Questions to Ask a Wedding Florist
For couples meeting a florist at a consultation, before booking and paying a deposit. The questions follow the order the meeting usually takes: fit and style, the flowers and the design, budget and the quote, delivery and setup, teardown and what happens to the flowers afterwards, and last the contract. Each has a note on what a good answer sounds like and what should give you pause.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Fit and style
Is our date open, and how many other weddings would you take that day or that weekend?
Why ask it
Settle this by email before the consultation, with the venue and a rough number of tables, so the meeting is not spent on a florist who is already booked. Several weddings on one day can still go well with enough staff, so follow up with who would be at your venue and when your flowers would be made. A studio that takes one wedding a day will usually say so in the first sentence.
What do your arrangements tend to look like when a couple leaves the design to you?
Why ask it
Loose and garden-gathered, tight and round, tall and sculptural: most florists have a hand that shows whatever the brief says. If what they describe sounds like the pictures you saved, you are in the right room. If you would be asking them to work against their habit, ask to see a wedding where they did.
Can we see every piece from one wedding you did, from the bouquet to the last guest table?
Why ask it
The pictures a florist posts are the arch and the head table. Every piece from one wedding tells you whether the tables at the back, the boutonnieres and the bar arrangement got the same care. Ask for a wedding with a guest count and budget near yours, because a florist's best-known work is often their most expensive.
Have you done flowers at our venue, and what did you learn about the place?
Why ask it
Someone who has worked there knows the loading door, the hour the room opens, what the ceiling can hold and how hot the ceremony spot gets by mid-afternoon. For a venue new to them, a site visit or a call with the venue manager before the proposal is a good answer. If they have worked there, ask for the pictures, which show their flowers in your room at its real scale.
Who designs our flowers, who makes them, and who will be at the venue on the day?
Why ask it
In a one-person studio all three are the same person. In a larger shop the owner may design while a team builds and a crew delivers, which works when the lead on site has your proposal in hand and has installed at weddings before. Get that person's name and ask whether you will meet them before the wedding.
Are weddings most of your work, and roughly how many do you do in a year?
Why ask it
A retail shop that takes a few weddings and a studio that does nothing else can each be the right choice. Large installations, a short setup window and pieces that move between rooms favor someone who does them most weekends. An order of bouquets and boutonnieres alone may be just as well served by a good local shop, often for less.
Besides flowers, what can you supply: candles, lanterns, an arch, draping, linens?
Why ask it
Some studios design the whole room and others stop at the flowers, so the answer tells you whether you also need a rental company or a decorator. Whatever they bring, ask who lights the candles and who keeps them lit, a job that tends to fall between the florist, the venue and the coordinator. If the linens are coming from someone else, send the florist a swatch.
What has a couple asked for that you talked them out of, and why?
Why ask it
The stories tend to be practical: a delicate flower for an August ceremony in full sun, a crown of something that wilts within the hour, an installation the venue would never have allowed. You are checking that they will tell you when an idea will not hold up. A florist who has never said no to anyone will say yes to the thing that fails on your day.
Can we talk to a couple from the past year, and to a planner or venue manager who has worked with you?
Why ask it
A couple can say whether the flowers matched the proposal and how the florist handled changes. A planner or venue manager saw what the couple did not: whether the crew arrived on schedule, finished before guests came in and left the room clean. If only reviews on their own website are on offer, read those as selected.
Flowers and design
Here are the pictures we saved. What do you see in them, and what would you change for our venue?
Why ask it
A good florist reads the board back to you: the palette, loose or structured, the thing all the pictures share that you had not noticed. They should also say what will not carry over, such as a look that depends on a ceiling or a season you do not have. Bring a few pictures you dislike as well, since they narrow things down faster than the ones you love.
What will be in season on our date, and which of the flowers in our pictures will not be?
Why ask it
Hand over the pictures and ask them to go through flower by flower: in season, available shipped in at a price, or not to be had that month. The answer you want offers a stand-in with the same shape or color for each miss. 'We can get anything' usually means you pay more and take whatever quality arrives.
When a flower in our proposal is not good enough at market that week, what is your rule for replacing it?
Why ask it
Flowers are a crop, so every florist swaps something now and then, and many contracts keep the right to. Ask how the stand-in is chosen: by color first, by shape, or by whatever looks best at market that morning. Then name the one or two flowers you would want a phone call about and have that written into the proposal.
Will the proposal name the flowers piece by piece, or give us a palette and a mood?
