Flowers are a key component of any wedding. They play many important roles–they set the ambiance for the wedding and help add a romantic feel to the event. They are also a critical element of wedding photography, serving as a ubiquitous prop in almost any good wedding photograph. Done right, they pull together the theme of the wedding by complementing the color scheme and conveying the appropriate tone. If done poorly, however, they can detract from the bride’s vision. Some colors don’t work well together. Rustic flower arrangements and earth tone colors don’t usually work in a formal setting and vice versa. As brides are picking bolder and bolder colors for weddings, it creates challenges for florists to select flowers that work well with those visions.
As a result, looking for a good wedding florist can be a challenge. Pairing the bride’s vision of the style and colors of the floral arrangements with the florist’s choice of flowers and artistic vision isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Simply running to your local florist with a printout from Pinterest of how you want your flowers to look isn’t always the right approach. While that can be a great starting point, it’s a bit like going to a painter with a printout of the Mona Lisa and telling him or her to paint you just like that. Florists are artists, too, and are going to want to add their own artistic vision and experience into the equation. So matching the two visions of the bride and the florist is a critical piece of the puzzle. Budgetary constraints often play a role as well. A bride may want hundreds of flowers for the wedding but only be willing to budget so much. Compromises will have to be made. Some brides have even gone the do-it-yourself route. But realize that it takes lots of time to prepare bouquets and centerpieces and it can still cost several hundreds of dollars just for cut flowers and supplies. Not to mention the additional stress the day before the wedding.
So for those brides looking for professionals to do a great job at a reasonable cost, I’m profiling two of the best Denver wedding florists in the metro area–Cherry Blossoms florists in Westminster and Flowers Elite based in Firestone.
Cherry Blossoms
Cherrie Silverman owns Cherry Blossoms florist in Westminster, CO. She has been in business for 33 years. In addition to the main store front in Westminster, Cherry Blossoms also opened up a new gift shop inside the St. Anthony’s North health campus at 144th and I-25. Cherry Blossoms was tabbed the Best of Westminster for 2015. Cherrie has been certified by the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) since 2000. She has even worked on many of the floats for the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA.
Cherrie loves doing weddings and has done the flowers for 50-70 weddings the last two years. She embraces the challenge of combining her artistic license with matching flower bouquets to the wedding colors. Cherrie feels that the quality and uniqueness of her floral arrangements set her apart from other florists. She visits her suppliers in central and South America to ensure that the best quality and freshest flowers are delivered to the bride. Cherrie believes her secret to success is the fact that she is transparent about her pricing and that she is very up front with people. She provides a tool on her website that allows brides to easily determine what package will fit within their budget. Her website also features countless photos of her work so that prospective clients can get a sense of her work before sitting down to meet with her.
Flowers Elite
Kathy Shepherd owns Flowers Elite in Firestone, CO, which has been in business for 13 years, but between her designer and herself, they have over 50 years of experience in the florist business. Flowers Elite has developed an outstanding reputation in the north Denver metro area for exceeding expectations of brides and keeping prices affordable.
Flowers Elite specializes in wedding floral arrangements and does only weddings, sympathy flowers, or other special occasions. Kathy believes that her focus on quality, including the time and attention she puts into each wedding, has helped establish her reputation. Flowers Elite provides a full-service experience on the wedding day from pinning corsages and boutonnieres to set up of the wedding venue.
Kathy orders flowers for each individual bride so the bouquets look unique and are at their freshest. She also creates many combo arrangements which can double as ceremony flowers and be reused as centerpieces.
Kathy has seen many trends over her time as a florist. Purples, lime green, and other vibrant colors are hot right now so finding the right flowers in those colors can be tricky. Another trend that Kathy has seen in recent years is brides incorporating special objects or momentos like lockets or brooches in their bouquets. But it’s all part of the fun for Kathy. She loves the challenge of finding the right flowers and creating the perfect arrangements for each bride.
Derek Regensburger is a wedding and portrait photographer based in Thornton, CO. If you are looking for fun and fashionable wedding photography in the Denver area, call Regensburger Photography today at 303-478-7586 to set up a consultation.