The Wedding Flowers - My DIY adventure...

Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:54:15 +0100

The flowers...

More Pics coming soon! My small DIY wedding included myself and the groom along with 9 adults and a baby. We had post ceremony “PIcnic hors d'oeuvres” in the outdoor pavilion and later a reception on the back porch of the VRBO overlooking the mountain. I needed flowers for the church ceremony, the “picnic Hors d’oeuvres table”, the buffet table at the house for the reception and flowers to decorate the “dining table”. I made my own bouquet and a smaller “petite” bouquet for my new mother in law. I also made a boutonniere for my groom. Whew!

Since this was my second time around, and I was much older and wiser, I knew that even for a small wedding, flowers could cost hundreds. Hmmm - I had 3 options: Order the flowers from “Proflowers” and have them sent to the cabin on the Thursday before the wedding. It meant I had to wait and hope the flowers arrived in the morning and then I still had to make all the arrangements. Still not a practical or economical option. I was also afraid that the flowers would not open by Saturday. From a cost standpoint, even the cheapest bouquet was around $177.00. Yes - for one bouquet! Didn’t like that option.

My second option was to have a local florist do all my flowers. We’re talking around $500 to $700 with a bouquet around $200.00. My most expensive option. Not!

My third option was to buy plants from a garden center for the centerpieces and bunches of mixed bouquets from the grocery store and make my own.

I’m not a floral designer but I was confident that I could learn how to make my own bouquet from youtube and I could buy plants from a garden center to make some impressive arrangements.

VOILA! Option 3 it was.

Since we were driving from our home in Florida I was able to bring the containers with me. However, it would be fairly easy to purchase these containers at your destination.

The wedding was rustic in theme and in a park-like setting so I bought a plain wood crate, painted it, crackled it and put a big raffia bow on it. The second container was a galvanized bucket that I, once again, wrapped with a raffia bow. I already had a galvanized water pitcher and I decorated two large mason jars with twine I had in the garden. These items along with my big blue container of “decor” for the wedding was loaded in the car and taken to Mentone.

My best advice: Prepare, practice and bring pictures! Plan to set aside one day to make all your arrangements once you are at your destination. I decided Thursday was the day and it would also give the flowers 48 hours to open fully for the main event. I was able to make all the bouquets and put them in water in the fridge. This kept them fresh. ( I took them out of the fridge the morning of the wedding.)

Have a plan. I had a picture of how I wanted to arrange plants in my wood crate. Before we left, I bought a cheap bouquet for $4.99 from Walmart and used it as my “practice bouquet”. I learned how to wrap a bouquet on youtube. It’s not as easy as it looks! My first ever “hand-tied” bouquet looked pitiful but practicing definitely helped for the real thing. Once we got to Alabama, I felt like a pro when I went to the local grocery and picked out just the right big bunch of flowers. You tell me what you think????

The rest of the arrangements were made from plants we bought at Lowes. Since they were flowering plants I just put them outside the cabin in the shade. (hydrangeas and impatiens). One bit of advice - make sure you buy plants that are all either shade-loving or sun- loving. Also remember that you will be limited to flowers that are in season. I had to change my plan a bit when I couldn’t find the Miniature tea rose plants that I wanted to use.

Plants that make excellent centerpieces are: Hydrangeas, Tea roses, Orchids, Lantana, Azalea, Gardenia, Poinsettia, Evergreen boughs, Rosemary, flowering annuals such as impatiens, Angelonia, Marigolds, etc. Get your inspiration from internet searches, pinterest and visit your local garden center to get some ideas. Also, if you live in Florida and have access to flowering plants during the winter, you MAY want to bring the plants with you (if driving) since your options are limited at garden centers during the winter season in Alabama. Otherwise, no matter what the season, you will always have available cut mixed bouquets at the local Walmart or grocery store.

Below is a breakdown of the total cost of all my flowers and containers.

Container #1 Main arrangement, used for the chapel ceremony and later taken to the house for the reception food table.

Ingredients:

Plain wood crate from walmart: 9.99

Painting and “crackling” 0

Flowers from Lowes: Flowering Hydrangea Plant 14.99

3 angelonia plants @ 4.99 14.97

4 small impatien plants @ 3.99 15.96

Dried Babys Breath 0

Total: 55.91

Keep in mind that this arrangement had a dual function - church and reception

Container #2 Arrangement for Post ceremony “picnic hor d'oeuvres” placed on Picnic table

Also later taken back to the house for placement on sit down table

Ingredients:

Galvanized bucket 9.99

Plant arrangement from Lowes (already arranged)

trailing peanut, Lantana and aztec grass (?) 17.99

Total: 27.98

Arrangement # 3 Arrangement for church that I left

( I did not want to leave the large crate container 1

so I purchased another arrangement to leave for

the church. This is optional.)

Ingredients:

I bought a second pre-done arrangement from

Lowes that was a duplicate of what I put in container 2

I simply put a big burlap bow around it and kept in the

pot it came in.

Total: 17.98

My bouquet plus another bouquet for

my new mother in law and boutonniere

for groom

Ingredients: 2 mixed bouquets

Flowers bought at a local grocery store 1 @ 14.99

1 @ 9.99

Floral tape and wire from dollar store 2.00

Burlap and lace ribbon to wrap bouquets, approx 2.00

Total: 28.98

Flowers for mason Jar containers and old

galvanized container already on hand

Total: 14.99

3 centerpieces, 2 bouquets, flowers for

mason jars and galvanized watering can

1 boutonniere including materials and containers 145.84

Keep in mind I used plants for two centerpieces and brought those back home with me!

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The Wedding Flowers - My DIY adventure...