How to Choose Flowers for Your Wedding: A Complete Guide

Your wedding flowers set the tone for the entire celebration. They frame the ceremony, anchor the reception tables, and appear in nearly every photograph you will treasure for years to come. But choosing the right flowers can feel overwhelming, especially when you are trying to balance beauty, seasonality, and budget all at once.

At Tulip & Peony Co., we grow tulips and peonies on our farm just outside St. Paul, Minnesota. We have supplied flowers for dozens of weddings across the Twin Cities and beyond, and we have learned a few things along the way about what works, what does not, and how to make your wedding flowers truly unforgettable. This guide covers everything you need to know, from seasonal planning to stem counts to budget-saving strategies.

Start With the Season

The single most important factor in choosing wedding flowers is timing. Flowers have natural growing seasons, and working with those seasons rather than against them gives you the freshest blooms at the best price. Here in Minnesota, the two stars of spring are tulips and peonies, and their seasons overlap just enough to create some beautiful possibilities.

Tulip Season: March Through May

Tulips are among the first flowers to bloom in spring, and our farm harvests them from early March through the end of May. They are ideal for early spring and mid-spring weddings when other locally grown flowers are still weeks away. Tulips offer a clean, elegant silhouette that works beautifully in both modern and classic wedding designs. Their smooth petals catch the light in a way that photographs exceptionally well, and they come in an extraordinary range of colors, from pure white and soft blush to deep burgundy and vivid coral.

Peony Season: Late May Through June

Peonies are the quintessential wedding flower for good reason. Their lush, full blooms create an effortless sense of romance and abundance. Our peony harvest runs from late May through mid-June, making them perfect for late spring and early summer celebrations. A single peony stem can be as large as a softball when fully open, which means you need fewer stems to create a dramatic arrangement. This is worth keeping in mind when you are planning your budget.

The Late May Sweet Spot

If your wedding falls in late May, you are in luck. This is the brief window when both tulips and peonies are available simultaneously. Combining the two creates arrangements with incredible depth and texture. The structured, upright form of tulips pairs beautifully with the soft, ruffled abundance of peonies. It is a combination that is uniquely ours as a farm, and one that couples consistently tell us was the highlight of their decor.

Choosing Between Tulips and Peonies

Both flowers are stunning on their own, so your choice often comes down to the look and feel you want to create.

Tulips are the better choice if you want a sleek, contemporary aesthetic. Their long, graceful stems look striking in tall, narrow vases, and their uniform shape creates clean lines that suit minimalist and modern wedding designs. They are also the more versatile option in terms of color, with dozens of varieties available in nearly every shade imaginable.

Peonies are the natural choice if you are drawn to a romantic, garden-inspired style. Their voluminous, layered petals create an atmosphere of lush abundance, and their soft fragrance adds a sensory dimension that photographs cannot capture but your guests will remember. Peonies work beautifully in loose, organic arrangements and cascading bouquets.

If your timeline allows, consider using both. Tulips for the ceremony space and boutonnieres, peonies for the bridal bouquet and centerpieces, and a mix of both for the head table. This approach gives you visual variety throughout the event while keeping everything cohesive.

Building Your Color Palette

Color is where your wedding flowers become personal. The palette you choose should complement your venue, your attire, and the overall mood you want to create. Here are three approaches that consistently work well.

Vibrant and Joyful

A rainbow mix of tulips or peonies in saturated colors creates energy and celebration. Think hot pink, bright coral, golden yellow, and rich purple all together in one arrangement. This palette works best in venues with neutral interiors where the flowers become the focal point. It is a bold choice that feels modern, happy, and unapologetically fun.

Elegant and Refined

A single-color palette is the hallmark of sophisticated wedding design. All-white tulips or blush peonies create a sense of quiet luxury that never goes out of style. Monochromatic arrangements look especially striking in formal venues and photograph beautifully in any lighting. If you want to add subtle dimension, mix different shades within the same color family, such as ivory, cream, and champagne.

Soft and Romantic

Pastel tones, such as pale pink, lavender, soft peach, and buttery yellow, create a dreamy, romantic atmosphere. This palette is ideal for garden weddings, barn venues, and any celebration with a vintage or rustic feel. Pastels mix well together, so you can combine multiple soft hues without the arrangement feeling busy or chaotic.

How Many Stems Do You Actually Need

One of the most common questions we hear from couples is how many flowers they need to order. The answer depends on the size of your wedding and the scope of your floral plan, but here are some practical estimates to help you start budgeting.

Bridal Bouquet

A full, lush bridal bouquet typically requires 20 to 30 tulip stems or 8 to 12 peony stems. Peonies are so large that fewer stems create the same visual impact. If you are mixing the two, plan on roughly 10 tulips and 6 peonies for a beautiful combination bouquet.

Bridesmaid Bouquets

These are slightly smaller than the bridal bouquet. Expect to use 12 to 20 tulip stems or 5 to 8 peony stems per bridesmaid. For a wedding party of four bridesmaids, that comes to roughly 50 to 80 tulips or 20 to 32 peonies.

