Frequently Asked Questions
At the very beginning
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As we are a small studio that offers our couples a boutique experience we recommend 12 months out, or for our planning services 12-18 months. This allows us to secure your dream floral team, and across styling & hire we can secure key hire items for you that book out quite far in advance. To ensure we keep a high quality of product offering we cap our floral services to a maximum amount per weekend, so ideally securing your services with us 12 - 18 months out allows us to avoid disappointment, especially across our busiest times. That doesn’t mean to say that we aren’t able to assist with shorter times frames – just email us to find out.
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If you have hired items from our inventory and paid for setup & packdown, we will arrange our own staff to pack those items up and return them to the warehouse. You only need to be there (or someone on your behalf) if you have personal items to pick up from the venue, or if you would like to keep your wedding flowers. Centrepieces and arbour flowers especially are worth keeping or gifting to guests, as they can stay beautiful and fresh for a day or two after the wedding when kept in water.
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Sometimes. Mostly we set up the morning of the wedding so that we can make sure everything is in place before guests arrive – and especially with our floral components, it’s important that these are delivered fresh. However we can set up the day before in special circumstances, provided you have permission from your venue.
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Yes, a lot of venues prefer midnight packdowns, especially if they are a busy venue with weddings booked across multiple days. This makes it easier for them to get the space ready for the next day. And yes we can absolutely cater for this! We just charge an after hours bump out fee to cover our staff getting there on the night.
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We are mindful of the floral industry's impact on the environment. We strive to use local and in-season blooms as often as possible to help support our local farmers and lower our carbon footprint; however, we primarily use imported florals with our fresh flowers.
We seperate green waste from soft plastics and dispose of them thoughtfully.
We use candle sand which is recycled after every wedding cutting down the wastage of standard wax candles.
Our vases and pots are multi - use and we use designs that are foam free where possible.
Florals
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Yes, we usually make our wedding florals in advance of the wedding day – this give the blooms the chance to come to life and look their very best for your day. We also like to arrange bridal florals the day before so that we can deliver them to you first thing on your wedding morning, so that they are there for photos as you are getting ready. And it honestly doesn’t make a difference to the life of the flowers – when they are stored correctly in specialised refrigerators like the ones we use, your flowers will come out fresh and ready for their big moment, and can even last a few days after your wedding if kept in water. The product we use is of the highest quality, sourced from trusted growers, so we can be confident in how they will perform in different conditions and seasons.
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Sorry, but no. Some couples might convince themselves they can cut costs by sourcing flowers themselves, but it just wouldn’t be worth it! If you want your flowers to have the Couture Botanical signature look, we will need to use the tried and true, premium quality product that we source from our growers, which has been correctly stored and prepared so that it will last perfectly.
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Absolutely we LOVE working with other talented stylists and do so regularly. We originally added our styling services to our business profile to ensure that the decorative pieces were as beautiful as the florals we created. We of course love the opportunity to provide that consistency across the board in addition to reducing the amount of vendors you need to liaise with, so combining our Couture Botanical pieces with our florals has been designed to be beneficial across all aspects – not to mention being financially beneficial.
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Couture Botanical does not have a minimum spend but we find that most of our couples will spend between $6,000 - $8,000 for our full service weddings and between $1,900 - $2500 for smaller intimate weddings and elopements. This does NOT include delivery or backdown and set up costs are dependant on the size of your wedding.
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Everything we do at Couture Botanical is unique to each couple so we don’t offer set styling or planning packages. The prices in our information pack are a guide of what our services include and the average investment for each based on a typical Hunter Valley wedding of 80-150 guests. For less guests, or more, or weddings outside of the Hunter Valley, we would love to chat about the specifics of your wedding and from there we’ll put together a customised quote just for you!
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Unfortunately no. We do not work with other florists/family/friends for our weddings. We pride ourselves on providing premium quality florals. To protect the Couture Botanical brand and to ensure that all florals are harmonious throughout we must do all florals on your wedding day.
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If you like our style and would like to book our creativity all we ask you to do is to pay a 30% booking fee and sign your contract and we’re exclusively yours. The remaining balance of your invoice can be paid in two equal instalments. Our booking fee is non-refundable and is a retainer of our services.
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Each wedding is unique, but a good rule of thumb is that you should allocate about 15% of your overall wedding budget to florals. If you are looking for very lush, elaborate floral designs you should plan on closer to 20%-25% of your overall budget.
We understand budgeting for a wedding can be tricky to navigate and florals are a luxury item so come with an associated cost. We explain these costs in our blog, here is the link for some further reading
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Absolutely and we strongly encourage this but there are some exceptions to the rule.
Repurposing will depend on the size of the wedding, the time frame, the floral arrangements (if they are of considerable size), and weather conditions. This is specific to each wedding as no two weddings are the same. Please mention that you want to discuss repurposing your ceremony flowers when enquiring.
planning & coordination
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A wedding planner is with you from the very beginning, helping you design, plan, and manage every detail of your wedding from budgets and vendors to timelines and styling. They’re your go-to for the entire planning journey. A wedding coordinator, on the other hand, steps in closer to the wedding day to make sure all your plans run smoothly. They manage the schedule, vendors, and any on-the-day hiccups so you (and your bridal party) don’t have to. Think of it as planner = full journey, coordinator = smooth landing.
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We include the set up and placing of all florals plus any hired items such as candles, menus, place cards and favours. It does not include setting up of glassware, crockery and cutlery. This detail is included in our STYLING, CONCEPT & CREATION listing.
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Absolutely! On-the-day coordination means we’re your go-to person for everything. We’ll handle setup, manage vendors, keep the timeline on track and be the calm voice making sure you’re not bothered with questions like “where should this go?” or “what’s next?”. You get to enjoy your day while we handle the behind-the-scenes magic.
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Yes, that’s one of the things our couples love most about working with us! We offer both wedding planning and custom floral design, so you don’t need to juggle multiple vendors. It means your flowers and overall styling will flow seamlessly with the plans for the day because we’re across every detail from start to finish. You’ll get a cohesive, beautifully thought-out look that truly feels like you.
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Absolutely! On your wedding day, we’re there early to style and set up every floral detail—ceremony arbour, table arrangements, bouquets, all of it. If we’re also coordinating, we’ll stay to oversee the whole setup, manage vendors, and make sure everything is picture-perfect before you walk down the aisle. You won’t need to lift a finger. We’re also available for your end of night pack down too!
If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to ask we are here to help.