Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
Unexpected Success (Or Flowers Are So #$%* Expensive!)
April 14th, 2008 @ 4:04 pm by Ms. Dahlia
The one thing that I have cared the least about in the process of planning has turned out to be one of the (relatively) bigger headaches. We shopped around and spoke with no fewer than seven (7!) florists before settling with our current florist, who is familiar with both the church and the reception venue.
Early on, I had decided that I didn’t want to have bouquets. When Mr. Dahlia’s mom asked me if I would change my mind, my response was, “Then I’ll go to Trader Joe’s the day before the wedding and buy myself a bouquet.” But upon reflection, I decided that I actually did want a bouquet.
However, the florist quote came back, and including bouquets for myself and the three bridesmaids put us at about $400 over budget. And it included roses, which I specifically requested not to have. In a fit of frustration, I thought that I’d see what happened if I tried to make a bouquet for myself, with the following hypothesis: Flowers are pretty. A group of pretty things together will look pretty. Therefore, a group of flowers bunched together will look pretty.
The test:
$20 worth of flowers from Trader Joe’s. From top to bottom:white ranunculus, a bouquet of white and green flowers, and cream/pink calla lilies.
Supplies:
flower tape (~$1.50 at Joann Fabric’s)
flower wire ($.25 on clearance at Joann’s)
ribbon (~$2.30 at Joann’s)
white pearl pins (~$4.50 at Joann’s)
Following the guidelines suggested here, I figured out that arranging flowers for a bouquet is really easy. The only trick is to wire the stems of heavy flowers (like ranunculus or gerbera daisies) to help support the head. This really sounds a lot more complicated than it is.
With the flowers above, in the next half hour I pulled the leaves off of the stems, trimmed the stems, wired the heavier flowers, and arranged them. Take a couple of flowers, wrap them in tape or wire. Add a couple more, tape/wire. Repeat until the bouquet is done. (Partway through I found that the floral tape was not holding so well, so I switched to wire.)
Mr. Dahlia graciously holding the bouquet
Closeup
For a finishing touch, I wrapped the stems in ribbon and secured it with the white pearl pins.
A little lumpy because the wire wasn’t pulled too tight.
Closer shot of the handle.
Believe it or not, arranging the flowers was actually relaxing. So I’m planning on arranging the bouquets the morning before the wedding. (A day later, my sample bouquet looked just fine.) And unlike centerpieces, no one needs to be around to set up the bouquets, as they will be totally set to go the day before. My mom said that she’s happy to bring them to the church before the ceremony.
Where have you found unexpected success planning your wedding?
28 Responses to “Unexpected Success (Or Flowers Are So #$%* Expensive!)”
Those look great! I also like Mr. D’s ring. 
Hooray for you Miss Dahlia! I had the same thought as far as bouquets went, and even printed out copies of a very nice step by step bouquet making outline that I found on the Knot. I was planning on having a “bouquet party” the night before the wedding and having each of the bridesmaids assemble their own bouquets, but someone stepped in and volunteered to do them all herself. She did a great job by the way. I don’t see why you have to pay out of the *** for bouquets. You went to Trader Joes, bought some flowers, and whoila! That’s a mighty fine lookin’ bouquet!
That’s Mr. Dahlia’s engagement ring in the picture. You can read more about it here:
http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/10/17/an-engagement-ring-for-him/
The flowers look awesome! You can totally do it. Just make sure you leave them in water and a cool place like the basement. If you can, put the ribbon on the morning of.
I did all my flowers for my wedding and everything went well! Saved a ton, too.
this bouquet looks very much like ones i have seen on other websites!
roll with it and save you some money…..i very well may try something similiar.
I wish I was doing my own flowers … I love doing flowers for parties and such - alas, since I’m doing a destination wedding and we’ll have so much else going on, my mom told me she wouldn’t contribute anything to our wedding if I did my flowers myself! She knows how stressed I can get with too much to do, so that idea was kaiboshed!!
This is giving me hope to do the same thing. From the beginning, I told myself I would do my own bouquets, but as of late I have been thinking that maybe just paying someone would be easier (and it would!), but like many of us, I’m on a budget…so this is awesome. I am back on the DIY train.
That bouquet is great! My friends and family and I did all of the flowers the morning of the wedding and it was actually a ton of fun. We just set up in my driveway and everyone went to work clipping and arranging. We practiced the hora, laughed and in no time everything was done. I definitely would recommend it. Good luck!
