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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to use normal hand tied bouquets

119 replies

Workyticket · 17/04/2021 18:31

for our wedding?

I'm generally clueless about weddings and you lot have been so helpful with my various queries

Postponed last year. Rebooked for July this year and we've sorted precisely nothing.

I've been quoted £80 for an informal bouquet. We're not skint but it's a very relaxed wedding on a working farm and would rather throw money at more drinks and food for guests. I also have a few bridesmaids and they'd be £50

Could I just order normal bouquets from the local florist or buy them in Tesco or am i deluded?

What's the difference? They might be a bit drippy I guess - not sure how wedding florists get them not to drip 🤔

OP posts:
Thread gallery
16
firstimemamma · 18/04/2021 13:36

Could you try a different florist? For our wedding I'm getting a bridal bouquet of wildflowers, 2 flower girls posies and 2 button holes for £70 and it's a reputable florists that does loads of weddings.

RightOnTheEdge · 18/04/2021 13:38

I love the sound of your wedding OP!
It doesn't sound tight at all it sounds amazing 😍

MitMopse · 18/04/2021 13:42

Bought roses in Tesco and some nice ribbon. Did them ourselves (thanks Mum). Lovely! Bridal flowers are a massive waste of money in my opinion and I had a big 'traditional' wedding.

SausageDogSandwich · 18/04/2021 14:07

@MitMopse

Bought roses in Tesco and some nice ribbon. Did them ourselves (thanks Mum). Lovely! Bridal flowers are a massive waste of money in my opinion and I had a big 'traditional' wedding.
Not if flowers are important to you! Not every bride wants to look as if they stopped off at Tesco en route to the church.....

Everything about a wedding is temporary. Very few brides will buy a dress or shoes they can wear again. The food will be eaten in an hour so. Same with the drink. You'll unpin your hair and take your make off at the end of the night.

Your bridal bouquet will be in your wedding photos forever. If it turns out to be a stressful fuck up, you don't want it to be engrained on those photos for eternity. You can have something simple and pretty. It needn't cost a fortune.

Brides will often come in and buy flowers. They'll either completely underestimate what they need and have to come back and buy more or completely over estimate what they need and spend far more than they need to. They usually always underestimate how long it takes to do things and the impact farting around with flowers will have on their hands. Next time you are in a florist, look at their hands. They're normally green with brown fingernails!

I wouldn't do my own wedding flowers. It's stressful enough doing other people's!

Elieza · 18/04/2021 14:08

If you ask your local Asda in advance they may be able to order in what you want specially?

Or if you have a flower market they may let you buy from them. Our local one won’t unless you’re a florist though, even if you turn up at 6am. No proof no can do.

You can buy Pearl headed pins and green floristry tape and ribbon on eBay etc. for once you source your flowers.

If you are near a branch of Country Baskets they do centrepiece holders and bouquet holders with oasis and everything floral you can imagine. I don’t think ours does real flowers though you can get everything else there. The website is ok but they have way way more stuff in store.

Elieza · 18/04/2021 14:10

Forgot to say, it was exhausting and stressful making over a dozen centrepieces and bridesmaids bouquets two days the night before the wedding and putting them in the fridge to keep them fresh was tricky as there were so many.

SwayingInTime · 18/04/2021 14:19

I think £100 is a bargain for that bouquet.

But....I had a great experience on the way to a wedding - having received a phone call saying the flowers hadn’t come, I walked into a florist, described the dress and she made something beautiful on the spot for £35. Don’t know if I was incredibly lucky but it was genuinely better than the original plan.

Babamamananarama · 18/04/2021 15:13

OP have you looked into a pick your own flowers option? Really affordable as you pay by the bucket and then can make them into whatever you want. If you are after loads of colour and informality, that's the way to go. You can buy a load of oasis and some big pots and do them the day before.

Oneeyeopen · 18/04/2021 15:20

If you ask locally you will probably find ladies who do flower arranging or church flowers and will make you the bouquets you want for a small sum.
Start with the WI or the local church.
Our church flowers were done by the ladies who normally did them and they were stunning.

Woeismethischristmas · 18/04/2021 15:29

I did my own with a bouquet from marries. White roses and the looks like thistles but isn’t. All the wedding flowers cost 30 quid. I think florists get a bit overexcited with prices for wedding flowers.

cheninblanc · 18/04/2021 15:29

I used supermarket flowers, wrapped in silk ribbon from hobby craft. They were perfect and did a lovely job. Cost £38 for 4 bouquets and 6 vases full of flowers on the tables

Original poster
Workyticket · 18/04/2021 16:25

Part of my reluctance to book anyone to do them is the fact it may get cancelled again - we're holding off loads of stuff because we've already cancelled once and there's no guarantee 😪

OP posts:
SausageDogSandwich · 18/04/2021 16:28

@Elieza

Forgot to say, it was exhausting and stressful making over a dozen centrepieces and bridesmaids bouquets two days the night before the wedding and putting them in the fridge to keep them fresh was tricky as there were so many.
Whatever you do, do not put your flowers in the fridge. A domestic fridge is too cold for flowers. A cool dark garage or cellar is best.

This thread has amazed me. You all clearly undervalue florists. It's taken me a long time to build up my skill and knowledge. I absolutely cringe when I look at my early ham fisted attempts but it's all part of the learning process.

