South American Flowers??

[sarie_j]

Hi everyone -- I just posted myself into the BIW list, getting married in May and had been kinda blah about everything until like 2 days ago and now I''m all giggly and excited and trying to figure out everything at once lol - I just wondered if anyone on here had ever ordered flowers from one of the wholesalers and did their own arrangements? I have found a company I like and everything I''ve read has been good, but I have got tons of warnings about having to ''prepare'' the flowers and have no idea as to what that entails... Anyone out there tried this and if so what was involved?? My brother has been a party planner for years and I work at the hotel where we''re having the reception so unlimited access to the floral coolers and all the bits and pieces to arrange them with, just a little worried about what I''m actually going to get. Any info would be awesome, the more I read the more I realize that you guys know everything!!!

 

[Trelala]

At my friend''s June 2005 wedding, we got a bunch of flowers at the San Francisco flower market on Friday. My friend had prepared 5 buckets filled with cold water. When we got home, we recut the flowers (mostly roses, dahlias and greenery) then left them in the buckets. Oh, the buckets were placed in the coolest room in the house. IF you have fridge space, go ahead and place them there.
Saturday night, all the BMs got together and made their own bouquet. The bride provided flowers, floral tape, various ribbons, plant shears, drink and light snacks. Lots of fun. The bride already took a bouquet class at our local community college, so she taught us how to make our own bouquets. Quite simple, but then, we weren''t making a nything elaborate. She also made a bunch of boutonnieres. We brought our bouquets home in paper cups filled with water. I put mine in the fridge and brought it to the ceremony the next day.

I''d look into taking a flower arranging class, or checking out some books from your local library. You can also do a test bouquet and probably figure out everything from there.

 

[sparkel]

Hi Sarie,

I don''t chime in too much on PS but usually do on the flower questions. I have worked in a flower shop for over six years and have seen exactly what is involved in wedding flower prep. In my honest opinion its risky to do your own flowers if you have no experience. If you chose to go through a florist they always order extra flowers in case any of the ones for your wedding should fail where most DIY people don''t

Also depending on your choice of flowers some can be extremely tempermental and need very special care. (For example hydrangea will willt in a handtied bouquet). So you really need to do your research to understand how the flowers will perform. You also mention floral tape and things like that which you would use to bind corsages together etc. floral tape can be very tricky to use if you are not well practiced.

I think that what you would get through a wholesaler might very well be a fine product. I will not do my own wedding flowers when my turn comes around because it makes a mess of your hands (literally it dries out your skin like mad b/c of the chemicals flowers are treated with and the greens sometimes stain your hands). In addition I won''t want that last minute stress. If you do decide to do the DIY route then be sure to do a test run as has been suggested so that you have a chance to practice. If you haven''t visited a florist yet you may also want to see what''s available in your area. A good florist should be able to work with your budget whatever it may be. Maybe you could just have them do the really tricky parts like corsages and do the bouquets as really simple hand tied bouquets. (you let the roses blow open a little and gather them together and collar them with green and wrap it with a beautiful ribbon) I attached something to give you an idea

Keep us posted about what you decide and maybe we can make some more suggestions!
Congratulations on being a BIW,
Rebecca

 

[sarie_j]

Thanks so much for your honest answer -- If I can take advantage of your experience with one more question I would really appreciate it.
First off I have decided to have my bouquet done by a local florist, because I don''t want to take any chances with that at all but
what I was looking to do were some seemingly simply arrangments kind of like this -- Is this really as simple as it looks? I tried with a couple of roses and got them to stand up but haven''t done one with a full dozen or more yet. I absolutely adore roses, but the only way I can have as many as I want is to go through the wholesaler so I''m hoping you''ll tell me they stand up well to amateur arrangers -- anyway, thanks if you have any more thoughts!!

 

[sparkel]

Sarie,

I''m glad that what I posted was helpful to you. I think that roses are actually a great flower if you plan on doing your own table arrangments. The key is to make sure that you have your flowers a couple days before the even so that you can allow them time to "blow" open. This way the roses will not be so tight and they will have more of an opulent feel to them. If you are planning on using red roses I would advise you to stay away from ones called "classies" I would suggest "freedoms" or "charlottes". (Each rose has a differnent name based on characteristics like colour and shape etc. If you allow your roses a few days in a regular temperature environement and then gather them together in your hand and collar them with a few greens and cut them to the proper length for your vase like in the picture you posted it will look dynamite. If you find that the roses have blown open to exactly where you want them put them in the cooler that i believe you mentioned you had access to and it will in essence "freeze" them where they are so that they stay fresh.

One of the main concerns with roses is that they must be kept in water. You want to ensure that when you cut them that you ensure that it is a sharp cut so the stems are not blocked. Roses are fairly hardy so I think you will be fine. Just make sure that you order a few extra so that if there are some yicky ones you will be able to pick through them.

Lastly roses come with what are known as "guard" petals. This means that sometimes the outside petals are not very nice and need to be gently removed. This is something you decide based on what they look like. If they look fine don''t take any off. The way to tell if a rose is fresh is to gently squeeze the bottom of the rose bud part it should feel fairly firm and the rose petals should feel soft but not like wet tissue paper.

That is my super long tips on roses. I think it was a wise move farming out the bouquet work and stuff and I''m confident that you will do fine with the arrangments. Just make sure you do a practice run and it will be fine. In reality you can do them a couple days in advance just make sure to refresh the water.
Good luck,

Rebecca

 

[sarie_j]

Wow -- That was amazing super fast lol, you have no idea how much I appreciate it -- The company has both of those rose varieties that you mentioned so will definitely get one of the two, I''m glad you mentioned them because that was the one thing I had meant to ask you but forgot about.
Am starting to get excited now -- I just ordered a sample box of roses, so when I get them will let everyone know how it turns out and hopefully be able to post a pic of my attempt --

 

[sarie_j]

Sparkel if you would give me a little more info I would love you forever - the other thread on DIY flowers has been awesome and I figured I''d ask -- My colors are red and a limey green color -- I know I can put greenery in there to fill in the blanks, but I would love to have a green flower but have no idea what would work... I thought about the green roses but have never seen them before, do you have any good, hardy, stand-up-to-amateur-fiddling flowers?

 

[dtnyc]

look into Yoko Ono mums- they actually have other names now, but google yoko ono mums- they are cute little round lime green mums- like large buttons- really cute.

 

[sparkel]

Hi Sarie,

I haven''t heard of yoko ono mums as dtnyc suggested but I think I know what she is talking about them. I think that hypericum berries would be awesome with what you have going on and they would bo sooooo easy to fit into your arrangements as well. They come in a super lime green colour. I am super excited to see how this turns out you are REALLy going to have to send some pics our way. If you are doing any taller arrangements bells of ireland could work. You need to snap of the wierd little frou frou part at the top if you use them. Just barely take any off (u''ll see what i mean in the pic). You are pretty limited with green flowers unfortunately but I think that the berries will be dynamite. There is also the cymbid orchid idea (they come in lime green, see the DIY flowers thread).

HTH,
Rebecca

 

[sparkel]

bells of ireland, just get rid of that last little leafy looking part (it''s a flower maintenance thing not an aesthetic choice)