Wedding Flower Checklist

by Casey Schwartz

Pass the Duct Tape

Flower Duet loves cre­at­ing beau­ti­ful flo­ral designs for all types of wed­dings (see above — Casey’s back­yard wed­ding with her hus­band Randy) and we know how impor­tant it is to be pre­pared for anything.

Kit and I cre­at­ed the flo­ral designs for both our wed­dings. For Kit’s gar­den wed­ding at La Ven­ta Inn in Palos Verdes Estates, she want­ed all the arrange­ments and her bou­quet to look like she walked through the gar­den and gath­ered a few stems of each flower that was bloom­ing. Her bou­quet was a mass of blooms and very full of stems. (See below with Kit’s hus­band, Greg). It was the first wed­ding we ever did togeth­er and when we were about to fin­ish it off at almost mid­night before the big day, we real­ized we had left the flo­ral tape with our Mom at her hotel.

We were com­mit­ted to the bouquet’s design and so we got out the ver­sa­tile and ever use­ful Duct Tape and start­ed wrap­ping. We then of course cov­ered them stems and love­ly sil­ver Duct Tape with rib­bon and only Kit and I knew the secret mechan­ics under­neath the wrap­ping. My wed­ding bou­quet was just as full of blooms, but was cre­at­ed with the appro­pri­ate tools and sup­plies. As our Dad always told us, “You need the right tools.”

Lots of Learning

We’ve designed count­less bridal bou­quets and cen­ter­pieces for wed­dings since Kit’s in 1997 and mine in 2003 (Casey with our Dad walk­ing the aisle with her packed bou­quet of Hot Princess Ros­es and Ker­mit Mums) and we’ve most cer­tain­ly learned a great deal from each of them. Whether it be the bride’s col­or com­bo and flower choice, maybe a new venue with spe­cif­ic require­ments or sim­ply an issue brought on by Moth­er Nature, we keep learn­ing and fig­ur­ing out new tools to get the job done. Expe­ri­ence under your belt is help­ful and plan­ning is essen­tial for being pre­pared for odd­i­ties is nec­es­sary, but hope­ful­ly not the stan­dard routine.

Plan A and Plan B and Plan C…

What we do to ensure a smooth wed­ding is open com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the bride and groom com­bined with lots of plan­ning. We work close­ly with our brides and wed­ding plan­ners to be sure the right flow­ers are cho­sen and the taste of the bride is real­ly reflect­ed. If the groom wants to learn how to make the bou­quet, we teach him. We always vis­it the venue to see how the arch is built in order to know how to add that flo­ral spray when the time is tight. Or to see how nar­row the aisle is and how long the run­ner needs to be. It is a long list, how­ev­er, it does have an end. The goal for any wed­ding florist is to ensure that beau­ti­ful, fresh flow­ers arrive on time to each event, so plan well and allow plen­ty of time.

Wedding Movies We Love — for the Flowers and Inspiration they Bring

In the mid­dle of prep­ping for wed­dings, it comes time to pre­pare the bou­ton­nières and cor­sages, per­haps a hair wreath of flow­ers. All of which take wire, tape, flow­ers, and patience and fine motor skills. This is when we clear the table, orga­nize our sup­plies, pull up a chair and put on a good wed­ding movie or at least a good roman­tic com­e­dy. Here are some of our favorite movies to watch for the inspi­ra­tion of flow­ers or just pure entertainment.

The Wedding Planner

The open­ing scene to us is worth a few rewinds. Even though many brides have a plan­ner, there have been some wed­dings where we are over­lap­ping a bit with oth­er ven­dors and end up being a bit of a plan­ner. So we could appre­ci­ate the detail in which her char­ac­ter han­dles the job.

Mamma Mia

It is all about prepar­ing for a wed­ding, that does not real­ly hap­pen and the dra­ma of a wed­ding that should have hap­pened and then eventually…well you need to see it. The music is great and you will have your wiring done in no time!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

We grew up watch­ing this movie and it is a great watch any day. The singing and danc­ing is such a joy and again, makes the work just fly by.

The Philadelphia Story & High Society

Two of our favorite wed­ding movies. We are often quot­ing many lines from these movies on a reg­u­lar basis. The dia­logue, the design­er dress­es, the flowers…are all a joy to see.

Any Fred and Ginger Movie

Danc­ing and romance in clas­sic black & white are all great picks and we love the flo­ral designs in the back­ground. Always bold, and larg­er than life. Sim­i­lar to the two stars in these won­der­ful movies. Check out Swing Time or Top Hat.

