If you’ve lived in Blacksburg for more than a year you’ve probably heard of Best Wishes Flowers and Gifts. They are an iconic Blacksburg business having been here for 26 years! Karen, who owns and runs the store, is an absolutely wonderful person and I had so much fun talking to her more in this weeks installment of Wedding Wednesday.

When working with Best Wishes for your wedding Karen recommends starting with an appointment. This helps her to set aside enough time to dedicate to you and your wedding so she can help personalize your big day. One of the things I love about the way Best Wishes approaches your wedding is that Karen looks at things differently than most wedding vendors (myself included!). She recommends you come in once you know your venue, wedding colors and theme, have your dress and your bridesmaid dresses, and the approximate number of people in your wedding party, boutonnieres, and table decorations you will need. She also recommends that you bring photos, Pinterest ideas, magazine cut outs – the more the better – of ideas you have. Even if they don’t all seem like they go together she recommends bringing them in. Then from there she can look over them, talk with you, and work with you to plan your flower budget. So instead of having set packages and pricing, she works with you to find a budget for your flowers that you are comfortable with, but still will accomplish your vision of the day.

How you may ask? Well she is very knowledgeable, first off :) She can look at all your photos and help you pick flowers that are in season, which is a big money saver. She also offers different sizes in every bouquet and table arrangement that can help you customize. And the more details she has about your day the more ideas she has for you that will work within what you want, while working within your budget! However, Karen’s motto is whatever the bride wants they will do. You can get any flower at anytime, just realize the cost may be much higher. She loves to give brides as many options as they can absorb and then narrow it down to season and color. And she knows so much about flowers that most brides may not even realize a certain type is an option! But whatever you choose she will make sure you are happy. Best wishes also has the capability to rent other items to add into the décor of your day, whether at the church or for your centerpiece. They have vases, arbors, lanterns, shepherds hooks, and much, much more. This also helps add to achieving your dream look with out the high cost.

Karen recommends you start this whole process about 6-8 months before your wedding so there is plenty of time to figure out what you would like. You can book as far as a year in advanced with them, though they have also had brides come in the morning of their wedding needing a bouquet and Karen and her team made it happen. So really they can work with anything, but the more time to plan the better.

As the team is planning your big day she also makes sure to have all the contacts for your other wedding vendors. Then she will contact them and make sure your vendor team is on the same page. This helps coordinate the timing of set up and deliveries, helps you not to worry about it, and makes sure your day comes together like magic. It’s above and beyond things like this that make working with Karen so easy and wonderful.

And Karen is not the only master-mind behind your wedding day; she has a whole team of designers that works with her, each having a part of the day they excel at. So one may have the eye for the church decorating, another for centerpieces, Karen herself likes to take on the bridal bouquets. And because of this not only will your day be a masterpiece, the Best Wishes team can take more than one wedding a weekend. At each wedding there will be a designer and an assistant to deliver the flowers and decorations, but also to be on hand if something needs to be changed or amended. This delivery team will take care of all the set up, but tear down is normally handled by the venue staff. They also have the option to move your ceremony decorations to the reception so that you can get double use out of them. No matter what, Best Wishes is going to take care of you on your wedding day!

I asked Karen if she had any additional tips for brides as they think about flowers and decor for their wedding and she had some great ideas. The first was that as you have ideas of the flower you want, be open to other suggestions. If you are dead set on one item you may end up paying a lot more, but if you are flexible then Karen is a great wealth of knowledge and can help you not only save money but make your wedding gorgeous. She also recommends to keep in mind the flowers don’t have to be the same color as the dresses. Complementary colors work much better because they aren’t blending into the dress and disappearing, but can enhance the color. And dark flowers on dark dresses can make it look like there are holes there if they blend in. So keep complementary rather than matching in mind when you choose your flower color scheme. And lastly she recommends to always do a full ribbon wrap on the brides bouquet. It’s ok to leave the stems showing for your bridesmaids but with open stems on a white dress you can sometimes get green stains on the bodice of your dress.

It’s tips like these and so much more knowledge and experience that make working with Karen and her team at Best Wishes for your wedding one of the easiest choices for your day. She works with you to come up with a budget and coordinates with your team to make everything go smoothly. If you are still looking for your florist, contact her today and she will take care of you.