My mom, my aunt, and many of their friends (all in their late 70s and 80s) are excellent with flower arranging and handled my own wedding decades ago plus other big family celebrations. Is this an art that is becoming lost away from professional florists or am I the only one who is bad at it?
At my niece’s wedding, a friend of the family did an awesome job of all the flower arrangements. It was a big job but she has done a ton of weddings and other major events.
At S and DIL’s wedding, she and her sisters did all the bouquets, boutonieres, and table settings (those were terrarium-like). They may have gotten the flowers at a grocery store with a good floral dept, but I’m not definitely sure. I don’t think anyone would’ve guessed that the flowers weren’t done professionally, but her family’s crafty.
My DIL made the bouquets and boutonnieres for her wedding and she did a lovely job. We did look at Costco for flowers, but in the end opted against it. Neither my daughter nor I have any real experience in this area and it seemed foolish to experiment with wedding bouquets (yes we could buy flowers in advance and practice but for the same money, we are having someone make the bouquets for us).
But if you are good at flower arranging, and you want roses, Costco may be ideal. They have terrific pricing on roses.
What I did do is make all the table decorations for the reception. I got the exact look we wanted and only spent about $10 a table.
I have no wedding coming up, but I’ve been following this thread.
Just curious - what’s the norm these days regarding flowers. It seems like at various times fake flowers have been considered and then not. Do people generally always use real flowers these days?
^ I haven’t seen silk flowers in years. I remember it being a “thing” when I was married in 1980, although I had fresh flowers.
@fallgirl, I had fresh flowers in the 80s too, but even just recently an acquaintance of mine was talking about some kind of special fake flowers, and I’d not heard of anything like that for many years. I wonder if they are “coming back” or maybe just considered in certain circles. I have no idea. Thanks
re: the Costco flowers, the link I had above, all the bouquets, corsages are already assembled…
I love fresh flowers. For D1’s engagement party, I went to NYC Chelsea flower market to get fresh flowers. I think I spent few hundred dollars to get 2 large bouquets of flowers, and 5 small bouquets.
Someone I know got incorporated so she could get whole sale price for flowers. She is going to buy flowers for her daughter’s wedding. I am not sure if she going to do the arrangement herself or not. The wedding is going to cost around 6 figures, so I am not sure why she is buying flowers herself.
DS and DDIL purchased greenery and baby’s breath from Costco. It showed up in a big box 2 days before the wedding. We stuck them in tubs of water, and they ended up as table decorations, and little decorations to pin on us, etc
We used roses and baby’s breath from Costco for the centerpieces. There was a lot of baby’s breath so some of it was used for the rehearsal dinner centerpieces, which we hadn’t even planned on having. I didn’t even know you could order flowers from Costco until I read it on here. -
DD, FMIL and I will go look tomorrow at a consignment shop at a Cathedral veil DD has seen. Could be a great cost savings and same look.
DD2 - got her dress (tried it on in the store); MOB - have my dress. Took advantage of on-line for store we looked at with extra % off sale price, no ship charge; my dress was sale plus extra discount. Will show DD tomorrow. Both dresses were a size larger than we normally wear - IDK if that is how they are making them now for extra tight but DD2 and I are happy with the fit of the next size up.
H made a frown when I was on-line ordering but I said it was with DD1’s blessing. He wants to avoid conflict but also will be happy with $$ savings.
Deep breaths!
There are many dresses labeled MOB that actually are better made/more design than bridesmaids for those just starting to shop. And DD2’s dress is contemporary - fits the young style.
@SOSConcern, is your younger daughter getting married, too?
DD2 is MOH.
Bumping this to recommend not using Shutterfly for wedding stationery like save the dates and invitations. (And also to suggest not offering to help with wedding stationery if you’re trying to keep your stress level down, lol.)
This is such a first world problem that I wasn’t going to complain about it anywhere, let alone on CC. But maybe someone else can learn from my mistake. I’ve just been on hold for 26 minutes to address a quality problem with the envelopes for d3’s save the dates. It was my seventh call about these fricking save the dates, between questions about uploading addresses (two calls), poor quality printing on the envelopes (three calls), and properly crediting my account for the replacement envelopes (two calls). Argh. My d and I thought Shutterfly would be the most cost-effective choice for save the dates, etc. But blood pressure meds can be expensive!
D2 used minted.com for her wedding stationery. It cost a bit more but was better quality - better customer service, a better website to work with, and more options.
… and of course when I check the confirmation email, Shutterfly is sending me the ENTIRE order as a do-over, instead of just correcting the problem with the envelopes. Because who doesn’t need 83 extra save the date cards? We might just think of 83 additional friends and family members to invite.
In fairness, the card itself is very nice - the photo looks great and the quality of the cardstock is good. But this is no way to run a business.
S1 and spouse used minted. I did the calligraphy on the envelopes and was impressed with the quality.
S and DIL ended up using a Kroger florist. The head florist worked for a local popular flower shop for 30 years and retired and does this part time now at Kroger. The arrangements were AMAZING, stayed fresh for 2-3 weeks afterwards. It was one of the biggest wins of the wedding.
For those who want to send letterpress wedding invitations here’s what I did to save some money for my daughter’s wedding.
I found someone online to design the invitation, response cards, menu cards, thank you notes etc and I bought Crane card stock, matching envelopes and inks through a paper wholesale company and found a local printer who could do letterpress to print them.
Saved at least 40%.
Has anyone used David’s Bridal for the invitations?
DD and FSIL and officially engaged. Had a betrothal ceremony at the Cathedral they will be married at. After, a group of friends and family had dinner together. First time meeting FSIL’s parents - they are nice. Mother is a lot like me.
Really like FSIL, but he also wants to do a lot of things just like his brother did - like a honeymoon trip that doesn’t make sense - brother was able to do it due to sky miles and hotel points from his FIL’s business travel. FSIL needs his own identity. Plus as someone else said to me “can’t save enough from eating Ramen noodles”. They want the nice wedding. They can have a nice honeymoon, not an over the top dig into debt honeymoon. Plus Rome is terribly hot in July…and the Pope may not have his Wed audience (the whole purpose of the trip to get a Papal Blessing).
I say let his brother and SIL have that great memory by themselves.