I feel like I've just uncovered one of the biggest scams of the wedding industry. Yesterday, after talking with a few friends, I decided to do my own wedding flowers. Just in case I was getting in over my head I wanted to do a trial run. Here is my practice bouquet which took me less than five minutes. It doesn't look perfect because the flowers are almost dead. I left them a little too long.
There is a whole new market of producer to consumer floral companies out there. You can even order roses in bulk from Sam's club. I haven't ordered yet so I can't recommend a specific one, but I have seen good reviews online for Sams and www.freshroses.com.
I realize that I am not going to have a genius floral designer to do my flowers, but the truth is that a modern bouquet consists of tightly wrapped roses with little greenery. I was quoted $200 for only my bouquet. There are four bridesmaids bouquets and bouts also to consider. To give you an idea of the savings, you can buy around 100 roses for $80.
Because I have a friend who feels confident in this endeavor, we are also going to do the boutonnieres. The day before the wedding we are going to have a girly party and do the flowers. It will be five bouquets and 10 bouts.
I'm writing this because I want any other bride who is on a budget to know there are options. There is so much marketing for your "perfect day" that in many ways brides check their common sense at the door. We feel like if we want to save money that somehow we are cheating ourselves of perfection. Ridiculous!
Although I would feel more confident telling you about how my flowers turned out rather than the plan, I have already decided that if they are not perfect that is ok! Aren't all flowers beautiful, even one calla lily or one red rose?
I am using my creativity in every possible way without compromising any part of a beautiful wedding. I have questioned myself along the way, asking what is really important to me. Every detail is another few hundred dollars and it really can get out of control-fast! Just one little example is the Guest Book. There are beautiful silk and linen covered guest books that people can sign in at the door and they are around $100. Of course I would pick that out if there were no price difference, but let's think about it. The Guest Book is OPEN so nobody can see the cover. If I saw it right, the inside pages look pretty much the same as the one that I got at Michael's for 9.99. Besides, what am I going to DO with this $100 book after the wedding? Mine has a place for addresses when people sign in, so that is useful to me, but am I going to go reminisce over people's signatures? NO!
That is one example, but some of the "standards" we nixed were monogrammed napkins, wedding favors, and rehearsal dinner. Still, I wouldn't call our wedding a budget wedding, but we are eliminating the parts that don't matter to us.
We have 21 days to go and then we are off to San Francisco for our honeymoon!
