I did all mine in silk (so I could do them well before the day!) I've done quite a few floristry courses so I wanted to do them myself. Silk is also easier to work with as you can easily correct yourself and re-do things when you're not 100% happy with them.

If you're using fresh - you need to think about where you're going to source the flowers from (so you can guarantee you'll get them!), you need to think about the accessories you'll need to do them (floral foam, wires, cutters etc), you need to think where you'll do when (at the venue or at home), how you'll transport everything, when to buy the flowers (so they open well but haven't 'gone over'), you need to be incredibly realistic about how long they'll take you (if certain bouquets can take experienced florists an hour to do, how long will it take you - better to over estimate so you don't run out of time), think carefully about how much you need to order (will some flowers get spoiled while you're making things up?), you'll need to condition them (water, cut the bottoms of the stalks, containers for them so the heads don't flop etc)

I would say the earliest you could do things with fresh flowers would be the day before. At most of the weddings I co-ordinate, florists are at the venue incredibly early (5am ish) to arrange things in situ.

Oh, and don't get your nails done before you work with fresh flowers - water, wire and secatuers will ruin a manicure!!!

Information kindly provided by Tamryn Kirby