Looking for an Affordable Wedding Florist? A Chat with Nery’s Flowers
This week we’re chatting with Miami wedding florist, Nery’s Flowers! Nery’s Flowers is a local treasure specializing in weddings for brides who are “ballin’ on a budget.” The story about how they started their business will warm your heart and make you fall in love with this beautiful family business. Nery’s Flowers does beautiful work and with SO much heart!
Read on below as we chat with co-owner, Tati, about all things weddings. Smitten Members: Watch out for our email with a special offer from Nery’s!
Tell us a bit more about Nery’s Flowers and how you got started in floral.
Our story all started with Nery – the mother of a bride on a budget in 1984. She took a couple of courses at Michael’s (yes, the craft store!) so she could DIY her daughter’s wedding flowers. From there she was recommended for a cousin, then a neighbor, and well, eventually it turned into Nery’s Flowers. Nery always did a couple of weddings a month while holding a separate full time job. But when it was time to retire from the 9-5 instead of retiring altogether, Nery went BIG on her floral biz. With the help of her granddaughter Tati (that’s me!) building a website, managing the IG, and sending emails and contracts, Nery’s Flowers grew into a full-blown family business. Today Nery and I co-own Nery’s Flowers, and this year I assumed the role of director.
A little birdy told us that you guys have a new space. How excited are you?
SO EXCITED! We actually moved out of Nery’s back yard studio into a warehouse in South Miami in November, but hadn’t had the time to organize, decorate – and most importantly CELEBRATE! The silver lining of COVID is that we finally had the time to turn it into our dream workspace – now all we need is a proper housewarming party when it’s safe!
What’s your favorite wedding season?
Oh man, South Florida wedding season goes from October-ish to April-ish and it feels NONSTOP the whole time. There’s something special about each time frame, though. January/February weddings are my faves because the weather is perfect for florals here – especially outdoors. I also love November weddings because it feels like you’re starting the holidays early, and there’s something extra cheery about it – plus fall colored florals, SWOON! March and April have the brightest choices of florals and we LOVE color… really, it’s so hard to pick faves, we love them all!
Do you have a trend that you love? How about one you dislike?
Ooooh romantic candlelight – tapered candles are back in and we are loving it! The use of color in florals is coming back also, which gives us the space to be a little more creative. In general, we are noticing couples going for the lush vibe with big florals and greenery. We love it because it gives us room to create and let the romantic beauty of the flowers get all the credit they deserve.
What’s one thing you wish brides did more or knew?
I have a lot of conversations with brides about value – which is not the same thing as cheap.
We know all about balling on a budget – it’s in our DIY roots! And we believe that you can have beautiful wedding floral decor with (almost) any budget. So often we will make recommendations on how to get close to the looks you want with techniques like repurposing arrangements, getting and setting up your own candles, etc.
BUT, when you’re shopping for wedding vendors, I believe it’s important to compare VALUE: which includes cost but also the expertise, time invested, communication, and in our case quality of materials, for example, to make a decision. The last thing is you want is to be disappointed in your service because you were saving a small amount, and on your wedding day the peace of mind of having a reliable, professional vendor team goes a long way.
Do you have a favorite style or favorite past wedding? Tell us about it.
That’s like picking a favorite child! We do have a couple of favorite projects, I’d say. Here are a few:
This ceremony arch – one of our fave color combinations and completely uplifted the look of the ceremony: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5wUUjLgnDe/
This bouquet that probably weighed like 20 lbs but it was worth it LOL: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_mwEIdg73J/
This garden paradise with pops of blue: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-TIo5cA79g/
This BOHO wildflower look: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Ki6tIgvJh/
Seriously, I can keep going here for days… 🙂
If you had one tip for brides to make the floral process smoother, what would you recommend?
At some point, Pinterest is NOT your friend. You will have so many decisions to make during the planning process and sometimes looking TOO much can make you second guess everything. Decide your overall look/theme/budget with your partner and keep some references on hand so you can fall in love all over again whenever you’re doubting it – otherwise you will end up with some major decision anxiety!
Thanks so much for joining us, Tati! For more on Nery’s Flowers, check out their Instagram, website, their listing on Smitten Co. Smitten Members: Watch out for our email with an extra special offer from Nery’s Flowers!
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