To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Original post by PeteysBride

Feb 24, 2007 11:18 AM

Ok so we all know weddings are EXPENSIVE and the biggets cost aside from band and reception is usually the wedding flowers and what happens to the bouquets? They get tossed after the pictures and there goes a lot of moola to waste.

Since the FH and I are on a super tight budget. we are DIYing a lot and cutting corners where we can. Our florist wants to charge us 85 dollars per BM bouquet for only roses and gerber daisies. Nothing exotic in there folks. He gave us the same estimate for plain roses, for plain gerbers and carnations and roses....

Sooo we are considering nixing the BM bouquets either completely or making them ourselves because I like the 'just picked' hand-tied look and honestly we can probably do each one for under 15 dollars. So that is one idea.

The other is to nix them completely and do something else. Our wedding is outside so we were considering 2 other options.

1. Colored paper parasols. The girls are wearing very brightly colored dresses (they are in my album) so I thought parasols would be a cute touch.

2. Fans. I saw this in Martha Stweart and loved it but not sure if people would think it 'weird.'

What do you ladies think?

FAN IDEAS:

sandalood fan:

paper fans(I really love these colors though they don't have them in red now due to chinese new year)

silk fan (out of stock till May but I LOVE the color. I will be wearing red heels under my dress and the FH is wearing red doc martens)

PARASOL IDEAS: (these are our wedding colors-each girl will be wearing a diff color so I thought the parasols could be the opposite of their dress)

This one would probably be what MOH would carry because her dress is a bit diff than other girls-she will be wearing bright pink, trimmed with ivory.

HELP! I need input!

BTW these are the BM dresses. The last one is the MOH dress-it will be that same shade of pink as BM with ivory ribbon.

jlu830 Posted: Feb 24, 2007 04:53 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

i say go for the parasols!! i think it'll tie in with the gerber daisies in the hair really well. The fans are a cute idea but i don't think it fits in as well with the other aspects of your wedding. jmo though.

jlu830 Posted: Feb 24, 2007 04:54 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

by the way, where did you find those parasols? $6 is a great price!

snydl40 Posted: Feb 24, 2007 05:05 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

I love the parasols.

melissas28 Posted: Feb 24, 2007 07:31 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

I like the idea of one or two very large flowers for the Bo-Ks. You can always find great/different looking flowers at the the little bodegas in NYC. If you get one that is very different it might contribute to that edgy look.

Or maybe silk flowers, or candles in something like a hurricane lamp or a lantern?

good luck!

Jasonsgirl Posted: Feb 24, 2007 07:44 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Have them carry one flower???

vintagegirl Posted: Feb 24, 2007 07:47 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Hey I have a great florist.. charged us $350 for the whole wedding party.. Commack Florist..
5 bqs 4 groomsmen 4 moms and dads and grandmas..

although the parsols are lovely.. however the photographer might have a problem shootng everyone when they are up if you are coming down the aisle with them..

GettinHutched Posted: Feb 24, 2007 10:17 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Posted by PeteysBride

Thanks GettinHutched, but which one! LOL

1. DIY bouquets?

2. Fans?

3. Parasols?

How did I forget to say which one?! I was so enthusiastic, and the whole time I was enthusiastic about the FANS! DUH! So sorry!!!

miss nee Posted: Feb 24, 2007 10:37 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

lovin the fans.... soooooooo uncommon

DandS Posted: Feb 24, 2007 10:48 PM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Posted by tricia3381

go with DIY bok's they're not that expensive and they're super easy. u can get the flowers from costco and then just have ur bm's help u make them the night before the wedding. we did this for our friends wedding and they came out great and it was a lot of fun.

I was going to suggest the same thing! I have seen this done before and they came out great!! You can definitely do it and for under 20 bucks a piece.

PeteysBride Posted: Feb 27, 2007 07:42 AM

Re: To have bouquets or not..that is the question..HELP!

Jason'sGirl- I like the one flower idea. I am just not sure if it will look too plain. I am planning on having them wear their hair down-very carefree with a gerber daisy in it (attached to a comb or barrette-gotta love hot glue!) and the whole wedding is sorta casual in that sense. Do you think a single flower compliments the dresses? Tied with a ribbon?

jlu830- The website i found the parasols on is http://www.lunabazaar.com. They range between 5:95 for smaller ones and 7.95 for the 32 inch ones. The only drawback is that they are not 'water repellent' but I am considering them more fore pictures than anythign else. I agree with Vintage girl-They are too big to walk down the aisle with but since we are having an outdoor ceremeony and plan (if the weather holds up!) to take photos in the park, I think they would look really cute and summery. So i may buy them anyway...not sure yet.

FYI for anyone considering using paper lanterns for outdoor weddings; Lunabazaar has them and they are reasonably priced.

Vintage girl, thanks for the info! That seems MUCH more reasonable. Is Commack Florist in LI? Where exactly? Our wedding is actually in NJ but we could transport the flowers ourselves if worse comes to worse. Do you have a number for them?

Two people have mentioned COSTCO for flowers. That is a great idea, but do you know if they just have whatever's there and thats all you can work with, or can they special order certain flowers for you? I'd hate to get there and find nothing that worked for us because it will be mid-summer-high wedding season.

Sorry guys this is a LOOOONG post but I like to adress everyone who is kind enough to respond.

One last question folks (for now!) I am really torn on whether to do three large flowers tied with a bow or one or two-depends on the size- or the fans. I like that the fans are uncommon and might make people lift an eyebrow. However Im not sure now whether they 'go' with the kind of casual, outdoorsy feel. Since our theme is not asian inspired at all, does it look weird to have asian printed fans? Most of the ones I am finding are and our flowers are basically gerbers...not very zen.

I considered solid colors but most people seem to think it would be too plain and cherry blossoms I don't think 'flow' with gerbers. JMO-thats why I need others! :)

I found these...

What do you guys think?

These come in sets of 6 (i only need four but they are reasonably priced) and are handpainted in these designs. They look fairly mainstream right? Just pretty florals?

Or these...

Same sandalwood material but they are etched with a 'sunflower' pattern. It doesnt really look sunflowerish to me-just floral though they seem to be a pale yellow.

Either one with the dresses or no deal?

-sigh- SOOOOO confused!