Weddingbee PRO

The other day my 14 year old niece texted a message to me. Half the time I couldn't figure out what all those symbols referred to. Who knew that a : and a [ meant that they were mad! Obviously the way we communicate these days is quite different and I for one need a new dictionary on modern symbols, terms, and slang.

Well, I'm sure that for many brides and grooms alike they feel the same way when it comes to wedding planning and flowers. I'm here to help with these industry terms.

Strike – Professionals in the industry often use this word to refer to the time when an event ends. To “strike” means to breakdown the event. When you see on a proposal that states a strike time at 10pm that literally means that vendors are allowed to breakdown an event at that time!

MOB/FOB – Short for Mother of the Bride, Father of the Bride. Of course, there's MOG, FOG…which is Mother of the Groom, Father of the Groom. When you see someone use the abbreviation SMOB that stands for Stepmother of the Bride. The list goes on and on. This photo by Gabriel Boone shows our lovely bride with the FOB!

Personal Flowers – I'm not sure how many florists or floral designers use this term but I refer to “Personal Flowers” as arranged flowers or floral creations given to individuals that they will carry or wear. A Mother's corsage is a good example of a personal flower. Of course a bridal bouquet is definitely a personal flower. And so is this simple Groom's boutonniere.

Chivari Chair – One of the questions I get most often from clients are “what's a Chiavari chair?” These are the beautiful chairs that come in wood or resin known for their bamboo-like backing. Open framed in back, they have four legs and flat sitting surface and are typically 16 inches across. They come in many colors these days but most rentals companies carry black, natural, gold, silver, white, dark mahogany. Many venues are now replacing their banquet chairs with these bamboo style chairs.

____ Top – A catering terms that indicates the number of people that a particular table will accommodate. If someone says, “4 top” that means that table will have 4 people. “10 top” means that table will have ten people. Usually you will hear people during conversations say things like, “the room will have 10 round tables, max is 8 top per table.”

50, 60, 70 cm – This is a unit of measuring length most commonly used in pricing long stemmed roses. Roses come in all lengths but 50, 60, 70 cm are the most commonly found. Price can differ between these lengths.

Russian cut – Another term mostly associated with roses. It is a special terminology used for a type of roses that are very long and between 5ft. to 6 ft. in length. The heads of these roses are often quite large. Sometimes floral vendors throw this term out when a flower is allowed to grow longer so that the head is extremely large. This week, a floral vendor of mine called the large rananculus in the Torchio stall a “Russian cut” rananculus. What she meant was that the rananculus was extra large and that the grower left it on the stem a little longer for it to grow. That's all!

Charger - No, I am not referring to the San Diego Chargers! A charger is an oversized plate usually decorative used for table top décor. Usually dinner china is placed on the “charger” for wedding receptions. The one shown below is photography by Lisa Leigh. It is a crystal, clear charger. The napkin is placed on top of the charger with a white gardenia.

Pave – If a floral designer uses the word “pave” in a proposal it is describing a particular design style noted for flowers placed close in proximity to one another as if it were placed side by side. A “pave” of flowers means very tightly packed flowers usually done in a flat surface. This photo by floral wizard and instructor, Jenny Tabarracci, AIFD, of City College of San Francisco is a good example of a pave design using moss and succulents. This organic piece was featured this week at Bouquets to Art.