The difference between a Floral Designer & a Florist (it’s not what you think!)

 We often receive the question “Are you a florist or a floral designer?” which is usually followed by the question “what’s the difference?”

difference between floral designer florist

The term floral designer and florist are terms that are thrown about interchangeably in the wedding industry, often leaving couples scratching their heads and wondering what is the difference between the two.

A Floral Designer is an artist that uses plant materials and  West Vancouver Flowers to create pleasing and balanced compositions. They typically design arrangements for weddings, parties and other special events. Their designs tend to be unique, one-of-a-kind creations and, depending on the designer you work with, they tend to be very collaborative throughout the design process.

A Florist is a person or business that sells and arranges plants and cut flowers. They generally have a physical storefront, have a range of stock design styles they use when creating arrangements and typically have a lot of product (flowers and greenery) on hand. Oftentimes florists are floral designers, just with a storefront.

They sound pretty similar, don’t they?

So what is the difference?

The biggest difference can be cost. Even though the title of floral designer may sound, for lack of a better term, stuffy, oftentimes their prices aren’t. A floral designer can be more economical than a traditional florist because they have less overhead. What I mean by this is that most floral designers have home-based businesses meaning they do not have physical storefronts and don’t need to factor in costs such as rent, utilities and other upkeep costs into their prices.

So, there you have it! The difference between the two is a floral designer may be more economical than a florist. But, as always with wedding planning, keep your options open, research vendors and choose the ones that you connect with. Happy planning!