In case you missed it, our February/March cover is dripping with installation inspiration for brides a grooms.

And just as the Instagrammable trend seems to see no end, we thought it only fitting to touch base with the creative maven behind our cover shoot about what wedding planning couples should know before going all in on alike floral installations.

Here, Studio Palma owner Rissa Walters offers her takeaways—right before curating the scene again this weekend for Engaged!

It takes a lot of flowers, time (and money)
Fifty to 60 bunches—that’s how many dahlias Walters went through for our cover installation. Translation? Be prepared to pay up for those extra petals and know that often times you won’t be taking them home like your bouquets and centerpieces.

And as your florist will be flexing their creativity beyond arranging stems in vases, budget in those extra hours they’ll spend hanging your installation. For our cover shoot, for instance, Walters spent about two hours pulling together the scene.

“It was kind of like solving a puzzle, figuring out how we get this up there and make this look good in a limited amount of time. That was a little bit tricky, but that’s the same as weddings. You don’t have a day to do an installation for a bride and groom. You’ve got to work through it and make sure that you can execute it well, so it goes smoothly.”

You’ve got to choose the right bloom
Some things really do look too good to be true. And Walters admits, our cover is one of them: Dahlias would never withstand the timeframe of a real wedding, she says. For our cover shoot, the four-hour timeframe—two to install them and two for the photos—was just the nick of time to let them shine.

“Dahlias are super finicky,” she says. “If they’re out of water, they get super sad and no one wants sad flowers on their wedding day. Still, they’re a super wow factor flower—they’re huge and they’re vibrant. I just wanted to take the opportunity to use them in this capacity.”

When opting for an installation on your big day, keep out-of-water lifespans in mind. Her suggested alternative to our cover model?

“Carnations are super in right now. They come in so many beautiful and different colors and they kind of have that same texture as the dahlias.”

Now is the time to do it
Much like monochromatic colors are making a comeback, Walters predicts, florals too will follow suit. This means we’ll see couples taking a break from mixing textures and types of florals to instead opt for bunches of the same floral—perfect for installations.

“I’m excited for using one element in a big capacity. Flowers en masse is going to be the new trend,” Walter says. “I love how modern this is, and I think when you have one flower en masse, it really creates interest and draws people’s attention.”