Ariella Chezar, the New York floral designer behind loose garden-style wedding work, now receives more destination enquiries than local briefs — and her first question is never about colour palettes but about the venue’s import code.
Before you book a vineyard in Provence or a beach club in Tulum, treat flower logistics as a legal checklist, not a stylistic afterthought. The rules below decide which stems can cross a border, which suppliers can legally trade, and which bouquets will actually arrive unbruised.
Start With the Import Permit Not the Palette
Every country has a plant health authority that can refuse, destroy or fumigate fresh cut flowers at the border. Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry requires a phytosanitary certificate for most cut flowers, and many species — including gardenia and some citrus-adjacent blooms — are simply prohibited. New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries maintains a similar list, and Hawaii’s USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service inspects all flowers arriving from the mainland or overseas because gardenia, mock orange and certain orchids can carry pests.
This means your palette may be decided by a customs officer, not a moodboard. Ask the venue for its customs entry point and postal code, then request a written import decision from a customs broker at least 12 weeks before the wedding. Budget for an inspection fee, which can range from £40 to £200 depending on the country, and allow 10 working days for any required fumigation. A verbal “it’ll be fine” from a wedding planner is not a legal clearance.
Designer Philippa Craddock in London now charges a non-refundable £850 feasibility fee for every overseas brief, partly because three in five initial enquiries involve flowers that are illegal to import at the venue. Use that as a prompt: if the stems are on a prohibited list, no amount of courier insurance will fix the problem.
Hire the Local Florist First Not as a Back-Up
Local florists hold the import permits, VAT or sales-tax registrations, and grower relationships that a travelling designer cannot replicate in a weekend. When Sarah Winward takes an international booking, she hand-delivers a detailed stem recipe to a local studio and lets that studio buy, condition and construct on site. This avoids the 24-hour dehydration that occurs when a bouquet is flown across a time zone.
“The best destination flowers are the ones that never left the country. Local stems have already cleared every customs barrier, and they open stronger after a short drive than after a 14-hour flight.” — Philippa Craddock
Book the local florist before you send a single inspiration image to a visiting designer. In Tulum, studios such as Viva Flor already hold the federal permits needed for beach venues, and they know that the local protea season opens in late October, not mid-June. In Lake Como, many private villas will not allow an outside floral van through the gate unless the driver carries an Italian VAT number and proof of local liability insurance.
If you insist on flying in a named designer, ask them to send a recipe, not a refrigerated lorry. The local florist should execute the arrangement, and the visiting designer can style and photograph it before the ceremony.
Craft a Brief That Survives Translation
A moodboard of peonies will not survive a conversation with a florist who has never seen a Paeonia lactiflora in bud stage two. Use exact colour references such as “ivory with a warm centre” rather than “cream”, and specify stem counts for every arrangement: 10 stems of white ranunculus in tight bud, 15 stems of garden roses at 50% open, 5 stems of olive foliage.
“A colour code and a stem count will beat a moodboard full of peonies that don’t exist in your wedding month.” — Sarah Winward
Send three photographs of the wanted bouquet — front, side and overhead — against a plain white wall with a 30-centimetre ruler in the frame. Film a slow phone video circling the arrangement to show texture and proportion. Share files through a labelled Google Drive folder, not a Pinterest link, because Pinterest images often lack variety names and seasonal notes.
Include a written substitution matrix before signing. For example: “If white peonies are unavailable, you may substitute white ‘Patience’ garden roses or white ranunculus at equal value. You may not substitute cream carnations without written approval.” Designer East Olivia in New York asks every destination client to approve three substitute stems for every hero flower before the contract is countersigned.
Contracts Deposits and the Substitution Clause
Destination florists typically require a 50% non-refundable deposit to reserve labour and order fresh product, with the balance due 30 days before the event. If you cancel within that window, the balance is often still payable because stems have already been bought at wholesale. Check the contract for a force majeure clause — it should cover strikes, port closures and supplier failure, not just a global pandemic.
European Union florists must issue an invoice with their VAT number; if the quote excludes IVA, the final price will jump by 20% or more. Agree to pay in local currency using Wise or Revolut, not a bank wire, to avoid hidden currency conversion fees that can add £80 to a £1,500 bouquet.
