How does a bride who has never worked with flowers decide to design and create her own wedding arrangements?  This is the story of Erin Watson, a DIY bride-to-be who took on that challenge, and found that the winning combination for doing your own flowers is to keep it simple and get a little help from your friends.

Researching the Flowers

Erin spent time educating herself on flower types and looked at over 200 varieties on FiftyFlowers.com to find the perfect blooms for her navy, white and yellow wedding theme.  This process was time consuming and she quickly realized there are not many natural blue flowers to choose from. So Erin opted for white as the focal flower and chose anemones with a navy center. Erin also selected ranunculus for their soft, open look and paired both with yellow and blue accent flowers. Here is a complete list of varieties used on her wedding day:

• White Anemones with Dark Center
• White Carnations
• White Ranunculus
• Veronica Periwinkle Lavender
• Yellow Tinted Million Star Baby’s Breath

Designing the Flowers

Erin’s simple vision for the centerpieces was to place the flowers in an eclectic mix of glass bud vases and jars.  The head table arrangements would be mounds of white carnations and the personal flowers would be rustic, hand-tied clusters. Erin worked closely with one of our wedding flower consultants to determine what quantity she needed of each variety including plenty of extras. Below is a complete list of items Erin planned to make:

• 1 bridal bouquet
• 4 bridesmaid bouquets
• 3 corsages (Moms and Grandma)
• Flower girl basket
• 8 boutonnieres
• 12 reception table centerpieces
• Head table arrangements (2 centerpieces)
• 5 Cocktail tables

Erin & Matt’s Wedding Concept | A food and wine festival with a roof-top view Watch their video trailer now, courtesy of the wonderful team at Imprint Cinema: Erin and Matt’s Orlando Science Center Wedding by Imprint Cinema: Orlando Wedding Cinematographer from Imprint Cinema on Vimeo.

 

Ordering the Flowers

Erin placed the order online about three months before the big day. Customer service called to confirm the order and advised that based on the weather this year and it being the end of the season that availability could potentially be limited for anemones. Erin was faced with a reality that professional florists deal with every day, Mother Nature. Erin had already decided that anemones were the focal flower of her wedding day and she absolutely had to have them! The customer service team was hopeful that there would still be quality anemones to ship for Erin’s big day and promised to keep in close contact with the farms.  Erin made a decision not to worry about it. After all, she was marrying the man of her dreams and if a flower substitution had to happen she was not going to let it ruin her day.

The Plan

Based on her conversations with other DIY brides Erin felt strongly about not preparing the flowers on the actual wedding day. She planned to get it all done in advance and envisioned that she, her mom and her bridesmaids would get together the day before to make the flowers and store them in the extra fridge in their garage.  On the wedding day her dad would deliver the arrangements to the venue. A friend who also does event planning had volunteered to be her “day-of” coordinator and would make sure that everything was put into place.  It was a seamless plan which would allow Erin to relax and enjoy her wedding day.

Preparing the Flowers

Erin received a phone from customer service the day before the flowers arrived to let her know that everything was on schedule but the anemones would be shipping a day late; they needed to be held at the farm for an extra day so they wouldn’t mold in the box during shipping but they were coming! The next day Erin and her friend, Sharon, were ready with floral shears, flower food, and buckets of water. They proceeded to joyfully open boxes of flowers, cut the stems with a sharp knife and place in buckets to hydrate.

Making the Flowers

Several weeks before the wedding Erin received an incredible surprise!  Two of her co-workers offered to take charge and make the flowers on her wedding day. Erin was floored and grateful for this wedding gift.  Even though she knew she and her team could have done it, this kind gesture would give her even more time to herself. According to Claudia and Lauren, the two co-workers who made the arrangements, it took them three hours in the employee break room, working with flowers that had been processed several days prior, to make everything plus the clean-up and delivery time to the site.

Erin, now happily Mrs. McKeeby, is a determined DIY-er who learned how to  design and make her own wedding flowers.  With beautiful blooms and a plan to keep the arrangements simple anyone can create pretty, floral accents for a wedding. And according to Erin, there was wonderful satisfaction in having her own creative spin on their wedding day flowers. Would she do it again? Absolutely!

To schedule your complimentary DIY wedding flower design session email cservice@FiftyFlowers.com

Download the wedding flowers worksheet.

Vendors:

Photography:  Scott Watt www.scottwatt.com

Day Of Coordinator: Good Life Travel and Events  www.facebook.com/GoodLifeTravelandEvents

Caterer: Puff ‘n Stuff  www.puffnstuff.com

Cake: The Sugar Suite  www.thesugarsuite.com

Cupcakes: Yum Yum Cupcake Truck  www.theyumyumcupcaketruck.com

Cocktail Entertainment: Dueling Pianos

Ceremony Music: Our DJ Rocks  www.ourdjrocks.net

Cinematographers: Imprint Cinema www.imprintcinema.com

Officiant:  Rob Duford www.orlandonorth.com

Wholesale Flowers: FiftyFlowers.com   www.fiftyflowers.com

Make-Up: Faces by Shannon  www.facedbyshannon.info

Hair: Erin Geluso Designs  www.lushlash.net

Venue: Orlando Science Center www.osc.org

Photography (flower processing only) Chris Gillyard www.chrisgillyardphoto.com

 

 

About the Author: Liza Roeser Atwood

Liza is founder and CEO of FiftyFlowers.com, the leading provider of farm direct flowers devoted exclusively to weddings and events. FiftyFlowers.com offers exceptional customer service and seamless ordering of flowers online. Ten years ago, Liza launched her career on an Ecuadorian flower farm following a service tour in the Peace Corps. Today Liza is the foremost expert in global flower sourcing and devoted to providing DIY Brides with fresh flowers shipped directly from the farm.

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