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Flowers...to DIY or not DIY??

KirstenlKirstenl member
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in Flowers
Hello ladies!  I have a question for all the brides out there who did theyre own flowers/are going to do them. I plan on using mason jars and vintage cookie boxes and such. My wedding is Sept 17th 2011, I want to use wildflowers (not a fall wedding). My question for you all is, where should I buy the flowers? how hard is it going to be? and how far in advance should I prep the flowers? I dont know know what I need to do before hand for them to look their best on the wedding day. ANY and ALL advice is welcomed, PLEASE! Thank you!!!
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Re: Flowers...to DIY or not DIY??

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    GeauxTigers17GeauxTigers17 member
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    edited December 2011
    We did this for one of my best friends, and you're going to need a lot of help if you are having even a medium-sized wedding. Check out whether there are any flower wholesalers remotely close to you - they will give you the best prices. Avoid florists if you can't find a wholesaler. If you're flexible (and we had to be, very small budget) you can find pretty things at places like Sam's Club, but you can't get specific about what you want if you go that route - pretty much have to go with what looks good on the day you need it. 

    The furthest in advance you can really do it is the day before, and that is only if you have enough refrigeration space to keep the flowers cool. At best, I would buy the flowers the day before, refrigerate them, and put everything together on the day of. However, we did a lot of the table arrangements on Friday, refrigerated them in water, and they still looked really good on Saturday. 

    Since you want to do wildflowers, it may be a bit easier for you because you won't have to do much "arranging." If you want more details about what we did for my friend (this past June) feel free to send me a private message. 
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    ekilzer1ekilzer1 member
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    edited December 2011
    Are you talking about just centerpieces?? or are you talking bouquets too??

    It really depends on the size of your wedding.... most DIY websites suggest only taking on one DIY project, especially close to the wedding.... that being said: I am taking on 2... I plan on doing all of my own centerpieces/ceremony decorations- they sound very similar to yours actually mason jars, tied with some twine around the top. We plan on filing the base of them with crab apples and then filling with fresh flowers.  But my rehearsal dinner is also on Friday evening and my wedding is not until Sunday afternoon- so I will have  and entire day and my entire bridal party, my mom, my FMIL, and my aunts in town that day to help. It should go by very very fast....

    We plan on getting the flowers at a local farmers market on Saturday morning.
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    ehathewaehathewa
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    edited December 2011
    I did my own flowers.  I went though flowersandfreshness.com and fiftyflowers.com  We saved a ton of money (estimate $1500) and I would totally do it again, but not without doing research (google vidoe search for how to make bouquettes and corsages) or without the help of my mom. 

    The flowers arrived (mostly closed) on Thursday morning.  I unpackaged the flowers, cut the stems underwater with a knife, and placed them into buckets in a cool, ark room (1.5 hours)

    On Friday morning into Friday afternoon we arranged the centerpieces (in vases, about 20), then made the bouquettes (4 total), then the corsages and bouts (about 20).  This took maybe 5 hours. 

    For the bouquettes we took three roses and wired them together tightly, then added a ring arround that and wired tightly, then a ring arround that and wired tightly.  We used 18 roses for the bridesmaids and 24 for mine.  We wrapped the wired area in wide ribbon and secured it with pearl-headed pins.  We put these back in water and cut the stems to the right length the next day before the wedding. 

    Corsages/bouts were two roses/one rose and filler each wired and floral taped together.  Then we added a bow to the corages.  We kept these in individual plastic baggied (labeled) and in the fridge (at the hotel w/ no food in it) until just before the wedding. 

    Total cost was about $500. 
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    KirstenlKirstenl member
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    edited December 2011
    Im having 130 people...and im not sure if I want to take in the bouqets too yet. I thought mine would or atleast should be fairly simple bc they are wildflowers and Im just putting them in jars for the just picked look. I just hope I can find a wholesaler.
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    ehathewaehathewa
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    edited December 2011
    Have you considered a farmer's market?  I know the one by us always has flowers.  Maybe you can work with one of those vendors?
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