Tips on Flowers

Our Experience
Neither Jim nor I had a clear picture of what we wanted for floral arrangements. I knew that I wanted a bouquet of my favorite flowers, tulips. We wanted votive candles on the tables, and Jim wanted floating flowers. Armed with only that much knowledge, we headed off to visit some florists.

The Inn-recommended florist turned out to be a big disappointment -- when we told her we were having a very untraditional wedding, she didn't seem to understand what we meant. When we said there would be no wedding party, she frowned. She sighed at the idea of floating flowers, and suggested floating gerbera daisies -- which we didn't consider very elegant. Finally, after more explanation of our untraditional wedding vision, she said (and not nicely), "Well this is going to be different, isn't it?" After she showed us various pictures from an FTD album and told us, no, she didn't have any pictures of her own work, we left with a very inexpensive estimate...but a very sour taste in our mouths.

Then we met with Debby from Kent Greenhouse. We showed her a photo of my dress and told her about our ideas. She lit up at the suggestion of floating flowers, saying, "Oh, that's such a nice, old-fashioned idea and no one does it anymore" and immediately suggested gardenias or, for a third of the price, large and beautifully opened roses. She said she was pretty sure my tulips would be in season, but it depended on the kind of spring we would have. She had a lot of ideas and suggested ivy and tea roses running down the length of the tables, with scattered votive candles. And she showed us many lovely pictures of her own arrangements.

We ended up with a price that we could afford, and with some gorgeous flowers. The spring was good to me, and I got my bouquet of peachy-pink tulips. Both mothers carried long-stem white roses. The men all got white rose boutonnieres.

Because the ceremony was outside by the lake, we didn't need a lot of decoration there. The Inn re-painted the dock and planted some new flowers around the edge of the dock, and the florist made a garland to hang on the railings of the dock, punctuated by beautiful bows of gauzy white ribbon.

We also decided against doing a lot of flower decorating inside the Inn, since there were already strong decorations in the living rooms, from floral print couches to Oriental rugs to paintings on the walls. So we focused on the dining room. In the dining room, there were three long, rectangular tables for the guests. Each had two bubble bowls half-filled with water with a beautifully opened, extra-large rose floating inside. There were votive candles scattered across the length of the table and ivy, ribbon and tea roses also ran down the tables. For the head table, we put my bouquet of tulips in a vase as the centerpiece, then had the ivy, tea roses and ribbon, as well as the votives. The effect was just stunning.

Tips on Flowers

• Be sure to bring pictures of the dress(es) with you, swatches of colors, and ideas and clippings from magazines.
• Let the florist use his/her expertise and allow him/her to offer suggestions
• Make sure the florist shows you photos of his/her own work (not FTD arrangements).
• Look into the flower cases and make sure all the flowers look fresh.
• Make sure the florist knows what's in season for your wedding and will help you find seasonal flowers to create the look you want -- using seasonal flowers instead of special ordering can save huge amounts of money.
• Ask who will be setting up for your wedding, and request that the florist you speak to be the one who sets up for you.
• If possible, watch the florist setting up another wedding, so you can get an idea of how he/she works.
• A skilled florist can often suggest options which will be less expensive but will create the same effect as more costly flowers.
• f you're willing to trust your florist fully, give him or her a sense of color and style, and let the florist go to the market just before your wedding and choose the least expensive flowers that will accomplish your overall look.
• There are also many options besides working with a professional florist. You could ask a friend to arrange the flowers for -- or with -- you, buying them wholesale if possible. Or contact your local art school and let students of flower arranging do your flowers. Silk or dried flowers are also good cost-cutting options.