Florist versus Fresh Market

"How much?!"

I'm sure my jaw dropped and my eye's must have gotten really big when the florist said the bouquets, boutonnieres, and arrangements would cost $1200 - $1500, because she went into great detail regarding how that price was figured. I don't think I heard much more of her persuasive speech, because in my mind I was still screaming the number and hearing it echo about in my cranium. I had always known flowers were not cheap, but I guess I was naïve to the fact that they cost that much, especially for what I had proposed, which was fairly minimal. I had proposed 4 bridesmaid's bouquets, plus my wedding bouquet, 3 corsages, 8 boutonnieres, and 8 arrangements for the tables. I know that sounds like a lot, and I'll agree that the boutonnieres, corsages, and bouquets were probably the majority of the proposed cost, but I couldn't wrap my head around why the arrangements would cost so much... All I knew was that the amount of said arrangements and flowers was not going to work with my budget.

Well, I'll admit, I left the florist a bit disappointed, resigning myself to the likelihood that I would probably not use a florist for what I wanted to do for the wedding. That realization also squashed the probability of me being able to get any of the flowers that I had originally wanted, namely peonies. If you are unfamiliar with what peonies looks like, click the following link to Pinterest to a picture of one http://www.pinterest.com/pin/543668986239143279/. Unfortunately, peonies bloom early in the South, usually around Memorial Day and would be here and gone by my wedding date in late June. My only glimmer of hope had been to have them ordered, which didn't seem very likely now. Instead, I resigned myself to the notion of using seasonal flowers and my second favorite flower, the iris, which would be in bloom throughout May, June, and July.

Bouquet wrap from
Michael's

So what does someone do when they are on a budget like me? I turned to my favorite person to console my sudden misery and pull my dashed little dreams out of the deep chasms of despair in which they had fallen, my fiancé, Johnny. (Okay, so I exaggerated for dramatic effect.) One of the things I love about Johnny is his creative mind and ability to think outside the box. He's great at pointing you in a direction of potential resource, which is my opinion of the Fresh Market. Can I take a moment and rave about the Fresh Market? That store is so cool! I can't believe I haven't been in this store before now! I was even more excited to find out that they have fresh flowers all year long. Granted, their seasonal flowers change throughout the year, but they have roses all year long. So I can say the colors, red, pink, and white are pretty much a guarantee to be able to accessorize with around the décor at the wedding. The Fresh Market also has affordable ready made bouquets or the option of having one arranged from the stock on the floor for the cost of the flowers (which were not expensively priced) and a $5 labor fee. So I'm thinking five of the ready made bouquets, some ribbon around each of the bouquet's stems, and a bouquet wrap from Michael's and my bridesmaids and I have our flowers for a $100-150 dollars. The flowers for the centerpiece arrangements will cost about the same if the Fresh Market arranges them or less if my wedding party puts them together. I'm pretty confident that my wedding party would be able to arrange the flowers for the centerpieces. I don't think what I have in mind will be too complicated. I'll just need to determine if it would be worth our time to do it versus paying the Fresh Market to have them arranged. I'll decide that later. The lady at the Fresh Market said she only needed two weeks notice.

Doilies from Michael's, frames from Hobby Lobby
and Garden Ridge for $10 and the a sampling of the milk
 glasses vases I purchased at the antique stores.

