When, Where and All the Rest

Wedding planning...priorities, priorities.

Planning a wedding is not for the faint of heart; anyone who has ever done it can tell you that. Saying yes to the big question is a happy occasion to be sure, but the months that follow can easily become stressful for even the strongest of relationships. There are a lot of details that go into planning this most important event and when brides and grooms wind up in our consultation room, they are often overwhelmed by all that they have on their plates. As anyone knows, stress of this kind can overshadow even the happiest of occasions and can easily cloud decision making when it comes to ironing out the details of a wedding.

We’ve been doing this a long time and our advice to our brides and grooms is always to take it one step at a time. There is very much an order to wedding planning and putting one foot in front of the other - in the correct order - can do much to keep the stress at bay and support a more relaxed wedding planning experience. So what’s most important when it comes to planning? For the bride and groom - and even for our purposes - the most important aspects are the when and where.

When? Where? These are the first questions that we always ask our brides and grooms. The answers to these questions drive absolutely everything else. The date will obviously determine our availability. Once we know that we are available, we can begin talking about the details surrounding your chosen venue. Almost every venue - whether it’s a church, private event space, hotel, public facility, museum, etc. - has rules and regulations attached to renting the space. It is within these specific guidelines that we design our part of the wedding. As wedding professionals - and because our team has had the enormous honor of working often at so many of these venues - it is our responsibility to know these rules and regulations intimately. These rules - whether it’s the option to use aisle petals and open-flame versus LED candles or height/width restrictions and setup/teardown guidelines - allow us to do our job most effectively and, better still, make things easy and stress-free for our brides and grooms because we’re handling these details instead of them.

Intimate knowledge of these venues affords us the ability to help our couples beyond the restrictions that these spaces put in place. Because we know these venues, we also know what colors will look best in these spaces, what flowers will work their prettiest magic, and the sizes of flower arrangements that will best fill a particular room.

Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Flowers are our specialty and our job is to create the most beautiful wedding arrangements for your special day; but we’re also happy to answer any questions you have about planning your dream wedding. We’re here to help!

It’s Booking Season Baby!

Tips for super efficient wedding planning.

It’s finally happened - you’re engaged! He liked it, he put a ring on it, and you’re happily ensconced in the details of planning your wedding (an event you’ve probably been secretly planning for years). The weeks flip past as you revel in the excitement and celebrations; and, before you know it, you’re back in your normal routine - working, the day-to-day of running a household, and the myriad activities that you do on a normal basis. Wow, you’re busy. How do people fit wedding planning into their...you know...life? There are so many details. So. Many. Details. “But that’s okay,” you think to yourself. “I have so many months. Months and months and months.”

Pretty Peonies

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how we come to meet those we refer to as LMBs - Last Minute Brides. How does this happen? How does an otherwise organized, go-getter find herself so far behind on her wedding planning? The short story is this - she thinks that she has plenty of time to book a, b, and c and, then, almost without her noticing, the months flip past and she’s scrambling to schedule vendor appointments.

You missed the booking season, lady!

Much like any other industry, the wedding industry rides a wave throughout the year during which business ebbs and flows. We have times of year that are traditionally busier than most - and that is certainly impacted by our location; while mid-summer weddings are quite popular in the Northeast, they are less-so here in Texas where the heat is more of a consideration. Conversely you’re less likely to see a surge in November outdoor weddings in the North, while here we’re taking advantage of our spectacular weather.

March through November are busy wedding months here in Austin and we’re fortunate to have such a long season. Wedding professionals across the board are out doing what they do best - putting together fabulous weddings for their brides and grooms. This means, of course, that we’re less available for meet with prospective couples. Don’t get us wrong, we offer a variety of weekly consultation times throughout the year, but our time is far more limited than when we’re in the full swing of wedding season; which can mean less convenient meeting times for those looking for evening or weekend appointments.

By process of elimination, of course, we are currently smack in the middle of booking season - December through February. Our wedding schedule is slower and we have much more flexibility when it comes to appointment options.

If you’ve just gotten engaged and you’re getting married in six months to a year, it may seem too early to start your planning, but now is actually the perfect time. Keep these tips in mind:

Early planning means more options. We all have a particular picture in mind when it comes to our weddings and we can very easily get married to those ideas - pun intended. If you have specifics that you just can’t live without - there is simply no way you can get married if you are not able to stand outside under that tree with that arbor and those flowers - then early planning is imperative. The longer you wait, the less likely that you will be able to coordinate every detail to your specifications.

Remember priority planning. We’ve talked about this before - wedding planning has a particular order to it. Book your wedding planners, venues, caterers, and photographers first - vendors that have more date limitations because of the number of events that they accept per day - and follow that up with florists, musicians, bakers, and more. When you book in this order, everything falls into place the way that it should. Think of the first four vendors as the foundation of a house; they provide the structure on which everything else is built and ultimately drive the overall design.

Consider the calendar. When it comes to scheduling time with wedding vendors, consider the time during which you’re requesting these appointments. If your expectation is to schedule Saturday appointments with wedding vendors in the middle of April or May, you’re likely going to be disappointed. We want to meet with you! We just ask that you understand the seasons and that you’re as flexible as possible when scheduling appointments. On the flip side, we won’t be meeting with prospective brides and grooms on your wedding day!

In the end, will we take a LMB? You bet! We realize there are many circumstances that can lead to delayed planning; and we’re always happy to meet with couples, no matter how close their wedding - if, of course, we’re available for their wedding date (if we can toot our own horn for a moment, we’re actually quite masterful at pulling off a last minute floral extravaganza!). However, if you have some time on your hands, do yourself - and your vendors - a favor and start your planning sooner rather than later. And, if you have some time right now, by all means, come see us and let’s get to work planning an amazing floral design for your wedding. We’re ready when you are!