Budget

The first question we’ll ask is what your budget is. Once we know your budget, we can guide you to the appropriate flowers that will create the look and feel you would like. Additionally, you might choose to prioritize the elements that are most important to you. Are having peonies in your bouquet more important than having flowers decorating the church pews? While nothing is set in stone until we’re within a month of your big day, knowing what budget you’d like to target will help us offer appropriate suggestions and guidance.

Inspiration

Oftentimes, people will ask us to send them photos of bride’s bouquets. The reality is that we can create any kind of bouquet that you would like. We have endless examples! It really helps us narrow down examples if you send us photos or a Pinterest board that shows the style(s) you like. In addition, these photos will help us determine the price of the bouquet!

Shape

When it comes to bride’s bouquets, there are three major shapes that we work with. The first is round and compact, often looking like a dome. Its opposite is a teardrop or cascading bouquet, a looser shape with trailing flowers and/or greenery. Finally, in the middle of those two is an open and natural bouquet with a more amorphous shape. Below are examples of each shape.

A round bouquet, a cascading bouquet, and an open bouquet.

Color Palette

Something else that’s important to consider is the colors of your bouquet. Whether you’re looking for a monochromatic bouquet or one that includes all the colors of the rainbow, we want to match the colors you’re looking for as closely as possible. Flowers come in all different colors and shades, so the more specific you can be, the better. And if you have a photo of the specific shade you want us to match, that helps us even more!

Flowers

The fun part of the bouquet is the flowers! Do you want just one kind of flower, a mixture of textures and layers, or a combination of flowers that all have the same look and feel? Many flowers such as roses and sunflowers are available year-round at fairly consistent prices. Other flowers such as peonies and dahlias are seasonal. While we might be able to procure them out-of-season, they are often prohibitively expensive. In this case, we are happy to suggest budget-friendly alternatives that offers a similar look without the strain on your wallet!

Greenery and Natural Elements

The last consideration is greenery and natural elements. While neither are a necessity for a bouquet, it can add a natural look as well as contrast to the flowers. Seeded eucalyptus is a popular greenery right now. Other kinds of greenery include (but not limited to!) ruscus, myrtle, green pennycress, bupleurum, and bear grass. Some brides love to add other natural elements for fun texture and variety. Thistle, berries, lotus seed pods, pine cones, safari sunset, are just some of the natural elements we have incorporated into beautiful bride’s bouquets.

Once you’ve considered all these points, you’re ready to order! Just give us a call or visit us in-store, and we’ll create the perfect bride’s bouquet just for you.

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Dahlia

Most people think of dahlias as late spring and summer flowers, but this year has been a tough one for dahlias. According to our farmers, dahlias need a cold winter and a warm spring to produce the most beautiful dahlias. That was not this year so it’s just been recently that we’ve been able to get the large, gorgeous dahlias that we’re used to. The deep colors are perfect for our fall brides’ bouquets.

Astrantia

Astrantia looks like a wildflower to me. It’s delicate and willowy and comes in different colors. It is not a focal flower. When added to a bouquet or arrangement, it adds surprising texture and depth. Astrantia also ties different colors together into a cohesive look–whites and burgundies, pinks and maroons.

Strawflower

With a texture that doesn’t feel like a real flower, strawflowers are just fun! If you’re hoping to hang your bride’s bouquet upside down to create a dried bouquet, strawflowers are a perfect addition. They look the same when dried as they do when freshly cut.

Celosia

While many people don’t know this flower’s name, they sure can describe it! It’s the Dr. Seuss flower! Celosia comes in many forms and colors from mustard colored cranial flowers to bright red feathery spiked flowers. This is a fun flower to add whimsy and texture. We’ve been enjoying this soft lavender colored Asian Garden celosia that came to us unexpectedly from a local farmer.

Thistle

Trevor has been known to call this his secret ingredient, and it’s easy to see why! He’s particular to the Sea Holly thistle for its vibrant blue color. Mother Nature doesn’t have a lot of flowers that come in true blue. But this thistle really is true blue while adding subtle texture.

Astilbe

If you have a bride’s bouquet or arrangement that is heavy with large flowers, astilbe might be the perfect addition. This airy flower comes in all different colors from whites and pastels to deep hued burgundies. Astilbe is perfect for adding texture and breaking up blocks of heavier flowers such as roses and dahlias.

