Hi! Has anyone gone to LA flower district for their wholesale flowers? Did you have a good experience? I have a DIY budget wedding in October 2011 and was thinking I can just buy a bunch of flowers and arrange my bouquet and centerpieces myself. Been looking at videos online and looks simple enough to do.
Re: LA flower district
Go early if you want to get better flowers....most vendors close by like 11AM.
How far in advance did you buy your flowers before the wedding and do you remember when they started to wilt?
I haven't gotten flowers for my wedding yet, but I went twice and got flowers for some test runs and by the next morning they didn't look as good. I'm not sure if maybe I was dong something wrong? the boutonnieres that I put in the refrigerator looked good for awhile, but anything I left in a vase with water overnight just looked old the next day. Any tips? I could keep all the bouquets in the refrigator for the wedding, but I definitely can't do that with the large arrangements!
I went to the flower mart for my wedding but only for the centerpieces. My mom hired a florist for the bouquets, bouts and corsages.
I went 2 weeks before the wedding and bought the flowers i wanted from the vendors i planned to order from just to see how long they would last. then the week before the wedding i went down and placed orders with the vendors for pick up on friday (the day before the wedding). Then that morning we just went and picked them up, had a group at my mom's to help prep them and that was it! i got lots of compliments on the flowers and they lasted well in to the next week!
btw, i got the vases at the dollar tree and mason jar-vases at michaels with a 20% off coupon. Totally reasonable!
ETA: ask the vendors when they get their shipments. Most i talked to get them on mon, wed and fri. So i specifically asked for the order that came in the friday that i was picking up. I think that helped a lot with getting them fresh because in the past i have purchased flowers there that looked like crap as early as the next day.
Highly recommend! They open REALLY early- if you want to pick your flowers the day of your wedding.
Good luck and Congratulations!
Tanya A.
Customer Relationship Manager
Beverly Hills Carpet Cleaners, Inc.
http://www.bhcarpetcleaners.com/