A Flower's Journey

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Finding your wedding flowers on the internet might seem confusing. Where do the flowers come from, anyway? And how do they end up at your venue?

If you book your wedding with Poppy, you’ll work one on one with your Dedicated Design Team to narrow in on the flowers of your dreams. From there, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Behind the scenes, the Poppy team creates the recipe for the flowers and places an order from our farms. Here’s how a flower from your order starts its life at a farm in South America, makes its way to your Poppy designer, and ends up in your hands on your big day.

Phase 1: Seed to Bloom

The appearance of your flower has technically been a work in progress for years. Your flower has a pedigree that goes back generations! Your flower will have specific characteristics based on the work that farmers have done to breed the most beautiful specimens. There are hundreds of types of roses, for instance, because farmers have cultivated each variety for specific color shades and petal shapes.

Your flower began its life as a seed in one of the farms that Poppy partners with. 70% of the flowers sold in the US are grown in Colombia and Ecuador, and Poppy flowers are no exception. The warm climate is perfect for cultivating high-quality flowers. The farms are Fair Trade certified, so the flowers aren’t the only ones getting cared for — Fair Trade farms take care of their employees and the environment so the supply chain is as beautiful as the product.

Your flower spends 2-6 months growing from seed to sprout. Farm workers prep the soil with nutrients and check the plants every day for signs of illness to make sure that your flower is healthy.

‍Phase 2: Picked and Shipped

Once your flower is fully grown and fully gorgeous, it gets carefully picked by a farm worker. The batches of harvested flowers go through two quality checks to discard any damaged stems and select only the best of the bunch. The highest-quality flowers are then disinfected, transported via refrigerated trucks to a packing facility, and packed in chilly temperatures to make sure that they’re as healthy as possible for their journey. Your flower is boxed up with the other stems needed for your wedding for a flight to North America.

‍Phase 3: Treated to TLC

The specific flowers for your wedding are shipped directly to your Poppy designer a few days before your wedding. When your Poppy designer receives your flowers, they might not be looking their best! That’s where the expertise of your designer comes in. Your little flower, hungry and thirsty from its journey, will get the water and flower food it needs to perk right back up.

Your Poppy designer will make sure that each flower is photo-ready in time for your wedding: trimming the leaves, removing any thorns, and taking care of other details like removing the sturdy “guard petals” on the outside of roses that protect them in transit.

‍Phase 4: Time to Shine

After soaking up water and plant food and getting groomed to look its best, it’s time for your flower to show off its beauty to the world! Your Poppy designer will arrange each bouquet, boutonniere, flower cluster and centerpiece for your wedding to look exactly as you’d envisioned. On the day of your wedding, your Poppy designer will deliver your flowers with hydrating foam or water in vases to ensure that they stay perfect from “I Do’s” to the last dance. Your flower’s journey is complete, and it will live on forever in the gorgeous photos in your wedding album!

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