Florists, Cakes, Photographers, and More

Your wedding is starting to take
shape now, and you should be able to visualize
what you want everything to look like.
You’re still hiring people and signing contracts, so
keep your three-ring binder handy. You’ll need it in
the coming weeks.
As with the caterer and the dresses and tuxedos,
you may already have in mind some ideas for the
flowers, the photography, and the cake at your
wedding. No doubt you’ve been to friends’ weddings
and seen spectacular cakes and beautiful
flower arrangements. You may even have noticed
at other weddings you’ve attended the really
impressive Hummer limo that was used to carry
the entire wedding party from ceremony to reception
or the antique Bentley the bride and groom
were driven away in as they left the reception.
Great! You have some leads. Contact your friends
and relatives and start making notes in your threering
binder about vendors you want to interview.
Check the Internet again—this time for two types
of information. First, there’s the possibility of
purchasing some things online; but, second, many
local vendors will have web sites where you can
find out the types of services they provide and possibly
even get estimates. You can also just get an
overall idea, by looking at photos on the web, of
the kind of results they achieve. Photographers,
especially, have portfolios on the web. Florists love
to show pictures of their work, and even cake
decorators have web sites where you can see some
samples of their work. It’s a place to start, but
don’t make a decision until you’ve interviewed at
least three of each type of vendor—even more if
you are not satisfied by the first three you talk to.
This is the time when your shopping skills are
going to come in handy. Go and talk to these people
and see their handiwork in person. They are
artists, and we all have our own taste in art; you
may prefer classic flower arrangements and highly
decorated cakes with bridges, moats, and waterfalls.
On the other hand, you may prefer the minimalist
movement with a single rose bud and a simple
white cake with a few rose petals sprinkled
over it. Whatever your preference, now you need to
begin looking for florists, bakers, and photographers
who are able and willing to make these
aspects of your dream a reality.
Getting married in the rose garden at Timber Creek Lodge,
Sun City Roseville, California—flowers came with the site.
While the Internet is great for comparison
shopping, the importance of a personal
meeting cannot be overemphasized. One
bride interviewed a florist who plopped several
standard FTD arrangement books in
front of her and left her to look at them
alone, while the florist she selected took
her through several photo albums of her
own work, asking what she liked and didn’t
like, what colors she had chosen, what
types of flowers she preferred, and on and
on. The first florist was just a merchant.
The second was an artist and found creative
ways to stretch the couple’s budget to
get the look they wanted for their wedding
and reception.