great balls of yellow

I really know nothing about flowers other than they're pretty and sometimes they make me sneeze. I certainly didn't know how much they cost!

The first florist that I met was probably the tackiest florist ever. Her entire portfolio was so 80s and featured gladiolus in everything! I have nothing against gladiolus but all I could think about was the movie Coming to America when I saw her arrangements!

I couldn't get out of there fast enough. She kept telling me that she could do whatever I wanted but her portfolio was so out of date and style that I really didn't feel like I could trust her.

Then one of my bridesmaids and I visited a florist who had the most wonderful samples. Everything looked so elegant and tasteful and just plain gorgeous. She had so many wonderful ideas and suggested so many types of flowers. She seemed to know exactly what I wanted:

a hand-tied bouquet with ribbon wrapped stems featuring pale to deep yellow flowers such as ranunculus, dianthus, freesia, full-headed roses and cymbidium orchids with burgandy throats

Perfect. I love it. *ahem* That is until she sent me the estimate.

$420 for rose petals for the tables???

I was a little discouraged until I got recommendations from two friends who went to Details...Florist for their weddings. I told the florist exactly what I wanted, praying that she could do it for less.

I was so impressed that she understood my limited budget. She had several suggestions on how to cut costs.. But even her base costs were far more affordable than the other gal I met with. In fact she was more than 50% less - for more flowers!

$30 for all the rose petals.

She explained that a lot of the petals would come from mine and the bridesmaids bouquets so they were mine anyway. She also suggested that it would be nice (and more affordable) to have the groomsmen and other honored guests wear ranunculus boutonnieres and have HB be the only one wearing a cymbidium orchid. It would tie into the orchids in my bouquet. What a great idea!

And while I was going through her portfolio, I realized that she also did the flowers for one of my good friend's sister's wedding! With three happy customers, I was more than sold.

Flowers? Check.