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!
11 comments:
I love your flowers! I think the most beautiful arrnagements for the tables are roses casually arranges in a low, round, plain glass vase (like those at Micheal's). A friend had only white roses in a vase on her tables with a few white votives for an evening wedding, and it was so simple and so elegant.
I have never looked at my guest book in 12 years. I know who was there. Don't we spend hours making the guest list and then we have the invite list to refer to for addresses.
Enjoy San Francisco!
Leah
Hello! I've been reading your blog for the past month or two and I really enjoy what you have to say! I found your blog through Hot Off the Sales Rack (also at blogspot). I just wanted to say congratulations and wish you the best on your special day. Good luck with the bouquets! Your trial one looks beautiful.
I LOVE it when brides get creative and end up saving money in the process. When I got married 6 years ago. We did all the favors ourselves, our wedding programs, all the decorating and I made all the floral arrangments including the bouts, the bouquets, corsages, and the flower girls headpeice! I think our total wedding including the rehearsal dinner and the tux rentals was way under $5000 and we still get amazing compliments from people after all these years telling how pretty and personal the wedding was. We had over 200 guests! We served them light finger foods and cake.
I love you! and your flowers! it's such a great encouragement. I was quoted $200 for my own bouquet which scared me a bit. So i wanted to make my own bouquet. Hope mine will turn out to be as pretty as yours!
hey! please post some photos of your wedding, whenever it is!
Thanks!
I agree, florists can be highway robbers! I went to one and said that our budget was $1,000 (becasue that's what we were quoted at the first florist we talked to) and we gave them the whole "we're paying for this, not our parents and we are going to stick to our budget" and we were sent a proposal for TWICE our budget! We are looking into wholesale purchasing flowers from fiftyflowers, growersbox, or freshroses to make two bouquets and a handful of corsages. Your bouquet is lovely and I enjoy hearing other brides' tips!!! It all boils down to what is important and what you can afford. We did our invitations ourselves too...and got incredible compliments from our guests. It gave us a sense of pride, which overpowered our feelings of ripped-off-ness we saw evident in the wedding industry.
I am also doing my own flowers and I think it is going to be great. I would love to see pictures when you are finished! It is good to know that there are other brides out there that dont want to be robbed and are willing to DIY when they can. My wedding is going to cost about 13,000 including the engagement ring and the wedding bands. I DIY'd my invites and all of my stationary. I would definitely encourage other brides to DIY - it is great if you have the time! If you dont make it fun day for you and your close friends!
Hi, I'd love to see more posts from you on diy wedding flowers. Please post some if at all possible. Thanks!
This is such a beautiful post! So much so that we would like to feature it on our similar post about DIY Wedding Bouquets would that be ok? Please let me know.
Jimi, I'd be happy for you to feature this post on your site. Go ahead and send me a link when you do! Thanks!
Inspiration can work miracles! 5 minuts-and you have exclusive wedding bouquet,which value is increased by the understanding that you made it yourself! Incredible!
It's so true that brides can have a smaller budget and produce a wedding just as spectacular! There are so many things you can do yourself or buy bulk!
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