something quirky. Get your pressing questions answered here...

When should I start shopping for flowers before the wedding?

Preparation time depends on the size of your wedding, as a rule of thumb,  at least six months before the big day should do the trick. Unlike with fresh flowers our brides can rest assured that our prices will remain the same throughout all seasons, we will not put our prices up because its mothers day or valentines day, also at Christmas most fresh florist get their flowers before Christmas Eve so if you are getting married the week afterwards your flowers will already be a week old. No dying brown bits with us, your flowers will look perfect throughout the whole day!

How much of my budget should I allocate for flowers?

Unlike fresh florists who say that estimates vary expect to spend about 5 – 10% of your total budget on bouquets for you and your maids, corsages, buttonholes, ceremony arrangements and table centres

Our hired bouquets for brides are from £35, Bridesmaids £20.

It’s important to have a rough budget in mind so that we can get your expectations in line with what you can afford,” “When couples don’t have an inkling of what they want to spend, it’s very hard to start creating an idea”.


When I’m comparing prices, what sort of additional fees should I think about?

We dont charge extras like VAT. We do charge delivery outside 10 miles of Plymouth at 0.40p per mile. Our hire charge includes setup and pickup.

Some florist do charge VAT, they dont delivery and dont clean up, unless you pay extra, so be mindful when going to other florists.


I suffer from hay fever – which flowers would you suggest?

With Flourish flowers you dont have to work, as all of our flowers are silk, they will not cause hay fever, they will not attract insects, so not sneezes or stings!!


How do I look at a venue and decide how to decorate it with flowers?

”Ask yourself: ‘Where are my guests going to be; what’s the schedule for the day; where are we going to start off; and how long are we going to stay in each place?’” That will help when deciding where the flowers should go. Utilise special features at the venue – think vintage fireplaces, doors and lovely corners – and decorate them first.

How can I find a bouquet shape to compliment my dress?

A good florist will take into account your height and body shape as well as dress shape when crafting the perfect bouquet, so be sure to bring photos of your gown and accessories to your consultation. We also consider the amount of detailing on the dress and its style, whether it’s modern or vintage. A dress with simple, straight lines will look better with a dramatic, cascading bouquet, while a heavily detailed gown looks great with a simple bunch of roses.

Are there any colours that I should avoid?

”The key is mixing in the right complementary blooms and foliage. Avoid pairing super-saturated hues like indigo or scarlet with pale flowers, as the contrast often makes the darker blooms appear black in pictures. Keep an all-white bouquet from looking washed out against a marquee by mixing in gorgeous greenery and contrasting coloured flowers to add depth to the arrangement.

Are some flowers more practical than others for outdoor weddings?

Again with the silk thing... it doesn't matter you can have what ever you want outside, come rain or shine, our flowers will look the same. We do offer a outdoor wedding package which consist of:


What about the centrepiece, as candelabra to big?

We hire a numerous amount of different style centrepieces, from goblets to candelabra. We have made sure that all of our candelabra will compliment tables, meaning they are all at a height where they will not block you guests view, or stop the conversation flowing. Our candelabra are 1m tall, out of sitting eye-level, but tall enough to create an impact on the room and create height and interest.



At Flourish all of our arrangements are bespoke, they are made up individually for each wedding, based on the bride and grooms style, theme and personality.

Gareth and Penny's Vintage Wedding at Trevenna Barns by Flourish

Gareth and Penny's beautiful Vintage inspired wedding  was held at Trevenna Barns, in the pretty village of St Neots, Liskeard in Cornwall. The lucky couple got married on one of the hottest days of the year the 4th June 2011.

 They got married in the stunning St Neots church, which dates back to 1266, it has the most beautiful stained glass windows.



 The couple and all of their guests were transported to St Neots Church and back to Trevenna in a funky 1950's bus, with a cd player pumping out 'Were going to the Chapel' at full blast!

I love this picture, Penny's dress looks so gorgeous

The bridal party

The groom on the way to church

The picture below is of the groom and the guests on the way to the church at St Neots. The groom opted for a multi-flower buttonhole, following the tradition of picking a flower from the brides bouquet.The picture to the right is of the beautifual bride and her lovely bridesmaids.

As the couple both have a nautical background the groom picked the entertainment. A surf machine, which caused lots of laughs and was lots of fun






The centrepieces below, are our Martini Glasses filled with pearls and dusky pink voile. The flowers on top are a mixture of peony, roses, hydrangea with amaranthus trailing round the stem picked out in fairy lights. As all our flowers are silk they continued to look fantastic throughout the very hot day.

