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I love flowers. Love them. There is no doubt that we will use flowers prominently at our wedding. And yet, we have not met with a florist. Why, you wonder? Well, because I am crazy and considering DIYing all of our wedding flowers.
Image by Dreamworks via Detroit Bad Boys
{You’re crazy man. I like you, but you’re crazy}
I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out.
As much as I love flowers, I am not very particular about how they will look in our centerpieces. Flowers, in their own right, are beautiful. They do not have to be perfectly structured or arranged for me to love how they look. In fact, I might love them that much more knowing the hard work my loved ones and I put into making our centerpieces and bouquets.
Presumably (since I haven’t actually talked to a florist), DIYing our flowers would also save us money. Potentially a lot of money. Flowers are not cheap and paying someone to arrange them only increases their price. The prices I have seen from online retailers are reasonable given the vast array of choices available.
I researched the crap out of DIYing your own flowers, including other brides’ experiences. Most of the brides I read about lived in metropolitan areas with large flower markets, which do not exist in small town Illinois. Not to be deterred, I researched sourcing our flowers from the internet and found several options with all the flowers I could ever want.
And then I read Mrs. Socks’ experience with DIYing her flowers by purchasing stems from an online bulk retailer. It sounded horrible. Not the kind of stress anyone wants right before a wedding.
One of the things I noted was that the Socks’ wedding fell on 10-10-10, one of the most popular wedding dates last year. My thought is that the company may have been overwhelmed with orders on such a busy weekend (not an excuse for their behavior, but possibly an explanation). Since our wedding is turning out to be a popular date, this could mean a similar frustrating experience if we go the DIY route.
Before I decide anything, I think it is best to contact a few florists for prices and availability. Mr. P is generally indifferent to the DIY idea, most of my friends think I have actually gone crazy, but I still think this is feasible…and possibly fun.
What say you? Is DIYing florals a crazy/stupid idea or money saving genius? If you respond with the later, will you help me DIY my flowers?
I was going for the DIY flower route, but a month or two ago i decided i did’nt want the extra stress of having to make all my bouquets and centerpieces.. I have enough to do that week (even got one week of from work to get it all done in time).
So we’re using a florist and I think it is a wise decicion for us.
But if you think you can manage it, good for you! Go for it!
I’d be happy to help you DIY your flowers (if only I didn’t live all the way over in Norway).
Hope it turns out fabulous. Good luck!
I always assumed that flowers would be super expensive too, but then I went and actually met with a florist, and they weren’t money-grubbing at all! Mine even suggested inexpensive flowers to save money on and where to go to buy centerpeice items so that I don’t need to get floral ones. I know that may not be the norm, but if you let the florist know what budget you have in mind, they will probably work something out for you that will be stress-free. 
But if you want to go the DIY route, more power to ya! That would be awesome and you probably would appreciate it more knowing the hard work that you put into them!
We DIYed flowers for my MOH’s wedding and we actually found it fun. We (the bridesmaids, etc) went to the floral market and made the bouquets the day before and then had mani/pedis after. The day of, all the ladies who made bouquets did the centerpieces and it turned out lovely.
However, this is the one thing I am not DIYing. A friendor is doing it for me.
Best of luck for whatever you choose!
We’re semi-DIYing ours, I think it will work out well for us. We’re paying our DOC less than $200 to arrange bouquets and centerpieces, and we’re buying bulk floral from Sam’s Club. I think we’re just going to stick to all roses to keep it simple, and we’re doing a trial this summer to make sure we like it!
Maybe you could find someone like that who is way less expensive and who could take charge of flowers so you won’t have to worry about it the week and day of the wedding? Flowers were not a very high priority for us, so we decided we didn’t want to spend thousands on it. Good luck with your decision!
We are going the DIY route. I found a great website growersbox.com that sells all types of flowers. My mom, my bridesmaids, and I are actually looking forward to it! It will definitely save us money plus be a fun project!
I plan to DIY almost everything flower related. The only things I am buying are the bridal bouquet & bouts. The BM bouquets, centerpieces, and pew markers will be DIY. Of course, I have an amazingly creative and talented MOH and BM and the help of a very devoted mother as well. I think it is completely doable, and I have to think that way because I just do not have room in my budget for a florist.
If you have help, I think you can do it. You can even purchase some cheap flowers now to make a mock-up or two so you understand just what you are getting into before you fully commit. I say go for it, it’s a great way to save money and a great way to put your own personal touch on the wedding… with the help of some awesome friends of course!
I don’t think you are crazy at all! I want to do all of the flowers for the centerpieces myself too! I plan to pay a florist for 3 Large arrangements, my bouquet, & my BM’s bouquets. Everyone involved has agreed that the 16 centerpieces is enough for me to take on. I think it will be so much fun to wake up the morning before the wedding to piles of beautiful dahlias and then take a few hours to arrange them with my bridal party. I will make manicure appointments for us that afternoon to get our hands back into shape It was easy for me to find flowers bc there are TONS of farms near my wedding location. Good luck finding yours, I can’t wait to see your finished product!
DO IT! Some of the most beautiful wedding flowers came from DIY brides! You also don’t run the risk of having someone else who didn’t quite get it, messing up your perfect vision! You can create exactly what you want with your own two hands! Just make sure you do your research and have a plan b, c, & d! Can’t wait to see how they turn out!
