A farmer-florist can literally plan their garden beds around your wedding. At our design studio, when we hear from you before our growing season begins (typically before March) we can design our garden beds to incorporate specific flowers and colors that you want at your wedding. We sit down at the beginning of the year with our list of weddings and the flowers and color palettes desired for each, and then map out when we will start your seeds, where we will plant them, and when we need them to bloom perfectly in time for your wedding day. We hear from couples time and time again that this journey from the creation of the floral plan to implementation on their wedding day was made so much more special by the fact that the flowers were grown specifically for them. This also makes us so much more invested in your wedding - we are literally thinking about it all season long as we nurture flower seedlings that will blossom into the gorgeous blooms we use for your event. It's an incredibly special process for everyone involved.
The flowers at your wedding will be exceptionally unique Working with a farmer-florist allows you to think outside the box when it comes to selecting the flowers that will go into your designs. Do you love the ethereal nature of babies breath? Consider white saponaria instead, which grows beautifully in the Midwest and offers the same lacey, bridal feel of the more traditionally used flower while also creating a more more modern, sleek look. You'll also benefit from being able to incorporate blooms that are difficult or impossible to ship, such as gorgeous dinnerplate dahlias, zinnias of all shapes, sizes and colors, and delicate accent flowers like the odiferous sweet pea. The incorporation of these commercially-unavailable flowers means the floral designs at your wedding are truly one-of-a-kind and an expression of what's blooming most beautifully and prolifically in the garden. It's a complete embrace of not just the season your wedding falls in, but that specific day: maybe the lisianthus are just beginning to unfurl and look just incredible, or we notice a perennial on the property that lends a perfect amount of whimsy to your bridal bouquet - you better believe we're including that! It's really a moment in time that's captured in your designs, which makes it so personal to you and your day.
No pesticides on your flowers. This is specific to farms, like ours, that grow flowers without any pesticides. In the global cut flower industry, the use of pesticides is rampant: a wide range of pesticides are used at high rates to control diseases and pests. This industrial system depends on farms to crank out enormous quantities of high quality blooms at relatively low prices, which incentivizes the use of these harmful substances. On top of this, there is less restriction on the use of pesticides on flowers as there is on consumable crops, so cut flowers tend to be sprayed at the maximum allowed dosage up to the time of harvest, and then shipped directly to the markets with no interval between treatment and harvest. These pesticide applications pose significant danger to the farm workers, and even expose everyone along the supply chain, including the end customer, to harmful chemical residues.
You're divesting from the industrialized global flower production model, and lessening the carbon footprint of your wedding flowers If all that discussion about pesticides on the flowers was slightly (or seriously) cringey to you, consider the entire model that's supported when we purchase imported flowers. Not only does our financial support of that model perpetuate this cycle of pesticide application, but it also supports a tremendous amount of waste and heavy transportation. The journey from commercial farm to the end user often goes like this: flowers are wrapped in plastic sleeves and packed tightly into large cardboard boxes before they are loaded onto planes and trucks to reach their wholesale destination. From the wholesaler, they are then repackaged and shipped out to the customer - florists, grocery stores, etc. - via plane or truck. So when you purchase from a farmer in your area - even just in your state - you are significantly reducing the miles that your flowers have had to travel, as well as a significant amount of the packaging associated with the transport. Add to that the benefit that your local flowers were harvested mere days before your event, making them fresher, happier and more vibrant than flowers that have been shuffled from truck to plane for days on end without a fresh water source. You'll be much happier with the way your local flowers look.
You're supporting small farms and pollinator habitats When you buy from a local, small-scale flower farm, ask about their farming practices! They will be so excited to tell you all of the ways they are stewarding their land with love, and seeing the monarch and bee populations soaring as a result of their flower gardens. In the six years we've been on our farm, we have seen a dramatic increase in not only the pollinator levels, but also in all types of wildlife since we started managing the land following organic practices and permaculture principles. Creating healthy soil with the use of compost and home-brewed compost tea sprays, and never relying on the quick fixes that pesticides offer, has allowed such a biodiverse little ecosystem to spring forth from our land. Photo credit: Ali Lockery Photography