A wedding florist is not somebody who should be overlooked in the planning of your wedding. Floral designers create the overall design of your wedding which sets the mood for your big day and help decorate the tables, centerpieces, existing gardens and bridesmaid wrist corsages.

With over a decade of experience hosting weddings – from traditional, barn, same-sex and quirky festival weddings – the wedding experts at Ash Barton have compiled 22 essential questions to ask your wedding florist so your wedding aesthetic can be picture-perfect and flawless.

Useful tips to know beforehand:

· Florists are visual workers so bring anything that could help them! This could be anything from pictures of your wedding dress and the bridesmaids’ dresses, pictures from magazines or fabric swatches.

· Before meeting with your florist for the first time, make sure you have your color scheme finalised, as well as a list of the kind of flowers you like.

· If you are really lost, create a wedding Pinterest board and share it with them so they can get an idea of what you like!

Early questions to ask:

1. Is my wedding date available for you?

2. Do you have any other weddings or events scheduled for the same day? (or do you plan to?)

3. How many weddings have you designed for?

4. Can you work with my budget?

5. Will you be doing my arrangements yourself or would it be another floral designer?

6. Do you offer package deals or is everything customized to order?

7. How would you work to maximise my budget?

8. Are you able to provide me with referenced from 2-3 recent brides you have designed for?

Questions about the flowers:

9. How far in advance do you create the wedding bouquets and centerpieces, and how are they stored?

10. How will you transport the flowers?

11. What flowers will be in season the month I am getting married?

12. If I give you a picture of an arrangement I like, are you able to recreate it?

13. Which flowers can be substituted to better fit my budget?

14. How would you describe your design style? (e.g. rustic, modern, organic, traditional)

15. What colour lighting do you recommend based on my colour scheme and the flowers?

Questions about the costs and contract:

16. Do you require a minimal floral budget?

17. Do you charge a delivery fee?

18. Is there an extra charge for the setup of the arrangements?

19. How long do you need to set up?

20. Do you charge more if I choose a mixed arrangement vs one flower type?

21. Do you provide any other decorative items e.g. vases, and do these come at an extra cost?

22. Do you provide sketches or mockups of the arrangements, and does this come at an extra cost?

Fill your Pinterest boards with blooms with from our Flowers section, then book your dream floral designer from our 20 florists for every type of bride round-up.

This piece was brought to you by the experts at Ash Barton.