I am one of those people who believes that, within reason, by all means spend the money when it really counts. FI and I are 100% paying for our wedding, with the exception of the rehearsal dinner, which his parents have graciously offered to take care of. However, FI, my FMIL, and I have been bickering about the flowers for the bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces. I have 2 bridesmaids; he has 2 groomsmen; centerpieces will not require flowers at all because they are 12" mirrors with tall white lanterns and a column candle with ribbon (DIY/"not how FMIL did it"); and as far as the alter goes, the venue has a beautiful white arch that, in my opinion, doesn't need further adornment. The ceremony is outside overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and the girls are wearing knee-length dresses in a soft flowing material. They are carrying bright pink Gerber Daisies, and I would like to grow and wrap the bouquets myself. I would also like my bouquet to be somewhat simple, sturdy flowers in pinks and whites. Since there are so many videos and even DIY boutonniere stations at some weddings, I didn't think it would be a big deal to save a little on the flowers since they will all be relatively simple. FI thinks I'm being absolutely ridiculous wanting to do things myself rather than just pay someone to make them, FMIL is against the bride's bouquet having any color other than white, and she insists that it should be cascading. My dress is a semi-custom version of the dress below, with extra embellishment at the gathering of asymmetrical material.http://www.sinceritybridal.com/wedding_dress/3757 , it's a May wedding, and it's outside. My shoes are bright pink (something else FMIL disagrees with), and I thought the combo of colorful flowers between the bridal party and my bouquet would tie it all together. I know it's going to be a lot of "you're paying, you get the final say" ... I think I am looking for more reassurance that I'm not crazy for wanting to take on some aspects of our big day in a DIY sense , and mainly if anyone has any input as to if you've done this or know someone who has.
I'm sorry for the long-winded post... I just switched from "finish nursing school" mode to "our wedding is in less than 1 year" mode. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Re: Ridiculous to wrap my own bouquets?
I'd also have a back up plan if you're growing these yourself; mother nature can be fickle.
ETF: typo
O.k. "Growing your own" flowers - is going to EASILY cost you 4-5x what just ordering them with an upgrade once, fully arranged, and delivered, from a florist... Really, Growing your own, unless you own a commercial greenhouse is just asking for trouble. Weather conditions alone can change how/when the flowers bloom. Then all the other things the PP listed above... It's just not worth the stress!!! Same goes for DIY, you really won't save that much because you're going to spend money on supplies your florist already owns. Nickels and dimes really add up quickly! Go get some quotes from florists, real world ones, not wishful "it costs too much to use a florist who advertises in all of the websites and magazines" vs. "oh, there's a florist, never heard of them before, let's check them out!" and finding someone to hand the detail off to sticking to your budget.
I just ordered my parent's Anniversary flowers online from Sam's - and was freaking out when I hadn't gotten the tracking number the morning they were suppose to be delivered. They arrived before noon the day I had ordered them to be delivered for, but that's not the point. The flowers were beautiful, and super easy to just cut the bottoms off and place in water, but honestly, I wouldn't want that kind of stress on the days/morning leading up to my wedding. It was stressful enough for an anniversary where there weren't NEARLY as many details to attend to!
So it can be done. The flowers looked very nice. It was a bit of work the night before the wedding, but it really wasn't bad, and we had fun working on it together.
Thanks for all the input! I have a little less than 1 year, so I will keep looking for florists, closer to the area of our venue, and see what they come up with
Practice first though. Flower arranging is deceptive - it actually takes skill to make it look like those picture perfect arrangements you see in photos. Go grab some cheap bouquets from a flowers market (they're $5-6 for HUGE bouquets at my farmers' market - Trader Joe's has them for $9.99). Maybe I'm just lucky with the markets here, but here's an example of what that buys you: http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/maple-grove-farmers-market-maple-grove?select=iQ1iW2G96eNS2hD3aIXgLw
As for the shoes, who cares? If it makes you happy, wear them. Although FMIL seems a little traditional so if it's going to make you upset at all, stop sharing those kinds of details with her. How does what you wear on your feet affect her or need to have group involvement? Though, I will say, unless you're planning to walk down the aisle with your dress hitched around your knees, no one is going to be seeing your shoes so tying them into the bouquets isn't really something that's going to be noticed except in like one or two photos where you might hike up the dress to purposely show off the shoes.
ETA: I wouldn't PLAN on being bored and purposely taking on last minute details to alleviate your boredom. You will be surprised at the ACTUAL last minute details that will crop up and need your attention.
Another vote for not counting on growing them yourself. Something to consider with doing the bouquets yourself with is what will your schedule the week of the wedding look like? Because you can't do the flowers until the day before at the earliest, and do you have the space to keep them in water in a cool place like a fridge.
Another idea is that I have seen some very beautiful silk gerber daisies at the store. Maybe consider doing silk flowers for the arrangments. Then you can do them weeks in advance and be able to just put them in a plastic box to store them in & forget about them until the wedding.
I decided to do the bridemaids bouquets myself to save some money as well as the centerpieces for the wedding tables and some small arrangements here and there.
I used a wholesale local florist near me to buy the flowers, mostly tulips for centerpieces and ordered several dozen roses and flowers from 1800flowers. I wanted hydrangeas in the bridesmaids bouquets but when they arrived the day before they were totally wilted and unusable. Luckily my parents had a blooming hydrangea bush I borrowed some flowers for.
The night before the wedding my maid of honor and I started to assemble to bouquets (5-6 If I remember), and she fell asleep and I was up until 2:00am completing them....
The next day I had brunch with my bridesmaids and we had to babysit the flowers in ice water the whole time, so they wouldn't wilt. We then went to the venue to complete the centerpieces. Overall, I might have saved money, but not time or my sanity. The day would have been better spent relaxing.
Here is how the bridesmaid flowers looked, my bouquet was made by the florist.
Also, add what these trial runs cost into the "what did it cost me to DIY!".. If you spend an extra $50-100 per "Trial run" that adds up especially when you can order a Vera Wang tied bouquet from FTD delivered for $72 (I'm ordering flowers for my Godmother's B-day and saw that on there)...