The bouquet can still be thrown even though its hired! Our silk bouquet are more robust than fresh.

 Penny and Gareth wanted a magical transformation at night, so we looped fairy light through the flowers and down the stem of the martini glass. The effect was magnificent!!

Our Martini glasses with flowers and fairy lights

Penny with our statement topairy trees

Blue theme wedding at Trevenna Barns

Blue candelabra

Blue Themed Wedding at Trevenna Barns
1st October 2011

We are in love with this colour scheme, it created such a lovely environment and work beautifully on the candelabras. The brides colour scheme was a dark blue, but we felt as blue is a dominant colour it could have made the marquee feel cold and small. As it was an October wedding we wanted to create a bright atmosphere, we told the brides blue and created a pallette of colours to complement, lighter blue, very pale purple and Ivory. I would also love do do this in future adding pink into the mixture.

Blue colour scheme wedding

Bay trees at Trevenna

Having previous done weddings at Trevenna barns, we suggested to the brides to have trees around the doorway, this room is used as the dance floor at night. This is the time of day when the fairy lights on our bay trees come into their own. Our bay trees are lit with 200 fairy lights and at £25 to hire are a great piece to lighten any room.

See a video below of how the marquee looked, excuse our videoing

See more wedding we've done at Trevenna: http://www.withaflourish.co.uk/trevenna-barns-wedding-flowers

St Elizabeth House Wedding Flowers, Plympton, Plymouth

 Chris and Becky's May Wedding at St Elizabeth House

On the 20th May 2011 at St Elizabeth's House, Chris and Becky got married.

St Werburgs Church then Langdon Court Candelabra reception

Is there any way to enhance the beautiful St Werburghs Church, Wembury, Devon? Well maybe with a stunning wedding arch from Flourish! It was a beautiful day on Wednesday 10th August 2011 for Natalie and Andy's wedding and there can be no more beautiful church in such a perfect setting than St Werburghs for a seaside wedding

on the Devon coast. The arch was visible as you came up the driveway, letting everyone know a wedding was taking place, creating impact and inviting you in. It set the scene for Natalie and Andy's country theme, which then continued at Langdon Court, which was decorated with our beautiful candelabras in ivory flowers. The colour scheme was ivory and burgundy, but as burgundy is such a dominant colour Natalie opted to go with pure ivory flowers, which were decorated as a ball on our 1m tall candelabra which is well above the eyeline of the seated guests, so it it easy to chat across the table. The top table decoration was made to match by using the same flowers.

http://www.withaflourish.co.uk/langdon-court-weddings

Things to think about when choosing wedding flowers

I have read and you may have too that when you choose your wedding flowers the most important things to bear in mind are ;-

the time of year,

the flowers that are available

your budget.

Your personality

When you choose silk flowers for your wedding this becomes a whole lot easier.

Lets deal with availability ;-

Well with silk wedding flowers everything is available at any time of the year! So if you want peonies in December or tulips in July that's your choice. Our flowers don't go up and down in price seasonally, we give an exact quote, and it won't change. You might not realize but the cost of fresh flowers from a florist varies on the demand don't expect to have red roses on Valentines Day or Christmas time without paying a high premium. With silk flowers the price is the price whatever the time of year.

The time of year

We did a wedding over Christmas last year with large red silk grand prix style roses, the date was 29^th December. Our bride had got quotes for fresh flowers, and as mentioned above its an expensive time of year, but what you might not realize is that she had been told by the wedding florists that all flowers would have been delivered before Christmas and they couldn't guarantee how fresh they would be.

Two weeks ago on the 3^rd June we did a beautiful marquee wedding. It was on the hottest day of the year, and inside the wedding marquee it was 28degrees.

There was no danger of our flowers wilting, but I think fresh wedding flowers would have.

Budget

Well this is the big one, what price should you spend on your wedding flowers?

Well however much you want too! Just bear in mind that with our hired silk arrangements you can have a whole lot more for your money. Our beautiful wedding arch is £150 which may seem a lot until you compare it to £400-£800 for a fresh one!

Your Personality,

Well we love all styles, and we try really hard to deliver exactly what you want from romantic wedding flowers to contemporary. We are not stuck with one style, but we do love to make an impression so we try to achieve a WOW whatever your budget!