Boutonnieres

A single tulip bloom or a small peony bud makes an elegant boutonniere. Plan one stem per boutonniere, plus a few extras for pinning mishaps. For a wedding party of six, order 8 to 10 stems.

Ceremony Arrangements

Two large arrangements flanking the altar or arch typically require 30 to 50 stems each, depending on the size of the vessel and whether you are supplementing with greenery. If you are decorating pew ends or aisle markers, add 5 to 10 stems per marker.

Reception Centerpieces

For low, round centerpieces, plan on 15 to 25 tulip stems or 6 to 10 peonies per table. For tall, dramatic arrangements, you may need 30 to 40 stems per table. Multiply by your table count to get your total. A 15-table reception with low centerpieces would need approximately 225 to 375 tulips or 90 to 150 peonies.

The Farm-Fresh Advantage

Most wedding flowers sold in the United States are imported from South America or the Netherlands. They are cut days before your event, packed in boxes, shipped by air, held in distribution warehouses, delivered to a florist, and then arranged. By the time they reach your venue, they may be five to seven days old. They still look beautiful, but they are already past their peak, and their vase life after the wedding is limited.

When you source flowers directly from a local farm like ours, the timeline is radically different. We cut your wedding flowers the morning of your event or the evening before, depending on the variety and your schedule. They arrive at your venue within hours of harvest, at the peak of their freshness and beauty. The difference is visible and tangible. The petals are firmer, the colors are more saturated, and the stems are stronger.

Chemical-Free Growing

There is another advantage that couples often do not consider until they experience it firsthand. Commercially imported flowers are treated with preservatives, pesticides, and fungicides throughout the growing and shipping process. These chemicals can leave a noticeable smell, especially in enclosed spaces like churches, banquet halls, and tented receptions.

Our tulips and peonies are grown without synthetic pesticides or chemical treatments. When your guests lean in to admire a centerpiece or when you hold your bouquet close during portraits, the only thing they will smell is the natural fragrance of the flower itself. For couples who care about sustainability and the health of their guests, chemical-free flowers are an easy choice that makes a real difference.

Working With Tulip & Peony Co. for Your Wedding

We have designed our wedding flower process to be straightforward and stress-free. Here is how it works.

Consultation and Planning

We start with a conversation about your wedding date, venue, color preferences, and overall vision. Based on this, we will recommend the best varieties and quantities for your celebration. Because we know exactly what is growing in our fields and when it will be ready, we can give you a clear picture of what will be available for your date.

Custom Color Selection

We grow tulips and peonies in a wide range of colors, and we can curate a custom selection that matches your palette precisely. If you need blush pink peonies with just a hint of coral, or deep burgundy tulips with no purple undertones, we can work with you to find the exact right match. We will send photos of the actual varieties we plan to use so there are no surprises.

Bulk Ordering and Pricing

Wedding orders qualify for our bulk pricing, which offers significant savings compared to purchasing individual bunches. The more stems you order, the better the per-stem price. We will provide a detailed quote based on your specific needs so you can budget accurately.

Timeline and Delivery

We coordinate the harvest and delivery schedule to ensure your flowers arrive at the optimal moment. For Saturday weddings, we typically cut on Friday evening or Saturday morning, depending on the variety and your setup timeline. We can deliver directly to your venue, your florist, or a designated setup location.

Budget Tips for Wedding Flowers

Wedding flowers are one of the most visible parts of your decor, but they do not have to consume your entire decorating budget. Here are strategies we share with every couple we work with.

Choose Seasonal Flowers

This is the single biggest way to save money on wedding flowers. Seasonal, locally grown flowers cost significantly less than out-of-season varieties that must be imported. A spring wedding with locally grown tulips will always be more affordable than one that requires peonies to be flown in from South America in January.

Take Advantage of Bulk Pricing

Buying in bulk directly from the farm eliminates the markup you would pay at a retail florist. Our bulk pricing for weddings typically saves couples 30 to 50 percent compared to retail flower shop prices for the same stems.

Mix Flowers With Greenery

You do not need every arrangement to be packed exclusively with premium blooms. Mixing tulips or peonies with locally sourced greenery, such as eucalyptus, fern, or garden foliage, stretches your flower budget while creating arrangements that look lush and full. A centerpiece of 10 tulips with generous greenery can look just as impressive as one with 25 tulips alone.

Repurpose Ceremony Flowers

Plan your logistics so that ceremony arrangements can be moved to the reception space during cocktail hour. Two large altar arrangements can become the head table decor. Aisle markers can be redistributed to cocktail tables or the bar. This simple strategy can reduce your total stem count by 20 to 30 percent.

Choose Peonies Strategically

Because peonies are so large, they deliver maximum visual impact per stem. A centerpiece of 8 fully open peonies looks just as full and abundant as one made with 25 tulips, and often costs less. If your wedding date falls within peony season, leaning into peonies for your largest arrangements is a smart budget move.