Flowers; How to Get the Look you Love

Let your personality shine!

Bridesmaids have a slightly toned down version

Helping a Bride select her flowers is one of my favorite parts of wedding planning. I love working with all that variety in greenery and flower types, and there are so many wonderful resources for inspiration, especially Pinterest, that allow brides to hone in on a design that reflects their own personal style.

Keeping things organized makes distribution easy

Though flowers are certainly NOT a requirement (one friend recently walked up the aisle carrying a few favorite books!) they add a gracious softness and a unifying element to the entire event. 

A limited palette is an elegant choice.

During the exploration phase, think about colors you love. As you view the photos, note whether you are drawn to open and loose bouquets, or more symmetrical versions. Do you want a variety of color or a more limited palette? Focus on your bouquet, and all the other arrangements can play off of that.

If you are hiring someone to do this work for you, they should be willing to give you a free consultation, and if they are a sole proprietor, get them to create a sample of their work using flowers that you prefer. Flowers can eat up the budget pretty quickly (figuring $100-$150 for your bouquet if you hire a florist), so determining ways to cut costs is really important if your budget is limited. 

Sample arrangements for the next Bride in our family

We were able to do all the flowers for Em's wedding for about $300. This included flowers from friend's gardens, borrowing some beautiful jars (remember if you ARE doing them yourselves that will be part of your cost). One friend borrowed teapots from friends and used flowers from her family garden. Keep your eyes open for beautiful FREE greens. We had five bouquets, two or three large arrangements, twelve small bottle arrangements, 10 or so quart sized jars, boutonnieres and corsages.....but doing the work ourselves really saved us. Doing the same thing through a typical florist would have cost around $1600.

Arranging Flowers by Martha Stewart is a great resource for creative ideas and floral how to's. You really CAN get a team of folks together to do this. Make it a party! And enjoy the fruits of your creativity!