Weddingbee Blog

Remember when I told y’all about my plans for DIY florals for our wedding? That is a major project that continues to be a work in progress, but at least progress is a good thing. We’ve worked out flower counts and a few variety replacements, and the next step is to order them. Recently, we made a Home Depot trip, and I spent an afternoon replanting succulents we’ll use in my bouquet and a few shallow arrangements.

We primarily took this project on as a money-saving venture. Succulents are CRAZY-spensive through floral retailers, but dirt cheap, literally, at our local California hardware store. We spent about $30 on all those succulents, as opposed to 10 or more times the price, and we plan to just clean and trim their roots and pack them carefully in one of our carry-ons.

Now I’ll be honest—I have a total black thumb. Succulents are about the only thing I can mostly keep alive, and the operative word is mostly. So we bought so many because I fully anticipate I will kill about a third of them. Gotta own my weaknesses—I would not be shocked if I needed to make another Home Depot visit for replenishments. Even now, a week later, some of them are looking a little dodgy already.

I also made a trip to the LA flower district and purchased an assortment of mostly white flowers to make a bouquet and flower crown to wear for my bridal photo session.

I pretty much just used floral tape to wrap buds onto a piece of medium craft wire I bent to sort of fit my head. It only took me about a half an hour, but I’m a terrible blogger and took no pics of the process—I was in a rush and my hands were full. I thought it came out well, if a little lopsided.

And as for bridals? They’re a super Southern tradition that the bride gets all done up in her wedding finery for a pre-wedding photo shoot. I thought it was a little silly, but really wanted my mom to have pretty pictures of the beautiful dress she made me, so I had fun with it. I didn’t take it so seriously—just curled my hair but didn’t really style it, and honestly was still feeling a little rough from my Los Angeles shower and our Jack-and-Jill party the night before. It was fun for me, since I like getting my picture made, but a little strange—it almost felt like I was pretending to be a bride as I strolled around a friend’s gorgeous Hollywood Hills home. But I think the pictures will be lovely and my mom will be thrilled, so that’s what matters.

I can’t share much and still keep my dress under wraps, but I can show y’all a tiny snippet of how the flower crown looked…

Anyone else trying really hard to utilize a new DIY skill? Do you have any gardening advice for me and my black thumbs? Did you catch the obscure show reference in this post title?