Monochromatic Pink Matsumoto Aster Flowers

We (a school) purchased these flowers in order to make bouquets to sell at a graduation. The money raised from this event will benefit our student body and allow us to continue to offer flowers at our graduation venue in the future. In the past, a florist would come the the venue and provide pre-wrapped bouquets, and while this helped the florist and provided convenience for our guests, it did nothing to benefit our student body. Our school store decided to take on the challenge of providing this service at a lesser cost to our guests and still create a profit so that we could continue providing this convenience to the families and friends of our graduates.

I married my best friend, in my hometown, in my dream venue. To say the least, my dreams have come true. The flowers were everything, the Protea was the only flower I was stuck on and was a MUST have. I couldn't be more please at how beautiful these turned out. Thank you Fifty Flowers and Kim (my wonderful florist).

We got married on a beautiful, sunny August afternoon in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota alongside one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. Little did we know when we had met almost six years prior to the day, and a few blocks down the road, we would be soon be standing side-by-side once again ready to face the rest of our lives together. We both knew we wanted a wedding where we could have all our friends and family come together in one of our most cherished places to help us celebrate in marriage. I have to say that during the beginning of the wedding planning process, flowers really weren't high on my priority list. My focus had been on location (so our family could be there to celebrate), food (everyone loves a good meal right?!), and music (because that's the one thing I knew my husband cared about). Along the wedding planning process, one of my family members had mentioned just doing lots of candles and have the bouquets be broaches (with no money spent on flowers... but that just didn't seem like a wedding to me), so I set out on the DIY flower planning process (my soon-to-be husband has a green thumb... so I figured we had this). My husband and I love to DIY projects and create one of a kind designs many of the items designed for the wedding were DIY pieces that he and I had built together. I spent countless hours researching various types of flowers and their needs (hydrations needs, longevity in the sun, time to bloom, seasonality, etc). At first, I wasn't sure what types of flowers I wanted for the wedding but after many google searches, Pinterest and Instagram scrolling, and magazine scanning... I found a vision that had suited me. I wanted florals that were loosely structured with bright blush and ivory tones in a variety of shapes and textures. I wanted arrangements that matched our personalities and wedding style. I was looking for something upscale, but casual with some structure for support, and a lot of loosenesses to roll in the wind. With the variety of textures, arrangements, and types of flowers I wanted, I knew I would have trouble affording and obtaining the flowers for our special day. So, I did what I do best... I did more research. In one of my searches, I ran across FiftyFlowers and a few other companies who supply flowers for the DIY bride. FiftyFlowers was definitely the best route to accomplish my vision for floral arrangements right off the bat! They make it so easy to pick flowers based on color, type, season, and floral details. The added benefit, they had this awesome functionality that helped you "Make This Look!" It was so wonderful to scroll through examples and look at the various flower inspirations. Then you were able to adjust the arrangement recipes to make your own recipe. Such an amazing functionally that no other companies had available! Along the way, I used the chat function to help with any additional questions I had. They were always so friendly and helpful. In one instance, they tried their best to get a certain type of dahlia for me. It, unfortunately, didn't work out, but I really appreciated their sales clerks helping to try and make my dreams happen. In addition to asking FiftyFlowers MANY, MANY, MANY ( I mean MANY) questions, I took a short flower arrangement course and watched countless YouTube videos to gain the confidence needed to complete the project. FiftyFlowers contacted me to help with the initial arrangements for delivery and all was right on track. The week of the wedding came and I was so excited for the flowers to show up mid-week, but it didn't happen. I was contacted late in the day after the flowers were supposed to be delivered and the flowers had been held up due to some wildfires in the south. I was assured that the flowers would be delivered the following day and all would be well. Hours ticked by on Thursday, and still no flowers. FiftyFlowers called to let me know that the flowers were unable to be delivered AGAIN (per the delivery company) due to some weather in the area (there was never a raindrop or cloud in the sky that day locally so I had no idea what UPS was talking about). I was now panicking. I was assured again the flowers would be delivered the following day (Friday), but this would be too late due to rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (we were doing the rehearsal dinner ourselves). I asked if anything could be done as the flowers had arrived locally, but were just unable to be delivered. After a few calls back and forth between FiftyFlowers, UPS, and the Mother-of-the-Bride, they were able to get UPS to approve the opening of the container (truck) and for the flowers to be picked up at the local UPS facility. I was so elated for all the effort that everyone went through (especially FiftyFlowers) to get the flowers to us on Thursday night so we could prep the flower properly for the arrangements. We prepped the flowers based on the specific care directions provided by FiftyFlowers and by the time of the wedding they had all opened up s...

