In an effort to save money and use those creative juices, my mom and I planned to DIY all the flowers for the wedding — bouquets, boutonnieres and centerpieces. Simple enough, we thought, to determine which flowers we liked and arrange them in a beautiful away. We were wrong.
My mom purchased about 40 stems of various flowers, mostly roses and spider mums. She discovered a variety of spray roses she purchased were covered in thorns and were pretty much unable to be worked with for a bouquet at all. Then, she realized that making that pretty, round shape a bouquet has was nearly impossible. As the stress and worry mounted, we got in contact with Becky from Lily Lane florist.
With our budget in mind, she’s working to take the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets and all the boutonnieres off our plate (although we still plan to arrange the centerpieces ourselves with the help of a crafty family friend). Here's why we’ve decided to leave the bouquets and the bouts to the professional.
Photo Credit: Infiniti Foto
1. Shades can vary. When you order a “purple” rose, what you actually get could vary from a light lavender to a deep eggplant. When ordering flowers, it’s tough to know what color you’ll actually get. Buying in person can alleviate that worry, but then it’s one other errand close to your wedding day.
2. Flowers don’t last. When ordering flowers through places like Sam’s Club or Costco, you’re hoping they arrive slightly under-bloomed in order to give them a few days to really develop. But, you are taking a chance. Order too early and your flowers could be on the decline come wedding day.
3. Bouquet shaping takes practice. This is truly the top reason we are not DIYing our bouquets — making that spherical shape is hard! If you chose to take on DIY bouquets, make sure you practice in advance so you know how to get a shape you like. If you’re not fixated on a perfectly round bouquet, it should be easier.
4. Minimal flower knowledge makes it tough. When my mom tried to make a practice bouquet, she bought spray roses because she saw them used in another bouquet. Problem was, the flowers were covered in thorns and she couldn’t work with them at all. Being unfamiliar with flower types makes it difficult to know what to order. If you chose to DIY your flowers, make sure you ask plenty of questions before placing an order.
5. Is it worth the savings? Price out some florists before deciding if you’ll DIY or not. We’re saving a large amount of money by making our own centerpieces, so it’s definitely worth it for us. But with the bouquets, buying flowers wholesale and making them ourselves was not that much more affordable than hiring a florist. For us, it made more sense spend a bit more to use a professional.
Tell us, will you DIY any of your wedding-day flowers?
—Nikki Stroud
