I'm guilty of this. I forget all the time when discussing wedding flowers that there are certain terms/words we use when explaining things to clients that if you don't work in our industry don't make sense at all. So here is a little guide to help from your local San Diego Wedding Florist. I hope it helps some...
FLORAL TERMS:
Belly Bar: There's a lot of words we use for this, but basically it's just the taller tables you'll have at your cocktail hour. You'll hear us talk about them if we're asking how many cocktail arrangements you'd like. Other names for the same thing: Belly Up Table, High Tops, High Boys, etc.
Bouts: This is an abbreviation we use often when talking about boutonnières (or in Europe more commonly called button holes), flowers for the men's lapel.
Bridge Flower: A bridge flower is a color theory term we use when a flower's color bridges between two of your more prominent colors in your palette. For instance if you're using Yellow and Blush, we'll sometimes use a flower that either has both colors in its petals like this Lisianthus below, or a peach to connect the two colors.
Chimneys: These are glass hurricanes for taper candles that are open on both ends so we can slide them over candles. Most venues require these so there is no open flames. Also called: sleeves, covers, hurricane.
Chuppah: A Chuppah is a four post arch that is typcially used in a Jewish Wedding Ceremony, but has become increasingly popular outside the religion. Traditionally it is meant to represent a house for the wedded couple to start their lives together.
COI: This acronym stands for Copy of Insurance. Venues will ask that your florist and other wedding vendors provide a COI before the day of your wedding.
Compote: A compote is a footed vase. You'll hear us using this term to sometimes describe vases from our Inventory available for your centerpieces. Here are a few examples from our current Inventory.
Deconstructed Arch: A deconstructed arch is a term we use for a ceremony arch design where the "arch" does not meet at the top like it would traditionally, hence it's deconstructed. This can also be refered to as flower columns or asymmetrical arch.
Farm Tables: Farm tables are wooden rectangular tables used at your reception. These can also be referred to as banquet tables or when lined up together kings tables. These tables are obviously longer than a traditional round table and require more flowers and/or decor to fill the space.
Flip: This is a word has two meanings. The first is when your ceremony and reception are in the exact same location. Your ceremony will be set with your arch, aisle arrangements, chairs etc and immediately after your ceremony is finished we transform the space by moving everything to bring in tables, reposition chairs, place centerpieces, candles, etc. Your venue staff will take care of the chairs and tables, but we'll remain on site through your ceremony to place and style all our arrangement. The seccond meaning is when we use it to describe when we move ceremony arrangements to the reception (in a different location).
Floater Flower: We use this term to describe small dainty flowers that usually have thin stems so we can place them higher in arrangements, hence to look like they're "floating" or dancing. This gives your arrangements lots of depth. Cosmos, agrostemma, sweet peas and scabiosa are all examples of Floater Flowers.
Floral Foam: Floral foam is the green micro plastic bricks that florist sometimes use in arrangements to place flowers in. Here at Le Champagne Projects we do not use this because it is toxic to our health and the environment, which is why you'll see on our website or Instagram terms or hashtags like #foamfree. You can read more about this in another Blog post here.
Floral Frog or Pin Frog: No we are not using cute little amphibians in your arrangements, but rather Floral Frogs. Frogs are a type of Mechanics (see below) that we use to replace the aforementioned floral foam. These metal piece are placed at the bottom of centerpiece vessel and give us a place to stick our stems into so that the flower stay put. You can read more about this here on our Foam Free Blog.
Greenery: Greenery is basically leaves/greens. Some designs may be made with only floral, but adding greenery in can help reduce the amount of florals needed and therefore the over al cost of each arrangement. Greeny also helps designs look more natural as all flowers grow with leaves. Some popular greenery choices are huckleberry, lemon leaf, eucalyptus, smilax, ferns, etc.
Grounded Arch or Ground Arrangements: A ground arrangement is what it sounds like; an arrangement on the ground. These generally are built so that you do not see the vase and that they look as if they could have grown right from the earth they're placed on. Ground arrangemetns are great to mark the entrance of your aisle, line the aisle, or to be configured in to a half circle at the front of the aisle as a Grounded Arch. This style for your ceremony is great if you don't want to block an existing view, but still want a gorgeous and intentional space to say your vows. Read more about different Ceremony ideas here.
Hanging Installation: This phrase often confuses couples as yes we will come and put your arch pieces up, but an actual hanging installation is flowers, greenery or arrangements suspended from the ceiling, not just us being on site to install or hang things.
