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Mr. Mink proposed right around the time I joined Pinterest. Normally, one wouldn’t connect joining a website to getting engaged, but I probably wouldn’t have explored Pinterest so early if I wasn’t starting to look at wedding blogs. Pinterest was how I organized my inspiration pictures. The very first board I created was for flowers.
I love flowers. Usually, I’d scoff at buying something with a very short life span, but practicality goes out the window when I see pretty blooms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bridal bouquet that I didn’t like, but this one is my absolute favorite:
Image via Snippet & Ink / Bouquet by Holly Chapple / Photo by Kristen Gardner
When I first saw this bouquet on Snippet & Ink, I loved it. I quickly tracked down florist Holly Chapple’s website and her blog. I found out that she’s particularly proud of this bouquet, as it was the third one she made for the three daughters in one family. I was surprised to find out that the she was in Virginia! Alas, she is at least three hours away, in the Washington, DC area.
I <3 flowers. Not in real life. In real life I find them pretty, love getting a bouquet on my birthday, but overall don’t care. But in my life revolving around the upcoming nuptials, OMG they are practically the most important thing at the wedding (besides me…and Mr. Elk…and our families and friends…)! I don’t know how this obsession began, but I know practically every flower’s name and growth pattern—seriously, it is nuts!
So what are the flowers that I love specifically? Fluffy, romantic, large blooms are what make my heart flutter! And my favorite of all the flowers in the world? Ranunculus!
Image via Style Me Pretty / Bouquet by Sharla Flock / Image by Rebecca of Docuvitae
I drool every time I see these babies! And, of course, they were number one on my list of must-have flowers. When I met with our florist for the first time, she even had a large bucket of them waiting for an event. I squealed with delight, until she informed me of some sad sad news—ranunculus are pesky little flowers that like a certain climate, and by the end of May in the Northeast, they aren’t really growing very well anymore. I could have cried right then and there, until she assured me that we could at least have a few in my bouquet. PHEW!
So what other flowers will make a big statement in May?
Flowers bore me. They really do. They all look the same to me, and I have no interest in learning the names of all the different breeds/species of flower. I can’t think of anything more boring than horticulture, can you? The only flower-related knowledge I’ve gained in my years of trolling wedding blogs is that I don’t know the names of 99.99% (repeating, of course) of flowers. Did you know this is called “ranunculus”?
Image via Dandelions Flowers & Gifts
I’m gonna start using that word in my everyday life. Like, “You’re being ranunculus! What are you thinking?”
And these are called billy balls. (I can’t make this stuff up, people.)
I love purple statice. I thought I was getting purple status, but after looking at the picture from before (and a quick Google search to confirm), I was actually getting purple statice. This is an amazing flower. They’re so bright and vibrant. And it’s a sturdy flower, which is great because I really like to run my hand over it again and again. I can’t help it because it feels like a lei.
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| Image via FlowerShop Network |
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All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
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And his name is Dusty. Dusty Miller.
Image via flowershopnetwork.com
Looking at this picture, I’m not sure why I love this plant. There is nothing particularly appealing about it when it is all alone. BUT…add in some gorgeous peonies and a few garden roses, and my heart starts pitter pattering out of my chest!
I’ve been pretty nonchalant about wedding flowers and bouquets throughout most of my planning. It’s really a direct result of not having a very big budget, so florals were placed under the importance of food, beer and music. And, my wedding dress.
I’m drawn to the more expensive bouquets consisting of succulents, and bigger blooms like peonies. If I couldn’t have what I wanted, then I just didn’t care that much. As snooty as that sounds, it was more that I just accepted that our flowers weren’t going to be my dream flowers. I was perfectly content going to the local grocer and buying whatever flowers were available and arranging our own bouquets the night before the wedding. Mama Honey and MOH Stac, however, weren’t having it. They envisioned more perfect flowers for our wedding day.
A long, long time ago I fell in love with this shoot featured on Style Me Pretty. I adored all the elements but what really caught my eye were the flowers; I had never seen them before. Suddenly I was enamored with anemones.
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Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Jessica Claire / Styled by Jesi Haack |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
After ditching my initial wedding inspiration, I had a new-found determination to define a style that fit me and Mr. Hawk. Not long after beginning my search, I fell in love again. Lightning had struck twice. This time, though, it didn’t feel forced. (I swear, it felt like the skies parted and the wedding gods smiled upon me.)
Image via The Zella Guide / Photo by Stephanie Williams Photography
I ADORED the simplicity and classic beauty of antique blue Mason jar arrangements, and it wasn’t just because they were “pretty.” To top it off, they were the most amazing backdrop for yellow flowers. (See what I saying about the wedding gods?) The only thing holding me back from proclaiming full-on victory was cost. After some research, I found that those antiques were a bit pricey. That’s when I found a DIY tutorial from Bridal Buzz.
After sharing my inspiration for a bridal bouquet, I got a little distracted by the completion of our save-the-dates (okay, I confess that not all of them are addressed yet, but they are all assembled!), but it’s time now to get back to pretty, colorful flowers!
The package we have selected from our venue includes 3 bridesmaids bouquets. Now, you may recall that I have 4 lovely bridesmaids. Luckily, our venue was willing to accommodate this and told us that they could make 4 bouquets, they would just have to be on the small side. We’ll take it!
