Pretty much from the moment I got engaged I knew I wanted to do my own flowers. I had been to a bridal shower for a friend where everyone made their own flower crown, and I had LOVED IT. So the idea of putting together arrangements with my closest girlfriends and mother the day before the wedding seemed like the most wonderful way to spend the afternoon before my wedding.
Only problem was my family was super against it. They thought I'd be really stressed out, that the flowers wouldn't look good, and that it would be totally overwhelming and no fun. My mother even staged a "floral intervention," of sorts, to try and convince me not to DIY. It was a bummer, because no one else seemed to think it sounded fun but my friends adopted an attitude of "you're the bride so we'll do whatever."
So we compromised. My parents got to pick a florist for the ceremony space and personals, and I got to DIY to my heart's content for the reception and cocktail space. Challenge accepted!
And guess what, my flower party and DIY flowers were everything I had hoped and dreamed and even more beautiful. From the help the FiftyFlowers team was ready to provide me whenever I had questions about the order or flower supplies (i.e. how many buckets will I need?), they were so helpful and on top of things. The order arrived exactly when it was supposed to and in great condition; I never worried for an instant that the flowers were too droopy or wouldn't last until the wedding.
Only thing I would go back and change was being home alone when the order arrived, it took 3 hours to trim all the stems and get everything in water by myself. But then next day when all my best girlfriends and my mother came over to assemble our 24 bud vases and approx. 130 water tubes for short stems, everybody seemed to really have fun! Took 8 of us a little under 2 hours to put it all together, and that was with plenty of breaks for snacks and cocktails. We even had enough flowers leftover that my mom and I made 4 a large "bonus" arrangements, which honestly ended up being my favorite part of all the decor! And even my friends who had never done anything with flowers before were proud of their vases and got a kick out of seeing their arrangements being admired. It was cool to learn a little bit more about flowers and share a new experience together making something beautiful. And now when I look back at pictures of my wedding, I feel so much joy that not only did we have fun and make beautiful and high-quality arrangements, but we saved THOUSANDS of dollars doing it!
