Weddingbee Blog

When Mr. Spaniel and I found our venue online, the pictures looked like this:

(source)

When we visited for the first time, and later with our parents, the ceremony site looked like this:

(personal photo)

It’s one of the reasons we chose Calamigos Ranch: it is practically already done, and we didn’t want to spend much on flowers and decor. With the greenery across the wooden structure and the little white lights that will be lit at our sunset wedding, it felt done already.

But when we went for our details meeting, the ceremony site looked like this.

(personal photo)

Apparently the greenery is the work of a florist, and not part of the venue. I don’t think that the lack of it looks bad, per se, but it looks dormant—not the look we’re going for in our early spring wedding.

We’re not working with a traditional florist (I happily handed that job to a freelance florist I found on Craigslist who is making all of the personal flowers for less than it would have cost me to buy the flowers in bulk and all the supplies I would have needed), and she doesn’t do installations like this. I don’t think it would be appropriate to ask anyone we know to get up on a ladder right before the wedding to do this either, even assuming we can find the right kind of plants. Not to mention, we really don’t want to spend any more on throwaways or strictly aesthetic items.

So, do we find another florist to take care of the ceremony decor, going over budget (there’s nowhere left to take it from!), or do we make do with the unadorned wood and twigs?

Or, is there a third option that I’m not seeing?