Why ask it
Some florists list stems and quantities for every arrangement, and others sell a color story and choose the best flowers at market that week, which can mean better blooms and less certainty. Either is fair as long as you know which you are buying. Where one particular flower matters to you, have it named in writing whichever way they work.
Which flowers would hold up through our ceremony, given the season and how long they will be out of water?
Why ask it
Give them the hour, the place and whether it is in sun or shade. Someone who works in your climate will name what droops in heat and what browns in cold without looking anything up, and will say what they do about it: a later delivery, bouquets kept in water until the last minute. If the ceremony is in full afternoon sun and they do not raise it, you should.
Can you make a sample centerpiece or bouquet before the wedding, and what does it cost?
Why ask it
A sample is the only way to see scale and color against your own linens. Ask whether they make one before or only after booking, and whether it is charged for, since practice differs from one florist to the next. Keep in mind that one made months ahead may use different flowers from the ones in season on the day.
How big will the bouquets be to carry, and how will the stems be wrapped?
Why ask it
Photographs hide scale. Ask for a width in inches and to hold something similar in the studio, because a bouquet that looks generous online can be tiring to carry through an hour of portraits. Ribbon, wrap and the length of the stems show in every picture taken that day, so decide them now.
How do you make boutonnieres, corsages and flower crowns last a full day of hugs?
Why ask it
These pieces sit out of water for hours and are usually the first to wilt. Listen for sturdy varieties, magnets or pins chosen to suit the fabric, and delivery kept cool until close to the time. A spare or two for the people in the most photographs is a small thing to ask for and worth having.
How tall will the centerpieces be, and can guests see each other across the table?
Why ask it
The usual aim is low enough to see over or high enough to see under, with nothing at face height. Ask for the height in inches and what the vessel or stand looks like from a chair. With long tables, ask how the design changes, since a centerpiece made for a round does not simply repeat down a row.
Have you built a chuppah, a mandap or a ceremony arch like the one we want, and whose frame would it be?
Why ask it
The frame may be the florist's rental, the venue's, or something a relative is building, and each changes the price and who puts it up. Where the structure has a religious meaning, ask your officiant what it has to be before anyone designs flowers for it. Pictures of one they have built, with its measurements, are worth more than a sketch.
Do you build with floral foam, and what do you use for arches and large pieces if not?
Why ask it
Floral foam is a single-use plastic product, and some couples and venues would prefer to avoid it. The usual alternatives are chicken wire, reusable frames, water tubes and moss, and either way of working can be fine. What you are listening for is a florist who knows what is inside their own installation.
Will any of these flowers stain a dress, overpower the dinner tables or bother a guest with allergies?
Why ask it
Pollen from some lilies can mark a dress or a suit, and heavy scent on a dinner table competes with the meal, so a careful florist removes the pollen-bearing parts and keeps the strongest scents away from where people eat. Mention anyone in the wedding party with a flower allergy and ask which varieties they would leave out. They can tell you what is in an arrangement, not how a particular person will react.
Who puts the flowers on the cake, you or the baker, and which blooms are safe to use there?
Why ask it
This job often belongs to nobody until the cake is already on its table. Settle who brings the stems, who places them and when, then put the florist and the baker in touch. Ask both of them which flowers should not touch icing and how the stems are wrapped.
Budget and quote
Do you have a minimum spend, and does it change with the season or the day of the week?
Why ask it
Many event florists set a minimum for busy Saturdays and ease it for weekdays, quiet months or small weddings. If your budget is under it, say so plainly and ask what they would suggest: personal flowers only, a pickup order or a referral. Hearing 'we are not the right fit' at this stage saves both of you an afternoon.
Do you sell set packages, or is every wedding designed and priced from scratch?
Why ask it
A package of standard pieces can suit a small wedding or an order of personal flowers, and custom work is the norm once there are installations. With a package, find out what can change, usually the colors and less often the flowers or the sizes, and whether delivery is in the price. With custom pricing, expect design time and the crew on site to take a real share of the total alongside the stems.
Our flower budget is about this much. What can you realistically do for that at our guest count?
Why ask it
Give a real figure, because without one they will design to your pictures and quote something you cannot pay. A good reply comes as priorities: these pieces in full, these simplified, these dropped. Be wary if everything in your pictures apparently fits and no trade-off is named.
What exactly does the quote include: flowers, vases, delivery, setup, teardown and tax?
