Weddingbee Blog

I’m getting my wedding roses from freshroses.com. They’re not pre-arranged, though. Yikes! I have a bunch of willing brideslaves who have agreed to help me prep the roses when they arrive, and put them in the vases. I know it’s going to be difficult to do our own flowers, but I’ve read about plenty of knotties who have done their own and said it was easy. The key, I think, if you don’t have floral experience, is to stick with one type and one color of flower. I ordered 250 bridal white roses, for ten tables of flowers and some assorted other arrangements. I also ordered different colors of long-stemmed roses for bouquets. The difficult stuff: my mom’s corsage, the flowergirl’s halo, and possibly the boutonniƒ¨res (depending what they want to charge me for them), will come from a florist. Which I need to line up soon! Stripping and recutting the roses will be hard work, but not difficult, and tying the roses into bouquets and table arrangements will just be a matter of practice, which we’ll do before the day. I’m taking three days off before the wedding, so I have plenty of time. In the end, I think I’m paying $400 for more than 300 roses–including overnight FedEx.

now if only i could cut that second vase in half and make it white…

Aww…I love that second arrangement! Those colors are so pretty! As a wedding newbie (actually, I’m not even engaged, but out of curiosity), is $70-80 for an arrangement like that really cheaper than having a florist take care of all wedding flowers??

The parrot tulips are lovely but they do not arrive pre-arranged from Martha. They arrive bunched in a box and you’ll need to design them yourself.

Just an FYI on the Costco wedding packages - they are from the same company as the pre-made weddings sold on ProFlowers and through some supermarkets. The bouquets are assembled by workers in Bogata, Colombia and then shipped to the US.

For a comparable price, you can usually find a local flower shop to supply your wedding flowers - and help your local economy instead of outsourcing your dollars out of the US.

Or if you still want to diy, use a local grower. Farmer’s markets are great places to make a contact. All my flowers, including vases, will come out to about $250.

btw- your local florist might or might not use flowers grown in some pretty craptastic conditions, so a local florist is no guarantee of humane practices. If you’re concerned about it, ask.