Hello Hello Buds and Blossoms!

When thinking about what I wanted to share with you after the wedding, the first thing that came to mind was to talk about doing my own flowers, since back when I mentioned here on the blog that I would be doing this, I got some opposition and concerned replies. Let me tell you, my friends, doing my own flowers was awesome. But I agree, not for everyone.

Check out the beautiful bouquet! (photo by Elizabeth Monge, Studio Elizabeth)

Here’s how it went:

I ordered 3 varieties of flowers on fiftyflowers.com about 3 weeks before the wedding to be delivered to our venue 2 days before the ceremony. Fiftyflowers.com were great– they were on top of the order from the moment I put in my payment. There were some minor changes in the delivery based on the peak of the flowers I chose, but they were very upfront with me about that and I had plenty of notice.

My Family Helping Make Center Pieces and Bouquets

I ordered:

72 Stems of Peony Pink Metropole Garden Rose (a light pink rose also called a cabbage rose* almost identical to a peony)
72 Stems of Peony Pink Piaget Garden Rose (a darker shade of pink than the Metropole)
100 Stems of White Ranunculus (1-5 blooms per stem)
Total Price including tax (free shipping) $588.47

*Cabbage roses are an excellent alternative to expensive/seasonal peonies. They look very similar and have an amazing rose fragrance. Cost per stem for a peony would be $1.75 more than the roses I bought = savings of $252!)

Enough to make:

7 table settings consisting of 3-small vases of flowers, 2 bouquets, and because it turns out we had way more than I needed for tables and bouquets, we had two large arrangements for the altar and reception areas.

My bouquet waiting for me in the fridge! (next to the beer, naturally)

Our ceremony didn’t start until that evening, so it was no trouble at all to gather my ladies (my sisters, mother and step-mother) to help with the arranging. I had stored the flowers in my hotel room in buckets (really, the room’s clean trash cans were converted for this purpose) after cutting the stems when they first arrived. Fiftyflowers called after each delivery to make sure they were ok and help with any questions. On arrival the blooms looked a little sad, but once cut and placed in water, they opened perfectly and were huge, gorgeous blossoms that smelled heavenly.

Our Creations on the Tables (silver vases belonged to my recently deceased Grandmother)

Even the next day the flowers remained so beautiful. It was hard to let go of them. The best part of having done the flowers ourselves is that each time I looked down at my bouquet, I thought of the loving hands of my sister, mother, stepsister and stepmother who all came together to do this with me.  I felt real love in that bouquet.

Still Beautiful the Day After

Final Tips:

- Only DIY if you have enough space and tools to cut and store the flowers.
- Bring a pair of gloves if you buy flowers with thorns (I learned the hard way about that)
- I totally would buy from fiftyflowers.com again (no, they didn’t give me any incentive or discount for saying that– they don’t even know I am writing this!)
- Morning weddings would be tough, make sure you have at least an hour or two to devote to this task on the day of.
- Recruit friends and family to help– I had more volunteers than I even needed!
- Visit Youtube and search for bouquet making tips, this helped!
- Count the savings!
- Know your limits…I didn’t want to attempt to create complicated boutineers, so I just bought them at a local florist the day before the wedding for $6.00 each.

In the end, as you can tell, this was a great decision for my wedding. Don’t be afraid to try it yourself!