Why ask it
Ask for it itemized by piece with quantities, and the service lines set out below: delivery, labor on site, the return trip at the end of the night, rentals, and sales tax where it applies. Two quotes with the same total can differ by whether anyone comes back at midnight. Treat anything not written on the quote as not included.
Where do flowers matter most at a wedding like ours, and where would nobody notice if we cut back?
Why ask it
The bouquet, the ceremony backdrop and the tables people sit at for two hours tend to earn their cost. Pew ends, the restroom arrangement and cocktail tables often do not. A florist willing to strike a line from their own quote is giving you advice you can trust on the lines that stay.
What would bring the total down without changing the overall look?
Why ask it
The common levers are in-season flowers in the same color instead of costly focal blooms, more greenery, a mix of tall and low tables, and bud vases in place of full centerpieces. Ask for two versions priced side by side so the difference is in money and not in adjectives. If the only idea offered is fewer guest tables, ask again.
If flower prices rise between now and the wedding, does our total change?
Why ask it
Wholesale prices move, and they tend to climb around the big flower holidays, so say so if your date falls near Valentine's Day or Mother's Day. Some florists hold the total and adjust the mix of flowers, and others keep the right to quote again. Ask which applies and where the contract says so.
Does the price change if we pick the flowers up ourselves instead of having them delivered and set up?
Why ask it
Pickup takes delivery and setup off the bill and suits bouquets and simple table arrangements. It also hands you the job: a cool car, careful hands and a person free on the wedding morning who is not one of you. Many florists will not release large installations this way, so ask where they draw the line.
Can we supply some things ourselves, such as family vases, candles or flowers a relative grows?
Why ask it
Some florists are glad to work with your grandmother's vases, and some use only their own stock because they know the sizes and the condition. Ask when your items have to be dropped off and what happens if one is chipped or broken. Garden flowers from a relative are lovely and unpredictable, so find out whether they would use them and how they want them cut.
Do you charge for the consultation, a site visit or extra rounds of changes to the proposal?
Why ask it
A first meeting is often free and later work may not be, but there is no single custom, so ask. Find out how many revisions come with the quote. A cap on them protects the florist's design time and is reasonable, provided you hear the number before you request the third version.
Delivery and setup
When are our flowers ordered, and when are they actually arranged?
Why ask it
The answer gives you their real deadline for changes, which is the wholesale order and not the wedding day. It also tells you how they keep things fresh: when the stems come in to drink and open, whether there is a cooler, and how close to the day the bouquets are made. If they have other events that week, ask where yours falls in the run.
What time will the bouquets and boutonnieres arrive, and where do they go?
Why ask it
Personal flowers have to be wherever people are getting dressed before the photographer starts, which can be hours ahead of the ceremony and at a different address from the venue. Give them every address and the time portraits begin. Ask who they hand the box to and whether each piece is labeled with a name.
How long do you need to set up, and what has to be ready when you get there?
Why ask it
Take the number of hours and hold it against the time your venue releases the room. If another event is in there before yours, the window may be shorter than the installation needs. Centerpieces cannot go down until the tables are placed and the linens are on, so ask whose phone numbers they want: the venue, the coordinator, the rental company.
Will you check with our venue yourself about what can hang, whether candles can be lit and where to unload?
Why ask it
Venues set their own rules on open flame, nails and tape, what a beam or ceiling point may carry, and when the loading area is free. You want a yes here, and before the design is final, so nothing is proposed that gets refused on the morning. Offer to introduce the two by email and let them sort it out directly.
Do you stay until the ceremony starts, or leave once everything is in place?
Why ask it
Someone from the crew who is still there can pin the boutonnieres, fix a bouquet that was dropped and straighten the arch after the wind has been at it. Many florists leave when setup is finished, which is fine if somebody has been shown how to pin a flower and where the spares are. If you would like them to stay, ask what the extra time costs.
Which ceremony arrangements can be reused at the reception, and who carries them over during cocktail hour?
Why ask it
Aisle pieces that turn up again at the bar or the head table give you two uses for one price, but only if they are designed to travel, in vessels and not wired to chairs. Someone named has to do the moving in a short gap: the florist's crew may charge for staying, and venue staff or a coordinator will do it only if they have agreed to. 'Someone will grab them' is how an arch ends up alone on a lawn.
What is the plan for our flowers if the ceremony moves indoors for rain or wind?
