Wedding Blog

One of my worst habits is that I am very nonconfrontational and I hate to tell people I don’t like things. This is particularly bad in the wedding world where you have to make a decision every five seconds. When dealing with vendors, especially in person, I have a hard time admitting I don’t like something because I always feel like I’m somehow being mean by saying that I’m not into something they’ve worked on.

This was particularly an issue for me two weekends ago when I went to meet with my florist for the first time. I am not a huge flower person, so I didn’t know much about them going into my meeting. The only thing I knew is that I wanted to pick something a little unusual and not overwhelmingly bridal which, to me, meant one thing . . .

No roses.

I mean don’t get me wrong. They smell great and they’re very pretty, but they’re just not my style. I was completely sure that I did not want to carry them, when the florist came out carrying a sample bouquet which was of course completely rose centric. I wanted to say something right away, but because I hated the thought of being rude and because I was suffering from major decision making fatigue, I started to doubt myself. This was a professional flower person making suggestions . . . Maybe roses were not so bad . . .

Thankfully, before I made any sort of final decision, my MOH and FSIL Hummingbird Erin jumped in to help, reminding me that it was my wedding and it was perfectly okay to voice a preference, especially when it was something I was paying for. After I started thinking about it more like that, it got easier. I wasn’t about to go all bridezilla (after all I’ve worked in customer service and it can be a hard gig indeed), but I got more assertive and started to be a little more yes and no with my selections and narrowed it down to these lovely blooms.

Alstroemerias (also known as Peruvian Lilies or Lily-of-the-Incas): Not only are these seasonally available but they come in such a cool variety of colours, they can work with almost any colour scheme. I chose the Allure which is a fantastic shade of purple.

Freesia: I’ve always loved the smell of this flower and it has a terrific fresh look to it. The girls will be carrying the purple variety while I will have cream in my bouquet to set it apart.

Waxflower (also known as Chamelaucium): These small five petal flowers are a cool alternative to the traditional baby’s breath kind of filler flower.

Variegated Pittosporum (a.k.a. that stripey leaf): You wouldn’t think that something with the word “Pit” in its name would be so pretty, but these little white edged leaves are actually pretty stylish.With the freesia and the alstroemeria being the centerpiece flowers, it should hopefully look something like this (albeit more purple than pink):

In any case, as you can see, not a rose in sight! Plus, by picking things that I liked that were in season, my trip to the florist cost $200 less than what I was expecting. Hooray for getting what you want!

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out, but I was curious - has any one else had a hard time saying no to vendors? How did you learn to raise your voice and get what you wanted?