If you are a bride on a budget it might be tempting to hire a friend, or a freelance florist, to do your wedding flowers. There is no question that your friend loves you and would do his/her best, but there are certain challenges that arise at weddings best left to the professionals. A professional florist comes to your wedding prepared for the worst to ensure that you have the best.

You might think that it is impossible to control rain on the day of your wedding, but a florist can! Your florist can anticipate and handle last minute changes without a lot of drama and without your guests even knowing there is a problem. Another area where amateur florists run into problems is the "change over" from ceremony to reception. A professional florist can make a standard change over in under an hour. The reason a professional can make record time is because he/she comes fully staffed for the event. Leaving the change over to a friend often results in a very long cocktail hour because he/she doesn't have the help to get the job done well and efficiently.

A professional also comes armed with an arsenal of backups like extra table centerpiece vases in case one breaks and plenty of extra flowers. Extra flowers are always needed because little emergencies come up and a professional should never say, "Sorry you didn't order that," or "I don't have anything to make that with." A professional florist will be able to figure out a way to make things happen. Extra boutonnieres, or bouquets, are also important to have on hand. It is not uncommon for a bride at the last minute to decide Uncle Charlie needs a boutonniere, or that Grandma should wear a corsage.

Plus, when you leave the flowers to the professionals you actually get to enjoy your special day with your friend, which is a bigger gift in the end than having him/her do the flowers.