Figuring out the flowers

Hive, you guys are going to start thinking that I am a spaz. Yep. I am indecisive- very much so!

When I started planning (back in August 2009), my original inspiration for flowers involved an all white bouquet for myself, and green bouquets for my bridesmaids. The florist had suggested green hydrangeas...like this:

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But, as you might recall, my love for hydrangeas faltered. And, as the decision to create our own centerpieces with baby's breath came into play, the vision for the bridal party flowers did as well. Over time, the idea of white and green flowers became less and less desirable to me...I was hungry for some color!

So, I searched high and low across the Internet for some new floral inspiration. Surprisingly, I found myself drawn to a color I would have never expected: pink! Normally, I am not a huge fan of pink. I like it, but you won't find it in my wardrobe (except for a pair of shoes) or in other aspects of my life. But, there is something so romantic about soft pink flowers, and I was sucked in! Here is some of the inspiration I culled from The Knot:

Armed with my new inspiration photos, I selected my favorites and placed them in an inspiration board:

Left to right (clockwise): Bouquet - The Knot, bouquet - The Knot, shoes - personal photo, dress - personal photo, bridesmaid dress - J Crew, shoes - Nordstrom

I love how the two inspiration bouquets are similar, yet different enough that they will stand apart from each other! The bridesmaids will have a slightly lighter colored bouquet, and I will carry one with a pop of pink peonies and garden roses.

And what about the boys?

I'm loving the idea of ivory ranunculus boutonnieres for the men. Mr. Buttons will wear one like this, with two flowers:

The Knot

The groomsmen and other men will wear ones with only one bud.

And guess what? I made a discovery in the baby's breath department! Who knew that there were different types of baby's breath? I discovered a type called "over time," which has much larger buds than the typical "million stars" variety. They almost remind me of really tiny carnations, rather than baby's breath. I also think that it looks a little less "weedy" than the million stars. So, we are going to make sure to purchase this variety of baby's breath for our centerpieces!

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So...there you have it! My new floral inspiration...hope you like it!

Did you find yourself changing any of your original ideas/inspiration in your wedding planning?

Creating the Centerpieces

So, if you’ve been following along, you know that I decided on using baby’s breath for my DIY centerpieces, and that I scoured the stores to find a plethora of vintage-y vases.

Now, it was time to take them on a test run (please try to ignore my end-of-day nasty hair-do if you can)!

I purchased 3 small bunches of baby’s breath from Publix (they sell 3 bunches for $10). Each bunch included 3 stems. First, I cut the stems down (each stem has a number of smaller “branches” splitting off on each side), and then simply placed them in a vase until I achieved something that looked like this:

So simple, yet so pretty! Each vase requires an average of about 3 stems of baby’s breath. I was pleasantly surprised to see how full the vases looked with what seemed like 3 measly stems when I started!

But, we decided that we needed to make the process even easier, since we will have to assemble them ourselves on the day of the wedding. We tried out the method of securing the stems with a twist tie. Easy! We arranged the stems into a “pouf,” wrapped them with a twist tie, and then dropped them into the vase. This will work out well we hope! The plan is to assemble the poufs the night before/the morning of the wedding. We are starting to collect wine cases; each pouf (and its matching vase) will be placed in a slot for easy travel.

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Then, we will simply have to place each pouf into its vase when we arrive at the venue. Hopefully, this will save us time, as we won’t have to hang around the venue to assemble flowers the entire morning!

Did you take on a DIY with flowers? How did you go about transporting/arranging them on the day of the wedding?

A Breath of Fresh Air...

Have you ever had a point in your wedding planning when you suddenly changed direction? I totally had that moment…let me explain…

To be fair, in regards to the florals involved in the wedding, I never really had the “perfect” idea. I see flowers…I think they are pretty…but nothing has essentially jumped out at me as being the flowers I MUST see on our tables or in bouquets.

Here was the original plan:

Hydrangeas, hydrangeas, hydrangeas.

I was drawn by the “poofy-ness” of them, if you will. Oh no, wait…the florist suggested these…I more or less agreed. Don’t get me wrong, I think they are beautiful…but…

I'd been thinking a lot about my DIY’ing…my mother and I have decided that we are going to tackle the centerpieces ourselves. And I am a nit-pick. Hydrangeas are known to be delicate, and die quickly. I started to worry about a wedding day hydrangea catastrophe. I can’t have partially brown flowers on our tables. I’d die.

