Wedding Blog

When it came time to hiring vendors, the one person I knew I really wanted was florist Nicole Ha. The photos on her site don’t do her work justice. I attended a friend’s wedding last October and everything–from the table centerpieces to the ceremonial floral wreath–was exquisite. The best part is she works with all budgets, and really gives 110%. When someone truly loves what they do, it shows in their work without any words.

Sadly, she was booked for all the available wedding dates that Mr. Tomato and I had in mind (she was so nice and apologetic about it too). So after booking our venue, I searched the internet for other NorCal options.

I start off every project with a budget in mind, and I wanted to spend somewhere between $1000-$1500 on the following flower arrangements:

-two large, ceremony altar pieces
-20′ long floral garland (for the balcony of our venue)
-bridal bouquet
-three bridesmaids bouquets
-two corsages
-six boutonnieres
-a lush petal aisle
-rose petals for the guestbook table

Since I heard centerpieces normally run around $50-$100 each, I didn’t include that on my list. I figured the guests would be preoccupied with the food on the table, anyway.

Flowers were also the one area where I didn’t want to take the DIY route. How flowers look mean a lot to me, and the last thing I wanted to do was stress about buying wholesale flowers, creating all the arrangements the night before, and transporting it two hours to the venue site in baking hot weather. I wasn’t sure if an air-conditioned car would be good enough for the long ride.

I must have e-mailed/called twenty-five plus Bay Area florists, and only half got back to me within the week. I must say, there’s nothing that irks me more about a vendor than one who does not respond promptly (believe it or not, I had a florist who contacted me back A MONTH later! Are they going to arrive a month late to my wedding too?).

Some had a $2000+ minimum, some were located in South Bay and would not travel to Napa, and the rest were booked. I reached a point where I scoured every Bay Area bridal magazine and just e-mailed/called random florists. As long as their floral arrangements looked decent, they received an e-mail with my list of criteria and my inquiries on budget flexibility. I turned to friends for contacts I could have possibly missed.

Finally, Nona Tai from Floral Design Studio e-mailed back the day after I contacted her (so far, so good) and said she could definitely meet my budget needs (score!). I met her that very weekend.

We hit it off immediately, and she was totally accommodating with my budget. She normally throws in a complimentary bridal toss bouquet (it comes with the bridal bouquet), but since I didn’t need/want one, she said she could make it into a bridesmaid bouquet ($75 value!) for free. The most expensive item was actually the petal aisle-I had a specific idea on how it would look (I brought in magazine pictures) but she said it would cost about $400 for that many petals-so finally we agreed on $250 for a little less petals. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but I’ve always dreamed about a petal aisle, so I had to have it.

The other big costs were the 20′ garland ($200) and the altar pieces ($100 each) which I thought were very reasonably priced. The best part though–was her suggestion of centerpieces that would only cost me $5 each. Three stems of mini yellow orchids from a square bud vase (which she would lend me, as long as I returned them within two weeks). I wasn’t planning on centerpieces, but how could I pass up an offer like that? Sold.

I came in just under $1500 for everything (including setup/delivery) and I think it’s a deal that can’t be beat. Has anyone hired Nona in the past, though? I’m curious how the day-of experience went!