Inspiration picture pinned to Pinterest
 by Madison House Designs

Each centerpiece on the tables will consist of four items: a paper doily, a milk glass bud vase, an ornate picture frame, and a small candle. If you are unfamiliar with what a milk glass vase looks like (you've probably seen them, just didn't know what they were called) I have posted a picture. Milk glass comes in all different styles and sizes. Older vases have very tiny mouths and can only hold one or two flowers. The newer vases actually are a bit wider at the top and can comfortably hold 3 or 4 flowers and some small sprigs of greenery or babies breath. It is the later vases that I had in mind. The paper doilies can be found at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. I bought mine from Hobby Lobby and got 6 for $2.99. I'm still trying to locate a small candle for the centerpieces. I think some silver glass would be really pretty with the white and black. I located enough of the milk glass vases yesterday. I found several vendors on Etsy with bulk listings for milk glass, but unfortunately, glass is heavy and fragile, so it costs a lot for the shipping. Instead of purchasing them off of Etsy I decided to put some money back into my local economy and shopped around at several of the antique stores around the Chattanooga area. After visiting three shops I found a total of eighteen vases of various patterns and sizes and paid only $87.36. The math works out to $4.85 for each vase which turned out to be a far better deal than Etsy. My inspiration for the centerpieces actually comes from multiple pictures on Pinterest, but this picture posted by Madison House Designs best illustrates the design I have in mind (the color scheme will just be slightly different and I'll be using more bud vases.) Now you can probably understand why my jaw dropped when the florist gave me her price. There wouldn't be a lot of arranging for a bud vase and if I supply the vases, that's another cost I shouldn't have been charged.

Picture from Etsy vendor showing
 that at most, only
 3 or 4 flowers can fit per vase.

In the end, I think it's to my advantage to not use a florist. If the Fresh Market had not been an option, there was always the vendors at the Chattanooga Market during the summer too. The vendors there are also great contacts and would have been able to supply us with flowers the day before since our wedding would be Monday, the next day. I'll admit, there are some advantages to using a florist though, particularly that you can choose the flowers and colors, knowing exactly what you are getting. I'll be playing it by ear with the Fresh Market. Sure, they have a good idea of the seasonal flowers, but we'll be going with what is available. Some people might find this type of arrangement too nerve wrecking. Lucky for me, I'm pretty laid back and can be spontaneous. It's also a good thing that white and black go with everything! (Yep, I knew that would be helpful later!)

Probably the best part of our trip to the Fresh Market was hearing that sometimes in June, they get a shipment of peonies, but it depends on late frosts and the weather affecting their crops. So I have my fingers crossed that the crop doesn't get frosted and I end up with my peonies after all! Wouldn't that be awesome!

Bridesmaids Dresses!

Little black dresses...

Not exactly my first choice of color, as you might have speculated from my earlier posts regarding pastels and spring colors, but I must admit there are a myriad of reasons that make it a logical color choice for a wedding. First, although I like soft pastels and cool colors, I can't argue with the fact that black has been a forever timeless and elegant color. It's slimming qualities make it a great choice for anyone wanting to flatter their figure. Secondly, the shades of black are easier to harmonize if everyone ended up getting a different dress style, unlike trying to harmonize various shades of blues, pinks, greens, or other colors. This was a major deciding factor when I considered that all my bridesmaids lived states away and that there was the potential of having a different dress style for each girl with little means of comparing dress fabrics. Another factor was that the color black can go with any other accessory color and white. Third, I wanted to buy stylish dresses that my bridesmaids could potentially wear again and black is perfect for: black tie affairs, dates, or God forbid funerals. I didn't want anything that screamed, "I'm a bridesmaid dress!" You know the ones I'm talking about? For the record, I really hate the tradition that bridesmaid dresses have to be ugly in order to not outshine the bride. I think that way of thinking is incredibly juvenile and silly. As beautiful women whom I adore, I want my attendants to look their absolute best not just at my wedding, but again if they should reuse their dresses!

So the ugly dresses aside! I spent a couple months sorting through images on Google and Pinterest and in bridal magazines for the styles that I liked. I found several evening gowns at Macy's and on Edaydress that were quite elegant, as well as some great suggestions from my sister Michelle, that were at JJSHouse. Two of my favorites are pictured to the right. (On a side note, most retail stores have a "Little Black Dress" section, which I also found helpful.) I must admit however, I was terribly disappointed in general with the cocktail length dresses that are in style right now. Perhaps, it's just me, but everything seems a bit short for cocktail length. I'm certainly not a prude, but I don't think anything shorter than mid thigh should be worn at a wedding. But that's just me...