Add a performance clause: if the florist cannot supply at least 70% of the agreed stem varieties on the day, the deposit must be partially refunded. Designer Amy Osaba in Atlanta includes a tiered substitution approval matrix in every destination contract, so clients tick which stems may be swapped without a phone call and which require written sign-off.
What You Can Carry and What Must Be Shipped
Never pack fresh flowers in checked luggage for an international flight. Australia and New Zealand require you to declare all plant material, and if you fail to do so, fines can run into thousands of dollars and include prosecution. European Union border control can confiscate a hand-carried bouquet from a non-EU country without a plant health certificate, even if it is fully wrapped.
For boutonnieres and hair flowers, order from the local florist for delivery to your hotel the day before. If you must carry a family silk bouquet or dried heirloom, check the destination’s agriculture list for dried plant restrictions — many countries treat dried stems exactly like fresh flowers.
Pack a small repair kit in your checked suitcase: floral snips with blades under 4 inches, green tape, fine wire, ribbon, water tubes and a mini steamer. The Real Flower Company in Hampshire ships fresh bouquets across the UK in waterless boxes, but it does not recommend personal international transport — use silk or dried substitutes for any flower you cannot source locally.
Map the Nearest Wholesale Market Before You Land
A shipment that is rejected at customs does not have to mean a bare table. Before you travel, identify the nearest wholesale flower market and its opening hours. Rungis International Market in Paris is trade-only and opens at 4 a.m.; ask the hotel concierge to arrange a temporary buyer’s pass. Pak Khlong Talat in Bangkok runs around the clock but is best before sunrise. Mercado de Jamaica in Mexico City is public and open 24 hours, making it a reliable emergency source for a Tulum or Cabo wedding if a local florist can collect.
Agree a contingency fee with your local florist in advance: usually 15–20% above wholesale for a same-day market run. Online concierge service Flowerbx can dispatch a partner florist to a wholesale market in major cities within two hours if a delivery fails, but only if you have already flagged the venue as a backup option.
Finally, ask the venue manager for the phone number of the nearest agricultural inspector. If stems are held at customs, a direct call from the venue’s loading dock can speed up release or trigger the market-run plan before the ceremony rehearsal begins.
Rungis International Market in Paris processes more than 500 tonnes of cut flowers daily, and its wholesale buyers’ union requires a temporary pass that many wedding planners fail to secure until a shipment is already detained at Charles de Gaulle cargo. The market’s Pavillon des Fleurs opens at 4 a.m. sharp, and by 6 a.m., the best stems have been claimed by local florists who hold permanent accounts.
Designer Ariella Chezar now includes a market contingency in every destination contract after a 2023 Lake Como wedding where her Italian customs broker misdeclared garden roses as Rosa cuttings, triggering a 48-hour hold and a €320 fumigation fee. Her local partner, Fioreria Bellagio, dispatched a driver to the Mercato dei Fiori di Pescia in Tuscany, arriving back at the villa with 500 stems by 10 a.m. The cost: €1,200 above the original wholesale budget, but the ceremony started on time.
For Tulum weddings, the nearest reliable wholesale market is Mercado de Jamaica in Mexico City, a six-hour drive but the only source for bulk protea and tropical foliage outside the local growers’ cooperative. Viva Flor holds a standing arrangement with a Mexico City-based buyer who makes the drive every Tuesday and Thursday, collecting stems for three to four weddings per run. The studio charges a flat £250 market-run fee per event, plus the wholesale cost of any replacement stems.
In Bali, where customs holds on imported flowers have increased by 40% since 2022 according to the Bali Flower Association, the Karangasem Growers’ Market in eastern Bali opens at 3 a.m. and supplies frangipani, heliconia and local orchids that need no import documentation. Designer Puspa Martha keeps a refrigerated van on standby for destination weddings and charges a flat £180 emergency collection fee per trip.
Even the best contingency plan requires a physical body at the market. Send a local handler — not a wedding guest — who knows the difference between bud stage two and bud stage three, and arm them with a printed copy of your substitution matrix. A driver with a phone picture of a moodboard will return with the wrong colour protea for a bride who asked for ivory with a warm centre.
