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since Im not a florist, that would stress me out.. but if you have plenty of help! go for it!
I think if you have help - then go for it! there is tons of information online how to make stuff, go for it!
what time's your rehearsal? i wouldn't want to be up all night doing flowers, or rush through dinner because i have to do flowers.
we're having a rehearsal lunch, and we're diying centerpieces after that. like your idea, it's just cut the flower and plop it in the vase, no thought or arranging to it, very simple. and lots of help. i'm scared to do my bouquet and bouts though, so those i'm leaving to professionals. i'll have to wait a week to let you know how it goes!
ah so it looks like you guys are split 50-50, just like me!
@artbee- rehearsal is friday night, 5pm and dinner around 7pm... a rehearsal lunch would be awesome!! wish we could do that too...so you are just doing centerpieces? do let me know how it goes, thanks!
i made all of my own flowers and i started months in advance so i wouldn't get stressed out. if you are able to make them and just store them somewhere in vases it's the best way. then you can just put them where they go on the day of. i made my bouquet, 4 bridemaids, a pomander for the flower girl (which took at least 40 small flowers), 2 hanging pomanders and the corsaes for the mom's. i did it every night for a few weeks as i had time and energy and i was done with months and months to spare. once you get the hang of it you can easily do it assembly line style. do a few practice ones first and then see how to set up the process. i.e. cut all of your petals, then shape them, then attach them, etc. for me it was totally worth the work.
my bouquet
mr bridesmaids
for another bride who loves poppies
im doing the centerpieces, church flowers and BM bouquets myself, im getting mine done by a florist because its not as simple... im not doing bouts or corsages at all..
It might be easier to handle DIY flowers if you use fake flowers for the bouquets and real ones for the centerpieces (or vise versa). Then, you can do some stuff months in advance and only have a little left to do the day of the wedding.
If you're going with fake or real flowers, it's totally do-able! It will most likely take you a couple hours to get everything exactly the way you want it (trial and error, double checking, etc.), so make sure you allow yourself enough time. Also, if you are using real flowers and are worried about their longevity, pop them into your fridge over night (don't put it into the freezer, anything below 32 degrees will ruin the flowers). Being in warmer temperatures will open up the blooms more and could cause the flowers to wilt prematurely. I really would recommend doing a mock trial with your bouquet and make sure it'll work for you. :)
I think it's totally doable but that you shouldn't be involved in doing them. Have your friends and family do it but do not plan on doing it yourself - that will be recipe for stress. However, if you can trust someone to be in charge of the flowers and "let go" and realize that they might not be exactly how you envisioned I think you should definitely DIY. Flowers are pretty - someone with good taste can make them look even prettier. :)
I'm having my mom in charge of all the flowers except for the bouts and corsages, since that's more detailed complicated work. I have zero worries on this score. (My mom on the other hand - plenty worried.)
I say don't because I did mine and I was up till 4am the day of my wedding.
(Not to mention that I do this every week for other weddings and have experience)
I did a test run on making my own bouquet & one centerpiece - so I could figure out how many blooms to order and how long it would take to set up. The bouquet only took me about 30 mins - with 25 roses. This included taking each head and wiring it, wrapping each individual wire and then wrapping the wires together. My centerpieces are 3 julep cups with 40 roses total and have ribbons around them. But all my flowers were prepped ahead of time (cut/thorns & leaves removed).
I think it you had help you could definitely get it done but maybe do it earlier in the day before the rehersal so you don't have to stress out and stay up late.
Hope that helps!
I'd totally DIY the centerpiece vases. I'd leave the bouquets up to a professional. Maybe for the bouts you can do something that doesn't require flowers so you can DIY them well in advance.
I think it would be pretty simple to do the centerpiece ones on your own. Have you considered buying some and trying it out to see if you think you can do it?
It still might be affordable if you diy your centerpieces but then you outsource your bouquets. Just remember to use in season flowers. And try to use cheaper flowers like roses, hydrangeas, and carnations.
If you didn't want the stress of doing it yourself could you buy the flowers through fiftyflowers and hire someone on Craigslist to do the arranging? Like PP's said they might come out better than if you did it yourself...and you could give whatever price you could afford.
I don't know if you made your decision or not but doing 12-16 bouts can be a lot of work. There is just a lot of detail that has to go into something so small. The bouquets might also be time consuming but not quite as bad since there are so many flowers it doesn't have to be perfect. As others have said, the centerpieces should be hard, just trimming the 2-3 stems down to size and placing them in the vase.
What kind of flowers are you using? I learned that orchids need to be hand wrapped, each individual blossom. So I'm going to diy the centerpieces (which are like yours) and then got a florist to do the bouquets, bouts, etc.
I think it's totally doable to do your own flowers BUT try it out first!!
I'm super crafty and made pretty much everything else for our wedding (and since I was making things and didn't want to stress out too much, wasn't demanding anything near perfection) and originally was going to our bouquets too. I seriously can't do flowers...even simple ones. They all looked horrible. I have many talents, but that is just NOT one of them. So make sure you aren't like me before you commit yourself!
Good luck!
thank you all sooo much for the advice/pics! i really really appreciate it!!
update: i now how FIL's trying to convince me not to do it, but i'm 100% sure i WANT to and CAN do them, i have all my BM's on board now, and my mom to help. we do plan on starting the process of dethorning and sorting out as soon as they arrive, as most of you suggested.
also, since then, bouts have changed to wheat and berries, which will definitely be done before hand, at least a week or 2 in advance, so that makes me feel alot better that those will be out of the way. so i'm feeling pretty confident! here in a few weeks my mom and i are planning on going and getting some flowers to do some trials as well, thank you to those who suggested it.
so now, the new problem is facing the FIL's tomorrow at easter, i know they are going to try and convince me otherwise.....
i am totally about DIY to save money, but i think you should budget your time and your resources wisely... DEFINITELY get help from your friends and family!!!
I would make sure you do a few trial runs to make sure you like them and they are infact as easy and your planning them to be.
I would DIY everything except the bouts. I hear that they can be difficult and you have to do them the day of or they die. Everything else you can work on the night before to save some time.
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so i've spent hours reading other bee's experiences with DIY flowers, i look at fiftyflowers.com almost every day, and i still can't decide what to do! i'm on a tight budget. I really want to make my own bouqets, and as far as centerpieces go (flower-wise), i'll have 4 small bud vases per table requiring only 2-3 flowers/vase (just cut the stem and pop them in) my wedding starts at 2pm.
will i have enough time/energy to make:
my bouquet
4 BM bouquets
12-16 bouts
100 bud vases- 2-3 flowers/vase
i will have the help of my mom, BM's, FSIL, + more family. i'm thinking assembly line?
i was thinking we could do all the arranging friday night after the rehearsal? about how many hours do you think this will take? looking for guidance, opinions, experience!
thanks so much