Budgeting for Wedding Flowers

So you're planning a wedding, Congratulations!!!!  One of the first things to do as a new bride or groom to be is decide on your wedding budget. Once you're committed to exactly how much you can spend the  planning process will be a lot easier! When it comes to flowers we've seen "experts" (Martha Stewart and theknot.com) recommend anywhere between 6-10% of your budget to be dedicated to flowers. This should include bride and bridesmaid's bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, ceremony arrangements and reception centerpieces. The amount of money you spend on these items depends on if the flowers you choose are in season, if you opt for more expensive flowers, set up and delivery and the size of arrangements and bouquets.

Although the above mentioned flowers are the main items one expects to purchase from a florist they aren't the only services your florist can offer. For example you may need a unity candle, chuppah or arch, pew markers, or flowers to line your aisle runner for the ceremony. Or you may be interested in table linens, chair covers, candles, lanterns, string lights, buffet table arrangements, cake table flowers or other decorations for your reception. All of the before mentioned items can easily be handled by your florist! So how do you budget for these extras? Well theknot.com recommends spending 2-3% of your budget on your ceremony,  48-50% on your reception and it also suggests saving 8% for miscellaneous items.

Before you book a consultation with your florist try to plan ahead and decide what your flower budget is and what you'd like to spend on the extra items your florist can help you with. This will make your consultation go more smoothly and will allow the designer to show you what options you have!

(Thanks to Kira Lynn Photos for the awesome pictures!)

July in Season!!

Take a look at some of the flowers that are in season this month!!! It's no wonder why we associate bold bright colors with summer!



From left to right: Sunflowers, Snapdragons, Lilies and Gladiolus



Chrysanthemums (including Button and Fujis), Gerbera Daisies and Daisy Poms



Larkspur, Delphinium and Bells of Ireland



Roses, Hydrangea, Tuberose (One of Kris' favorites, because they smell AMAZING!)



Iris, Alstromeria, Calla Lilies

Yay for summer and fragrant July flowers!!!

Butter Cream and Daisies

Nothing is more delicious than fresh handmade butter cream!!!! Okay, maybe there is but right now it's all we've been talking about. Well, butter cream and cupcakes, heavenly moist flavor filled cupcakes that make you want to eat slower to savor the moment yet stuff the whole thing in your mouth so that you can powerhouse through a whole dozen. Okay, maybe the entire shop doesn't feel this way but I do!!! Which, leads us to our topic for the day... Cake Flowers! Woo! We love doing cake flowers and is often a part of our services that brides don't really think about.

There are billions of ways to accent a cake with flowers and we've done just about all of them! Besides the bride and groom - the wedding cake is the star of the reception, so why not show it off with some flowers? And if used correctly flowers can turn a plain or inexpensive cake into a beautiful piece of art (that exactly matches the rest of your wedding flowers)!

One of the easiest ways to add flowers to your cake table is to feature your bridesmaid's bouquets. This kind of gives the cake a little flowery skirt and doesn't cost any extra!



For those more adventurous how about featuring bright flowers from your bouquet on different layers! Or a single bloom on every or every other cupcake!!! (Notice the excellent use of flowers on the server and glasses!!!)



And for those who prefer opulent floral fanciness....


Now that I've teased you with icing you should check out Pensacola's best ever cupcake shop Cupcake Emporium. Try the truffles... they are AMAZING!!!!

Blabbin on BlabTV!!!

On Tuesday Linda and Kristina headed down to BlabTV to talk to Fran Crumpton about event flowers. Fran’s show features local Pensacola businesses and now that we’re new members of the Gulf Coast Trade Exchange we got picked to be the featured business! Hooray!  So, our girls get down to the studio and in a whirlwind of activity were suddenly on TV… How did it go? Well… it would have been perfect but there was a crazy thunderstorm going on outside and something got hit by lightning – not sure what “it” was - but “it” was something important! Needless to say they didn’t get to finish the entire live show due to technical difficulties, but they got a chance to tape a full half hour show and it will be aired at another time! As soon as we find out when - we’ll post it!! Hopefully BlabTV will post it on their “on demand” site and then everyone will be able to watch it all day everyday!!! The show will definitely be worth watching, Kristina and Linda discussed wedding budget, color choice, services we offer and they featured a lot of pictures from previous weddings and events. (If you know one of our brides you may want to warn them that they’re a TV star now!!!) So not all was lost and we are all very thankful to the crew at Blab and to Fran for giving us the opportunity to share our floral knowledge!

One of the upsides of the night was the after party. Okay, it wasn’t an official after party it was really just Kristina and Linda deflating from an awesome experience. In their search for the perfect party scene they discovered the Wine Bar On Palafox in downtown Pensacola. After a few glasses of delicious wine and some EXCELLENT chorizo empanadas later Linda and Kristina were happy (and stuffed) campers!

Meanwhile, Nelma and Little Linda have been doing hospital flowers with a patriotic twist!