Spring flowers are a beautiful reminder of new beginnings. Here’s what you need to know to make your spring wedding as bright and gorgeous as a sunny spring day.

Shoot for in-season, locally grown flowers. While almost anything can be ordered from around the globe, you will lose out when it comes to freshness and color choice, and availability from the grower on your specific wedding date may not be reliable. “These include autumn foliages and berries, such as snowberry, viburnum berry, and bittersweet, and summer blossoms such as zinnia, marigold, cosmos, dahlias, and celosia/coxcomb,” says Sue Nairn Smith of The Romantic Garden in Morristown (973-898-7200; www.romanticgarden.com). If you must have one of these, make sure you have a backup selection.

The other advantage to going local is the smell, explains Nancy Dolhanczyk, floral designer and owner of Coventry Crossing Florist in Stone Harbor (609-368-4949; www.coventrycrossing.com). “Locally grown lilacs, peonies, and lilies add such a wonderful fragrance to their bouquets and centerpieces. When their flowers are imported from other parts of the world, they lose most of their fragrance.”

So what if you don’t know a rose from a ranunculus? Don’t worry. Your florist can help suggest a wide range of spring blossoms, such as “daffodils, narcissus, tulips, peonies, muscari, and hyacinths,” says Nairn Smith, but don’t stop there. “The most dramatic floral elements available in the spring are flowering trees and shrubs,” like dogwood, crabapple, honeysuckle, and cherry.

A few final tips: follow your favorites and consider your colors. Dolhanczyk states, “One of the first questions I ask our brides when they come in for their first consultation is ‘What are your favorite flowers?” In most cases, you can design your flowers entirely around your most loved spring blooms. Nairn Smith agrees: “I would strongly encourage using a bride’s favorite flowers in her arrangements if her wedding date is a match for the availability of it.” However, make sure to combine the former selections with thoughts about color. While Nairn Smith feels that no flowers are off-limits for weddings, she does emphasize that couples consider the overall color palette of the day. “Daffodils are a good example, since they only come in the white/yellow/orange range and may not work well with certain tonal schemes,” like a mocha and light pink combination, for example.

So embrace the season and let your flowers (and your love) bloom.