How to brief a florist with inspiration photos

Say what you love and what you do not, give the date, the venue and the counts, and stay open to alternatives. A florist designs from the look, not the pins.

An inspiration photo is a picture of a look, not a shopping list. Sent with the word “this”, it asks a florist to identify every flower, source each one in your month and your region, and price exactly that, which is the most expensive way to get a look that three cheaper flowers could match from six feet away. Sent with a sentence, it starts the right conversation.

What a florist needs from the photos

• One line per photo: what you love about it (the loose shape, the cream and rust, how it spills over the edge) and what you do not (the greenery, the height, the ribbon).
• The words “open to alternatives that get the same look”. Team Flower’s substitution list swaps peony for garden rose, ranunculus or double tulip; a good substitute matches colour, shape, size or texture, and a great one matches all four.
• A colour swatch or a paint chip. Most inspiration photos are filtered, and the colour you fell for may not exist in nature. Florists’ Supply puts it in seven words: focus on the look, not the flowers.

The facts that turn a mood into a quote

• The date (season decides what is grown and what is flown in), the venue and its spaces, and the ceremony and reception times.
• The counts: guests, tables and their shape, the wedding party, and the pieces you want (bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, a ceremony structure, the aisle, centerpieces, cake flowers, bar and welcome pieces).
• A budget range, said out loud. A florist can show three ways to the same look at three prices; without a range they guess high or low.

The design decisions to make early

• Centerpiece height. Poppy’s centerpiece guide passes on a florist’s sightline rule: under fourteen inches or over twenty-four, never between, so a seated table can see across it. Have one sample built and sit at it before ordering the set.
• Where flowers touch fabric and food: bouquets against a dress, boutonnieres, and anything on the cake have their own rules (the guides on flowers near fabric and on cake delivery cover them).
• Which pieces move. Ceremony flowers reused at the reception need a named mover and a time.

In wedplan.ai

AI Florist writes the brief from your photos, palette and counts (Florist Brief) and suggests look-alike stems for anything out of season or out of budget (Stem Dupes & Swaps). Send the brief with the photos, before you ask for a quote.

Handoff

You own the look and the don’ts; the florist owns the flowers that deliver it. A florist who only wants to recreate the pin, stem for stem, has told you how substitutions will go in June.

A wedplan.ai guide on the Décor logistics board. More planning guides.