Gerry Rogers: Hi, my name is Gerry and I am with Petal's Edge Floral Design in Alexandria, Virginia. I am here answering several questions today about how to choose the right florist for your wedding. This next series of questions will address how to prepare for your florist consultation. Host: What happens during the florist consultation? Gerry Rogers: During the florist consultation the florist will ask you a series of different questions. They will ask you about the overall look you are going for, for your wedding. They will likely ask you about what kinds of flowers you like and dislike, the color scheme that you plan to use for your wedding. They will also ask you about what kinds of things do you need? How many bridesmaids you'll have? How many boutonnires you will need and for who? The corsages, what kinds of flowers you are imagining for your ceremony? What kinds of things do you need for your reception? How many guests are you expecting for your reception? They will also probably ask you about a lot of things that you haven't considered .

They might ask you or offer things like flowers on the ends of the aisle for the ceremony or arrangement for the ladies room. You don't have to accept all of these but they will school you through the different options of what you might need for your wedding. They will also make lots of suggestions of particular flowers. Most florist won't expect you to know everything about flowers and so once you have your color scheme they can show you some different things that are available at that time of year in different colors and see what you like, what you dislike and start to begin to pull together the overall design of the wedding.