If you’ve read any of my other wedding posts,(see here) you know that since Nic was in grad school and I was saving up to pay off my debts/get ready for grad school, we had to cut costs wherever we could. One was was to do our own flowers. This is not for the faint of heart. If you’ve never arranged flowers before, you probably should skip this unless you know someone who has. I was fortunate that Moira, the mother of one of my bridesmaids, had done the flowers for another wedding Ally had been in, so she was able to direct us on how to make the centrepieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, and aisle pieces. In all, we spent about $300 on the flowers, containers, and supplies–way cheaper than typical wedding flowers!
If you think you want to go this route, there are a few steps:
- Start a physical or Pinterest board of what floral styles you like
- Make sure you have friends and family who are willing and able to help with the flowers- we worked on them for 5 or 6 hours on the Friday before, and the day-of people had to make sure there were no dead blooms.
- Research places to buy flowers in bulk
- Some cities have flower markets, but I wasn’t willing to risk not getting flowers I loved
- We went with BunchesDirect.ca, who sells bulk orders of flowers online, and then we picked them up at their dealer in Ottawa
- Stores like Costco also sell them
- Once you know what styles you like, check to make sure you can get your preffered flowers in your wedding season.
- My favourite flowers are peonies, so I had this ridiculous dream of having white peonies at the wedding. I knew it’d be tricky for a June 20 wedding, but I held out hope. Moira surprised me with 3 beautiful blooms for my bouquet, and it was one of the best gifts I could have received! However, I didn’t go and order beautiful flowers like anemones, which would have fit the theme, but are in season in October, and therefore much more expensive.
- Hope but don’t obsess!
- Be willing to give up something you want for something else interesting: I wanted stocks, but BunchesDirect was pricing them too high, so I went with Irish Bells instead, and they ended up being really cool and unique.
List out what elements you need, then edit it to make sure it fits your budget:
- Bridal bouquet
- Bridesmaids bouquets
- Boutonnieres
- Corsages
- Headpieces
- Centrepieces
- Altar bouquets
- Aisle runners
- Wreaths
- Garlands
Supplies:
- Flowers
- Floral wire
- Floral tape
- Scissors and wire cutters
- Vases, bowls, whatever else to put the arrangements in
- Tubs to put the flowers in
- When we first got the flowers, they were in boxes and very flat. We let them soak in the water for a while, and they opened up
- Fridge to keep them fresh in
How to have a floral party:
- Willing participants
- Supplies
- Pictures of your ideas
- Good instructions on floral care and assembly
- Lots of time
- Don’t rush it, have fun!
Two final tips: don’t make your centrepieces super tall, people want to have conversations. Also, stay away from super smelly flowers, or some people might get terrible allergies and sneeze all through your vows!
Some Resources:
- Lia GriffithLia Griffith – fresh flower
- Rustic Wedding Chic – including this peony bouquet
- How to make a boutonniere – A Practical Wedding
- Also from them, how to make a bouquet
Let me know how it goes!
