Ah, getting married in the Ozarks.
What an amazing place to plan and conduct a marriage ceremony!
Every season offers a range of beautiful natural scenery (though sometimes, those hot summers might leave you wanting to tie the knot in the middle of a swimming pool).
- Spring offers a vibrant, natural backdrop with blooming flowers and lush greenery, perfect for picturesque wedding photos.
- Longer days in summer provide more time for outdoor ceremonies and receptions, allowing for a relaxed and extended celebration.
- The fall season features breathtaking autumn colors, creating a romantic and cozy atmosphere ideal for an intimate wedding setting.
- Winter weddings can benefit from the festive holiday spirit, with opportunities for elegant decorations and a magical, wintry charm.
And appropriately themed flowers are likely going to play a massive role as a centerpiece for your big day.
Beautiful wedding flower arrangements can be awesome!
However, we also know from experience (we’ve helped to plan all kinds of weddings here at Linda’s) that some brides aren’t totally sure how far in advance to order their flowers.
Obviously, there’s some merit to the age-old wisdom, ‘the sooner, the better.’
But is that always true when it comes to flowers?
In this blog post, we’re going to help you unpack the question and dive a bit more deeply into it.
By the time we reach the end, hopefully we will have answered your questions.
Let’s get started.
1. Ordering and Delivery
So, arranging your flowers really starts with the selection and ordering process.
And it could be said that ‘choosing’ the flowers can be the toughest part of this whole process.
As a general rule, you’ll want to wait to decide on your flowers until you have your venue booked, you’ve selected a theme, and you’ve chosen your colors.
This way, you’ll know exactly which types of flowers will work with your wedding. (If you’re still short on ideas, check out The Bloomin’ Blog for many, many more posts on flowers!)
With that being said, you can, if desired, arrange your flower order up to a year in advance—though we wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing so, as ‘stuff happens’. In general, however, you’ll want to get those orders in 3 to 4 weeks before the event itself.
2. Preparation (When Should You Get The Flowers Delivered?)
Choosing exactly when to get your flowers delivered is a whole separate question from ‘when to order them.’
But the answer is pretty simple.
You’ll want to schedule your flowers to be delivered about 2 days before your wedding. This gives you an extra day in case of ‘mishaps,’ while still giving you a close enough window that they’ll be plenty fresh for your big day.
If they get delivered more in advance than that, you’ll run the risk of having them start to wilt by the time your ceremony commences.
This timing ensures that you’ll have adequate time to not only rehydrate them, but to arrange them how you want.
Speaking of ‘arranging,’ let’s talk about that next.
3. Arranging The Flowers
As a general rule, you’ll want to start rehydrating and arranging your flowers as soon as they arrive.
You definitely don’t want to leave them sitting!
Not only will this give you time to get the arrangements completed, but it’ll help you to ensure that your flowers are maximally fresh for your ceremony.
You always want to start with the larger pieces first (like the ceremony flowers), and then work your way down to the smaller stuff, like boutonnieres and bouquets.
4. Not a DIYer? We Can Help!
Of course, if you need help with flower arrangements and don’t have enough hands to get them done on time, you can also let us know.
Or, if you’d prefer a totally turn-key operation, so you can concentrate on the other ‘minor’ wedding details, we are more than happy to help you with this part as well.
Again, ordering your arrangements, and scheduling our participation, several weeks in advance will ensure your day goes off smoothly and beautifully!
Conclusion
Hopefully this has helped you to understand that often confusing timeline of when to order flowers, when to have them delivered, and when to plan on arranging them.
Hopefully, you’ll have help with the process from the groom, your family, and friends.
With that being said, we’ll leave you with one more tip.
When it comes to wedding flowers, flexibility and communication are going to be the keys to success.
Start planning them earlier than you need to, but also allow yourself some flexibility for adjustments as you select your venue, theme, and colors.
And don’t forget to communicate with your wedding partner to make sure that you both love the arrangement plans.
By ordering 3 to 4 weeks in advance, and getting your flowers delivered 2 days before the ceremony, you’ll give yourself plenty of room for success without running too late—and that’s exactly what you want.
And of course, if you need any help with anything (including selecting the proper flowers for your theme), don’t hesitate to stop in here at Linda’s and let us know. We’d love to help you select the perfect flowers for your wedding day arrangements!