Head Table: A head table is when the Couple sits with their family or wedding party instead of at a separte table from guests, aka a Sweetheart table.
Imported: When we talk about imported flowers it's usually in reference to flower that are out of season. We are fortunate here in California to be able to source most our flowers from local farms, but if a certain flower only grows here in Spring or Fall for instance, that means it's growing elsewhere below the equator in the opposite season, so when we can't get it here we can import them.
Install: An Install refers to something we build on site for you, like an arch or floral chandelier. Due to their size or placement we usually cannot pre build these like we would your centerpeices.
Linear Flower: This describes flowers that have a straight stem and petals that come up it in a line like Delphinium, Larkspur, Foxglove, Snapdragons, etc. They're perfect for bringing height to ground arrangements.
Labor: Labor is a term we use on your Quote that includes all the following work: sourcing flowers, processing flowers, designing arrangements, delivery, setup, installations, flip, strike and paying freelancers. The price for our labor is determined by the size and scope of each event, but every florist prices differently.
Things that can increase your labor line are:
-Limited set up time at the venue, as we'll need more freelancers to get it done in time
-Large or Multiple on site installs, again resulting in the need for additional freelancers
-Flips: if your ceremony and reception are in the same exact location this means we cannot pre set your reception and will need to do it very quickly after the ceremony. This usually means we have a very limited amount of time as we have to wait for the venue to place the tables and then we have to drop centerpieces, style candles, etc. all during your cocktail hour. If your ceremony and reception are in two different locations, but you want to flip your arch or other arrangements to your reception this can also increase the cost as we need freelancers to stay on site throughout your ceremony and depending on the venue/distance, moving large pieces can be very laborious/tricky.
-Candles: Candles really do make your reception magical with a sprakly glow, but it also means we have to transport, unpack, place, pack at the end of the night, and then clean each and every piece: glass coverings, candlesticks, acrylic discs, etc. Removing wax from all these takes time especially when there can be easily 100+ pieces to clean.
Mechanics: Mechanics is the word we use to describe all the structures we use to create your arrangements to attach to things and hold the flowers in place, whether this be chicken wire for arches and/or centerpieces, or floral frogs, or any arch/structure we use as well to tapes and putties; basically all the behind the scenes things that you'll never see that create an illusion of flowers just magically existing or defying gravity.
Pillar Candles: Pillar candles are the bulky cylindrical candles you'll see along aisle, at the base of arrangements and we often use them for candle centerpieces.
Posy Bouquet: Posy is the term we use to describe petite bouquets with 3-5 blooms in them. They're cost efficient and still beautiful if you have a larger bridal party.
Satellite Arrangement: A satellite arrangement is a small arrangement that is usually used on a long rectangular table as a pair with one traditional centerpiece. So one on each side of the centerpiece to elongate the design and make the rectangular table look full.
Seasonal: Seasonal flowers refer to flowers that are in bloom locally during the month of your wedding. Working with seasonal flowers can help reduce the cost as they will not need to be imported from the South America (their seasons are opposite ours since they are below the Equator). This also makes them more environmentally friendly! For a guide to what flowers are in bloom for each season here in San Diego, CA, visit our Blog.
Strike: Strike is the term we use to tell you we'll be coming back at the end of the night to clean up any remaining florals and collect all of our rentals. You may see this on a quote or in a wedding timeline.
Sweetheart Table: A sweetheart table is when the couple sits at a table for just the two of them/separate from their guests. This gives them a private space to be together at the reception as newly weds. It's a great palce to repurpose your ceremony flowers whether that be ground arrangments in front of the table, or your arch behind you to make an impactful moment.
Taper Candle: Taper candles are the tall thin candles you'll see placed in a candlestick on tables. These add drama and romantic lighting to your table decor. These are usually an add on and are not included in our Centerpiece pricing like votives are.
Traditionally Wrapped: This phrase describes how we will wrap bouquets. Traditionally wrapped means wrapping around the stems to cover the tape with a ribbon. Alternatively, we can do a flowing ribbon where the ribbon trails off and is longer.
Votives: Votives are the smaller candles that we include in our pricing for your tablescapes. These usually contain tea lights and range in size from 1-5 inches in height. Here are a few examples from our current Inventory.
I hope this helps! If you're looking for a Florist in San Diego or Orange County for your upcoming wedding please reach out to us here.
Peace, love and flowers my friends!
