Wedding planning tends to be a runaway train. Nick and I were convinced this wouldn't happen to us – we had demanding work and other places we would rather spend our money - like the honeymoon. For the most part, we held true to this (although Nick may disagree).
I grew up in a very crafty family, led by my mother. Most holidays include some sort of project, ornament, or gifts that are homemade. Despite these urges, I knew we would not be able to DIY many things for the wedding given our schedules. But, one thing I felt certain that we should do ourselves were the flowers. Not only was I looking for ways to reduce costs without compromising impact, I wanted something that would have our personal effort & touch to it.
Our wedding was Friday, July 13th (on purpose – that's our date!). Upon placing the order, Fifty Flowers advised that all but the Dahlias would arrive on Tuesday, with the Dahlias coming on Wednesday due to their sensitivity. I placed the order in early June after I had a final count of tables and arrangements needed.
The customer service provided by Fifty Flowers is like nothing I've ever experienced. Two weeks before the delivery, I found out that my street was going to be closed due to construction. They walked me through delivery options and impact if Fedex wasn't able to drive down my street. During shipment and delivery, they were in constant communication. They caught an error in shipment during transit and corrected it so there was no delivery delay. The shipment of Dahlia's was delayed a bit, they sent me a replacement order ‘JUST IN CASE' they looked a little peaked due to the heat. They take product quality and delivery ease very seriously.
Upon arrival, we placed all items in buckets we purchased at Home Depot. We used 10 buckets. Note – we had to run back to the store for 4 more buckets on Wednesday because we underestimated.
We built 18 centerpieces, 6 cocktail table arrangements, 1 bridal bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, 5 boutonnieres, and 2 nosegays on Thursday AM. We started at about 8am with my amazing bridesmaid Diane and my Mom. My two sisters arrived around 10, and then we finished up by about 1pm.
We started with a centerpiece prototype based on pictures. I knew I wanted heavy greenery with pops of pink. The Eucalyptus, Pink Wax flowers, and Pink Snapdragons were perfect. Rosemary was a consistent image through all our wedding stationary, so I wanted to include in the centerpieces as well. From there we sorted the flowers among the 17 additional vases, with Diane doing ‘clean-up'… making sure they were full enough & styled. The house smelled amazing!!
We then moved onto the bouquets. We prioritized the best Dahlias, blush roses, and ranunculus for the bridal bouquet and boutonnieres. The Eucalyptus greenery was a wonderful build and compliment. We found the right balance of romance yet styled bouquets. We wired and taped the bouquets and kept in vases or pitchers overnight in a well air-conditioned room. Boutonnieres were kept in a large plastic container placed on a damp paper towel overnight. We used the Dahlias in the boutonnieres, and they held up well, but I was worried about it!
My brother in-laws delivered everything to the venue the next day. I like to think they loved having a project to do while their wives were busy getting ready! My mom finalized the ribbon wraps on the bouquets the morning of the ceremony.
I'm so pleased with how everything turned out! I loved creating memories with my mom, sisters, and bridesmaids. I'm grateful for all of their help too! We saved close to $3000 doing on our own. I would do it again in a second!