You're paying for my knowledge. I know which flowers will last a hot summers day and which will wilt and die within an hour or so. I know which flowers are in season and will be good value. If eucalyptus is a bit shit in July, I can suggest ways we can add it to give you the same overall effect.

Florists work with flowers all day every day but even we run into problems. The difference is that we can pretty quickly solve it whereas a DIY disaster could be costly. I have a whole raft of stressful wedding stories I could share! Things can and do go wrong even for the professionals. Do not underestimate the stress when things go wrong or you are running out of time to get it all done.

chesirecat99 · 18/04/2021 16:30

Gorgeous venue OP!

I'd buy a packet of mixed trailing nasturtium seeds (they come in orange, red, crimson, yellow, pink and cream) for a couple of quid, plant them in old tin cans with a hole drilled in the bottom to use as table centrepieces. By July they will be long enough to trail the table length and up the umbrella posts.

If tin cans are too rustic for you, you could wrap them in fabric tied with ribbon. If you really want to splash out, you could buy some trailing petunia plug plants (they come in pinks, purples, yellows, white, stripes and spots) too from a garden centre to grow on for the wedding - usually about £3 for 6.

SausageDogSandwich · 18/04/2021 16:32

@Workyticket

Part of my reluctance to book anyone to do them is the fact it may get cancelled again - we're holding off loads of stuff because we've already cancelled once and there's no guarantee 😪
We're aware of this though.

It doesn't sound as if you are looking for anything huge and complicated. We order direct from Holland so as long as you aren't wanting a weird and wonderful flower from Papua New Guinea, we'd order your flowers on Tuesday for a Saturday wedding.

Original poster
Workyticket · 18/04/2021 16:35

This is a lovely positive thread so I'm trying to avoid a pity party. I'm just so fed up of not knowing again 😒

OP posts:
Original poster
Workyticket · 18/04/2021 16:37

@chesirecat99

Gorgeous venue OP!

I'd buy a packet of mixed trailing nasturtium seeds (they come in orange, red, crimson, yellow, pink and cream) for a couple of quid, plant them in old tin cans with a hole drilled in the bottom to use as table centrepieces. By July they will be long enough to trail the table length and up the umbrella posts.

If tin cans are too rustic for you, you could wrap them in fabric tied with ribbon. If you really want to splash out, you could buy some trailing petunia plug plants (they come in pinks, purples, yellows, white, stripes and spots) too from a garden centre to grow on for the wedding - usually about £3 for 6.

this sounds amazing - we have giant daisies that grow in our garden which I'd love to use but I worried about bugs on the table

I'm off to ring FIL about your suggestion. He has an allotment so might help!

OP posts:
Windy1234 · 18/04/2021 16:38

I had my wedding on our working farm and all our flowers were done by my mum and myself. We did get the flowers from a florist but saved so much by doing it all ourselves. The natural sort of look worked much better for my wedding anyway.

itwa · 18/04/2021 16:58

We had basil plants in terracotta pots at ours. I grew it myself and it smelt lovely. Two pots on each table and then a tall vase of sunflowers in the middle (trestle tables)

chesirecat99 · 18/04/2021 17:14

You could grow the nasturtiums under insect mesh to keep the bugs away. It's super cheap. Nasturtiums are edible so your DFIL would be allowed to grow them on an allotment.

www.harrodhorticultural.com/insect-mesh-netting-pid7513.html

If your DFIL is allowed to grow flowers on his allotment, he could grow armfuls of sweet peas for you - beautiful, fragrant and popular for wedding table decorations, they look great in a jam jar or drinking glass. It's too late to sow them but you could buy plug plants. These are £12.99 for 60 plants in the sale:

www.thompson-morgan.com/p/sweet-pea-scent-infusion/t17016TM

chesirecat99 · 18/04/2021 17:30

@itwa

We had basil plants in terracotta pots at ours. I grew it myself and it smelt lovely. Two pots on each table and then a tall vase of sunflowers in the middle (trestle tables)
That must have been amazing. I grow more herbs than I could ever use just for the fragrance Grin

Supermarket basil is only £1.50 a pot and is usually multiple seedlings crammed into one pot. I split them into 4 separate pots and grow them on.

Lemon thyme, lemon balm and strawberry mint (smells just like fresh strawberries) would be great in pots or in an arrangement too. You could give them to guests to take home as wedding favours!

GlamourSpider · 18/04/2021 17:39

Just an idea...if you are looking for a unique bouquet, I attended a wedding where every guest was asked to bring a flower and they were arranged and hand tied by one of the bridesmaids to make the bridal bouquet. It was lovely.

Original poster
Workyticket · 18/04/2021 17:44

Love this! I'm crocheting bright mandalas to sit under the flower jars and I'm really hoping guests take them home as I really don't want to be stuck with them!

OP posts:
Alsohuman · 18/04/2021 17:45

My mum did all the flowers for our wedding, she did a fabulous job. I’ve always wondered why people don’t just buy hand tied bouquets, you can get something really nice for a fraction of bespoke wedding flowers. You only have to say the word and the £ signs light up in the eyes of florists and cake makers.

Go for it. (Oh, and please don’t have artificial flowers, they’re horrid!).

Candycane57 · 18/04/2021 18:05

Look up where your local florist wholesaler is. You'll find flowers in bulk for cheap. Youtube is great for arranging tutorials. It's so simple and all flowers look lovely together. I'm a former florist and even I think floristry skills are unnecessary when making bouquets look nice! Hope your day is lovely x