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.
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.
Flip: This is a word we use to describe when we move ceremony arrangements to the reception, or when we have to change the space at a venue from ceremony to reception, like if you're having both in the same room.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
