Ordering for a Holiday Wedding: The Honest Timeline
Making takes 5–7 days and most orders arrive in about two weeks.
By Michelle Nguyen
Handmade work runs on a maker's calendar, not a warehouse's. Here is mine, honestly.
If your wedding falls in the holidays, Christmas week, or the bright hinge of New Year, this is how ordering your clay flowers works, with nothing left vague.
The standard timeline
Making a piece takes 5–7 days on my bench. With shipping, most orders are in your hands in about two weeks from the day we begin. For a wedding in the last week of December, counting back two weeks puts the start of making in the middle of the month, which is why a holiday bride's most helpful move is a simple one: write early in December, even if the design conversation is short.
Key dates for this season
For a Christmas wedding on Friday, December 25, the goal is flowers in your hands by Wednesday, December 23.
- Standard order: by Wednesday, December 9
- Rush order: by Tuesday, December 15
For a New Year wedding on Friday, January 1, the goal is flowers in your hands by Wednesday, December 30.
- Standard order: by Tuesday, December 15
- Rush order: by Monday, December 21
These dates allow for my making time and 3–5 business days of priority shipping. If your date has already passed, write to me anyway, and I will tell you honestly what is still possible.
The design comes first, and it is quick
Before making begins, we agree on the piece: the flowers, the colors, the size of the set. This is a conversation, not a process. A few messages, a few photographs, and the design is settled. A deposit of 50% begins the work; the balance is due before your piece ships. Because every piece is made to order, the deposit is non-refundable once making has begun.
When the calendar gets tight: rush
If your date is close, ask about a rush order. Rush pieces are completed in 2 days, for an additional $25. They are offered when the week's bench has room, because rush depends on the workload already in progress. In December especially, the honest answer might be yes or might be "not this week," and I would rather tell you plainly than promise what one pair of hands cannot do.
A word on shipping days
Two weeks is the honest average, and the holidays stretch carriers as surely as they stretch makers. If your wedding date is fixed, and holiday dates always are, the safest plan is the earliest one: settled design, deposit in, and your flowers finished and traveling with days to spare, instead of arriving on the last possible morning.
If a holiday wedding is yours, I would be honored to make its flowers. Begin a custom order and put your date in the first line. I will answer with the timeline your date truly has.
