A bride's mom told me my bouquets looked 'heavy' and it clicked

I did a wedding in Charlotte last spring where the mother of the bride pulled me aside after the setup. She was nice about it, but she said straight up, 'These are beautiful, but they look so heavy to carry.' I'd been so focused on making them full and lush with greenery that I didn't think about the weight. She was right. I went back to the shop and held one for five minutes straight, and my arm was tired. Now, for any hand-tied bouquet, I use lighter foam cages instead of wet foam, and I'm way more careful with how many thick-stemmed flowers like hydrangeas I add. It seems obvious now, but that one comment changed my whole approach to making something that's both pretty and practical to hold all day. Has anyone else gotten feedback that made you change a basic part of your process?

3 comments

3 Comments

henderson.brooke21d ago

Used to pack my arrangements tight, thinking that was just how you made them look full. A client mentioned her grandma couldn't lift the centerpiece to see across the table. That hit me. Now I build them lighter from the bottom up, using more hollow-stemmed flowers and less dense filler so they're easier to move.

hart.ryan20d ago

That florist in Portland calls it "breathable design" for exactly this reason.

oliver5233d ago

Read about a hotel that switched to low centerpieces after a guest in a wheelchair complained. They started using wide, shallow bowls with flowers that spread out instead of up. Makes so much sense to actually think about how people use the space.