Where do I even begin? My husband grew up in New England with Polish-Italian roots and I spent the better part of my first twenty years in Texas, a Vietnamese-born immigrant daughter of a single mother. We met in DC and wanted to get married in the area, settling on a lovely historic venue on 60 acres of land nearby in Northern Virginia. The venue embodied the perfect combination of quirks and values we hold dear: a love of the outdoors with the peaceful, serene, and majestic rolling hills, a bit of comfort found in a home, and a penchant for a good story, learning that the manor's historic roots entailed hosting renowned leaders from our country's past. Although the grandeur and natural beauty of the venue could have easily persuaded any bride to go 'minimal' on the florals, my love of flowers, all things DIY, and planning a wedding on a budget meant that we were going to get creative.

First of all, working with FiftyFlowers was an INCREDIBLE experience. Of all the stressors and details that can be thrown at a bride, this was one of the most stress-free, professional, timely, and EASY processes I experienced: every person I emailed, chatted, or texted with was prompt, helpful, and enthusiastic. The quality of the flowers was amazing, and the assistance they provide you with, no matter your level of expertise, was superb. I've shared this service with multiple friends and family members who are going the DIY route and I've yet to hear anything but positive feedback.

That said, we bought a lot of florals and we MADE SO MANY FLORALS. My great aunt used to be a florist and she and her daughter flew in to make my special bridal bouquet and 7 bridesmaids bouquets. I had help from friends and other family members two days before the wedding to make the rest. In making the wedding an experience for us both, I attempted to integrate Vietnamese wedding traditions into the mix. Not only that, but I had a few TEXAS wedding traditions as well: many brides in Texas will have a bridal party as well as a house party. The house party usually includes the ladies who are near and dear to the bride but for a number of reasons may not be available to be bridesmaids. This is a way for the bride to honor these important relationships without also potentially having 14 bridesmaids at the altar (trust me, that happens, too). House Party gals are wholly a part of the wedding party and can play various roles like passing out wedding programs and, in my case, helping pass out boutonnieres. They usually also walk down the aisle and are a part of all the wedding festivities/photos/etc. Some people may consider them the counterpart to Ushers on the Groom's side. Either way, we had a large wedding party, and I wanted to do something unique for the House Party florals - I decided to make floral rings for them to hold, and they were placed on the wedding arbor as decor.

Additionally, all the bridesmaids and house party wore traditional Vietnamese custom outfits, called Ao Dais (ow z-eyes). It was hectic, but overall, the hybrid tradition sharing was wonderful. I share this because it will make a little more sense as to why we made OVER 70 INDIVIDUAL BOUTONNIERES! In Vietnamese custom, nearly all the family members (immediate and extended) are invited to wear a boutonniere. Usually they have different colored flowers to denote which side (bride/groom) you're on, and I went for using the beautiful tiny spray roses and wax flowers to make ours. We denoted the difference by changing the ribbon color (mauve/sage green) and you'll see various guests in our pictures wearing them :)

Here's the spread:
1 Bridal Bouquet
7 Bridesmaid Bouquets
5 House Party Floral Hoops
80+ Boutonnieres (white ribbon and 2 spray roses = 10 for the Groom + wedding party, 40 = green ribbon, 40 = pink ribbon)
7 Corsages (grandmother of the groom, godmothers, stepmother, mother-in-law, etc)
14 Eucalyptus Wreath Centerpieces measuring 14" (to go around 3 clear vases with floating candles)
3 Floral Garland Centerpieces for the King Table measuring 36" each (Wedding Party + Spouses)
2 Large Vases/Bouquets for the Program Table near photos of loved ones who could not join (not included in pictures)
Petals for 3 Flower Children (husband's triplet nephews/niece)

Can you believe we still had flowers left over after all of that? Supplies (floral tape and metal hoops) were purchased elsewhere/leftover from what I already owned. THANK YOU, FiftyFlowers, for being such a big part of our day. They were beautiful and I had so much fun making everything.