Why ask it
An arch built for a lawn may not fit the indoor room, and tall pieces on stands tip over in a gust. Ask what they would bring for each version, who makes the call and by what hour they need to hear. Florists who do outdoor weddings can usually tell you about weighted bases and about a day it went wrong.
Who do we call on the wedding morning if a piece is missing or looks wrong?
Why ask it
You want the cell number of a person on the crew, not the shop's main line. Pass it to your coordinator or one calm relative so the call does not have to come from you. It is also worth asking what the crew carries for repairs: spare stems, pins, ribbon, an extra boutonniere.
Teardown and after
When do you come back to take everything down, and is a late-night pickup a separate charge?
Why ask it
Check the florist's return time against the hour your venue wants the room empty, which is written in your venue contract. A crew that comes back at midnight is commonly billed as its own line. If nobody is returning, find out exactly what you have to bring back, to where and by which day.
Which items are rentals, and what would we owe if a vase or stand breaks or goes missing?
Why ask it
Vases, candle holders, arches and stands usually belong to the florist and go back the same night. Ask for the list with a replacement price beside each item, and whether candle wax or a chipped rim counts as damage. Then give the list to whoever is clearing the room, so the count is done before the crew arrives.
At the end of the night, are the flowers ours, and can guests take the centerpieces home?
Why ask it
Often the flowers are yours and the vessels are not, but ask, because it is the florist's contract that decides. If you would like guests to leave with arrangements, see whether the florist can bring paper wraps or use inexpensive containers for those tables. Otherwise the rented vases walk out the door with them.
Could some pieces be left for a brunch the next day or sent home with family, and who collects the vases later?
Why ask it
Centerpieces and ceremony arrangements often have another day or two in them. Ask whether the crew can leave the ones you choose when they clear the room, and how the vessels get back to the studio. It costs little to ask and can save buying flowers twice in one weekend.
Can the flowers be donated after the wedding, and who would arrange it?
Why ask it
Some florists work with local groups that rearrange wedding flowers for hospitals, nursing homes or shelters, sometimes for a fee that covers pickup, and others leave it to you. Raise it weeks ahead, since the place receiving them has to agree and may have rules about what it accepts. If the florist does not do it, give the job to a relative with a car.
What should we do with the bouquet that night if we want it pressed, dried or preserved?
Why ask it
Preservation works best on flowers that are still fresh, so the plan needs to exist before the wedding. Ask whether they offer it or know someone who does, and what the bouquet needs in the meantime: stems in water, a cool room, never a hot car. If you leave for a honeymoon the next morning, hand it to a named person with the address it is going to.
Contract
Can we take the contract and the itemized proposal home before we pay a deposit?
Why ask it
Check the paperwork line by line at home: the date, each address, delivery times, the list of pieces with quantities, the substitution wording and the total. Anything promised in conversation and missing from the page should be added before you sign, and a clause you cannot follow is one to have explained. For a large order, it can be worth having someone who knows contracts in your area look it over.
How long is this proposal good for, and is our date held while we decide?
Why ask it
Proposals often carry an expiry date, and with many florists nothing is held until the contract is signed and the deposit paid, so ask which it is here. If you are comparing two proposals, say when you will decide. It is fair to ask whether they would let you know if another couple inquired about the same day.
How much is the deposit, does any of it come back, and when is the balance due?
Why ask it
Get three things in writing: what you pay to book, what is due later, and on which dates. Whether any of the deposit can come back is set by this florist's contract and by the law where you live, so ask how it works here and read the clause yourself. The balance is often timed to the wholesale order, so ask whether a late payment would delay it.
Once we have booked, when will we hear from you next, and how do we reach you in between?
Why ask it
A long quiet stretch after the deposit is normal, with a final review some weeks before the wedding to confirm counts and colors. Bring whatever has been chosen since the proposal to that review: linen swatches, the bridesmaids' dress color, the floor plan. Ask how quickly they answer email in their busiest months, so a slow reply in peak season does not worry you.
Until what date can we change the number of tables, the guest count or the design?
Why ask it
Table counts shift as RSVPs come in. Ask separately about adding and about removing, because the two deadlines are often different: an extra centerpiece is easy until the wholesale order is placed, while some contracts do not let the total fall below a set share of the original. Write down both dates.
If we postpone or cancel, what happens to the money we have paid?
Why ask it
Ask for the schedule in dates and amounts: what is kept three months before, in the last month, and in the final week once the flowers have been bought. Postponing is a separate matter, since a florist who is free on the new date may carry your payments over and one who is not may treat it as a cancellation. Have them point to the clause so you can read it at home.
