Choosing a Florist in the North West

Recommendation is a great way of finding your florist in the North West, but it's a good idea to browse several North West flower shops too, in case your styles drastically differ from the person who recommended the service.

Once you've made your mind up, always book a consultation - it's worth the money as you'll get lots of time devoted to you, and you'll be able to work out the best choices for your wedding day. Try and make time on a week day because the wedding florist will have more time to discuss ideas, as the shop may be busy on a Saturday.

Try and help the wedding florist out as much as possible. As creative as most florists are, they are not mind readers so the more information you can give them the better – pictures from magazines, pictures of the dress, fabric swatches, key themes, or special items the wedding theme is based on - for example, if you're wearing your Grandmother's brooch, it might be nicer for you to incorporate this into your bouquet, rather than wear it on your dress.

It may be helpful to prepare a brief, such as:

Style of bouquet:
- Traditional shower (a long, trailing bouquet, wired or in a foam holder)
- Garden flower posy (country-style loose bouquet, hand-tied or in a holder)
- Compact hand-tied (all the flowers tied tightly in a dome)
- Continental wand (the flowers are layered and upright)
- Wire -work decorative bouquet (flowers are stuck to a decorstive, handmande wire trailing frame)
- Crescent shaped bouquet
- Body jewellery
- Collate some ideas from magazines, books, and our on-line wedding gallery
- Wired hand-tied (a victorian bouquet has concentric circles of flowers, or you could opt for a 50's style small wired posy)

Remember that wired work will be more expensive, but will last better on the day. Wired work takes a lot of skill and time, and ensures you have a completely bespoke item.

Headdress:
- Circlet (flowers wired in a circle)
- Floral tiara
- Floral Alice Band
- Flowers woven into hair

Type of Flowers:
- Preferred colours
- Shape of the bouquet
- Scented Flowers
- Flowers with special meaning, like the first flowers he ever bought you, or what your Mother had
(you can read more about the meaning of flowers here)
- Avoid scented flowers if you have allergies - ask your florist to recommend the best flowers for you

Carrying the bouquet:
- Trailing or upright
- Will you need to carry it with both hands?
- Do you want to carry it in one hand, or select body jewellery such a wrist corsage so you can have your hands free?

Style of Dress: 
- Have a clear drawing or picture of both dress and veil
- Colour swatch of fabric

Size
Something that if often forgotten is the size of the bouquet.  For example, if the bride is small an enormous trailing bouquet will overpower them, whereas a small hand-tied posy would be far more suitable.  A good florist will take the brides frame – height and basic shape into consideration.

Budget
Set a budget and give this to the florist.  Be prepared to be slightly flexible but do not be pushed into anything which is not wanted.  A good florist can work with any budget and suggest ideas to suit.  If the bride is on a budget then stick to flowers of the season.  Remember these flowers are going to be handled so ensure they are hardy.  Again the wedding florist will advise on what will flop!

Ask…
…to see some of their previous work to ensure that your wedding flowers will be as beautiful as you dreamed.

Table Arrangements
These should be very low or nice and high to avoid getting in the way of guests.  Don’t forget plants could also be used as table arrangements, these can be very attractive as well as cheaper (dependant on the plant) and a memento for people to take home with them at the end of the night.
You can view some ideas of table centrepieces here

For more advice on wedding flowes visit http://www.flowers.org.uk