DIY Wedding Flowers, the Series

Disclaimer:  I’m writing this as someone who has been involved in countless weddings and thinks eloping might be kinda nice.

My Mennonite community has a rich musical heritage, so for years I was part of a capella groups that sang at the weddings of my friends and distant acquaintances. (“Some saaay looooove, it is a river…). My sisters and I have coordinated ceremonies and receptions, been in charge of fruit displays and errant servers, and have inevitably dropped into our chairs at the end of the day saying, “There’s got to be an easier way to do this”.

Weddings can be incredibly beautiful but also just really, really stressful.  Just the other day, we were finishing up our floral install while chatting with the couple who owned the place, and a frantic young lady came looking for help because “the head table won’t be set up in time!”  The British indeed are coming.  I feel ya, sister.  Perhaps it’s because we have this front row seat into the chaos that precedes pretty much every wedding ever that we advocate a simple approach.

As someone who is part of the $72 billion a year wedding industry, writing this is a bit like saying, “Here’s why you shouldn’t buy what I’m selling.”  I write from the perspective of one who doesn’t think we should spend more than we can afford to impress people or fulfill a notion of expectation.  I took that Dave Ramsey class to heart.  If you get nothing else from this series, my main point is this:  If you want to (or need to) do things differently, do!  Don’t have a bridal party or a reception. Forego the cocktail hour and the fruit table. Get married while you and your guests stand beside a river.  This is your permission slip.  (Good, that’s all it takes, right?)

On the flip side, weddings ARE and should be a celebration.  If you can afford to serve prime rib to honor your guests and mark this life-changing occasion with flowers dripping from every baluster and chandelier… maybe call us about those flowers.

Don’t let the wedding industry sell you a false dream.  It wants us to believe the key to a good marriage is getting married in a Patagonian chapel with 12 bridesmaids dressed in peach tulle waltzing down the aisle to the strains of the Wedding March at precisely the right moment and us getting married at juuuust the stroke of sunset before running off to Italy on our honeymoons…  Yeah, that’ll set us up for life.  I don’t need to tell you that a good marriage takes far more than that.

So, disclaimers aside, tomorrow I will dive into part one.  I’m not sure how many parts this series will have yet (it has been simmering for several years), but probably at least three.  We’ll talk about why you should hire a florist and how to choose a florist you can trust, and when to consider the DIY route.  We’ll also discuss why wedding flowers cost so much and ways that you can cut back to save big time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.  Did you have a big, awesome wedding?  Was there a catastrophe? (do tell!)  How would you do it differently?  What would you keep exactly the same?  Go ahead. Change my mind about eloping. 🙂

-LaRonda

(Read PART TWO here)