Behind the scenes of wedding floral design

When you scroll through your Instagram or Pinterest feed for floral inspirations, have you ever wondered “how did they do that?” If your answer is yes, then it is proof that floral design is not just putting flowers together (although they may look like being thrown together effortlessly). To put it in a simple way, when you hire a professional wedding florist, you are not just paying for flowers, right? You are paying for: quality designs that tell a story, years of experience, creativity, professional service, time and last but not least, peace of mind!

So what does it look like when we work on a real wedding? How do we translate the vision into something more concrete? What are the steps? To answer these questions, I will share our processes below.

Conceptualizing and Sourcing

During the inquiry process, we usually create a style board with color palette and design inspiration. Based on that, we further conceptualize the designs that match the vision of the couple, select flowers variety, confirm recipe, and source the best flowers that we can get our hands on. All of this is to make sure the final design is cohesive and in harmony with the theme.

Conditioning

Flowers usually arrive at our studio 4-5 days prior to the wedding. When they do, we unpack, inspect them and condition them by removing thorns, leaves, and hydrating them well. To put things into context, for an intimate wedding with around 30 guests, we usually prepare 500 stems of flowers and foliage. And that’s just for simple designs without major installations.

Designing and Transporting

A few days before the wedding, we start bringing the designs alive and make any adjustment to ensure everything aligns with the vision. Centerpieces, aisle arrangements and personal items are usually designed ahead of time at the studio. On the day of, we transport all designs and vessels carefully to the venue. This may sound easy, but I’d say it is one of the most difficult steps in the entire process. Just imaging all the non-stackable flower arrangements and glass vessels in the back of a van! 

Onsite Setup

Installations such as ceremony arch, floral chandeliers and staircases are designed onsite, so we always make sure to arrive at the venue at least 2 or 3 hours before. Once on site, we deliver all personal flowers, install any major pieces, fine-tune pre-designed pieces and decorate tables with candles and other accessories.

When we finish transforming the venue, it is time for the celebration to start!