DIY Flower question

stephdonjon

So we're really leaning toward going the wholesale route with flowers because we have a small flower budget and the flowers we want (orchids) tend to be more pricey. My question is, when should I have the flowers delivered? The day-of? We've only my bouquet, the three bridesmaids, and 4 boutonnieres (if we have extra blooms we might do flowers for parents/grandparents not sure yet). We can get all that done the day-of, right? Our ceremony isn't until 7:45, so we'd have all day. I assume having them come in the day before would be too soon and they would wilt, right? 

ehathewa

I don't know about orchids.  The on-line site i used recommended having the roses delivered Thursday for a Saturday wedding. 

You might have time to make the bouquettes, just make sure you have a good day of timeline (hair, make-up, pictures, other set-up, etc). 

Catwoman708

It's usually best to have them delivered two days before the wedding.  Get the stems prepped and in a bucket of water, stored in a cool room to "rest" overnight, away from drafts and sunlight.   

If you have a refrigerator to store them in, make sure there are no fresh fruits and vegetables in there also, they release gasses that can wilt flowers or turn them brown.  And cover them loosely to keep out the draft from the blower (like a dry cleaners plastic bag). 

You can make up the bouquets, bouts, corsages, and any arrangements the day before the wedding.  They should stay fresh for a day or two if kept cool and moist.  Keep the stems in water as long as possible, or mist them lightly with a spray bottle.  

You can look up care and handling instructions for the particular type of orchids and flowers you will be using.  The place you order them from should be able to provide that information. 

If you've never arranged flowers before, it's not really "hard", but does take a little practice, and is usually more time consuming that you realize.  You might want to look up some how-to tutorials on YouTube, and practice a couple of times before the wedding.  You can use cheap grocery store flowers, or even artificial ones to get the hang of it and determine what supplies you will need.  Don't wait until the day of or day before the wedding to figure it out. 

janicejab

I would get them delivered a day or two ahead. As well, you may want to buy (or pick) some cheaper flowers to practice wiring and taping them for the corsages and boutonierres. Make sure you have all your supplies available too- fine gaged floral wire, green stem tape, pins for corsages and boutonierres, wire cutters, etc. Buy fabric ribbon if you intend on wrapping the stems for the bouquets with ribbon. The plasticky kind will split on you and is very unforgivable to work with. You can make everything the day ahead- you don't want to be down to the last minute trying to get things done. It takes an experienced florist 5-15 minutes to make a boutonierre or corsage when you figure all the prep work that goes into it, so it'll probably take you longer than you realize it will. The bouquets can go in vases until you're ready to use them. The boutonierres and corsages can be sprayed with water and put in a plastic bag that you have blown air into and sealed (so it's like a clear pillow with your flowers in it) and placed in the refrigerator. Don't put the flowers by veggies or fruit, though, if possible.

stephdonjon

Wow, thanks so much ladies! Your tips have been super helpful! I've looked at some videos of how to make the corsages and bouquets so I'm pretty confident I can handle that. And I'm glad they should be okay a few days in advance because I would get no sleep the night before the wedding if I had to worry about the chance of the flowers not showing up on the day of our wedding. And great tip about the fruit and veggies - I wouldn't have known!