If you were ill or could not do our wedding yourself, who would?
Why ask it
A studio with a team has other designers who know the proposal. A solo florist should be able to name a colleague who would step in, and the contract should say what you get back if nobody can. Ask whether it has ever come to that, and what happened for that couple.
Do you carry liability insurance, and can you send our venue the certificate it asks for?
Why ask it
Start with the venue: some will not let a vendor unload without proof of coverage, and they can tell you what they need. Anyone who installs at venues most weekends has usually sent one before and can do it within days. It matters most when something hangs above guests or a candle is lit.
If the flowers on the day are not what the proposal described, what do you do about it?
Why ask it
A shade lighter or a different variety of the same flower is ordinary; the question is about a real miss, such as the wrong palette, pieces missing or bouquets that arrive wilted. Ask whether it has happened, how they made it right on the day, and what the contract says about a credit or refund. If something is off at your wedding, have someone photograph it and raise it right away.
Will you photograph our flowers or share our wedding in your marketing, and can we say no?
Why ask it
Florists build portfolios from real weddings and often ask the photographer for images afterwards. If privacy matters, ask for pictures without faces, or to opt out, and have it noted in the contract. If you want good detail pictures yourselves, tell your photographer to allow time for them before guests come in.
How to get the most from a florist consultation
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the consultation
Book the venue first
A florist designs for a room, a season and a number of tables. Until the date and the venue are fixed, a proposal is a guess, so hold the flower meetings until you can give both along with a rough guest count.
Settle on a figure together
Decide at home what you are willing to spend on flowers, and rank the pieces: the bouquets, the ceremony backdrop, the tables. If one of you wants the money in an arch and the other in full tables, the florist cannot settle that for you, and the hour will go on the disagreement.
Edit the pictures down
Choose the few that show your colors, the shape of bouquet you like and one or two things you do not want. Add a photo of the dress or suits, a fabric swatch if you have one, and pictures of the ceremony spot and the reception room.
Make a list of every piece
Write down who carries or wears flowers, how many guest tables you expect, and each place you imagine an arrangement: the aisle, the welcome table, the bar, the cake. A florist can price a list. A feeling can only be priced roughly.
In the meeting
Say the budget early
Put the number on the table in the first ten minutes. It does not weaken your position. It lets the florist spend the hour on designs you can afford instead of ones you will have to cut later.
Ask what they would do
After you have shown your pictures, ask what they would make for your venue if the choice were theirs. The reply shows whether they have ideas of their own or will simply copy the board, and it is often better than what you came in with.
Count the questions you are asked
By the end of the hour you should have been asked about the ceremony time, the light, the linens, the shape of the tables and when the venue opens. Those are the things a design depends on. If the meeting was a tour of past work and a price list, the proposal will be a guess at what you want.
Keep the practical questions for email
Minimum spend, deposit, payment dates and insurance can all be answered in writing, and you will want them in writing anyway. Use the time in the room for style, substitutions and how the day runs.
Comparing proposals
Count the pieces
Line the proposals up item by item: number of bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces and ceremony arrangements. A lower total often means fewer pieces or smaller ones, not a better price for the same work.
Check the service lines
Look for delivery, setup, moving ceremony flowers, teardown and rentals in each. If one proposal leaves a line out, ask whether it is included or missing before you treat that proposal as the cheaper one.
Compare how specific they are
One florist names flowers and gives heights and widths. Another describes a lush, romantic look. The second may be just as skilled, but you have less to hold them to, so ask for the detail before you decide.
Ask your favorite to meet your number
If the florist you liked best came in high, tell them the figure you need to reach and ask what they would change. A simpler design from the person whose work you trust is usually a better buy than a fuller one from your second choice.
Signs to keep looking
A total with no breakdown
A single figure for 'wedding flowers' cannot be checked against what arrives. Ask for the itemized version. Reluctance to provide one is a reason to hesitate.
Yes to everything
Every flower in any month, any installation in any room, all within your budget: nobody can promise that. If no limit is mentioned before you book, you will hear about one in the final week.
No questions about the venue
Large pieces depend on what the building allows and how long the crew has to work. If the venue's rules and setup window never come up, the design has not been tested against the place it has to stand in.
Money first, paperwork later
A request for a deposit before you have seen a contract and a written proposal leaves you holding a receipt and a conversation. Read both documents, then pay.