CORT & ANNA

THE WEDDING OF

PHOTOGRAPHER: KAMRI ARGYLE PHOTO & FILM

PREMIER VENDORS

Were you part of this wedding? Let us know! We always strive to credit everyone involved.

Want the wedding flowers of YOUR dreams without the fear of disappointment?

By: Sadie Mower owner of Sticks and Stems Floral

A: Give your floral designer creative freedom.

Experts say that 15%-30% of your budget should be spent on floral, so picking the right wedding florist is a must!

Imagine this: After countless hours scrolling through social media, endless internet searches, and pinning inspiration photos, you’re ready to find the florist that will turn these dreams into reality, so you send your first email, asking for a consultation, and giving a summary of your needs. You’re the proactive type, so you’ve provided a list of flower varieties you want to include, specified the designs you want recreated from your Pinterest board, the quantities of those designs, as well as the Pantone color numbers the blooms should match. You’re confident the designer is going to be thrilled with how thorough and detailed you have been. Additionally, you already know exactly what you want, which is going to make the consult a quick and easy process for both you, and your soon to be designer. You’re sure of it.

A few days later, during your lunch break, you open your email. You feel a rush of excitement as your inbox shows a reply from the florist; “Jane,

Congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding! Thank you for inquiring about our services for such a special and beautiful event. Upon reviewing the information and images provided on your Pinterest board, we feel we may not be the best fit for you. Because flowers are a perishable medium, we cannot guarantee that any specific flower varieties will be used, and also cannot guarantee that the blooms are matched perfectly with the Pantone colors you provided.

As creative professionals, we seek to work with clients that love our work and brand. We refrain from recreating other designers work. Having creative freedom in flower choice, and design, while communicating and listening to further ideas, options, and styles with our clients, ensures your wedding flowers are uniquely yours.

We recommend focusing on the overall aesthetic and feeling you desire your wedding flowers to invoke. By shifting your focus to this and allowing creative freedom, it will greatly diminish the chance of disappointment that your flowers are not an exact replica of a Pinterest photo.

If you are open to discussing some further options for your wedding flowers, and would like to still work with us, we would be happy to schedule a consultation. Sending you congratulations & best wishes!

You’re a little shocked at the response. You were aiming to be helpful, as an efficient and organized individual. You’ve been a bride who is on-the-ball, and assumed your details and Pinterest board would be appreciated!

Let me give you some insight: Successful florists are only as successful, as their clients are happy. Remember, you’re hiring an artist, not a photocopy. You’re paying for an original, not a duplicate, and you should expect uniqueness, not redundancy.

Floral designers are innovative and creative. We live and breathe wedding styles, trends, and aesthetics. While there is always a balance between your desires as a bride, and the florist’s creative freedom, trusting your florist and giving them leeway with the design and floral choices are what ultimately take your wedding from beautiful to breathtaking.

Your wedding is YOUR day, not ours. And, that’s why I’m giving you this inside information. You deserve to have your wedding flowers as gorgeous as possible. Would you move into a cookie cutter home, when you have an architect available to customize one for you that fits your needs perfectly, and is beyond what you expected? I didn’t thing so. Don’t be a rerun of the most popular Pinterest photo, be a premier of something better. Here’s how:

1. Ask for Their Opinion | They are in this space of

“wedding” ALL THE TIME they have expertise and knowledge that you don’t. You will get an insiders opinion and fresh ideas when you ask for their opinion. 2. Be Open Minded | I know that my clients are not going to go for every idea I throw at them. I do not get offended or pushy when they tell me they don’t agree with certain things, because it’s not my day. When you are open minded in listening to your florist, and the items they would be excited to design, you’re telling them you trust them. Often times clients DO love ideas that I bring to the table because they haven’t been done time and time again, and they didn’t know that it was even an option! 3. Shift your Focus | By focusing on the overall feeling and aesthetic that comes from the flowers, you allow the designer to select product that they know will look the best, and achieve the vision. Flowers don’t always arrive to us looking great, or sometimes they don’t come in at all, this is when substitutions have to be made. We will do our best to incorporate the flower varieties you absolutely love, but guarantees are never made. 4. Find an Expert | Before inquiring with any florist, determine if their overall design style and aesthetic is what you’re wanting in your wedding flowers. If you can find a designer that you already love, then giving them creative freedom will be easy and come natural, because you’re already impressed by, and want the work that they create!

Wedding florists are creative minds. We thrive off of being artistic and unique in the industry. We are constantly seeking to stretch the limits of what we can do with flowers. By implementing creative freedom in the relationship with your floral designer, you will see a new energy they bring into your meetings and the designs created that might not have been there otherwise. Your designer will spend the time to ensure that everything is just as it should be when your wedding day comes, because they not only created for you that day, but they created for themselves too.

Sadie Mower Sticks and Stems Floral Wedding Florist & Design Educator IG: @sticks.stems www.sticksnstems.com