A wedding florist's quote reads like an inventory: the couple's bouquets, boutonnieres for the wedding party, an arch, a centrepiece for every table, something for the cake. If that list is new to you when the quote arrives, you spend the follow-up call working out what each line is. So write your own version before the first consultation, even a rough one with question marks beside half the numbers. Much of it comes from numbers you already have. The rest depends on your venue, and in Vancouver that includes where the ceremony goes if it rains.
The flowers people carry and wear
Start with the personal flowers, because they're the easiest to count. Vancouver florists' own wedding pages list them first: the couple's bouquets, bouquets for the attendants, boutonnieres and corsages. The wedding party gives you the first numbers. Then decide who else wears flowers: parents, grandparents, perhaps the officiant. Write names rather than a number, so the list is easy to check at the consultation and easy to trim later.
For a small wedding, a full design may be more than you need: Celsia Floral, in Kitsilano, has an à la carte wedding list on its site, so you can order a bouquet, boutonnieres or corsages individually, in the quantity you need.
The ceremony, and what the venue lets you bring
The ceremony has a list of its own: an arch or arbour, altar arrangements, candelabra flowers, aisle markers, pew markers or chair decorations, and garlands of flowers and foliage. Few ceremonies need all of that, so start with where you'll stand and the aisle leading to it.
Then check what the venue allows. For Great Lawn and Heron Lake ceremonies, VanDusen Botanical Garden's rental page says: “It is the responsibility of the renter to arrange tent, chairs, and décor within the rental time frame.” At Meadow Pond, “no tenting, chairs, or décor are permitted,” so ask the garden what that leaves room for before an arch goes on your list. For the Great Lawn and Heron Lake, the garden also offers an indoor hall as a discounted add-on, which its page calls “a great option to ensure you have rain back-up during your ceremony.” If you add it, tell your florist, so the ceremony pieces can work indoors too.
Burnaby Mountain is a different case: for ceremonies at the Centennial Rose Garden or the Playground of the Gods, the City of Burnaby's venue-rental page notes that “wedding locations are in public parks” and “wedding groups will not have ‘exclusive’ use of the area,” so ask your florist for pieces that go up quickly and leave the paths clear for everyone else.
The reception, table by table
Centrepieces are counted from the table plan, so get a draft of it early. Rental companies usually count a 60-inch round as seating eight guests comfortably, and a 72-inch round as seating up to ten, though it needs more floor space. On those figures, 120 guests at rounds of eight is 15 tables and at rounds of ten it's 12, so 15 or 12 centrepieces if every table gets one. Long tables work differently: ask whether the florist would run a garland down the middle.
The pieces away from the guest tables count too. The Bloomerie, also in Kitsilano, names head-table installations, sweetheart-table flowers, cake flowers, welcome-sign flowers and bar flowers as separate pieces on its wedding page, so give each one a line, including the ones you're unsure about.
The small pieces that slip off the list
Flower crowns and a decorated ring-bearer pillow are easy to forget until someone asks what the children are wearing and carrying. Keep anything a small child holds light, and if petals are meant to be scattered, check with the venue before the florist orders them.
The events around the wedding may want flowers too: an engagement party, a shower, a welcome dinner the night before. If any of them do, put them on the same list while the palette is still open.
What the flowers tend to cost
At the time of writing, Petal & Bulb's cost guide gives a ballpark: most couples in Vancouver, it says, spend “anywhere from $2,500 to $6,000 on wedding flowers,” and some go all out with installations that reach $10,000 or more. The same guide puts reception centrepieces at $100 to $350 each, so the 12 to 15 tables in the 120-guest example above come to somewhere between $1,200 and $5,250 in centrepieces alone.
For a smaller wedding, The Bloomerie lists a Micro Wedding package from $1,995, which covers a bridal bouquet, two bridesmaid bouquets, three boutonnieres, two large ceremony arrangements, five centrepieces and flowers for the sweetheart table. Celsia Floral's FAQ sets a minimum spend of $2,500 for custom designs and installations. Whatever the figures, ask each florist for a starting price and what it includes, and how the reception tables are priced.
When to start, and what to bring
Petal & Bulb, a Surrey florist, sets out the timing on its site. For a spring or summer wedding, it suggests starting the search “at least 12 months prior.” Once the date and venue are confirmed, it puts the first meetings with florists six to twelve months before the wedding, and from three to six months out, it says, it's time to “act quickly,” because florists usually ask for a deposit to reserve the date.
If your wedding is next spring or summer and your date and venue are confirmed, it's worth sending the first enquiries now, with the list as rough as it is.
To the meeting itself, bring your list with its counts and names, the venue's décor rules, the rain plan, the draft table plan, and pictures of flowers you love, plus one or two you don't.
What to cut first when the quote comes back
Check the counts before you touch the design. If the guest list has shrunk since the consultation, the centrepieces should shrink with it, and if the room has space for rounds of ten, the same guests need fewer tables. After that, cut the pieces guests see for the shortest time. Aisle markers and chair decorations are seen for the length of the ceremony, while centrepieces sit in front of people all evening. You might dress only the front rows, and ask whether the bar and the welcome sign need flowers at all.
Leave what people hold and wear until last. The bouquet and the boutonnieres turn up in pictures from getting ready to the end of the night, and the head table faces the room through dinner and the speeches.
Leave what people hold and wear until last.
When you send your cuts back, ask for the revised quote line by line, in the order of your list, so you can see what each piece was costing you.
Photos by Muktasim Azlan, Soulseeker - Creative Photography, Azis Gunawan, Amar Preciado and Golboo Maghooli on Unsplash and Pexels.
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