Would not a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?

Or, why we decided to do our own flowers.

Once upon a time, I realized just how much I utterly adore roses. Red, yellow, pink, orange. Bring them to me! I must have roses at my wedding (this may have influenced our June wedding date). But roses are expensive. Given the cost, I decided that, at a minimum, we would use dark red roses. I know that aren’t a total match with our maroon and orange color scheme. Ehh, close enough. I also wanted my bouquet to be red spray roses. Too many demands!!!

I could stare at these all day. Source

Swoon Source

I waffled on the idea of contracting a local florist, ordering from a national florist chain, or doing our own flowers. So my next step was cost (reminding me that I should blog about our non-budget). For what we wanted, a national chain would be the most expensive followed by a local florist and then buying our own flowers. Sadly, I have not yet located a flower wholesaler or market in southeastern North Carolina, and a website would have to be our only option for that.

Given our table and guest count at the time, we would need around 20 centerpieces, four bouquets, corsages for two dads, one grandad, two mothers, and three grandmas. Since Mac decided to wear his uniform, we wouldn’t need flowers for him or any of the groomsmen (all also military).

Rose bouquets at national chains were upwards of $100. The quote from our local florist was well over $1000. After a bit more research, buying online would be between $600-$700.

Now I realize that purchasing and arranging our own flowers opens us to a world of uncontrolled variables. Will our flowers look okay? What will be in season? What happens if the flowers that arrive are in terrible condition? Back to Weddingbee. Mrs. Balloons also decided for DIY flowers and used Fifty Flowers. Fifty Flowers is based out of California and has a 100% wedding day guarantee. If your flowers are damaged or not what you want, they will replace them or give you a refund. I can live with that. I realize that companies will only put positive reviews on their site, but they have tons of great reviews. Their prices were so reasonable that I decided to go for it.

I decided on the box of wholesale roses in dark red (the bottom left bunch). Now for orange flowers. Originally, I found orange filler flowers. My math determined that 200 roses split between 20 tables would be 10 buds per container. The orange filler would, get this, fill out the arrangements and add some contrast color.

Both photos courtesy of www.fiftyflowers.com

My pursuing led to me to pumpkin trees. Tiny baby pumpkins on a stick? SIGN ME UP. Oh, sike. These aren’t in season in June. Damn. Back to the drawing board. Wait, what? Cattails? Goody gum drops. Never mind, not in season in June. Drat.

www.fiftyflowers.com

Since the maids are wearing maroon, I made an executive decision that they needed orange flowers. Roses or what? I scrolled through their orange flower options and came across ranunculus. A quick Bing search turned up some rather nice looking ranunculus bouquets. I hemmed and hawed over the cost of buying four different flowers: spray roses for me, bulk roses, filler, and ranunculus.

Another executive decision spurred me to quickly place an order for the dark red bulk roses, dark red spray roses, and orange spray roses. All in all, we saved close to $200 between my original inspiration and our final order. Fifty Flowers allows you to pick a delivery date but does suggest dates based on your flowers and event date. Luckily, the recommended date for all our flowers was Wednesday. After placing my order, a representative called me within an hour to confirm everything. I was quite impressed with their customer service and am praying the flowers arrive in good condition!

Ever taken a leap of faith with such a big purchase?