How to Find the Best Wedding Florist in Buffalo, NY (or anywhere, for that matter)

best wedding florists in buffalo ny, wedding florist buffalo ny, wedding flowers in buffalo ny, wedding flowers buffalo ny — Photo by Reilley Photography

December 9, 2022

A burning question I think many engaged-to-be-married couples have, but don’t ask out loud is, Who is the best wedding florist in Buffalo, NY? You can, of course, ask this question no matter what geographical region you live in, but let’s take where we’re located as an example.

As a wedding florist in Buffalo, NY myself, I have a simple answer:

The best wedding florist is the one who suits your needs and who can positively contribute to your love story. We all have different floral design styles, we all price our floral items differently, and we all have different values that drive our businesses. It’s your job to find the wedding florist that is best for YOU based on these criteria.

There simply is no “best” anyone in the wedding world, whether we’re talking about wedding florists, wedding venues, wedding cake bakers, wedding planners and day-of coordinators, caterers, DJs, bands, or sign makers… etc etc (It would also be incredibly rude for someone like me to suggest there were! The truth is, we’re all just different and people are drawn to us for different reasons).

To find the “best” wedding florist for you, here is the major criteria I suggest following.

The best wedding florist will design work that you love

Your first job, when searching for a wedding florist, is to find the florists whose work you LOVE. Every florist has a different style than the next. For example, Heirloom Soul Florals style is a loose, unstructured garden-inspired floral style — our goal is to design each piece so it appears as if it is naturally growing out of the vase. Other florists have a tighter, rounder, more traditional style popularized in previous decades of floral design. Others have a more bohemian style where they use tons of pampas grasses and eucalyptus. Some of us use super high-end, hard-to-find blooms, while others use more basic flowers. Some of us specialize in certain types of centerpieces or wedding arbor decor. You’ll figure all of this out by looking on the florist’s Instagram and website.

No wedding florist is better than the others. We are all simply different people, which means we all design differently. It’s a beautiful thing because we appeal to different clientele. So find the florist(s) who appeal to you! Do not simply inquire with every single florist in your area to get pricing. We are super busy, involved people as florists and (I’ll go out on a limb here and speak for everyone) we do not appreciate answering people who don’t care about our businesses, nor know at all what we do, and are just price shopping. I understand the need for price shopping — but we ask you to please “price shop,” if you must, within the small group of floral designers who you love, not everyone.

The best wedding florist will have pricing within your budget

I know from experience (married person, here), one of the biggest factors on your mind when booking wedding flowers or choosing a wedding florist is how much the wedding flowers cost. Right? I know I’m right. This is why we at Heirloom Soul Florals have wedding minimums clearly posted on our website so prospective clients understand the amount of money involved in ordering wedding floral. The cost of wedding flowers is high, and it’s not because wedding florists are cruel people. It’s because if you want gorgeous, professionally designed and installed wedding floral, the amount of time, effort, cost of materials/transportation, labor, etc etc is really high for the wedding florist.

That is a topic for another post — I’d love to share with everyone why wedding flowers cost what they cost — but for now, I will leave you with this morsel of advice: It’s okay to not want to spend $4,000+ on full service wedding flowers. That is why Heirloom Soul Florals offers several options for clients who love our work but are on different budgets. HSF offers, in addition to Full Service Weddings, the option to order A La Carte Wedding Flowers for Pickup with a much lower minimum, and also Bulk Buckets of Flowers and/or Greenery for DIY Weddings. It is possible to find a florist who has different wedding flower options so you’re not stuck paying for the whole full service setup shebang, if that’s not what you want.

The best wedding florist will be someone you trust to deliver exactly what you want on your wedding day

This is a big one. When it comes to customer service, not all florists are equal. Personally, I will admit I have super high expectations when it comes to customer service (prompt and honest responses to questions, in particular) when working with any company. It’s why Heirloom Soul Florals has a track record of incredible customer feedback (5 stars on Google) and why we’ve had not one single complaint from 100+ wedding clients since we’ve been in business. I can’t prove that, you’ll have to take my word for it, but it’s something I’m super proud of because it means I’ve put my focus in the correct area: Making sure my people are happy, taken care of, and they feel as if the value of our products and service was there.

How do you find a florist with a good reputation whom you feel you can trust?

Read customer reviews. Go to Google, Yelp, Facebook, or any other place where people have left reviews for the business. I will beg that you please discern the “crazy” people leaving unfair reviews. HSF thankfully has not received any unfair reviews, but it does happen to well-meaning businesses. I think it’s important to not take every single thing strangers say for face value when it happens to be negative. Use your best judgment!

Finally, the best wedding florist will speak to your values and contribute to your love story

People don’t automatically think of their deep, inner life values when booking a wedding florist, and understandably so. But I want to ask, Why aren’t you taking your values into consideration when entrusting a person/business to help make your wedding day incredibly special? This day is one of the days that will define the rest of your life. I would implore you to work with wedding vendors who not only move you with their design, but also with their greater business mission. You can read our mission here.

Does the florist not seem to have a business mission? That’s their personal business problem. Perhaps you could discover more about who they are on their social media pages and the language they use.

For example, my wedding flower business in Buffalo, NY, Heirloom Soul Florals, is dedicated to providing sustainable wedding floral design by growing our own flowers on our regenerative flower farm, and by limiting excessive waste of vases/vessels, harmful floral foam, and chemicals in our field and floral design studio. One way to put it is, We really give a damn about the future of our planet. Everything we do in our business comes from a compassionate place we hold in our heart for future generations — from minimizing our participation in the damaging floral supply chain to mitigating climate change in the soils on our flower farm. Because of this, we’re the #1 choice for couples who hope for a sustainable, eco-friendly wedding florist in Buffalo, NY.

Environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation isn’t going to drive most wedding florist businesses, but there are other things they (and you!) are passionate about. Find out what they’re all about and see how it speaks to you and your vision for your wedding day.

I hope this shed some light on how to find the best florist for your wedding day. Obviously it is not a straight-forward answer and highly subjective, but it’s part of the fun of discovering your wedding vendors. If you happen to be searching for a wedding florist in Buffalo, NY or a wedding florist in Lockport, NY, I’d love to hear from you!

peace, love, and being true to ourselves,

Fran Parrish

Floral Design, Small BusinessFran ParrishDecember 9, 2022Comment