There is NO WAY that I would DIY my flowers. I don’t want that responsibility on myself two days before the wedding. I plan to have everything done/scheduled/whatever at least a week prior to the wedding so that I’m not up all night DIYing things the week before the wedding.
Well my ENTIRE wedding is going to be DIY. SO & I have talked about the fact that we actually want to plant a garden of native flowers & use them to create the scene for our reception center peices ect.. :] I think it is totally do-able, but it also requires that your standards are not SUPER high, because if they are, it probably won’t meet them & the stress will be too much to handle..
We - myself, friend, and MIL - did all the flowers on the morning of the wedding, because I was too disorganised to have time the day before. That said, it was one of the calm times in an otherwise mental, stressful, sleepless, difficult, starving week! I spent 280 euro - maybe $340 ish?- on flowers, and had looooads left over. We did very simple centrepieces, now: spray carnations and roses in bud vases and bottles. But, my bouquet had about 15 peonies and a good fistful of lisianthus, and cost me I’d say 50 -55 euro. (3 euro per peony)
There would surely have been a significant mark up on that from a florist!
Even though we were on top of our heads with things to do, I don’t regret the flowers being one of them. I watched tutorials on youtube and about.com, and we just quietly and calmly trimmed, snipped, wrapped and ribboned my bouquet, 3 bm bouquets, 6 boutonnieres, and 22 centrepieces. I say go for it unless you’re a perfectionist.
Hey Pony! Our flower ordeal was stressful–VERY stressful. But, still after all of that happened, I can’t say that I regret going the DIY route. Friends and family all came together and helped us out, and in the end, though they weren’t exactly as I imagined them without all the flowers I ordered, I still love my bouquets when I look through pictures and am so proud that I did them.
Good luck! I hope you make the right decision for you guys!
Howdy!
We are going the DIY route, however, we have a large flower market here in Minneapolis! If you have anyone is your family that is artsy fartsy see if they will give you a hand and there are allot of great you tube videos out there on how to make bouquets and such.
Whoa. I just read Mrs. Socks’ entry that you linked to, and holy hell, would I be one po’d bride if that happened to me!
I think I would only DIY the flowers if you weren’t super picky about the ones that you get, which it sounds like you aren’t. I am not real picky about the flowers either, but I have the blackest thumb around, and I KNOW I would manage to kill them before the walk down the aisle. So no DIY for me in this area…
What’s so crazy about it? You can order bulk from costco or even sam’s club online or work with their florist in the store. You’ll save a ton of money. Get some family and friends together to help assemble the bridal bouquet and centerpieces. Hit up a local farmers market and talk to their flower seller. Maybe even check out what sort of pricing your local grocery store floral dept can do. It doesn’t have to be expensive or any more difficult than any other aspect of your wedding. For me, it was one of the easier ways to keep costs down.
Do it! My mom and brother are growing the flowers for our centerpieces on my parents’ farm (with a trial run this June for the actual wedding next). I adore baby’s breath, so I plan on ordering a bunch and using that to make my own bouquets. This should be cheap because it’s a ‘filler flower’.
I recommend DIY if you have ALOT of help, if you are not really particular about how your flowers look - centerpieces OR bouquets/bouts, etc…and if you are only going to use one or two types of flowers. My mom and Aunts did my flowers and they came out absolutely GORGEOUS - to the point that they ended up in magazines, however I had a specific look and various flowers that I wanted used. My mom says that if she could do it over again she wouldn’t…and there is no way in heck I would have done it myself either. They stayed up all night the night before the wedding with NO SLEEP putting the flowers together .
I did my own flowers! Well, with help. I ordered 30 dozen roses from Costco (which, by the way, brought my total cost of flowers to under $200) and my girlfriend and I made 5 boquets, 7 bouts, 4 corsages, and 24 centerpieces. It took a few hours, but they lasted forever- my mom had the centerpieces in her house for another 2 weeks after the wedding! It wasn’t too hard.
If you decide not to go the DIY route, definitely talk to Eldon at Forget-Me-Not Flowers in Bloomington. He did our flowers and they came out beautiful. I was a little nervous going into it because at our first consultation, I felt like some of his designs were a little, erm, 80s ish. We had a pretty modern wedding and Forget-Me-Not totally pulled it off. Let me know if you want to see pics of our flowers!
Flowers are low on my priority list. Since I don’t care too much about them, I was willing to fork over the money to a professional so I don’t have to worry about it. I’m just going to trust them to make it work. One less thing to worry about!
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Mrs. Pony, Bloomington, IL Age and Occupation: 25, Attorney Fiance's Age and Occupation: 34, Attorney Engagement Date: March 22, 2010 Wedding Date: September 2011 Venue: Mackinaw Valley Vineyard; Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts About Me: I found my Southern counterpart in law school and since he popped the question last March, we have been busy graduating, job searching, bar taking, and wedding planning. My loves include must see TV, magnets, quotes, anything green, my car, fun socks, the Cubs, and my Mr. Together we love wine, playing outside, and exploring the world together. Stay tuned to see our Midwest wedding full of Southern charm, vintage flair, lots of DIY details, and a whole lot o’ wine.
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