Queen Anne’s Lace

While baby’s breath is still a wedding standard, we’ve had fun this year using Queen Anne’s Lace instead. I usually think of Queen Anne’s Lace as the wildflower that I see when I run through the Manassas battlefields. It is that wildflower. When used in a bride’s bouquet or reception centerpieces, it lends that soft delicate quality that brides often look for.

One of the fun things about living in Virginia is experiencing the wonders of each of the four seasons. I get excited when I wake up to crisp chilly mornings and the sound of wind blowing through drying leaves. The advent of fall is also exciting for florists as we get to play with the new colors and textures of our favorite flowers…right now.

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Hitting Home

A long-time childhood friend of my sons is supposed to get married in September. I received a message from his bride letting us know that they are trying to figure out whether, how, or when to move forward with their wedding. I could hear the crushing disappointment as well as the angst of trying to make the perfect decision in her voice.

While I have watched customers wrestle with these hard decisions, hearing this young lady’s voice put a lump in my throat. Not only are we providing the flowers for her wedding, we’re also attending the wedding, and my sons are in the wedding party. This one really hits home because the decisions she’s facing are ones she’s trying to make on behalf of families that she loves, including my own.

So this letter is to her and to all the 2020 Brides out there.

Dear 2020 Bride,

Breathe… you are loved and cherished and appreciated.

Whatever you decide will be just perfect! This is your day, and the start of your new life together as a married couple. It’s the beginning of your family. What is right for some families might not be right for your family, and vice versa, and that’s OK!

While this pandemic affects everyone, the way it affects everyone is different. Some need to be totally isolated, others are comfortable venturing out with masks and social distancing. You won’t be able to accommodate everyone’s needs, but everyone will understand. Take that pressure off and just focus on what brings both of you the most peace and joy. Whatever brings you peace and joy will also bless everyone else that you love.

Love is what brought you to this moment. Love is what will get you through this moment–love for each other, love for family and friends, love from family and friends. As you look back on this day from some vantage point in the future, memories of being a 2020 Bride will be truly special ones.

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It’s been a bit since I’ve written. I guess I haven’t had an ideas tugging at my sleeve lately. Today a gentleman walked in. Even with his mask on, I could see he was smiling broadly! “I need birthday flowers!” he announced animatedly. People like this just make my day. On top of that, it’s Friday! TGIF!

We have a lot to be thankful for, besides the fact that it’s Friday!

Since the lockdown, our doors have remained opened. Adjustments needed to be made, but the shop has never closed.

Customers are starting to walk back in. After having so many weeks of just Trevor and I in the shop, walk-ins are a breath of fresh air! We don’t carry what we call cooler arrangements right now–arrangements that are pre-made and sit in the cooler for people to choose from. There were no walk-ins to buy cooler arrangements. Customers understand and are willing to wait or come back. It’s a win/win situation! Customers get exactly what they want in the price range they prefer, and we don’t have to throw away arrangements.

Weddings are coming back. One of our favorite things is working with happy couples as they plan one of the most special days of their lives. We’ve missed that! About two months ago we got our first of many orders for just a bouquet and boutonniere for the bride and groom getting married in their living room. Then the orders were for a bouquet, boutonniere, and small arrangements for tables as home weddings grew in size. Next weekend we’ll be providing the full array of flowers for our first off-site wedding since the pandemic started. Definitely something to be thankful for!

Our long-time customers continue to support us. I love catching up on birthdays and anniversaries! During the last several months, we’ve met so many new customers that have became regular customers. The lockdown brought them to us because they couldn’t celebrate Mother’s Day of Grandma’s birthday in person, but now that they’ve found us, they plan on coming back. Our Fantasy Floral family continues to grow, and that is definitely something to be thankful for!

So TGIF, and we hope you and your family have lots to be thankful for as well!

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Peony

Brides especially love to have peonies in their bridal bouquets. If you have your heart set on peonies in your bouquet, you’ll want to get married in late spring or early summer. That’s when this gorgeous flower is in season. During the rest of the year, peonies are prohibitively expensive. During Mother’s Day, we always get a lot of requests for peonies. Fortunately Mother’s Day falls right at the beginning of peony season so we are able to honor most requests without blowing the budget.

