Wedding Recaps - The Flowers

Hi friends! I mentioned... oh... a LONG time ago that I decided to go with Afloral.com for the flowers. 

When they arrived all boxed up I was so nervous... Since we decided on fake I was hoping they would still look nice... I was actually surprised at how pretty they were! 

Sure, they were obviously fake, but that was fine... They were vibrant pretty colors, looked full with long stems. Just what I was hoping for! 

My sister, Kayli, took a flower arranging class, so between her, me and my SIL, Brianne, we sat down and put all of the bouquets and centerpieces together ourselves. 

Sure, it created a HUGE mess in the living room for an afternoon, but I think it was completely worth it!!


Here you can see each of the bridesmaids' bouquets were made up of the turquoise/blue and white daisies. All of the flowers were tied with floral wire and pink ribbon purchased from Afloral.com. 

My bouquet was a combination of the blue, bright and light pink and just a couple of white daisies. 

Here you can see it from the side... It too was wrapped with pink ribbon. 

Each of our bouquets were displayed at the head table inside a mason jar with some pretty colored rocks in the bottom. It created centerpieces for the head table AND provided the girls with a place to leave their bouquets so as not to have to carry them around all night. 

You can see them here as Kayli stands to give her TOAST. ;)

The centerpieces were different colored daisies arranged in bunches inside the rope vases I made. We also used oil lamps as centerpieces, all centered on either a pink or turquoise bandanna. Little boot bubbles, a camera, and mints made by my Aunt Betty finished the tables. 

You can see examples on the left of this photo...

I have a rope vase with my bouquet on display next to our wedding party canvas in our home now... 

After the wedding we delivered a centerpiece to my Granny's grave and another to Mr. M's Mom's grave. They're both still there, a little bit faded, but in pretty good shape months later!

Deciding to use fake was the best choice for being able to save and reuse our wedding flowers for sure! 

How about you?? Did you/Will you use real or fake flowers?

What did you/will you do with them after the wedding??

The Great Floral Debate

Remember my debate over real v. fake flowers for the wedding?

I even posted a poll where you could vote!

The results were pretty much in favor of real... 

Who am I kidding... 

It was 27 to 1 in favor of real flowers.

So I debated... I consulted... and I finally decided what would be best for US. 

Yep... we're going fake. Fake flowers for our wedding. 

***

 Do you know that when I googled "real v. fake flowers" for an image there were like three pictures from my blog not at all related to  flowers... Interesting fact. ;)

I finally decided I liked that picture of the pretty daisies... real or not. ;)

Anyway... When it comes down to it, fake will be cheaper. They were easier to track down as far as type and specific colors. 

AND we can start putting them together as soon as they come in. 

I am getting the two days before the wedding off from work. 

Barely enough time to get my behind in gear and drive the few hours to my parents house 

(where we'll be pre-wedding.) That said, trying to insert time to put together flower arrangements and bouquets just wouldn't happen.

So yesterday I finally sat myself down and ordered our flowers. 

I had been putting it off... I guess because of the debate over real v. fake... but also because I knew it was going to be a significant expense.

Thanks to Afloral.com and their free shipping promotion going on UNTIL yesterday, I knew I had to get it done. So, I did. Free shipping is a GREAT motivator. 

And it was not as expensive as I had feared! I got flowers for my bouquet, the girls' bouquets, pre-made boutonnieres for the guys and the dads and enough flowers for our centerpiece vases! I even ordered some less expensive daisies to make a toss bouquet that the lucky recipient can keep!! :)

As well as all the floral tape, wire and ribbon to put it all together!!!

Thank goodness for a horticulturally talented sister! Thanks Kayli!!!

So that's done! A HUGE to do off the list!!! 

And only... 24 days to go!!!

It's getting serious now friends... ;)

Now to find something the girls can toss from their flower girl baskets..

Any suggestions???

Fake petals aren't going to work on the golf course I'm afraid...

So what about you? Did you/will you have real or fake flowers?

Do you think it matters and if so why?

Real vs. Fake Flowers

So, the big flower debate... Real vs. Fake.

I'm leaning towards fake. Think, hot June wedding, out of the way, pretty large distance between my wedding and any such flower shop...

Supposedly cheaper. Can be just as pretty as real... Will serve as gifts to loved ones in my cute rope vases, that won't just die on the way home.

But then... Can you really beat the real thing?

I'm wanting big, bright Gerber Daisies as my main flowers. They can be really expensive when purchased "alive". But will they look as nice if they're fake?

At my friend's wedding she spent around $1,000 on fake flowers. Family served as the flower arrangers, and they came out just lovely! Now, over three years later, a huge bunch of them lay ruined in her garage... Nowhere to store them. No one to give them or sale them to... She votes real. What's your vote? Real flowers, or fake flowers?
You can vote here ---> to the right, in my side bar.

In the meantime, here is my flower inspiration board... Sort of. I make all of my boards over at Style Me Pretty... And I just use their pictures. So they aren't EXACTLY what I'm looking for, but kind of. I want big, bright, Gerber Daisies.
What about white bouquets for the girls, and colors for me?
I like the single flower in a jar look... But prefer my rope vases.




Any opinions are SO much appreciated! And please vote in my really important poll.
My wedding flowers depend on it.
Well, not really, but I would like to know what you think! :)

Flower-Centerpeice Inspiration

Since the very beginning of my wedding planning, I knew I wanted to have bright, beautiful Gerber Daisies for my main flowers! I just love them!

I also knew that I wanted to have rope involved in the decor, a nod to Mr. M's favorite thing! I also happened to inherit a soldering iron awhile back, so I started making rope vases...

Thus my flower/centerpiece inspiration was born!

This is my very first rope vase! I think it turned out lovely! I have two made so far and a third started... People keep, gently of course, letting me know that making that many rope vases doesn't seem realistic. But I don't care, I'm still going to attempt it anyway! 

My sister and I purchased these dyed baby daisies at Safeway just to see how they might look in the rope vase. And because they were the only daisies available... :)

But I think it looks nice...

So picture one or two of these filled with big, bright Gerber Daisies, like these... on each of the tables at our wedding reception.

SOURCE

It just so happens that I, with the amazing giveaway luck I've been having lately, won 12 rustic table number holders from a giveaway over at Sparkle & Hay!

Who I just love, by the way!!!

The table numbers are made by Le Chic Wedding Boutique.

It'll be 6-8 weeks I guess before those little lovelies reach my mailbox... but that will give me time to think of a creative use for them.

I wasn't really planning on table numbers, so we'll see what I come up with...

SOURCE

In the meantime, anyone have any ideas for addition to my western/rustic/bright centerpiece displays?

What did you use at your wedding? Or plan to use?

Real or fake flowers? Wait... that's a discussion for a future post...
But we can get it started here... So again, real or fake??