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Ceremony Flowers

© Jessica Cuba

Flowers can immediately set a mood for a wedding or reception. The variety and placement can be anything from relaxed and casual to simple elegance. At my own wedding we were asked not to use flowers on the altar. I must admit that I was pleased to hear this — it was a lot of money and time cut out of the planning. The best part? No one seemed to miss the flowers.

I have always loved daisies. I suppose this was a lucky break on the pocketbook, but it was also more difficult to find wedding arrangements with the loose, wildflower look that I was hoping for. We visited four or five area florists for estimates in one day. At each, my mom and I both took notes. We went in knowing what we wanted flowers for and the main flower that we wanted (daisies). When we left we compared notes on the estimates given, the service offered, the selection available, and the attentiveness of the salesperson. We chose our florist for price and service. She was not the most inexpensive, but her service was second to none. She came to the church early and pinned on the guy's flowers — she showed each of the gals how to hold theirs — and she helped my maid of honor calm down assorted relatives. As the ceremony started she left for the reception where she decorated the wedding cake with fresh flowers. I was honestly astounded when I saw each price and we started adding up bouquets for everyone. However, don't be afraid; everyone I talked to was willing to bring it down to my budget by cutting a deal, taking out the more expensive flowers, custom designing, or scaling down the product.

Since we didn't use flowers in the church, I inundated the reception with them. We went down to the wholesale florist street in town (found by asking a local florist) to find a good price on A LOT of daisies. This was quite an experience. I was overwhelmed. But we did find much better price on bunches of flowers. The day of the wedding a friend picked up the flowers and spent all morning setting up the centerpieces and decorations. Never underestimate the people around you — I couldn't have gotten through this without any one of my family and friends. If you go the wholesaler route you can also get your floral foam and other decorations here. We found great ribbon to make bows for the church pews.

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