Dahlia

If Mother Nature used a spirograph to create a flower, she would come up with the dahlia. Their concentric circles of petals fascinate me. There is a dahlia for every color palate imaginable. There are delicate looking white or light pink dahlias. For something more bright and bold you can choose from yellows and oranges. If you need a darker palate there are deep burgundies and dark purples. I found these fun dahlias to plant in my yard this year. Each bloom has the same two-toned combination of yellow and pinky/purple, but the mix of the two colors is different in each bloom. I love them!

Zinnia

When I first started working at the shop, I had a hard time telling the difference between a dahlia and a zinnia. Both are from the sunflower family so the construction of each of these flowers is similar. There are not as many varieties of zinnias as there are dahlias, but zinnias also come in a  fun array of colors. Easily grown from seed, zinnias are a great flower to plant in your garden. You’ll have loads of colorful flowers to cut throughout the summer for your own arrangements.

Gladiola

I love gladiolas in arrangements because they add wonderful height and texture. I planted gladiola tubers for the first time in my yard this year, and they are just starting to emerge. I am hoping they’ll come back next summer. Stay tuned! In addition to arrangements, gladiolas also make great corsages and boutonnieres. We had a customer that wanted a corsage made out of an unusual flower, not the typical rose or carnation. We had just gotten some gladiolas in so our designer used them. The corsage was beautiful and elegant!

Iris

There is a house that I walk by in my neighborhood that has the most beautiful bearded irises planted around their mailbox. They display their stunning purple for a couple of weeks. This morning when I walked by, the blooms were finally spent. With such a unique shape, irises are a favorite flower right now in arrangements. Their vibrant purple color is unmistakable. It pairs beautifully with hot pink roses or happy yellow tulips. Our “Colleen” arrangement is very popular, but because of the seasonality of irises, it’s only available during the spring and summer.

While these are our favorite flowers right now, in a couple of months we’ll be stocking our coolers with fall colors. As the days get shorter, and the nights get cooler, Mother Nature provides us with another batch of flowers and foliage that will be inspiring us. Check back with us then!

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Pinterest and Instagram are wonderful sources of inspiration for flowers and arrangements, especially for newly engaged couples. We love it when couples share their Pinterest Boards or their Knot’s Wedding Vision. They help us understand the look and feel the couple are striving for, and they help us get to know the couple better. The downside is that sometimes couples fall in love with flowers that won’t be in season for their wedding.

Recently we had a bride show us her Pinterest Board. It was full of peonies, but her wedding was in November. You can imagine her dismay when we told her that we might not even be able to get her peonies, and if we were able, they would be at least $20 per stem. Talk about going over budget!

First Steps

Before you start looking for inspiration, first figure out when your wedding will be, and then find out what flowers will be in season so you can focus on seasonal designs. It also helps if you have a budget for your wedding, including how much you would like to spend on flowers; again, this will ensure that you don’t fall in love with a design that isn’t within your budget.

White roses and baby’s breath courtesy of Fantasy Floral

Gerbera daisies

Dark purple calla lilies courtesy of Fantasy Floral

Year-Round Flowers

There are many flowers that are available year-round, not just for seasonal designs. These are flowers that your florist will be able to get for you without too much trouble or extra cost–even if they are out of the normal growing season.

Year-round flowers include roses, gerbera daisies, and lilies, including calla lilies. You can also get filler flowers such as baby’s breath, purple statice, and alstroemeria, year-round, as well as greens such as eucaplytus or ruscus.

Tulips courtesy of Fantasy Floral

Lilac courtesy of Gardenerdy.com

Pink peonies and white calla lilies courtesy of Fantasy Floral

Irises courtesy of Fantasy Floral

Spring Flowers

In addition to the year-round flowers mentioned above, spring seasonal designs can also include tulips, lilac, daffodil, peonies, pussy willow, forsythia, irises, dahlias, and sweet peas. Some flowers, like irises and dahlias, have longer growing seasons and are also available in the summer.

Gladiola centerpieces courtesy of Fantasy Floral

White hydrangeas

Summer Flowers

Summer seasonal designs, in addition to the flowers already mentioned, can also include delphinium, gladiolas, snapdragons, and hydrangeas.