Then comes the issue of price. Thankfully, with a DIY option, we can purchase flowers in bulk and save money by arranging them ourselves. However, flowers are still expensive…

***Screams angrily in frustration***

But then…I stumbled upon some amazing inspiration, and I’m hooked. And it is by the most unexpected flower imaginable.

Baby’s breath.

Oh my gosh…that’s right. I said it! For years I have despised baby’s breath…the extra little filler that they shove in bouquets…who needs it?!?!

But seeing these photos changed my mind…

Style Me Pretty

This wedding in Aspen featured puffs of baby’s breath hanging from the ceiling! Gorgeous!

Style Me Pretty

Even bouquets look gorgeous, and simple! Poofy and full and beautiful!

Following images from: Sedona Bride

This wedding was literally styled from top to bottom in baby’s breath! I’m in love…

I ADORE her bouquet...so romantic!

Following images from Mrs. Lemonade's wedding:

The little "bombs" are adorable!

So…what do I love about baby’s breath? It is cost-friendly (and I like to get a lot of bang for a buck), and I’m pretty sure that it will match my décor/theme well (birds, trees, whimsical, lighthearted…). Plus, I am hoping that it will be relatively easy and quick to set up as a centerpiece; score!

What do you think about using “filler flowers” as a part of your main décor?

Sometimes I cave under pressure

Let's talk petals. Remember when I told you how I'd won flowers at the wedding expo? Needless to say, I was excited to meet with the florist and get a conversation started. Mommy Buttons and I made an appointment at the shop, and I immediately did what I promised myself I would avoid: I let the vendor take me for a bit of a ride.

On one hand, the vendors are professionals, and yes...you want to take their advice (hey, they do this for a living, trust them!). However, letting them steer you in a direction you didn't really have in mind? Nooooot so cool!

I don't know much about flowers, but I had a vague idea of what I was looking for. I brought in a picture of a bouquet that I loved:

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She confidently told me that she could recreate this exact bouquet. Ok...off to a good start! I told her that I want the flowers to be simple, green, and white. She then began to explain her entire vision for my flowers: hydrangeas hydrangeas hydrangeas...

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She even suggested green hydrangeas for my bridesmaid bouquets:

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So far, I was feeling ok with her suggestions. Hydrangeas are definitely beautiful! Then she moved on to the bouts for the guys. She suggested a calla lilly. To be honest, I like them, but they weren't what I had in mind, so I said that to her. She then suggested to switch the callas in my bouquet to white roses, and have the bouts be roses to match. ***Sigh.*** White roses weren't my vision either. I wanted the bouquet as-is; I didn't want to change the flowers around. At this point, I sensed the florist was getting frustrated with me. She started to go on about how the men's boutonnieres need to match the bride's bouquet, so I had to pick a flower to go in my bouquet that could also be in the bouts.

I was perplexed. I hadn't heard of this before! Although I could see the logic, it wasn't that important to me. Who is going to notice if the flower on my groom's lapel is also a flower in my bouquet??? But, she wasn't budging on this issue, so I dropped it for the time being. Mommy Buttons and I left our appointment with a proposal and pricing (which is also a very sobering moment...am I right?!?!), and overall I felt a little uneasy about what had happened.

In the end, I was very happy to get this experience out of the way early on. In all of my planning books/online research/etc, I had constantly read about how you need to go into vendor meetings with clear and concise ideas, make sure that your vision is understood, and to make sure that you are comfortable with the vendor. I had failed miserably...I didn't have a clear vision to articulate, and then when the florist to give me all of her opinions and didn't really listen to my own, I just shut down. Although I thought her ideas would be beautiful, I wasn't incredibly excited. And, when you are getting ready to shell out hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars on flowers, you need to feel confident! I made a vow to not allow the same situation to occur with other vendors that I met with!

So...I let the flower issue stew for a few months, and eventually I figured out a plan that is going to work for us...but explaining that is for another day...

Did you allow a vendor to "take you for a ride?" Did you have a hard time standing your ground at times during your vendor meetings?