Flowers are not important to me. Or at least not important enough to spend hundreds of dollars on them for my wedding.
That's precisely why I skipped the florist and purchased $45 worth of flowers from my local supermarket a few days before the wedding. Cheap. Easy. Done.
The funny thing is that on my wedding day the supermarket flowers that I carried down the aisle and those that adorned the tables at the reception brought me so much joy! I was completely charmed by their stunning simplicity. Silly me had forgotten that aesthetics really do affect your mood, especially when we're talking about the beauty of nature.
Part of why I was delighted by my supermarket flowers was the fact that people I loved had been working on my bouquet and centerpieces the morning of the wedding, so when their pretty little creations were unveiled, they were not only lovely but literally made from love.
I asked my mom to use some left over burlap from the table runners as well as some left over lace trim from my veil to make a bouquet that looked like it was just a bunch of wild flowers freshly picked from a grassy field - understated, natural, and just adorable!
I asked my friends to throw a couple flower buds into shot glasses, and distribute them in a single row over some burlap. Cute and simple!
And just like that, my humble little flowers went from supermarket to super gorgeous. It just goes to show that you can achieve pretty for just pennies!
How did YOU save money on flowers?
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I wasn't going to have flowers at all at my wedding but my mother in law got really upset and said she wanted to pay for them. I still didn't want floral centerpieces so I went with candles which was much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this bouquet! So simple and pretty...and the buds in the shot glasses made for such a simple, fresh decoration...great work on a budget missy!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have flowers. At all.
ReplyDeleteOkay, that's not true. One of my coworkers got me this beautiful orchid a few days before the wedding, and I went through painstaking efforts to keep it in bloom so we could have it as the centerpiece for our sweetheart table. But that was it.
We got married at a vineyard, so we went with a wine and grapes theme throughout most of the wedding ... including with the "bouquets." My MIL got us these awesome toasting glasses (I picked them out ... she got them engraved for us!), and each of my bridesmaids carried a glass ... and I carried a bottle of wine!
We wrote in a toast/sip of wine into the ceremony, too. I said "Prost", he said "Slainte", as his dad is German and my family is Irish. :)
:) I remember helping put a flower in each shot glass and how beautiful the whole thing looked with the burlap table runners. But I confess, I had NO IDEA your boquet was also handmade with supermarket flowers. I"m so impressed!!!
ReplyDeleteWe used fans instead of flowers for carryin', I made bouts and corsages as a DIY project, we got married in a garden so no need for any sort of floral arrangements there, and we did have floral centerpieces (none of the "offbeat" choices really appealed to me..that was one area where actually I think flowers are popular because they look so good) but...
ReplyDelete...we DIY'd them. We got (faux) copper containers from Michael's for $2.49 each, and mom grew mums. The mums actually didn't come up so the centerpieces were a creative hodgepodge of other stuff in mom's garden, flowers donated by neighbors, several pots of mums from the garden store, silk flowers from an arrangement on the porch and supermarket flowers (including "3 bunches for $10" carnations).
Fortunately my mom, while not a pro, is super talented at floral arrangements so this mix of "oh no, we need flowers NOW" actually came out looking quite nice!
I think in total we spent maybe $50-$75.
so, i came across your blog when i searched "things that people should have told bride before wedding". i probably wouldn't have had time to read or believe these, but now that i've been through it, i totally appreciate this blog. :)
ReplyDeletei got my flowers from whole foods on my wedding day...i knew that they were going to get a batch of fresh flowers that morning. total cost: $130 for my bouquet, a toss bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 3 boutonnieres, centerpiece decorations for 5 tables, decorations for ceremony chairs and some petals down the aisle...and guest book desk flowers. i had some leftovers even!
thanks to my mom's bouquet making skills! and yes, that was totally made from love. :)
@ skipperwasabi - You scored quite a deal! Whole Foods is truly a gift from above, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks for the compliment about my blog. :)