Flowers have the power to transform a wedding, bringing romance, personality and beauty to every moment of the day. But behind every breathtaking floral installation or delicate bridal bouquet is a talented florist who brings the vision to life. This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sarah from Gwen Floral Co, a Brisbane-based floral designer known for her creative, thoughtful and timeless wedding florals.

Sarah’s journey into floristry was inspired by her deep love of weddings and a creative spirit that led her from studying music to designing beautiful floral arrangements. Named after her Grandmother, Gwen Floral Co is built on a foundation of kindness, creativity and a passion for bringing couples’ floral visions to life.

In this interview, Sarah shares her expert advice on choosing the right florist, designing within a budget and the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into crafting wedding florals. Whether you’re dreaming of a bold, sculptural floral moment or a soft, romantic look, Sarah’s insights will help you make the most of your wedding flowers.

1. 1. What inspired you to start Gwen Floral Co and how did your journey lead you to specialise in wedding florals?
      As a little girl, I was always fascinated by weddings. If there was a movie with a wedding in it, it would be my favourite part. While I was studying music, I ended up being asked to do the florals for a few friends weddings and I had the thought “I wonder if I could make this my job?” 8 years later and I am so glad I made that decision. My Grandmother Gwen was such an inspiration to me; she was the epitome of kindness and creativity and just so happened to be a florist in her younger days – so she was the inspiration behind the name Gwen Floral Co.
      
      
   2. What should couples consider when choosing their wedding florist and what questions should they ask during their consultation?
      The two main things to consider when choosing a wedding florist are their design style and their communication. If you choose someone whose style you love and trust them to create something beautiful for you, you’ll always end up with a more beautiful result than if you micromanage your vendors or go with someone whose style you don’t align with because they were the cheapest quote.
      
      

      Having strong communication is also really important as a wedding vendor. Think of the enquiry process as an audition for the service you can expect to receive once you’ve booked. If your florist is quick to respond, has an organised enquiry process, makes personalised suggestions for you and makes the whole booking process stress-free and straightforward; this is a sign you’re in excellent hands and won’t get any nasty surprises in the lead up to your wedding.

   3. Can you walk us through the timeline of working with you – from the initial enquiry to the wedding day itself?
      The first step is to fill out the short contact form on our website to receive our price guide. We’ll then check if we are available on your date and email you our questionnaire so that we can receive the details and inspiration images we need to provide you with an accurate quote. Once we’ve received your completed questionnaire, we then do up a personalised proposal and quote for you to review. We can either go back and forth via email or organise a consultation for any questions or changes. After that, we just need a 25% booking fee and a signed client agreement and you’ll officially be in our calendar!
      
      

      From here, we are only an email away for any questions, but otherwise you can simply relax until we get in touch again closer to the wedding to finalise all of the details. The final balance is due six weeks out. We will see you on the morning of your wedding when we come to deliver your bouquets, tell you how beautiful you look and then head to your venue to set up your ceremony and reception florals so that you don’t have to think about a thing!

   4. How do you help couples create a cohesive floral look that ties into their venue, styling and personality?
      We love when our couples share their Pinterest board for their whole wedding with us, rather than just floral inspiration images. Non-floral inspiration, knowing what outfits you’ll be wearing and the architecture and styling of the venue all help to give us a really good idea of our couples’ personal style.

      Something we often suggest to our couples is to choose one or two locations at your venue and focus your floral budget into creating a real “wow” moment. Highlighting the architectural features of your venue whether it be a beautiful stained-glass window, a fountain or an amazing view. This is so much more impactful and has the potential to show off your personal style rather than floral touches everywhere!

   5. Are there any myths or misconceptions about wedding flowers that you often find yourself debunking for couples?
      I think often people don’t understand the huge amount of labour that goes into wedding florals. There is admin such as emails, proposals, quotes, answering DM’s, social media, managing staffing, book keeping, placing orders with multiple suppliers.
      
      Then while you’re still asleep, your florist is up at the crack of dawn driving to multiple different flower market suppliers, collecting your blooms, returning to the studio and unpacking the van. The flowers then need to be hydrated and processed (cutting stems, crushing stems, removing thorns and excess leaves, refrigeration, scalding, submerging or helping buds to open depending on the variety). This means that, depending on the size of the event, your florist has done a full 1-2 days work before a single flower has been placed in a design.
      
      

      Your bouquets and centrepieces are then made in studio the day before your wedding, before we travel to your accommodation on the wedding day to deliver your bouquets, then head to your venue (sometimes different venues for ceremony and reception), create your ceremony installation onsite (usually with freelance florists helping), setup the reception and sometimes stay back until after your ceremony to repurpose your blooms – often returning late at night to bump-out. After your wedding there is all the bucket cleaning, green waste disposal and cleaning of vases and candles to do.

   6. How do you approach creating floral designs while staying within a couple’s budget? What is one thing couples might not realise about working with fresh flowers for their wedding day?
      Our biggest suggestion is to be honest with your florist about your budget. We are not asking this question to try to make you spend more money, but so we can make the best suggestion to suit your priorities and venue to ensure you get the best value out of your florals. Often couples try to have tiny touches everywhere if they’re on a budget, when really they’d be better off cutting the buttonholes and corsages and investing in one or two high-impact floral moments that your guests will really remember! Bonus points if these designs can then be re-purposed to another part of your celebration.
      
      

      Often couples forget the impact weather will have on their flowers – having your aisle florals sit in full-sun for three hours in February and then repurposing them as table centrepieces is just going to leave you disappointed. It is a part of our job as your florist to know these things and make sure we think about all of these things so you don’t have to!

   7. Looking ahead, what floral trends, styles or techniques do you think will inspire weddings in 2025 and beyond?
      We are seeing a lot of micro-weddings and elopements with super personalised details continuing into 2025 and 2026. We predict lots of mini-dresses, bows, draping, extra tall candles, bold red florals and more old school styling to go with the vintage-style cakes which are still going strong! I am personally excited to see enquiries for bold colour palettes, sculptural designs and lillies en masse coming through!
      
      
   8. Can you share a favourite wedding or floral installation from the past year and what made it special?
      We had the privilege of creating a magical floral scape for a beautiful micro-wedding at Rivermead Estate in Spring last year, which featured a full floral arbour, additional floral gardens at the base and florals down the aisle. It was pretty breathtaking! The couple really loved florals and put so much trust in us to create something beautiful for them. We also created take-home bunches for guests from the arbour after the ceremony and it was so special seeing how thrilled the guests were to take home that special momento of the day to enjoy at home.

If you’re looking for a florist who will bring your wedding vision to life, be sure to check out Gwen Floral Co. You can explore Sarah’s portfolio and get in touch via her website here. A huge thank you to Sarah for sharing her insights and behind-the-scenes knowledge with me! Stay tuned for more vendor interviews to help you plan your perfect wedding.

For any wedding planning questions that you may have, please feel free to reach out to me here.