Events and Wedding Flowers

Prepare Clean Buckets and Water

When your flowers are ready to be picked up or have arrived in the , you will need plenty of ultra-clean, buckets.

Dirty buckets, containers, vases, and dirty water ARE THE #1 KILLER OF FLOWERS!!  Be extra sure your water is clean, put a capful of bleach into the water. Yes, bleach, you want that first drink to be clean. Also, do not use water with a water softener attached to the system; this may kill your flowers.

Flowers like acidic water and water is naturally alkaline, so a bit of white vinegar can lower the ph.

It would be best if you also planned to add floral preservatives to your finished designs. The floral preservative will meet all the needs of your cut flowers,

• It contains a bactericide to keep the water clean.

• It has an acidifier and will lower the ph.

• It will supply a food source so your flowers can continue to bloom and be perfect for your wedding day.
•  You will need to recut the bottom 1 inche of every stem, strip any foliage so that none is in the water, and place them into your prepared, clean water.

Give your flowers time to take up water and hydrate, you want them fully conditioned before you begin designing. 

Set up a workspace with all the supplies you will need.

Vessels and vases can be washed and prepped weeks in advance, dropping this task the week of your wedding.

You will need scissors, pruners, garbage cans, florist’s water-proof tape, florists binding tape, chicken wire, floral foam, pearl pins, ribbon for personal flowers, cold glue floral adhesive, and any other items to make everything go smoothly. And have extra pruners and scissors for your helpers.

• Do not let your flowers run out of water.  They drink a surprising amount so be sure to check the water every day.   
• Do not leave your flowers in a car with windows rolled up.  Cut flowers do not like high heat.
• Do not put your flowers in a freezer (It has happened). But you can put them in a walk-in cooler, this is ideal. Just be careful of fruit and vegetables, they release ethylene gas and will cause many flowers to shatter. 
• Be aware that some flowers do not like cool refrigeration and are better left out of the cooler, like zinnias, tropical flowers, and some delicate, heat-loving foliage, like basil.  Your grower should know which ones and keep them in separate buckets.
• Always design your flowers into a container with water in it.  If that stem end dries out, it cannot take up water so when you finally add water it will continue to wilt and die. 

Have a cool place to store your flowers

Keep the flowers as cool as possible and out of direct sunlight until you design them. Then, have plenty of space in a cool area once they are designed. Understandably, the space needed for buckets of flowers is quite different than the space required for designed flowers.

I recommend designing a couple of days before your event because not every flower has the same vase life. A carnation could go for weeks, but a particular dahlia may only go for three days.

You want them all alive and beautiful at showtime. They will continue to bloom and be at their peak for your event.

Think about the time it takes to design.

To understand your workload and get everything done, you will need to estimate how long each floral element will take to design. This is huge and surprising.

Walk down your list and assign an amount of time that you think each piece will take you to create.

For example, let’s say you have 30 tables, and it’s going to take you 30 minutes to create a masterpiece pedestal arrangement for each. 

30 minutes x 30 arrangements is 900 minutes. (This does not include prepping the vases and preparing the space and flowers) 900 minutes is 15 hours… with no breaks. Plan for that!

Maybe you’re putting 5 bottles on each table. That is 150 bottles to clean, prep, and design.   Each may take you 3 minutes. If you don’t lose any steam in the middle of the project, that is 3 min. x 150 bottles = 450 minutes.  That is 7 ½ hours.

Maybe you’re faster; maybe you’re slower; perhaps you have a system for streamlining.  It’s all good; just be aware and plan.

That 30th design or 150th bottle is likely not being designed as quickly or with as much enthusiasm as the first one, and sometimes you need to walk away for a bit.

Enjoy the Quantum Blooms!