SUPPLYING YOUR OWN FLOWERS AT YOUR WEDDING

Wedding bells are ringing in your ears, and the cash register is chinging as your wedding expenses add up.  Well there is a way to reduce cost by huge amounts and involve you’re family and friends in a most memorable experience to last a lifetime.  Supplying your own flowers at your Wedding!  It’s fun, It’s creative and it will make your day that much more memorable. From your bridal bouquet to the boutonniere tucked into the groom’s lapel to the centerpieces, flowers help set a joyous mood for your wedding day.

What options are out there?  Well you can grow your own flowers by planting seeds a few months ahead of time or source your flowers from friends’ gardens.  This way you can choose the exact colors and types of flowers that best suit you. Flowers have individual ‘personalities” some, such as garden roses and viburnums, are soft and romantic.  Others, such as calla lilies and freesias, are linear and crisp.  Daisies are casual and fun while peonies are ruffly and ultrafeminine.  Heliconias and proteas say I’m exotic! What’s your flower personality?  Growing your own flowers is exciting and so rewarding and personal to have at your wedding. Happy Planting!

Another option to supplying your own flowers is you have a choice of using fresh flowers or silk flowers or even a combination of both.   The advantage to silk flowers is that they can be arranged and ordered at any time and they are much cheaper than fresh flowers. If you are considering a flower that’s out of season on your wedding day, silk flowers can save you thousands of dollars and you won’t have to worry about trying to find your favorite flower in the middle of winter.  Even if you choose to carry fresh flower bouquets, you can save money by using silk flowers as altar decorations or reception table centerpieces. Silk flowers can be found in several online locations, such as silkflowersexpress.com/ or eFavormart.com/silk-flowers. You can also find a variety of silk flowers at your local craft stores such as Michaels or AC Moore.  If you are interested in using fresh flowers, it is a good idea to use flowers that are in season at the time of your wedding.  This will save you an enormous amount of money. You may also want to visit a local greenhouse or a flower wholesaler, the best place to locate a floral wholesaler is your local yellow pages.  Two very good resources for buying flowers are Online Wholesale Flowers and Flowerbud.com.

Supplying your own flowers for your wedding can also be an exciting and memorable experience for your entire wedding party or family. For example you can take day trips on Saturdays to five star hotels and take pictures of floral arrangements and sometimes get other ideas from weddings that are already set up. It can be an enjoyable day with your bridesmaids and who knows it may even include lunch!  After gathering ideas from hotels, magazines, web sites, and visiting local floral shops, and you have decided what kind of flowers you would like then you can plan a day of arranging the flowers with family and friends. If time permits, especially if you are arranging silk flowers then why not have a pizza party while everyone helps create a memory.  Not only will you get exactly what you want for your arrangements, you’ll have the pride of knowing your arrangements were made by you, family and friends.  For some great ideas there are websites such as afloral.com/ and wedding-flowers-and reception- ideas.com/ or books such as Better Homes and Gardens Creative Collection Wedding Flowers.

The bottom line girls, is that supplying your own flowers should be fun and exciting. You will get exactly what you want and for the price you are looking for and again you can create a lot of memories if you incorporate your family and friends.  Just a few last minute pointers, if you supply your own flowers then remember you can have any variety of vases of even champagne buckets for centerpieces and you can raffle them off or give them away whatever you choose to do because nothing will be rented and have to go back to the florist.  What a nice gift for someone to take home with them after the wedding!

 All it takes is some research and a hands-on, can-do attitude. It doesn’t matter if you have a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars to spend on your wedding flowers – what matters is that you are happy with the results and proud to carry your wedding flowers down the aisle on your big day!