Florist Vendor Showcase: Amy from Little Botanica
Amy is the creative genius behind Little Botanica - a Queenstown based florist with an impressive background in high-end weddings & events.
When it comes to planning your wedding, its so important to surround yourself with likeminded vendors to ensure your day runs smoothly and is a true reflection of yourself & your partner.
We’ve reached out to a few of our industry friends to curate a series of Vendor Spotlight blogs to assist those in the throws of planning their wedding.
Here, we address priorities, popular styles, budgets and how to achieve the best outcome from the professionals themselves.
If you are struggling with where to start with the planning of your big day then get your notepad out, because some hot tips are coming your way….
We spoke with Amy about the events floristry industry and the best ways to incorporate florals into your big day…
What is your favourite thing about being an event florist?
I love the pace of events. It's incredibly rewarding to see your ideas come to life and totally transform a space to fit a specific brief, in a relatively short timeframe. Every client has different requirements and every design is a new creation, which keeps work fresh, challenging and creatively fulfilling. I love the sculptural qualities of large scale installation work and the balance between problem-solving and creativity. There are always a different set of parameters and variables to work with to make the magic happen.
How do you recommend people spend their money on florals when working with a budget?
Don’t try and do it all — I’m a big fan of having fewer floral aspects but committing fully to those designs. I typically provide my couples with indicative price ranges for all possible floral elements as a starting point so they have a broad overview of associated costs and can prioritise volume / value to the aspects that are most important to them. Then it’s just a matter of adding, revising or removing aspects as required until we line up with any budget constraints.
Where possible, I would always recommend designing florals that are able to be repurposed or relocated from ceremony through to reception and even to your day-after party, so your florals can be enjoyed across multiple areas and days.
“Make your own rules, it’s a free pass to design the day that reflects you as a couple so have fun.”
— AMY | Little Botanica
Do you only work with seasonal florals or do you with imported products? How does this impact on pricing?
Unfortunately Queenstown doesn’t have fresh flower markets, so we are fully reliant on our market buyers, growers and freight companies from around the country to source and deliver our product from main centres to us here in Queenstown. I work with seasonal and imported product, depending on the brief, availability and season. All of our product arrives via courier or air freight and pricing can range from $15 - $55 + GST per box which can add up very quickly, particularly on larger weddings, which does increase the overall pricing of your florals.
During the Summer months we are lucky to have some incredible small scale flower farmers down this way. These operations are getting bigger each year so hopefully we will have access to locally grown product year round in the near future. If you are planning a wedding or event between November to April, making use of locally grown, seasonal blooms is a great way to support the local flower industry and optimise your floral value. By utilising locally grown blooms where possible, we minimise the amount spent freighting your product from flower auctions around the country. This ultimately means more of your spend goes into the actual flowers and as an added bonus, we tread more lightly on our planet.
How do you incorporate sustainability into your floristry practices?
For the better part of the last decade I’ve freelanced to other local florists, so I’ve been able to pick up new techniques to improve my practices from a number of different people. When processing our floral product, we separate out paper, plastic and green waste and we recycle as much as we can. Small wins like saving and reusing water vials in our foam free designs and keeping box packing for transporting floral arrangements, do add up. Wherever possible I try to create designs that avoid using floral foam and we use chicken wire and metal frogs in our vase arrangements which can be reused over and over again. It’s certainly not a perfect system but I’m always learning and looking to make improvements.
Any other tips and tricks you'd like couples to know when starting to look at florals for their big day?
My main advice would be make your own rules. It’s a free pass to design the day that reflects you as a couple so have fun with it and don’t feel confined to traditions that don’t resonate with you.
Do your homework. Look through a number of different suppliers work to find someone whose aesthetic aligns with your vision.
Inspiration imagery is a great starting point to provide your florist to help them get a gauge on the volume, varieties and style you are after. It can be difficult to pare back your ideas but try and keep your supplied imagery concise. Please bear in mind that overseas wedding inspiration may have some product limitations so exact replicas aren’t always possible.
Be Flexible. Along with our growers and market buyers, we work incredibly hard to supply the varieties we outline for you during the floral design process but in many cases, the supply of our seasonal product can fluctuate from week to week. You will get the best results from your florist and your flowers if you can be flexible and trust us to make appropriate substitutions if required.
Be Organised. New Zealand has a small but busy floral industry and there can often be limited supply of the most popular blooms each season — whether they be NZ grown or imported. To have your best chance at securing premium or specific product, please ensure you confirm your floral requirements in good time to allow your florist to place their order with markets well in advance of your wedding date. Most wholesalers will have strict cut off periods for orders during peak times so it pays to be organised.
