Fresh Wedding Flowers: A Practical Guide

Wedding flowers carry more weight than any other flowers you will ever order, and they are also the ones people feel least equipped to plan. This guide covers the practical side: what to book, when to book it, and how to get the most from your budget. It draws on the experience of our florists at The Petal Boutique, where Helen, who has spent over 35 years in floristry, looks after our bespoke wedding work.

What flowers does a wedding actually need?

Start with the pieces that appear in every photograph: the bridal bouquet, bouquets for the bridal party, and buttonholes. Everything else is optional and depends on the venue. A ceremony arrangement, table flowers and an arch or installation all look wonderful, but none of them is compulsory, and a strong bouquet with well-chosen buttonholes carries a wedding perfectly well on its own.

How far ahead should you book?

For bouquets and buttonholes, two weeks' notice is comfortable for us and gives you the pick of what is in season. For anything involving an installation, an arch, or specific flowers that need ordering in specially, talk to us earlier, a month or more where you can, because special stems come from the wholesaler on their schedule rather than ours.

Short notice? Do not write it off. Send us an enquiry or call the shop on 01264 771382 and we will tell you honestly what we can do with the time available.

Choosing flowers by season

The single best budget decision you can make is to let the season lead. Flowers at their seasonal peak are more plentiful, better quality and travel less. Out-of-season favourites can usually be sourced, but they cost more and the quality is less predictable. Bring us your colour palette rather than a fixed flower list and we will match it to what will be at its best on your date. Our month by month seasonal guide shows what to expect through the year.

Colour palettes that photograph well

Whites and greens flatter every venue and every dress, which is why they never go out of fashion. Soft pastels suit spring and summer light. Deeper tones, rusts and burgundies, come alive in autumn and winter. The safest approach is to pick two or three colours and let texture do the rest, rather than asking one bouquet to hold six shades.

Fresh, dried, or both?

You do not have to choose one or the other. Fresh flowers give you scent and that just-picked softness on the day. Dried flowers give you a bouquet you keep forever, and they can be made well ahead of the wedding, which takes one job off the final week entirely. Plenty of couples now carry a dried bridal bouquet and dress the tables with fresh, or the reverse. Our dried wedding bouquets guide covers that side in detail.

What happens at a consultation?

A wedding consultation is a conversation, not a sales appointment. Bring anything that shows us the feel you are after: photos, fabric swatches, a screenshot of the venue. We will talk through what suits the season and the budget, and follow up with a written quote broken down piece by piece, so you can add or trim items honestly. Consultations are by appointment, get in touch to arrange one.

On the day

Bouquets are made fresh as close to the day as the flowers allow and kept in water until they leave us. Buttonholes travel best cool and boxed. If your venue is in or around Winchester, Andover, Salisbury or Basingstoke we can deliver to the venue directly; tell us the setup times and we will work around them.

Ready to start? Browse our fresh bouquets for a feel of our work, or send us your date and we will take it from there.