FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Buckets of Flowers

Can I make our centerpieces from the Buckets of Flowers but hire you to make our Wedding Party Flowers?

Absolutely! This is a very common ‘Hybrid’ approach that combines our ‘Buckets of Flowers’ option with ‘Wedding Party Flowers’. We offer limited designed pieces ranging from bridal bouquets and bridesmaids bouquets to boutonnieres and pin-on corsages. We do not offer designed elements such as floral crowns or wrist corsages 

Are DIY Buckets of Flowers the right fit for us?

There are many things to consider when deciding what you want and need for your wedding flowers. Our service is a great fit for a lot of couples but, while East of Eden is committed to providing you with buckets of beautiful, vibrant flowers, you’ll have to put everything else in motion.

It is important to ask yourself the following questions:

• Will you have the time, help and space to design your arrangements? You will likely be very busy the day before your wedding, as will the major people in your life. A crucial first step is to think of who can devote time to flowers both the day before and the day of the wedding itself. Do you have someone who can spearhead this project for you?

• Can you set aside the time to come pick up your flowers from East of Eden one to two days ahead of your wedding? If your wedding is on Saturday, we recommend that you pick up your flowers on Thursday or Friday. We offer pick-up between 8 AM and 4 PM.  

• Are you comfortable not knowing what specific flowers are going to be in your buckets until they’re in front of you? We will select the highest-quality flowers from our fields based on your colors and aesthetic. While we always hope to honor requests for specific flowers, we cannot guarantee that any specific varieties will be included in your buckets. 

How many buckets of flowers should I order?

How many buckets you should order depends on what kind of vases you’re using, what size bouquets you want to make, and your personal aesthetic for how full you’d like things to look. 

Keeping in mind that each bucket of flowers averages between 7 and 10 bunches of flowers - that’s 70-100 stems - we find that, on average, one bucket can make 6-8 full-looking mason jar centerpieces, or 35-50 bud vases. 

And remember, it is always better to have more flowers than feel like you are stretching them! If you end up with more flowers than you need for your planned arrangements, you can always put extras in other spots around the ceremony and reception, or make your arrangements larger. 

What kinds of flowers might be in my buckets and where can I see pictures?

We grow around 100 varieties of flowers and, over the course of the season, that means what we’re harvesting changes a lot! That variety is what makes things fun for us as farmers and florists, and what will make your wedding look like it happened at the time and place that it did!

To see photos of the flowers we grow, we recommend looking at the following two sites:

Our Instagram Account: @eastofedenflowers 

Scroll back through and look at the two weeks BEFORE and AFTER your wedding date from the previous year to get a sense of what is blooming then

Our Pinterest board: @eastofedenflowerfarm 

You’ll see that we’ve made boards for what’s blooming each month 

Can I choose the types of flowers that will be in my buckets?

No, but we guarantee that we will work incredibly hard to make sure that your buckets contain the best-looking flowers that are blooming in your colors at the time of your wedding. We will try to give you an idea of what flowers tend to be ahead of time, but we mostly encourage you to look through the links we’ve provided above to our Instagram and Pinterest to see what is blooming around the time of your wedding day.

We ask all of our wedding clients to understand that each year is unique and that, due to the agricultural nature of our business, it is possible some varieties of flowers discussed up until the event will not be available. Try though we might, sometimes flowers bloom too soon, too late or never at all. We will choose what’s looking best based on availability and guarantee the end result will be memorable, beautiful farm-grown flowers that reflect your palette and aesthetic.

When should I pick up my flowers?

A day or two before your wedding, depending on your schedule ann how much time you’d like to have to arrange them. If you are combining this option with Wedding Party Flowers designed by East of Eden, we recommend picking them up the day before your wedding. Pick-up hours are between 8 AM and 4 PM.

How should I transport the flowers from the farm?

All of our flowers come in sparkling clean, two gallon plastic buckets. How you get your flowers from our farm to your destination depends on the kind of vehicle you have available to you, plus how many buckets of flowers you’ve ordered. 

Any vehicle that you use should have air-conditioning. We DO NOT recommend putting flowers in a trunk or in the open bed of a pick-up truck and recommend that you DO NOT drive with the windows far enough down that wind is blowing on the flowers because this can cause wilting. 

You can generally fit 4-5 buckets on the back-seat of a sedan and can fit many more in an SUV. If you need to keep the seats of your car dry, we recommend putting down a tarp, making wide, slow turns, and being gentle with braking : ) 

We often see clients pick up their flowers as part of other wedding errands and we urge people to err on the side of caution here. The flowers can take up more space than you expect and you don’t want to drive home with flowers on your lap or strapped to the roof!

How and where should I store the flowers?

Any cool, shaded place like a basement or garage will be perfect, as will an air-conditioned room. Our flowers are super fresh and come conditioned in treated water. They should last 4-7 days as is without any special care. 

The two most important things to remember about storing your flowers are: 

• to keep the flowers out of direct light, heat and wind as those three elements can cause flowers to open quickly and can cause wilting if intense enough, and

• to make sure you put plenty of water in your arrangements! Not putting enough water in arrangements is the #1 mistake we see when we do site visits and will cause your flowers to wilt.

Refrigeration is unnecessary for Buckets of Flowers unless explicitly recommended to you by someone at East of Eden. If you do put your flowers in a refrigerator, please make sure they are on the bottom shelves, away from any freezer unit. Also, if you are using a refrigerator, make sure that you have tested it for 24 hours and made sure the temperature stays above freezing!

What supplies will I need to arrange my flowers?

First off, you’ll need a workspace that you can use that is cool and out of direct sunlight, and that you can get dirty with plant debris. If you don’t have a space available, an EZ-Up tent can be great for this! 

Second, you’ll need water! You can use a jar or watering can to fill your vessels.

You’ll need clean, sharp clippers since you’ll be cutting each stem at least once. These are the kinds of clippers we use on the farm - you can purchase them through AM Leonard. https://www.amleo.com/okatsune-pointed-tip-hand-shears-775-inch-length/p/OK304/

For simple centerpieces, you’ll just need whatever vessels you’ve chosen. One word of advice: make sure they are super clean as bacteria can clog stems and cause wilting. 

For bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages, you’ll need floral tape, ribbon, scissors and floral pins. All of these can be found at a local craft store like JoAnn Fabrics and Michael’s.

Do you have any tips for arranging the flowers?

Yes! There are not only some great resources online (think YouTube!), there’s a fantastic book by Lynn Byczynski and Erin Benzakein called Fresh from the Field Wedding Flowers. Unfortunately, we have just learned that it is no longer available as a hard-copy book. But it is still available through Amazon as a Kindle Edition and through Barnes & Noble as an electronic book. 

Once you have placed your order with us for buckets of flowers and have submitted a deposit, we will provide a more detailed document that includes some design tips for different pieces (like arbors, centerpieces, bouquets, etc.), as well as a more thorough list of materials and supplies DIY couples should have on hand to make their arrangements.

I feel like I need some more guidance on how to put together my centerpieces. Do you offer consulting or hands-on instruction for design work?

For DIY Buckets of Flowers and Wedding Party Flowers, we keep communication limited to basic ordering and pick-up scheduling. We appreciate our clients’ understanding that due to our time limitations, we are not able to provide consultations. Our hope is that all the information you need to purchase and create your own wedding arrangements is included in this packet along with the design tips that we will send out after you have placed a deposit.