Any regrets about DIY flowers?

[shinythings]

I''d love to hear experiences and opinions. Did you have enough time to spend with your family and friends the day before/day of the wedding, or were you stuck doing flowers?
Thanks!

 

[neatfreak]

I can''t speak for myself but a friend who did her own flowers was miserable. It took forever, she kept making mistakes, and she didn''t get to relax before the wedding at all. Also every interview with wedding planners I have seen says not to DIY if you can avoid it at all.

BUT I think it depends on what your expectations are and what you want. A few rose only hand tied bouquets and centerpieces are no big deal. But if you need a ton of stuff, AND you want elaborate things, I wouldn''t DIY personally.

Do a road test. See how long it will take you to make 1 of each thing that you need, multiply accordingly, and you can get a rough estimate of how long it will take you on the actual day.

Good luck!

 

[sumbride]

I did flowers for a friend''s wedding. It ripped my hands to pieces. I would never do that to myself as a bride!

 

[Gypsy]

What I was/am planning to do. Assembly line centerpeices. One person does the flower prep after I show them how . Two people do the greening once I show them how, then I do the flowers. My FI, BF, and her FI would be helping me. A little wine... and it''s a party.

 

[snlee]

I can't speak for myself but my Aunt did all the flowers for our wedding. It turned out beautiful and I am forever grateful she was willing to do our flowers. However, I know she put in countless hours and hardly slept the night before our wedding. And she had things to do throughout the wedding day (transporting the flowers, putting the flowers on our cake, etc). It was pretty stressful for her. I felt really bad to put her through that. I wouldn't do my own wedding flowers. You are stressed enough on your wedding day and don't need any added stress.

ETA - Our wedding flowers were simple too. We didn't have centerpieces.

 

[decodelighted]

I did DIY flowers but I doubt it would even qualify ... I think I ordered 60 large gerber daisies to put in individual glass soda bottle "vases" along picnic style tables ... 20 mini calla lilies for my "bouquet" ... and 3 large calla lilies for my mom, MIL, & GIL to carry down the aisle.

My girlfriend ended up having to tape & tie ribbon around my bouquet though at the last minute -- when my ALSO DIY hair & makeup ran a little over time (after I''d run out with my sister to pick up the flowers early that a.m.).

For me it was okay ''cause I had a simple, casual look in mind -- and was a pretty chill bride -- but I can see how any more than that could take day-before, day-of stress to a whole new level.

 

[Gypsy]

The flowers don''t have to be done the day of. I will be having a florist do my bouqet, and any cake flowers, my groom and groomsmens boutineers and the BM''s small bouquet. I will be doing the centerpieces and alter pieces (if any). And I will do them two days before and refrigerate them. But I will only need 8- 10 of these MAX and I used to be a floral designer.

 

[So_happy]

I will be having a florist do my orchid and rose boquet, all bouts and bm bouquets (simple garden-y alstromerias with few roses for texture for the girls). I will be, literally cutting and then plopping (official term

) 6 stems of alstros and 3 roses in each of 8 4"cube vases w/ purple water and sprinkling the thing with glitter spray. Done. I have the vases (xmas tree shop for 1.50 per piece) and I''m ordering my flowers from the florist because I just can''t deal with the stress of "not knowing" if the flowers will come in bud form or full bloom or whatever and how many days to allow them to fully bloom etc so this was a compromise.

I won''t be stripping my hands one bit as the alstros have no thorns and I''m only handling at most 2 dozen roses (and I''ll wear gloves just in case).

I do have a final florist appointment on the 21st and if they agree to do my centerpieces (since I already own the vases and I''m already paying thier markup for the flowers) for a reasonable (cheap) fee, I might just splurge at the end. I can feel myself wanting to simplify things now and I''m just going in to that appointment with that expectation. But, so far NO regrets at all. I love my flower plan!! It took a LOOONG time to find it

 

[shinythings]

Wow-thanks for all the great feedback everyone. I don''t need to do my own flowers, but thought it would be a fun project. Maybe I''ll save that project for another day, or do the rehearsal dinner flowers or something!