You may have been thinking about the idea of growing your own flowers for your own wedding day, here are a few things to consider when you take on that challenge.

What flowers to grow

Firstly knowing what is in season locally in your region for the time of year when your wedding is planned is very important. Knowing what is in season will give you a general idea of what flowers you could grow in your own garden that will be flowering when you need them to. There is no point growing something that flowers in spring if you are having an autumn wedding. To get an idea of what is in season when, you can start by looking around at other local flower growers (growing outdoors not in a greenhouse), buying local in season flowers from florists and farms (ask what is locally grown when you purchase). If you are in an area where people have flower gardens then looking in people's gardens at what they have flowering, also don't forget looking on Instagram and social media at local flower farmers in your area to see what people are harvesting in the month your wedding is planned.

practice makes perfect

It is a very good idea to do at least one if not two trial growing seasons if you can the year or two before your wedding. You will learn so much actually growing yourself, and you can use that knowledge to your advantage for timing so you get flowers when you require them. Things you will learn about along the way are your own microclimates in your garden, and timings of last frost dates for planting out and when things begin to bloom, it will also give you an idea of how many plants you will actually need to produce the amount of flowers you require.

One of my DIY buckets of flowers that I sell

timing is crucial

Starting seeds and planting plants, tubers or bulbs at the correct time of year is crucial so you have flowers blooming when you require them. Plant your plants out early enough so they can grow and flower in time for your big day. Remember to water, weed, and feed and look after your plants so they are as productive as possible. You may need to dead head old flowers, depending on the type of flower, so you have fresh blooms ready to be picked when you require them. Practicing dead heading and pinching plants to give yourself more blooms is a good reason to have a practice season growing. Spring flowers can need 4 to 6 months of growth before the flowers develop depending on the type of flower, these things can not be rushed, you are working with mother nature. Where as things like zinnias if sown in the height of summer on my farm can begin to flower in 7 weeks but will be at the best a few weeks after that. so knowing your timings is incredibly important.

your back up plan

It is very important to have a back-up plan, local farmers near you may sell DIY buckets of flowers (I sell these myself) you can buy to supplement your own home-grown flowers if you don't have enough for the designs you'd like to make.

Farming in general and growing flowers that are out in nature means things can happen that are out of your control, like storms, heavy rain, hail, hot dry winds, pests etc., So having a back up plan is just makes sense when you are trying to get all your flowers perfect for one particular day. Remember flowers can be delayed or start blooming earlier due to the weather as well, nothing is guaranteed, so don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

learning about design and harvesting

Practice making bouquets and flower arrangements as they take quite a lot of time to make. You need to plan accordingly for the week of your wedding, what day will you harvest your flowers, how will you keep them cool and hydrated before the wedding, how long does it take you to arrange the flowers. How will you transport them to the wedding, who will put them out on the wedding day for you? Harvesting flowers takes a lot of time, cut stems long, strip the leaves and place them directly into water. Practising this will give you great knowledge for when your big day comes, learning about cutting flowers at different stages to give you optimum flower life, and cutting at the correct time to make sure stem are strong and hold the flowers upright. Google the wiggle test for thing like zinnias and gomphrena to give you an idea of what I am talking about about timing.

colour schemes

Know your colour scheme and grow the flowers accordingly. Plant flowers that are high producers in the colours you would like for your wedding, this is where a year of practice will help you determine what colours you prefer and how many of each to plant. Researching what colours you would like, then look into what flowers bloom in those colours at the time of year you need them. White is a premium flower and unfortunately damages easily, so you may need to plant more whites than you'll think you need to cover the flowers that might be damaged by pests or weather.

enjoy all the beauty while acknowledging the amount of work that goes into growing flowers

Have fun with it all, being able to say you grew your own wedding flowers is very rewarding but don’t underestimate the amount of work that will go into it, flower farming is after all a full-time job. You need to pick a part of your garden with good soil (or amend your soil before planting) the best place to plant for most flowers is in full sun and make sure you have adequate water, so the plants thrive, then enjoy all the beauty you have created, happy growing from Sam.

Tips for growing your own wedding flowers