...with the budding florist!

That's me. The budding florist :) Back when I was planning my wedding some 4-ish years ago, I knew I wanted amazing looking flowers for my (our) wedding. What I didn't want however, was to pay an arm and a leg for amazing flowers, because let's face it....I need my arms and legs. So, because I am a DIY-er, I came up with this grand plan to arrange my own wedding flowers! As in - bouquets, boutonniere's (I had to google that to make sure I spelled it correctly!) and corsages. Oh, and why not throw in the centerpieces while I was at it too! Everyone I told about this plan thought I was CRAZY!

"You are going to be too busy to have time to do that".

"You are going to stress yourself out".....they said.

"I can handle it"....I said.

I did my research and the day before my wedding, I (with the help of my aunt, parents and bridesmaids) orchestrated a flower arranging extravaganza like no other. Ok, it wasn't that extravagant....we were in my kitchen. There was a freak out over "losing" the corsage pins....which I later found after I sent my sister in law out to purchase new ones.

I was happy I did my own flowers. My wallet was even happier. My wedding flowers plus the cost of the supplies (ribbon, floral tape, vases, etc) cost me $550. A florist would have charged me $300+ for my bouquet alone.

Best of all, I think they looked amazing. Yes, I am tooting my own horn :) Toot! Toot!

Why don't you take a looksie for yourself. (The pic at the top is my bouquet along with one of the bridesmaids bouquets).

Another of my bouquet:

Mom's corsage:

Not too shabby, eh?

Fast forward a few years. My sister gets engaged and we decide that we are going to do the same for her wedding. She chose to have dahlias as her wedding flower. Not only did I arrange her flowers and centerpieces.....I also GREW most of the dahlias in my garden!

Check it out:

The cute little boutonniere's!

Close up of the bridal bouquet:

The centerpieces were mums:

So, several of my friends have commented on my flower arranging skills and one even asked for me to do the flowers for her New Year's Eve wedding. She requested flowers similiar to the ones I had in my wedding, so I agreed. It was a big task - as her wedding was much larger than my own and I ordered twice as many flowers. They took me longer to arrange, as I was flying solo....no help from my bridesmaids or parents this time! Her's also turned out great!

Her bouquet and her dad's boutonniere:

Close up of her bouquet:

Whew! That's a lot of flower arranging! But, I have actually found it to be relaxing and I quite enjoy it! Not only that, I love helping people save money!

I actually will be arranging the flowers for another good friends wedding this coming June....so stay tuned for pictures of them!