One of the most exciting parts of planning a wedding is making decisions on your wedding flowers! With social media platforms like Instagram + Pinterest being as popular as they are nowadays, the ideas are far from scarce ~ it can sometimes even get a bit daunting. When you hire a LW Planner + Designer, he/she will take you step by step through it all, but a lot of the final decisions will be up to you. Choosing your flowers (and the direction that you want your floral aesthetic to go) can be something you think about for a while, but once it’s time to narrow it down, here are five tips that can help!

Take a look at your color scheme

A big portion of your wedding colors will be reflected in your flowers. Because you’ll have flowers everywhere ~ on your ceremony arch or arbor, on the middle of every table, you’ll even be wearing them, etc. it’s important that they complement the colors you’ll be using in your table linens, napkins, chairs + other decor.

As a company, we are far from matchy-matchy ~ we appreciate a good mismatched color scheme done the right way. Instead of focusing on making sure everything is super matched up, think more about an overall scheme or palette. Think about pairing neutral whites + cream buds with a brighter toned or even fun patterned table linen or stationery. Or, even more funky ~ choose flowers in the coolest, most unique shades + let them do the talking while everything else stays neutral or even monochromatic.

Start with your bouquet

This is your big day, so naturally, you (and your bff that day ~ your bouquet) are going to be the stars. When starting to look up inspiration on Instagram or pinning things on Pinterest, we typically recommend starting with your bouquet, and basing all of the other floral pieces around that main focal point. Again, we aren’t talking super matchy here, but more so complementary. One thing we love is adding a dramatic flower like a King Protea in your bouquet, mixed in with an array of other different complementary flowers, but then only using King Protea in your ceremony arch or sweetheart table centerpiece, or maybe not anywhere else at all.

Overall, the flowers in your bouquet will set the tone for the remaining floral centerpieces, and be the piece that ties things all together. When thinking about your bridesmaids bouquets, corresponding is key. We typically recommend going a little smaller, but still just as pretty ~ we’ve seen too many brides make bridesmaids bouquets an afterthought, when really they should be just as special + unique. Think about it: Your girls will be carrying them in all of your wedding photos, and you’ll be taking a LOT of photos with them that day. We’ve even recommended some of our clients have their bridesmaids repurpose their bouquets + we’ll use them to dress up the cake table or other focal point such as a fireplace mantle, credenza or escort card table.

Consider the venue

Your venue is going to be the first thing you decide on once embarking on your wedding planning journey, so it truly sets the tone for everything that follows, including your dress, guests’ attire, design aesthetic, and yes you guessed it ~ your flowers! Ask yourself these questions:

• Is the wedding mainly outdoors or mostly indoors?
• Is the venue by the water or somewhere more mountainous?
• What type of natural flora grow in the area, either on property or nearby?

Although there is no hard + fast rule that you have to use flowers that complement your venue, it can be nice (and cohesive!) to embrace the natural climate, atmosphere, and domain. We love utilizing whimsical greens (eucalyptus + Italian ruscus are two of our faves!) for our weddings out in wine country for example, and more traditional flowers like roses, orchids + calla lilies for our weddings inside of hotel ballrooms.

Another trick we like to use is incorporating similar types of flowers + plant life that may grow onsite or nearby. For example, every wedding we have designed in Mexico, Costa Rica + Hawaii has utilized tropical greenery, and although we design each wedding a little differently, it’s fun to stay on theme + embrace the natural beauty of the landscape + environment, and it truly gives us a fun little challenge to do it up in various ways each time. This can also come in handy for destination weddings if there’s a snafoo with the the flower growers or a timing issue. For example ~ our florist’s flight for our wedding in Costa Rica earlier this year was delayed TWICE so Danielle literally had to forage + cut down leaves + plants (with the venue’s permission of course!) to create centerpieces. Fun fact: She used glass water decanters as vases + fruit baskets as a focal point display, ha!

Embrace the season

We are big advocates of marching to the beat of your own drum + not following every single traditional rule when it comes to planning your wedding, but playing to the season can come in handy when choosing your wedding flowers, especially because flower growth is so seasonal. Choosing seasonal can not only save you money but can also be more sustainable for the environment. There is already so much waste that goes into a typical wedding, that it’s nice to do what you can when it comes to keeping your footprint as minimal as possible.

Cost-effective + convenient are two of our mantras when it comes to wedding planning, and choosing seasonal flowers help you do just that. Wedding flowers are already going to be one of your largest expenses, so before spending a lot of money to get those peonies imported from Holland, consider an alternative that’s just as pretty but a lot less expensive. This will free up your budget a bit for other fun things like splurging on those velvet napkins you’ve had your eye on or that copper flatware that’s going to look so fun on your tables.

Plan for impact

When it comes to your flowers, think WOW FACTORS. Sometimes, you don’t need larger-than-life centerpieces on every single table. Instead, you can opt for a more candle-heavy tablescape so you can splurge on your ceremony arch (that can then be repurposed as a sweetheart table backdrop, something we always recommend!) The three things you should spend the most money on flower-wise:

• Your bouquet
• Ceremony arch
• Sweetheart table centerpiece

These items will be the most heavily photographed, and will be the areas that most of your guests will feast their eyes most often throughout the day + evening.

Our favorite floral style is on the loose + cascading side, which comes in handy because this style allows for pieces to look larger than they would if created in a tighter style. Adding lots of greenery can not only be cost-effective, but also really pretty + provide that added drama that you might want (and that we personally love ~ for us, it’s the bigger, the better!)

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