Weddingbee PRO

Hi Nancy,

I'm planning my wedding and trying to keep within budget. What is your take on DIY? You have such great suggestions, but I secretly want to know can I do my own flowers? Feel free to be honest, I need to know if I can handle this.

-C.K.

Dear C.K. and other Soon-to-be-Brides,

I'm very hesitant to answer this question, which actually came to me a while back. At first, I wanted to reply that anyone can do simple flowers. It's true -you could go to any craft, outdoor garden resource and online floral wholesaler to purchase your flowers. However, I don't think that's really the point. Anyone - if they put their heart and soul into something- could do anything they want. The point is, will it be worthwhile? Anyone that considers doing their own flowers might want to look within themselves and ask…

• Will the cost savings be worth all the hassle?
• Who will actually setup the flowers for you?
• Do you have a place to store these arrangements?
• Do you have the time to do research on what flowers are available?
• If you are having a wedding with over 150 guests, can you manage the process without stressing yourself out?
• Do you have the skills to create flowers? Are you willing to learn?
• Are you good with your hands?
• Other than flowers, are you planning other wedding DIY projects?
• Do you have people who can help you?
• Will you be getting help from your groom? Is he willing to share in the responsible of creating floral arrangements?

I want to share a personal story with you all. I did the flowers for my brother and sister-in-law's wedding in LA. My whole entire family got involved. We did all the flowers in his 700 sq. ft cottage. None of my staff came with me, so we could help save on costs. I bought and ordered all my flowers at the LA flower market through one of my vendors. That part was easy since I do it all the time, even transporting the flowers wasn't too bad. I drove my husband's SUV so we would have plenty of room. I did have to bring some equipment but it was only one carload. The rest of the equipment I bought and left in LA with my brother.

Needless to say, there was no professional cooler -nothing to refrigerate the flowers. Working out of someone's 700 sq. ft cottage was very different from my spacious office and studio in San Francisco. (Keep in mind this was a very simple wedding - only rose petals, candles, glass for centerpieces). We had to create “make shift” workstations. Here is what everyone did:

My father worked on initial pew decorations. My husband, KC, finished bridesmaid bouquets. My SIL's friends were helping me with odd projects. My mother- in-law worked on floral details like wrapping boutonnières and my mother wired flowers. My primary job was to create bouquets, boutonnières and the church pieces. While I was doing the flowers, I also had to manage all the work to ensure that everything got done in one day. I had about 6 people who were my assistants -people to run to get supplies, people to re-cut things, people to clean glass and so on.

All in all, my entire family pulled together to do the wedding flowers. And to this day, I don't think we would have called it fun, maybe interesting, taxing, or perhaps stressful.

This is all I can really say on this subject. For me, it's what I do, and I'm used to it but for most people it's not fun to de-thorn, cut flowers, remove labels, clean glass, and do detail work like wiring. So before you start a DIY project, think twice and ask yourself the questions above.

I hope this insight helps.

DIY project photo courtesy of Marthastewart.com