I didn’t want to deny my bridesmaids of beautiful bouquets, but the more I looked at inspiration pictures, the more I realized that size doesn’t matter (insert inappropriate joke/comment of your choice here). Look at these darling bouquets that are small in size and huge in charm:
| Image via WeddingChicks / Photo by Damaris Mia / Flowers by Bella Bloom |
Obviously, I am counting my table numbers…duh! I’ve gone through a lot of ideas about what to do to number our tables. My favorite idea has pretty much always been the ever popular frame-with-fabric-and-glued-on-wooden-number dealio.
Image via Elizabeth Ann Designs / Photo by Diana Lupu
Unfortunately, I was unable to find beautiful frames that didn’t cost an arm and leg, and so I decided to explore other options for table numbers. Then one day the fabulously famous Hobby Lobby opened near my house, and I decided to explore; and I had a moment of genius!
I’ll be honest with you, hive: I was extremely nervous about ordering wholesale flowers online and going the DIY route. You may remember my post on deciding to do my own flowers and how that decision came about. I was confident in my ability to arrange the bouquets, but scared about what sort of quality the flowers would arrive in. There are so many mixed reviews floating around the blogosphere and plenty of horror stories that would probably scare away a lot of DIY brides. It was motivating, however, that with the bad stories there were even more success stories of happy brides who saved lots of money and had beautiful flowers.
Here is a little about my experience with ordering wholesale flowers and going the DIY route using Fifty Flowers.
1. I chose to go with Fifty Flowers mainly because of their 100% wedding day guarantee. I also really liked the fact that their customer service was always very friendly and helpful in answering the million questions that I had about the whole process and about various flowers. They were knowledgeable about their products and always willing to give pointers on caring for the flowers. I really liked using the chat feature on their website because each time I finished a chat, I always saved the conversation to my email so that I could go back and refer to the advice and answers that they had given.
2. When choosing the type of flowers that I wanted, I did so with these things in mind:
Read more…
One of my very first posts was on New Year’s Eve inspiration, and in that post, I shared this photo:
Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Scott Lawrence Photographs
I finally got my butt in gear and started the boutonnières using this picture as a reference. Now that the stores are already filling their shelves with Christmas items and Macy’s on State in Chicago is cranking out the Christmas tunes, it is much easier to find holiday appropriate items. MOB recently found a bag of blowouts in colors that would match the wedding.
There were what I felt like huge parts of my life going unrepresented in our wedding. After thinking, thinking, and thinking some more of how to tie in all the small odds and ends, it came to me. Simply do that—tie ‘em together!
When I walk down the aisle, not only will I be arm and arm with Mr. Raccoon, I’ll be holding a beautiful bouquet that highlights my interests, shows support from my family, and serves as a remembrance of the ones that are no longer able to be with us. It’s important for me to have this, but in a way that won’t put a damper on the day. Hey, we’re planning a joyous occasion here!
The time is almost here! No, not the wedding. That is still 6+ months away. But our initial planning meeting is rapidly approaching! This meeting is with our venue, but since our venue is all inclusive, it is also a meeting with our florist. Please excuse my giddiness that it is time to start talking flowers.
Not to be self-centered, but let’s start with the bridal bouquet. I think this is a very good place to start—after all, there are boatloads of phenomenal inspiration pics.
Here is the first stunner that I came across:
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| Image via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Krystal Mann / Flowers by Cedarwood Weddings |
Are you itching for more? I hope so, because here it is!
I struggled a lot with this one, guys. Flowers, oh how I love them, oh how their price tags do not fit into my nicely divided budget no matter how I play with the percentages. (Thanks, Google Docs!)
After investigating a few florists in the area, I knew this was going to be a do-it-yourself kind of project. I’m going to order white roses in bulk from Costco online. I was able to find 100 stems for $80 including shipping. All the reviews say to have them delivered about two days before the event so you can get them into water and looking beautiful again.
On top of this steal, I might have found the best little-known invention. It’s called Easy Arranger and is sold by Annabelle Noel. For $12 I got a four pack of patterns, insurance I’ll call it, so that the bouquets look right. Want to know what else is awesome about these? They’re bendable, reusable, and coated so they won’t rust!
You just stick your flowers through the holes. It looks foolproof, right?
Hi again! I’ve accidentally (and temporarily) turned into a Weddingbee reader instead of a blogger lately but I’m sure you all haven’t noticed because there have been an influx of SERIOUSLY amazing new bees.
Here is why: soon after we got married, Mr. Crepe landed a great job in San Francisco! We are incredibly grateful for this one, especially with the economy the way it is and starting our lives together with a bit of stability is wonderful. There have been a few rough years in the past, career wise, for both of us, and that had contributed to our extended long distance relationship. It is so gratifying for me to see the mister going to a job he loves, with super cool coworkers who he respects and who respect him. Go Mr. Crepe!
So on top of the transition of getting married and living together for the first time, we have also been dealing with the task of moving cross country. It’s been a monster. (For those of you who have to do this too, I do have a GREAT car shipping company to recommend! A whole lot of research and breath holding went into this, believe you me.) This has plunged us back into long distance but after 6 years of it, 2 months is totally small beans.
One of the reasons why I stayed behind was to attend a few close friends’ weddings. I wanted to share a detail from one of the weddings here; it was so simple but absolutely beautiful.
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