Once I had a general idea of the look I wanted for the dresses (which was quite broad), it was time to go shopping.  I'll use any excuse to go shopping and the search for bridesmaid's dresses seemed like as good a reason as any! The occasion also supplied me with the perfect excuse to meet up with my best friend and bridesmaid, Haley. So I enlisted her services (which wasn't very hard) in the pursuit for dresses and we delved into our task at hand. My little sister Michelle, (my maid of honor) was currently deployed and overseas, so I let her off the hook this time! (Wink wink!) Since we are roughly the same size, I tried on dresses for Michelle in her place.

We started our shopping expedition at Belk. Our goal was to find a dress available at a well known retail store like Belk, Dillard's, or David's Bridal. Stores that are throughout the United States and could be accessible to all my bridesmaids. Ordering from an online site was our backup plan. I wanted to start searching early for the dresses, because I knew that online sites often require 12-16 weeks of notice for their products. I didn't want to delay looking and then feel rushed later. Our timing might not have actually been the best though, since it was just before Prom. Most of the stores were discounting their current stock (which was good) and replacing them with the springier designs. It was sort of hit and miss. Everything had been kind of picked over, but we were able to find a few items that had multiple sizes and were decently priced. Finding a dressing room however, proved to be the harder task. Actually, I found that task to be quite annoying, considering that trying on the dresses was half our reason for physically being in the store versus finding something online. Being an experienced online shopper, I can profess that not everything that looks good online will look good on all body shapes. The same can be said about clothes on hangers and manikins. They don't always flatter the figure either. An important factor of our search was to find a dress that looked good on everyone or a dress for each person that would suit their figure. We found two dresses at Belk, but own that stood out as "The One." We continued our search and moved on to Dillard's, whose selection of evening gowns seemed to be a bit more broad and in a variety of colors. Suddenly, excited again by colors (yes, I know, I'm terribly indecisive at times) we tried on several of the dress styles, becoming quite attached with a plum colored gown with lace. Yes, I have a major weakness for lace as we have also previously established.

Unfortunately, this dress wasn't exactly what I was looking for either, but while we were at the checkout looking up the sizes for the plum dress, my eyes fell back onto this black dress I had past over because it was a size eight. For the heck of it, I decided to go ahead and try it on, even though it didn't look that great on the hanger. (Now what did I just say about hangers and their deception?) Turns out, it was perfect! Well, perfect except for being 2-4 sizes too big. It's perfect because it goes really well with my wedding dress. I really can't say too much more other than that though, but I can post a picture which is to the left. (Ignore the white socks.) I really love the chiffon rose rosettes. The top is actually a spandex material. The only draw back to this dress was that its smaller sizes were only available online and in sizes 6-16. Later, after we ordered them, Dillard's had issues actually locating our dresses and had to search its 300+ store locations in order to find them. I had my fingers crossed until I got a confirmation of Michelle's dress being shipped from the Dillard's in Nashville. Turns out these dresses were meant to be. :)

Now, I am just short a dress for my junior bridesmaid Samantha. She has the same problem I had at her age, she's tall and skinny. However, I think I can modify a plain black dress that I already have that is made out of the same chiffon fabric. It is pictured to the right. I'll need to dress it up a bit, maybe by attaching a belt with some rosette flowers or something. I'm open to suggestions since I have time to think and work on this project in the next couple months. All things considered, I am very pleased with the bridesmaid dresses. I'm really excited to see how they all look on the bridesmaids together and how they look with some bright colored flowers, which is an entirely different post altogether. :) At least, with my wedding date drawing ever closer, I won't have to worry about dates or deadlines to order either my wedding dress or bridesmaids dresses from a bridal shop or to keep appointments for alterations. I can check this task partially off the list for now. :)