Liatrus

Red anthurium

Queen Anne’s Lace

Fall Flowers

Fall seasonal designs start to take on fun textures with the flowers that are available. This includes marigolds, liatrus, anthurium, Queen Anne’s lace, solidago, and thistle.

Ranunculus courtesy of fiftyflowers.com

Lisianthus

Lotus seed pods

Winter Flowers

Even though it seems that nothing would grow in winter, there are lots of options for colder weather weddings. Ranunculus, lisianthus, and kangaroo paw are beautiful floral additions. Winter seasonal designs also lend themselves to evergreens such as pine needles or holly leaves, berries such as holly or hypericum, and dried elements such as pine cones or lotus seed pods.

Once you’ve decided on a wedding date, set up a time to talk to your florist. We encourage engaged couples to email us photos and/or links to their vision boards before their appointment so we are prepared with pricing, but it also allows us to come up with creative ideas to share that fit a couple’s vision. Go into your florist appointment with an open mind. We often have ideas that are just perfect for your special day that you haven’t thought of yet…after all, this is what we are passionate about, and we love making your special day as magical as possible!

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Courtesy of The Manor Restuarant

I was talking to a friend last night, and she said, “You must be pretty busy right now! This is your busy season, right?” I realized, she was talking about June weddings. While we do quite a few spring weddings, more and more our busy wedding season is the fall, which got me to pondering, “Why?”

For so many great reasons!

Beautiful Weather

It’s not too hot, and it’s not too cold if you have a fall wedding. As we’ve seen this year, spring often brings a healthy dose of rain as Mother Nature prepares the earth for the growing season. This can put a kink in your dream of an outdoor wedding or beautiful outdoor photos. Summer, at least in our area, often involves 90 degree weather with high humidity. No bride wants to worry about perspiration on her special day, not to mention most cut flowers don’t like the heat either! Fall brings balmy temperatures and not as much rain. There is also a peaceful, reflective, quality about Fall after the frenzy and activity of spring and summer. Who wouldn’t want to spend a beautiful fall day enjoying a local winery? Even the beach in the fall is one of my favorite places to be!

Courtesy of The Knot

Interesting Flower Choices

While spring and summer weddings bring to mind soft pastels or bright colors, a fall wedding has gorgeous jewel tones and end-of-season flowers such as thistle and celosia that add interesting textures. The warmer tones of fall also allow some fun pairings with natural materials for accents such as wood or vines and warm metallics. Hues can take on misty or iced looks for an added element of whimsy. Rich wine colors are perfect as we transition from glasses summer rosé to Côte du Rhône. The warmth of candlelight always seems to be the perfect partner to these rich fall jewel tones!

Better Time to Honeymoon

Let’s face it, after paying for the wedding, there is often not a lot of money left over for the honeymoon. Spring and summer are some of the most expensive times to travel with higher air fare and hotel prices. It’s also the busiest time to travel with popular destinations being flooded with tourists. Fall is considered the shoulder season–the period between the high and low seasons of a given destination. According to Insider, fall is a great time to travel: “Both flights and hotels are often discounted during the fall because fewer people are traveling during that time (kids are back in school, and many take their vacation days during the summer or holidays). So in addition to saving money, if you honeymoon after a fall wedding, you’re also likely going to avoid crowds and long lines in typically tourist-filled cities if you travel in the fall.”

Courtesy of Jenny Losee Wedding Photography

Textured Textiles

Early fall brings a crispness to the air, and late fall can be downright chilly, but this is perfect weather for adding fun elements to your wedding ensemble! Wedding dresses can include long, lacy or faux fur sleeves. Soft cashmere can add beauty and elegance to your wedding dress. According to The Knot, two-piece separates and layers are trending, and the cooler temperatures of a fall wedding make these trends more comfortable and natural. The Groom and groomsmen, in their tux or suit coats, will definitely appreciate the cooler temperatures, and I’ve seen some beautiful photos of the Bride with her bridesmaids all wrapped in luxurious faux fur stoles for their photos–unique and eye-catching!

Any day you get married is the perfect day, but as more couples are breaking with tradition and thinking outside of the box, a fall wedding is definitely worth considering!

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