Wait… There’s HOW Much That Goes Into Wedding Flowers?

“Wow, I didn’t realise there was so much to wedding flowers.”

I hear some version of this all the time when I’m chatting with brides and grooms about their wedding flowers. And honestly? I get it. Unless you’ve planned a wedding before, why would you know there are approximately 700 decisions hiding behind the words “I’d like a nice bouquet”?

You start looking, and suddenly there are different bouquet shapes, flower varieties, colour palettes, textures, foliage, mechanics, ceremony arrangements, buttonholes, table flowers, statement pieces… and then someone asks whether you like a hand-tied bouquet, a whimsical garden-style bouquet, something more structured, something asymmetrical, something trailing…

And you’re sat there thinking:

I literally just wanted pretty flowers?!

Welcome to the world of wedding flowers.

It’s not just putting pretty flowers together

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about floristry is that we basically buy some beautiful flowers, bunch them together and hope for the best. Which, to be fair, would be lovely. And yes, sometimes the flowers do a LOT of the work for us. Give me a ridiculously beautiful hydrangea in August, and she absolutely knows she’s stealing the show - but there is so much more going on behind the scenes.

The way I place flowers changes the shape of a bouquet.

The direction a flower faces can change where your eye travels through an arrangement.

Using five of one flower instead of two can completely change the balance.

The height of a stem, the spacing between flowers, the textures sitting next to one another, where the colour is concentrated, and even the little pockets of space between the flowers all affect how the finished design feels. You can take exactly the same selection of flowers and create two completely different bouquets with them.

And that’s the bit of floristry that I absolutely love!

Then there are one million flower choices

Okay, maybe not literally one million… but when you first start planning your wedding flowers, it can definitely feel like it.

You might know that you want roses - amazing.

What kind of roses?

Big blousy garden-style roses? Smaller delicate spray roses? Something romantic and ruffled? Something clean and modern?

Then there’s colour - you say pink.

But do you mean soft blush pink? Dusty pink? Peachy pink? Hot pink? Mauve pink? A pink that’s basically nude? A pink that’s basically coral but we’re all still calling it pink?

This is normally the point where couples realise there is a whole world of flowers they didn’t know existed. I honestly LOVE that.

You absolutely do not need to know anything about flowers

This is probably the most important thing I want couples to know when they enquire with me for their wedding flowers in South West:

You do not need to know what you’re talking about.

Seriously. You don't need to arrive at your consultation knowing flower names. You don't need to know the difference between a reflexed rose and a garden rose. You don't need to know what bouquet shape you want. You don't even necessarily need to know exactly what colours you want.

That is literally what I’m here for.

Some couples come to me with Pinterest boards, colour palettes, screenshots, flower names and a really clear vision. I LOVE that.

Other couples come to me and basically say:

“I know I want it colourful… I think? Not too colourful though and not too wedding-y. A bit wild but still put together. I don't really know.”

And do you know what? I LOVE that too. A part of my job as your wedding florist is working out what you're trying to describe, even when you don't quite know how to describe it yet.

My favourite moment in a wedding consultation

There is honestly nothing better than chatting through ideas with somebody and finally landing on something that makes them go:

“THAT’S IT! That’s exactly what I want, I just didn't know how to explain it.”

That is my favourite. Suddenly we’ve taken this little jumble of colours, Pinterest screenshots, ideas, feelings and “I don't know, I just want it to feel…” and turned it into an actual flower concept.

Sometimes you already have the vision and my job is to bring it to life.

Sometimes the vision is hiding somewhere in your head, and my job is to help you find it.

Both are just as exciting to me.

Wedding flowers are about a feeling as much as a flower

This is something I talk about a lot when I’m designing wedding flowers.

You don't necessarily need to tell me:

"I would like peach garden roses, apricot lisianthus and pale blue delphiniums."

You can tell me:

"I want it to feel like an English garden in summer."

Or:

"I want colourful and fun, but still romantic."

Or even:

"I don't want everything to look too perfect."

That actually tells me loads. The flowers I choose are obviously important, but so is how I use them. If you love that airy, whimsical, garden-inspired style, I might intentionally leave room for individual flowers to shine rather than packing everything tightly together. I might have flowers sitting slightly higher or dancing out around the edges. And I might repeat a colour in different areas so your eye naturally moves through the arrangement. Those tiny decisions are what eventually create the overall feeling you were trying to describe.

And your flowers need to work together across the whole wedding

Your bouquet doesn't exist on its own either. Normally we're also thinking about buttonholes, bridesmaid bouquets, ceremony flowers, table arrangements, staircase flowers, plinths, welcome signs and all the other lovely bits you've decided you suddenly NEED after seeing them on Pinterest at 11pm.

Everything needs to feel like it belongs together. That doesn't mean every arrangement has to look identical - actually, I usually prefer when they don't. But there should be a thread running through everything. Maybe that's a certain flower appearing throughout the day. Maybe it's the colour palette. Maybe it's a particular loose, garden-style shape.

You want your flowers to feel like one story rather than twenty completely separate arrangements that happen to be at the same wedding.

This is why I don't expect you to have all the answers

When you first enquire about wedding flowers, please don't feel like you need to send me a perfectly organised floral brief. You absolutely can. I will be very impressed. But you can also send me three screenshots, tell me you hate lilies, say “I really like that orange but maybe not THAT orange” and leave me to start piecing it together. That's part of the process.

For me, wedding floristry isn't about making you feel overwhelmed by how much there is to know. It's the complete opposite. I get to take you into this slightly bonkers world of flowers, show you what’s possible and then guide you through it. You get the exciting bit of discovering flowers you never knew existed and figuring out what you love. And you can leave me to worry about whether the mechanics will work, how we're going to achieve the shape, which flowers will be available in your season and how everything is actually going to come together.

So yes… there really is THAT much to wedding flowers

Probably even more than you thought when you started reading this.

Sorry about that…

But that's also why I love what I do. So yes, I get to play with flowers for a living. Yes, sometimes I put one ridiculously beautiful flower into an arrangement and think, well, you've basically done my job for me there. But ultimately, I’m the orchestrator. I'm choosing what sits where, what gets to be the star, what quietly ties everything together and how we take the idea that's living in your head and turn it into something real. Whether you've been planning your dream wedding flowers for the last five years or you've just Googled “wedding florist South West ” and realised you have absolutely no idea where to start, you're welcome here.

Bring me your Pinterest board. Bring me your colour swatches. Bring me your seventeen slightly contradictory screenshots. Or bring me absolutely no idea whatsoever.

We'll figure out the flowers together.

And hopefully, somewhere along the way, I'll get my favourite:

“That's it. That's what I wanted - I just didn't know how to explain it.”

And then I get to make it real. 🌸

If you're planning a wedding in Somerset, Bristol or Bath, you can have a look at my Somerset wedding flowers, browse my wedding flower pricing, or get in touch about your wedding date.