Advices » "ADVICE FOR PLANNING YOUR WEDDING DAY"

Step by step advise for the preparation an exquisite floral presentation on your grand day.

One year before:
Choose  the church, temple or location where the wedding ceremony will take place.
-Choose the location for the wedding reception.
- Begin thinking about the wedding gown. Review magazines which specialize in weddings, visit wedding gown shops and surf the internet where up to the second trends can be seen.
- Begin discussing with your florist what flowers and arrangements you may want. At the beginning, talk of possible themes and perhaps create a collage of photos that contain colors, leaves, petals and landscapes: explore your deepest emotions by making them visual. And then explore your fancies and thoughts by making another collage of wedding photos: their fashions, ceremonies, receptions and, of course, flowers. With these collages and your ideas on themes, the florist can begin to understand how to advise you on the flowers and floral arrangements best suited for your great day.
Nine months before:
-Confirm the location where the ceremony will take place.
-Choose the wedding gown and once chosen, obtain from the boutique or seamstress a sample of the gown material that can be shown to the florist, so that he or she will be able to see what colors would be best for the bouquet.
The sample should be placed among the collages already made.

-Choose the florist who will help you plan the floral arrangements for your wedding. In choosing, look to professionals who have had a lot of experience with weddings, who can suggest ideas and give counsel and, yes, even dream with you. Every florist has his or her own style because every florist should be touched by art. Also talk to those who have used the florist recently for their own weddings, because recommendations are one of the surest ways to assess any professional.
A website is a good window on the style of the florist, because you can see the examples of floral arrangements of previous weddings, and a good window on his or her reputation, because you can read references from customers and review the resume of past exhibitions.
-Part of the process of choosing a florist should be a brief list of questions for him or her.
With a broad idea of the colors, types and quantities of flowers and the number and types of arrangements, and where they will be placed, the florist can begin to make an estimate of costs.

Six months before
- Reserve the reception room for that grand party that follows the ceremony.
From the priest in charge of the church or the secretary of the municipality or the rabbi in charge of the synagogue, learn what the rules and limits are for floral arrangements and what must be respected and cared for. Learn too what the opportunities are. Where can flowers and floral decorations be placed: entrance, nave, stage, altar, pews? Along the walls, at the doors, on the window sills? On tables and chairs or the steps leading up to the church, synagogue or town hall?
-Now is the moment to begin making decisions on flowers and floral arrangements, from the bridal bouquet to the button sprays, from the bridal garland to the corsage, from the table settings to the altar, from the bouquets for the bridesmaids to the flowers for the flower girls, from the decoration of the car to the central design at the table of honor.

Five months before:
-Confirm floral preparations with your florist and give him or her a deposit.
Three months before:
-The groom “orders” the bridal bouquet (which the bride has already chosen, though in some countries the mother-in-law gives the bouquet to the her future daughter-in-law.)
- Choose the bridesmaids and ushers.
-If the bride is going to wear flowers in her hair, have the florist and hairdresser contact each other.
-Decide whether there is a need for floral arrangements at the home of the bride for the purpose of pre-wedding photos: the procession of the bride and her parents as she leaves one home on her way to her wedding which will lead to a home of her own.
-Decide whether the car which carries the bride with have floral decorations. .
Two months before:
-The menu for the reception meal must be fixed and it must be decided whether the wedding cake will have a floral decoration.
-Have a meeting with your florist to confirm the locations of the ceremony and reception and which flowers and which arrangements the bride has decided on, from her bouquet and corsage to the bouquets of the bridesmaids.

One month before:
- If possible arrange meetings in the church, synagogue or town hall and at the location for the reception with the musicians, florist and photographer.
-Check every detail of every estimate, from the florist to the reception party.
-Make a list of things that might be done at the last minute.

The day before the grand day:
-Double check the hours of the wedding and reception and confirm the times with your florist.
-Confirm with your florist the procedures for the delivery of the flowers and floral arrangements.
-Pay your florist the balance of the account.

All is ready now.