1. Have a Handful of Inspiration Photos
While we all love pinterest, it is in fact, totally overwhelming for brides and florist to look through a huge pinterest board loaded with inspiration. Narrow down 7-10 favourite photos that you think speak to the feel, style and overall look you're going for. Some photo's that are helpful are: a picture of your venue, a few ceremony ideas for your aisle and alter, an few ideas for centerpieces and your head table, of course some bouquet inspiration, and possibly a bridesmaid dress picture.
2. Have Colours and Style ideas
The options are really endless! To make the most out of your consult with your florist, decide beforehand on the colours you'd love to use for your flowers as well as the style. Just as dresses and wedding cakes go through trends, so do bouquets! Everyone has a personal preference when it comes to the style of bouquets or centerpieces they like. So do your browsing and figure out your style ahead of time so you have a starting point.
3. Have a Rough Budget
Look I know if I was not into flowers, I would have NO idea how much wedding flowers cost. So I get it when brides say things like, "I don't have a budget because I don't know where to start!" We always send everyone who inquires a general price list so they have a place to start. So when I suggest coming to your consult with a rough budget, I'm really talking about, a simple starting point. Is it $1500 total? $2000? $4000? It's so much easier for us to price things out for your accordingly, all while respecting your finances.
4. Have only 1 - 2 People with you
Having more than three people attend your flower consult just isn't necessary. Why? Because it's your wedding and we will only be directing questions and comments to you! It's great to have your groom (if he wants), your mom or MOH to bounce opinions and ideas off, but any more people gets things off track and the focus can be lost. We like to keep consults to 1 hr max and find minimizing the number of people there helps facilitate a smootherconsult.
5. Have a consult when you have #1-4 figured out
I'm not saying you need to have ever single detail, design, colour, flower or price figured out before you book a consult. That's our job! We work toward helping you narrow down your ideas, while discussing colours, flower chooses, style and budget. These starting points are helpful in getting the most out of your florist's time and creativity during your consult and allow us to really get a feeling for the look and style you're dreaming of.
6. Have Faith in your Florist (I know this isn't a preparation tip!)
I wanted to add, that our hope at Country Lane is for brides and grooms to feel like they are in good hands when it comes to their wedding flowers. We provide a lot of photo's of our work on our website and social media, meet with people personally, reply promptly to inquiries and questions, and genuinely care about everyone's wedding flowers for their big day! We love the creativity that comes with actually making each piece come to life by using fresh and beautiful blooms and enjoy seeing the look on a brides face when we deliver the bouquet of her dreams!