When I hear about a high-quality product that sounds like it could save designers time and headaches, I immediately think of you – the designers who read BB. You all are always on my mind because I know how hard you work! Hoping today’s post will be helpful to some of you.

I recently talked with Jessica Leopold AIFD, who manages the bouquet and arrangement department at Koehler & Dramm Wholesale in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about the gorgeous garlands they ship all over the US. For those of you in the US who struggle with making your garlands in-house, Koehler & Dramm’s garlands might be a time-saving option.

Check out the large variety of garlands they offer:

I asked Jessica to share a bit of information about the garlands and she was gracious enough to give us the scoop. Here’s what she wants you to know:

• We require a 10 day lead time on all garland orders to make sure that we have enough staff as well as foliages to complete our orders.
• All of our garlands are priced by the foot and on top of our pre-selected mixes, we will also quote custom combinations that may be desired.
• All garlands run 7-9” in width.
• Our minimum length is 2’—these work really well for chair-back décor, as well as, wrapping around lanterns, candelabras, etc. on guest tables—clients simply have to attach the ends with a zip tie or pipe cleaner.
• We will make any length over 2’ up to 20’. Garlands over 20’ can become difficult to handle, so we recommend you order multiple garlands and zip tie them together to create longer lengths. (some of the images at the end of this post show 80’ garlands created using this method)
• Since our foliages are all bound in one direction, I often suggest that clients split their desired lengths in half. For instance, if you would need a 20’ garland, I would suggest you order 2, 10’ garlands and attach the unfinished ends together in the middle with a zip tie or pipe cleaner for a compete, finished garland that is finished on both ends. It’s also really convenient, and often times easier to handle the smaller lengths rather than a bulky 20+ foot piece.
• We do not include any flowers in our garlands—only foliages. With shipping and packing, fresh blooms are best if they are picked and inserted on-site by our clients. I love scrolling through all my feeds and seeing some of our garlands enhanced with beautiful, fresh blooms and/or berries that are being unitized throughout the rest of the event. My team and I are absolutely delighted when we see our work “out in the wild.”
• I have worked on both the retail and the wholesale side of this industry and I have ordered through many different sources. I am an absolute advocate for the garlands we produce because I  know what it is like on the other side, and the expectations that come with ordering pre-made garlands—consistency and quality are key.
• Because our facility creates on the upwards of 20,000 pre-made arrangements for our retail customers, we do choose to focus on those during high volume holiday time—meaning, we do not create garlands the 14 days prior to Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Thanksgiving. Otherwise, we are operating in full force throughout the rest of the year!

And, of course, I asked Jessica how you can get your hands on these garlands!

• Call Koehler & Dramm at 612-331-4141 to speak to a sales representative. We are open 7 days a week to field any inquiries that retail florists may have. Again, we do not service the general public—we are only wholesale. (Our hours are Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm, Friday 7am-4:30pm, Saturday 7am-noon, and Sunday 8am-1pm—central standard time).
• You can now apply to be a customer of ours through our website at www.koehlerdramm.com. It’s super quick! You apply and then our CFO will call you back after you are approved (they will verify your floral business). It’s pretty easy to apply, but you can reach the  direct page link here.

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After hearing about the Koehler & Dramm garlands, I was especially curious to see the garlands in real wedding and event work. Jessica put me in touch with a couple of clients who regularly use them – and it turned out they were two designers we have featured on BB over the years because of their beautiful work! In fact, one of the images from Studio Fleurette was featured on BB last year and is one of my all-time favorites – and the design was created using Koehler & Dramm garlands. Small world!

I want to thank Tara Bailie (A Day in Provence) and Danielle Erickson (Studio Fleurette) for sharing their work with us – and I hope you’ll thank them, too. They were so warm and generous in sharing their images and advice for the benefit for their fellow designers.

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From Tara Bailie (A Day in Provence):

For this outdoor wedding event at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, we coordinated design efforts with Jessica’s team to have {collectively} four 100’ nagi & lemon leaf garlands adorn the tent & bring the outside in.  Adding those touches of greenery along with our suspended 5’ ring installation with blush & ivory floral highlighting the head table were just what the bride was dreaming of! We can’t thank Jessica’s team enough for helping execute our design vision in the midst of such a big wedding weekend!

Additional design contributions included a 16’ bayleaf garland for the headtable (tinted gold!) with inspiration taken from the lovely gold wreath detail from the invitation suite by Paper Rock Scissor as well as the gold chivari chairs from Linen Effects.

For the evening, a 20’ bayleaf garland was draped across the front of the hand crafted wooden bar tables by Rudy’s Event Rentals. (Photo below courtesy of Girl Friday)

For the beautiful ceremony backdrop at The Depot in Minneapolis, we used a 10’ garland comprised of bonsai, willow & dollar eucalyptus. The tie backs were accented with olive leaf & flowers.

Floral Design: A Day in Provence | Planner: Park Place Planning | Photographer: Sewell Photography | Invitation Suite & Paper Goods: Paper Rock Scissor | Calligrapher: Rosann Konieczny | Rentals: Rudy’s Event Rentals, Girl Friday, Linen Effects | Cake & Desserts: Cocoa &: Fig, A Baker’s Wife | Reception: The Minikahda Club

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From Dani (Studio Fleurette):

We have two different weddings shown below. They are at the same venue (Aria in Minneapolis) with the same photographer! Both weddings were striving for an organic look to soften an urban and industrial space.

Both weddings incorporated garlands that were 80′ in length and composed of silver dollar eucalyptus and lemon leaf foliage. I used both of these foliages in the designs because the silver dollar added the organic movement I like to see while the dark green lemon leaf provided a good solid base and a large leaf texture. The two foliages work together really well and provide a couple of different colors for interest.

The larger tree filled wedding with the hanging chandelier had 8 (640 total feet) hanging garlands while the smaller wedding had only 6 (480 feet). We originally were going to do just 4 but found because the ceiling was so tall and expansive we needed at least 6 so they would not get lost.

We had Koehler & Dramm make these custom garlands and we installed them on a strong cable wire. We wanted to make sure everything was secure hanging so high up so a stronger gauge cable helped with that. 80′ of hanging garlands can be very heavy once up in the air and typical string might not be as safe.

I have been ordering garlands from Koehler & Dramm for 8 years and the quality is always excellent. Overall, it saves me a lot of time on labor and I am able to put my staff on other projects. The garlands are also superb for hanging. Machine made garlands are very secure and no pieces fall out versus doing them by hand sometimes we see more of that and they don’t hold together as well up in the air.

My go to favorite combination for garlands is silver dollar and lemon leaf. It’s easy to further customize them myself by using other foraged material and branches when it’s a good fit for the wedding.

Studio Fleurette | Geneoh Photography

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Thank you Jessica, Tara, and Dani for taking the time to share so much valuable information with the BB community!

Contact Koehler & Dramm at 612-331-4141 to speak to a sales representative or visit them at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram

To see more custom garlands, click here!

THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST