Flowers are a beautiful and very important component of your wedding day style. They set the tone, cement your colour palette and add drama and elegance to your overall ‘vibe’. Your wedding day florals can also be a huge percentage of your styling budget (concept dependent of course) so it’s worth understanding your florists processes and requirements, as well as their hot tips for getting longevity out of these beauties. To answer these questions, we chatted to wedding industry legends Kelley and Jaala from Bower Botanicals based in Byron Bay.

How does it all begin? What information do you need to start the quoting process with a couple?

Really we need it all, from season, venue location, colour palette, your must have flowers and your no go’s. The wedding date will determine floral availability so this is a great conversation starter. We do get couples that come to us with a particular wedding of ours they have loved and then ask us to create a version of that for them, we don’t want couples to think they need to know the names of flowers or give us that kind of detail. Often a vibe and colour palette is enough, styling requirements (such as ceremony, hanging installations, table decorations, signage florals etc) and a budget too. At this point too if we know you are wanting installations in full sun or our access is only really early in the morning, we will recommend using dried and preserved elements that will not be compromised by the weather.

Do you need to complete a site visit?

We’ve been doing floristry in the Byron Bay region long enough that we know our local and surrounding venues exceptionally well. We also work closely with companies such as Sperry Australia so we have confidence in our boundaries with rigging requirements for hanging installations. In saying all of this it is really nice for us to be able to walk through a venue with our couple and go through all of the elements.

What do you need from your couples prior to the wedding and on the day?

A floor plan is super important as is the run sheet, we need to work around other suppliers – for instance the table setting, we may need to get installations in before these are done. This is why we also need a list of the on-the-day team so we can coordinate directly with them and not bother our couples on the day. We love to have all of this sorted well in advance so we can all enjoy the process. We really are so self-sufficient with everything else for the day.

Rain, hail or shine? 

Weather is really the biggest concern for us in regards to floral care and styling on the day. We work hard to get the timing right based on location, ensuring that the florals have as little time as possible in direct sunlight and working with the on-the-day team if a relocation is required due to rain (this back up plan would be discussed with our couple well in advance so no surprises). On the day our focus is of course producing gorgeous work that makes our couples proud but also looking at the overall day if weather is coming in, we look ahead, we are invested in the overall outcome.

Bouquets / buttonholes – the selection process? How to care for them on the day too!

It is immensely helpful if we can see images of the outfits for the day, this allows us to get the sizing and shape of the bouquets and buttonholes just right. We love understanding the whole vibe and then we work with our couple to compliment or enhance their vision.

We have done it all from beautiful boho to stunning elegance or modern minimalism– all with our Bower Botanical twist of course! Couples that come to us are familiar with our style and we do like some creative license too as we want our weddings to all be unique, you genuinely get the best from your creatives if you give them a little rope.

On the day we will deliver the bouquets well hydrated and in water. If it is a really hot day we encourage couples to ensure there are some vases of water at the reception to give your flowers a drink! We do recommend you get Mum or one of your maids to pop your bouquet in water at the end of the night too so you can enjoy it over the coming days as well.

Captured by Wedshed photographer, Bianca Virtue.

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