My youngest son announced his engagement in December and we had an engagement party for them here in Texas. I knew the wedding was going to be in Michigan where the bride is from and having done wedding flowers as a business many years in the past I knew I wanted to do their flowers, at least in part if they wanted my help. But there were several obstacles.
First, I'd never used an online floral company and was a bit nervous. Second, I'm in Texas and I would need help and a place to do all the arrangements. Third, how was it all going to be coordinated and delivered. The bride was excited, we chose some easy submerged flower arrangements as centerpieces but I wanted to surprise her with something more elaborate for the reception. Fifty Flowers was very accommodating and reassured me that the flowers would be fine but that I should have them delivered on June 4th, Thursday before I arrived on Friday which concerned me, to say the least.
My son, the groom and his bride-to-be received the huge delivery, had 15 buckets ready and waiting and processed the flowers according to directions. When I arrived on Friday the flowers were in great condition in the parent's of the bride's basement. The bride's parents were so gracious and set up tables and gave us some space in an adjoining office to work on bouquets and arrangements. Fortunately, it was cool and we also used the air conditioning to keep the flowers cool once they were arranged. I had my 2 sisters, my best friend, her daughter and two of the bridesmaids to help.
We started on Friday and got everything finished on Saturday, and delivered the arrangements to the reception site Saturday evening the day before the wedding on Sunday. We still had flowers to add to the tall arrangements to complete them on site on the day of the wedding. It all turned out beautiful and I even had time to enjoy the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. The advice that Fifty Flowers gave was perfect, the flowers held up well and looked wonderful!
Lynne at Fifty Flowers let me know a week before the wedding that, indeed, I would be able to order the Coral Peonies I so wanted for the bouquets and centerpieces. They are my favorite and more importantly, the bride's favorite! Everything looked magical at the reception. The 7 tall reception centerpieces and the 10 tables of trio of vase submerged centerpieces looked amazing. My new daughter-in--law and my son were so pleased. They sent me a text message when they left the reception telling me it was "100 times more beautiful and magical than they could have imagined". Of course, that was music to my ears and I was so pleased that I could do it, with a little help from my family and friends. My advice - don't be afraid to try, condition and process the flowers as directed, keep the flowers cool and in a dark place, have a well thought out coordinated plan and ask for help! Oh, and order extra flowers because a few may wilt. We had lots of flowers as you can see and used all of them.The flowers from Fifty Flowers were in beautiful, perfect condition when they arrived and gorgeous and it was a wonderful wedding! Thanks Fifty Flowers!