That bouquet looks amazing! Way to go, Miss Dahlia. I am completely certain I could never do this myself, I am in awe of your talents.
OOh, I would love to do this… if only we weren’t in the middle of nowhere. TJ’s has great flower prices!
I would love to do something like this! Where are you getting your raw materials (aka flowers) from?
Just a thought - go back into Trader Joes a couple more times and see how the selection changes. Also - TALK TO THE MANAGER THERE. Very good chance he/she will set some aside for you. You do NOT want to be stuck at the last minute when the batch they got in it either not what you like, or worse - sold!
Those look very nice chicka. Many congrats to your surprise success.
I picked up some of my favourite flowers the morning before my wedding, and while I was getting dressed the next day, two old friends put them together and wrapped them in my great- grandmother’s lace. My bouquet cost $22, my favourite people in the world made it, and it was just perfect for me.
It won’t work for everyone, but it was just perfect for me.
I’m impressed! Your bouquet looks beautiful!
You are totally my inspiration! I am making the bouquets now. It’s official! Thx!
Costco has a great selection of flowers too - we made our own bouquets from flowers that the florist/supplier set aside for us after talking to them about our plans. I think that they may have even been cheaper than TJ’s.
beautiful. way to go!
I did the flowers for a friends wedding… The trick to the floral tape is to stretch it until it gets tacky (it takes a bit of practice, but you are great! you’ll get the hang of it) it will lay more flat under the ribbon.
They look SO lovely… another career option? no?
We are making our boquets the morning of as well. They are super easy and look great. We will probably order the flowers for delivery the day before since it’s a small town and not much choice for flowers at the stores.
I was going to mention the fact that the tape needs to be stretched to stick to itself but Autmn beat me to it.
Those look great…
Thanks for all the wonderful comments! I’m hoping the day before the wedding to hit up the West Side Market, which tends to have a pretty decent selection of flowers.
Autumn and tberry, thanks for the tip about the floral tape- it should make things a lot easier
Wow, you did a great job. It looks professional.
Yeah, I’m so happy to see this post. I’m doing my own bouquet and centerpieces too using only dahlias from a local wholesaler. Well, technically my mom is helping. 
I can’t believe how expensive florists are. I’m with you 100%
Be sure to plan your time accordingly for this. When you have 50-100 guests in town all clamoring for your attention, your perfectly scheduled day can easily get away from you. And make sure you have enough room in your frig to store the flowers. Also, take anything out of your frig that will draw smells to the flowers. Happens very easily. Your flowers could smell like onions or garlic. I would have someone other than your mom make the delivery. When the bride has that ‘Ah, man, I didn’t think I would panic on my wedding day moment’, she usually wants her mom. She needs to be somewhere close by. Ask a guest who has no other duties and who knows your city (so they don’t get lost, thus, losing time) to make the delivery for you. And finally, don’t try to do this alone. Have a trial with one of your maids so that once you get started, you have a flow and you are not at that moment deciding how the flowers are going to look.
Good Luck!
[…] Thank you so much for all of your support throughout this wedding process, and when I return from Bali, I’ll give the full wedding recap. Now, though, it’s time to by the flowers for my bouquet. […]
[…] what seemed to work well when I gave it a try back in April, I started to arrange the bouquets. (Much thanks to Autumn who gave me instructions on how to use […]
Saving $$ on flowers
According to a press release a friend of mine received, Steven Buckwald, owner of New York City-based Surroundings Flowers & Events, is offering high-end flowers to the public at wholesale prices. The company will beat quotes from high-end florists by 20 percent. And brides can save an additional 20 percent if they arrive with a proposal in hand.
Buckwald has a 7,000-square-foot building in Harlem which he has turned into a flower warehouse to serve his 30-year-old floral and event business. He has two satellite shops in Manhattan, at 1236 Lexington Avenue between 83rd and 84th streets and in the Apthorp building on Broadway between 78th and 79th streets.
Surroundings Flowers & Events bypasses traditional flower shops and deals directly with the growers and farms around the world.
For more information on this and other wedding-related topics, please view my blog at http://www.weddingscoops.blogspot.com.
Thanks.
MissScoop
Surroundings used to be great
but now they stink