The Proposal

It amazes us dur­ing the wed­ding scene that they pulled togeth­er this beau­ti­ful barn full of fresh flow­ers in less than two days, in Alas­ka. But, that’s Hol­ly­wood and this movie is a fun romp. Love San­dra Bullock!

Four Weddings and a Funeral

When this first came out, Kit saw it twice in the the­ater. She just loved all the wed­dings and Hugh Grant of course.

The Hangover

Okay…so it’s a bit of a guy’s movie, but if you fast for­ward to the end, you’ll see an amaz­ing wed­ding scene with gor­geous flowers.

My Best Friend’s Wedding

Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz are great in this roman­tic com­e­dy where the hero­ine ends up with her best friend, Rupert Everett. The scenery of Chica­go is great in this movie and of course, there is a wed­ding, too!

Sixteen Candles

We can quote every line before it hap­pens on the screen. The last part of the movie is Mol­ly Ringwald’s character’s sis­ter get­ting mar­ried. This movie is worth every minute.

Monsoon Wedding

We love the scene where they eat the marigolds that they are using for the wed­ding flower decoration.

Fun Flower Activities and Information

flower Magazine Spring Issue on Sale

flower Mag­a­zine’s, spring issue just shipped and is on sale. It is full of beau­ti­ful wed­dings and some fun flo­ral fash­ion. Pho­to of Spring Run­way fasion is from flowermagazine.com.

What’s Growing in the California Growers’ Nurseries?

Check out the Cal­i­for­nia Cut Flower Com­mis­sion to see what is grown local­ly for a “green­er” bou­quet! The pho­to is from the CCFC.org website.

Book Review

Wed­ding Bou­quets: Over 300 Designs for Every Bride by Wed­ding Flow­ers Magazine
There is a won­der­ful mag­a­zine that is all about Wed­ding Flow­ers that is pub­lished in the UK, but avail­able here. We’ve pur­chased it at Borders.

Each mag­a­zine fea­tures pages of bou­quets and com­pan­ion cen­ter­pieces that cap­ture our atten­tion page by page. It comes out six times each year and is full of col­or­ful ideas for brides. It prints what the flow­ers are in the bou­quets, it has great images and we often bring a stack of them when we meet with brides.

Then one of our stu­dents came to a work­shop and she pulled out this dar­ling square book out and it looked famil­iar. The mag­a­zine had com­piled 300 wed­ding bou­quets in one won­der­ful book. I opened and it and what an incred­i­ble col­lec­tion of bou­quets. It is done in order of col­or begin­ning with whites and creams and then leads you through won­der­ful com­bi­na­tions of yel­low, pinks, reds, pur­ples and oranges. There are so many com­bi­na­tions and a large range of styles and tech­niques that will inspire you. Avail­able at Amazon.com.

Floral Tool — Stephanotis Stems

Stephan­otis blos­soms are the flower from the Mada­gas­car Jas­mine vine. Like most jas­mine flow­ers, the blooms are quite fra­grant and love­ly to look at. These are very pop­u­lar wed­ding flow­ers and are often fea­tured as accent for a bride’s hair.

The name derives from the Greek ‘stephanos’ crown and ‘otis’ ear which refers to the arrange­ment of the sta­mens in the flower which (sup­pos­ed­ly) are ear shaped.

In addi­tion to the hair décor, we often fea­ture these small flow­ers in bou­ton­nieres, & bou­quets. The flow­ers are sold whole­sale, cut and boxed in sets of 25 and are kept in the refrig­er­a­tor as they have no water source.

In order to add these flow­ers to a bou­quet or oth­er design for a bride’s wed­ding day, a florist needs to use a tool called a Stephan­otis Stem.

These are made for fresh Stephan­otis flow­ers specif­i­cal­ly. Each stem is just about 6 inch­es long and helps the flower stay fresh longer. At the end of each wired stem is a cot­ton reser­voir that the florist dips in water for about ten sec­onds and then inserts it care­ful­ly into the stephan­otis head.

After the flow­ers are held by the stem, the florist can add an accent of a pearly flo­ral pin to cov­er the cot­ton reser­voir of the stem.

Stephanotis Essential Tip

When work­ing with stephan­otis blos­soms, it is essen­tial to keep your fin­gers wet. If you han­dle a blos­som with dry hands, the oil from your skin will bruise the bloom and cause it to turn brown.