When do I order my flowers? When should I have them delivered? These are the most common questions we get about DIY flowers. It can be hard to figure out if you’ve never arranged flowers for an event before. We are here to help! Here is a wedding flower timeline to help you with when to do what. All of your questions are about to get answered!
Photo By: Rachel Rowland Photoghraphy
When to choose your blooms
While it’s never too early to shop around and see what you like, something to keep in mind is that your style and color choices may change over the course of say, a year. Once you have a venue, a theme, and your colors picked, it’s time to find your inspo! At about 1 year out to about 1 month out is the best time to choose your flowers. A month is definitely cutting it close but absolutely doable! Longer than a year and your taste may totally change as you get closer. Poke around on social media or Pinterest and feel free to use our resources such as shop by style, or shop by color, to find the perfect blooms for your big day.
When to order your blooms
For this, we recommend between 2 and 4 weeks before your event. The reason for the shorter timeline is that these are natural products and some flowers have limited availability. While we can source a lot of our items year-round, certain ones you may have ordered 3 months ago will be out of season by the time your wedding comes so within 2-4 weeks we are up to date with the most available products. Pricing is also a factor. If your event is in April and you order in February, you’ll be paying Valentine’s pricing for your flowers. We suggest waiting until a bit closer as the pricing tends to fluctuate.
When to have your blooms delivered
There are a few factors to take into consideration here but in general, we recommend 2 days before your event. This gives you enough time to prep, rehydrate, and design the flowers before your big day. If your wedding is around a holiday weekend, you may want to give yourself an extra day in case of a shipping delay. You can also do this if your have items with long vase lives or items that may take some time to open such as sunflowers or peonies. Giving yourself an extra day is perfectly fine as long as you care for your blooms properly and ensure they are always stored in cool water, out of direct sunlight, and in a cool, dry place.
When to Arrange
The best time to arrange your flowers for the wedding is the day before. As long as the flowers will be kept in water weather it’s in a vase filled with water, floral foam soaked with water, or a bouquet that has been wrapped but the stems are left in a few inches of water, they will hold up overnight without issue. You’ll want to ensure they are kept in a cool, dry place after being arranged. Always make sure they have enough water!!! This is the most important part of flower arranging. Some items can be done the morning of. Corsages and boutonnieres are tough to keep hydrated and can be done the morning of but in general these items hold up well if they are made the day prior as long as you use a hardy bloom.
Get Married!
Boast those beautiful self-made blooms on your big day and enjoy every last second of it!
Photo By: Rachel Rowland Photography
We hope you found this wedding flower timeline helpful and please feel free to contact us with any additional questions you may have about DIY flowers!
Derian Banzhaf
Derian has worked in many facets of the floral industry, with over 10 years experience in everything from flower arranging to wedding and party planning, She loves to experiment in elements of flower design, color, and texture and is always looking for the latest trends in wedding bouquets.
