When I began planning my wedding, flowers and photography were the first two things I wanted to focus on. I found my lovely photographer, Sarah Kossuch, in my home state of MI and was able to breathe a tiny sigh of relief. Next up, flowers! I was 100% a DIY, budget bride. Anything that could be done by myself and my husband, would be. And we would save so much money in the process! When I began looking for a florist, I emailed 5 different local florists with photos of centerpieces that I wanted to emulate and they came back with quotes. After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I went looking for online companies and quickly decided on FiftyFlowers.com. I could create more lush centerpieces and bouquets for less than half the price of what I was quoted so my decision was made and I was going to be doing my own wedding flowers. I have never worked with flowers beyond buying them from the grocery store and sticking them in a vase so I started watching youtube videos and studying photos of arrangements. I did one trial run for my centerpieces and did not ever practice making bouquets or boutonnieres until the day before my wedding. Making all your centerpieces and bouquets the day before your wedding is not something I would recommend nor something I had planned on doing. I ordered all of my flowers and arranged for them to arrive on Thursday with a Saturday wedding. My bridesmaids and I had blocked off the whole afternoon to strip the roses, and get them in water so they could open up. I received two boxes on Thursday morning, the eucalyptus and small spray roses. Then I got the call that no bride wants to get; my flowers were delayed. A storm had delayed hundreds of packages and 90% of my flowers were stuck somewhere in TN and would not be arriving until the next day. This meant that they would not have 24 hours to open before I started making the centerpieces and ALL of my flowers had to be prepped AND made in the same day! The day before the wedding... Cue a little anxiety attack. Luckily the fiftyflowers representative assured me that they would arrive the following morning and if I placed them in warm water, they should open up in time. My bridesmaids and aunt did a lot of quick flower prep and we were able to soak them during the day and assemble 13 centerpieces, 6 bouquets, 6 boutonnieres, and two floral halos that evening. It was actually one of my favorite parts of the whole wedding weekend! The following morning, my aunt and I decorated the wedding arch (which my husband made) with the remaining flowers and still had extras left over to fill random vases which we placed at the cocktail tables and bar area. The flowers had enough time to open up and looked gorgeous by the following evening reception. We got so many compliments on the flowers and I was very happy with how they turned out! If you are a DIY bride on a budget, doing your own flowers is a great way to save money, and a have fun with your bridal party (and some wine ;) in the process!
