How Many Peonies Should You Order?

Ordering peonies for a wedding or event can be intimidating if you aren’t a professional floral designer. They are expensive, large and can be difficult to design with. We partnered with an experienced designer to give you the tips you’ll need to feel confident when ordering and designing with peonies. With these easy to follow guidelines, your event will have just the right amount of peonies, at the perfect bloom stage incorporated throughout the entire space.

Meet Wanda!

Wanda is the owner and designer of Grace’s Garden Floral Design in Georgia and she has generously offered her years of experience to help us with this guide. Creating beauty with flowers has been a multi-generational endeavor in Wanda’s family, a passion that stems from their hearts, making it seem effortless. With a few tips from Wanda, you too can rest easy knowing the florals are going to be exactly as you envisioned on the big day. We think Wanda is a pretty special person, not just for sharing her knowledge, but because the world is truly a better place with her in it.

Checklists and Decisions

There are so many ways to incorporate peonies into any floral design, from an all peony bouquet to the showcase flower in a garden inspired bouquet with flowing velvet ribbon. There are as many different uses as there are colors and bloom forms, and often the most difficult part is deciding what look you love most. Once you have a vision in mind, it is time for a pen and paper. The process can be broken up into a few decision making steps.

• Overall look and feel. Will it be light and airy or bold, full and rich? Light and airy will need fewer peonies than a full and rich design.
• How many Bridesmaids? Will each maid have the same bouquet?
• How many centerpieces? Cocktail tables or large dinner tables? A long table runner or individual centerpieces?
• Arbor or ceremony aisle? Easily the largest use of flowers during the event, but with a great designer and venue the aisle pieces might be able to be moved and reused during the reception. Arbors and arches create stunning settings, but require a lot of large flowers to proportionally fill the space.
• Cake decoration? Will the cake need flowers?

The Numbers

Using an odd number of flowers in an arrangement can help it look more natural and less uniform. Use these guidelines when placing your order for peonies.

• Bridal Bouquet: 3-5 peonies
• Bridesmaid Bouquets: 1-2 peonies
• Centerpieces: 1-3 peonies
• Cake: 1-5 peonies (depending on the size of the cake)
• Arbor: varies depending on your vision but could be anywhere from 10 to 30 stems, or more depending on how full or large you want the arbor to be.

Showstoppers and Supporting Cast

A well designed floral arrangement takes a symphony of flowers. Peonies will be the showstoppers, but will look out of place without some supporting flowers. Greenery, flowing elements and movement within the design will make it really come alive. This list is a great start for other flowers that pair well with peonies, and are seasonally available at the same time.

• Ranunculus
• Snapdragons
• Spray roses
• Campanula
• Dahlia
• Lisianthus
• Scabiosa
• Stock
• Queen Anne’s Lace
• Any greenery of your choice

Final Considerations

One more tip Wanda shared with us is where to focus the big, showy flowers that are usually the most expensive. In the future when you are looking back at photos of your special day the personal images of you, the bridal party, the cake and the ceremony will be most commonly selected for framed prints, for the family and photo albums. In each of these photos you and your guests will be the focus of the photo, but also include the beautiful florals. Putting the majority of your floral budget into the bridal bouquet, personal flowers and ceremony pieces will maximize these beautiful memories. The table arrangements can be beautiful with minimal budget and still give your guests a memorable experience.

Packages and Shipping Dates

We offer various packages to make it easy for you to select exactly what you need for your event. Our current inventory and beautiful photos of each variety are available to view online through Rooted Farmers. Click this link to enter your shipping address and contact information, then begin shopping. If you are interested in a wholesale account you’ll need your resale certificate handy as well.

Package options through the Alaska Peony Cooperative:

• Individual bundles of 10 stems – select from almost 50 different varieties for your perfect match
• Farmers Choice – 20 stems in an assortment of colors and varieties, curated by the farmer, package price includes shipping.
• Bulk boxes – 100 stem, 200 stem or 300 stem options in your choice of color. Bulk boxes include the price of shipping.

For a Saturday event we usually suggest shipping on a Tuesday or Wednesday. We ship everything via UPS Next Day Air so the box will arrive in 24 hours from our farm straight to your door. We’re always happy to answer your questions about what varieties to choose, how to process peonies once they arrive, or what day to ship the box. Give us a call at 907-231-9487 or send an email to sales@alaskapeonycooperative.com.

Congratulations on your upcoming celebration, we look forward to sharing our peonies with you!

-Written by the members of the Alaska Peony Cooperative with the generous support of Wanda Couch from Grace’s Garden Floral Design.