Tuesday, July 1, 2008

bon voyage, mon joli fleurs

Today I'm preparing to send supplies to my AMAZING cousin who will be doing all our flowers for this wedding. She is incredibly crafty, and did the flowers for her own wedding and the weddings of her two sisters. She's also coming a week before the ceremony to help gut pumpkins and make cookies...but mostly to hang out with my mom, who is like her best friend. They're super cute together, just you wait.
So in a little while she'll be getting a big ol' box full of ribbon we bought with after season clearanceSome inspiration sheets I whipped up in photoshopExtra leaves, baby's breath, and feathers (just in case her area stores are missing some of the ingredients) and the rough draft of the bouquet that my mom, sis and I whipped up when I went home for Super Wedding Weekend, which is starting to look a little haggard after a few months of hanging out and being batted around by the cat:
I'm a little sad to see them go. I'm shocked to realize that I'm going to miss them.

"WAIT, did she just say she was sending flowers through the mail?
And that they had been around for months? But that would mean...they would have to be...she wouldn't use....FAKE FLOWERS?"
Okay, let's just get something out in the open.
Are you sitting down? Probably, since this is the internet and you are probably on a computer.
Okay: I am using fake flowers for my wedding.
(ooooh, gasp, gag, I know right?)
I am a big ol' faker, and I have no problem with this. I did not think it would be an issue but I guess this is a huge wedding faux pas. I have learned that this is "unacceptible" because it seems to be the only part of my wedding people are willing to argue with me about. There are some things, like our wedding date and our choice of menu, which people consider "non-traditional," but they usually just say something like "Ohh...that's interesting." They have never come out and told me I shouldn't do something.

But apparently something about fake flowers make even the most polite people feel the need to tell me that I will ruin my entire life if I don't drop some serious dime on fresh blooms. Well, most people don't go that far, but perhaps many of you may have made an involuntary scrunchy face at the very idea when you read it, and people have told me that they think it's a "huge mistake." Really? Having artificial flowers will somehow make my wedding less magical? How does that work?
The fact of the matter is, I don't care about flowers. Not really. I want pretty flowers to be a part of my wedding, sure, and I want a bouquet that will compliment my bodacious dress, but this is a wedding on a budget. If I spent the amount of money on flowers that is expected, I would have to leave folks off the guest list. Their presence is more important to me than something that will wilt and die by the end of the night. Also, as we have established, Greg and I are both awkward people and I would crush a living flower with my elbow, foot or butt looooong before reaching the ceremony location. I think I would regret that. I don't think I am able to regret renunculas, dahlias, and feathers in perfect wedding colors that will take most of the abuse that I will be giving out, and for less than I spend at target in a given week.And see how pretty? So pretty. And that's just me and my fam playing around in a craft store. Imagine what the magical hand of experience will be able to do.
So what do you think? Are you a little disgusted by plastic flowers? Are real flowers worth the price? Or do you agree that every once and a while it's okay to fake it?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

my old roommate krystal used faux (doesn't faux sound fancier than "fake"? haha) flowers for her wedding, too, and i don't think she ever regretted it--between the money saved on real flowers and the fact that her bouquet is still intact to this day, i don't think she ever regretted it. besides, a good silk flower is almost indiscernible from the real thing anyway, so i don't think you'll have any trouble. PLUS your mockup bouquet is gorgeous already!

Anonymous said...

hah also i typed "i don't think she ever regretted it" twice in one sentence, so you know i must be serious. :P what i wouldn't give for an edit button ;)

nadarine said...

Some things should not be faked. Ahem.

However, flowers do not fall into that category. Faux steam ahead!

Jen said...

I think the biggest reasons I went with real flowers is that I could say, I like these flowers. Put them together pretty, please. Actually, I think it was more like "I like these colors. Can you make them look nice?" I was pretty sure I didn't want to make the effort of arranging things, and I wouldn't have known where to get them. The fake gerbera daises were great for the aisle decorations, but I knew I didn't like them for my bouquet. So it was worth the money to me to just have those things show up before the wedding without having to do any real work for it.

I think the one in your pictures is pretty fantastic. If you don't want real flowers, why should it bother anyone? You saw Megan's wedding pictures! She used felt and buttons more or less. People are silly. Wedding flowers do not need to be real!