Having been a florist for 28 years, you can imagine I have done hundreds of weddings and special events.
With my career mostly in the Washington D.C. area, I have had the opportunity to do international weddings as well, including Jamaica, Bermuda and also along the east coast.
I have worked with David Tutera, the celebrity wedding planner, to create the first wedding at Disney’s castle. I love what I do and I thank God for the talent he has bestowed upon me.
When I meet a bride and do a free consultation at Countryside Florist of Kirtland, I go over color scheme, dates, times and other information that is pertinent to the wedding.
Usually about the time I arrive at the centerpieces of the wedding, I will hear the familiar phrase, “We are doing the centerpieces ourselves.”
The bride is very excited about this and I normally will get a dissertation on her design with tons of pictures from magazines, Pintrest or somewhere off the Internet. Of course 99 percent of these were not done by the bride, but a professional. You will never see a “Do it Yourself” bride wedding featured in any professional bridal magazine for a reason.
The number one reason not to do it yourself is stress. Flowers arrive needing to be treated with preservative, hydrated, de-thorned, stripped etc.
Proper handling of the flowers is important for the life of the flower, how it will open or not open. You want your flowers at the peak of beauty on your wedding day.
Proper knowledge of flower handling is essential. Do you really want to be worrying about your flowers living through your reception? The night before your wedding, you should be having your rehearsal dinner and enjoying your out of town guests.
Make no mistake, your bridesmaids do not want to be removing thorns or putting arrangements together ever. They will ruin their nails and scratch up their skin with thorns or break out with an allergic rash.
The number two reason you do not want to do it yourself is, at the end of the day, you do not really save money by the time you buy the flowers, containers, buckets, tools, Oasis and other decor to go around or on the centerpiece. Why not take that amount of money and let the florist deal with it?
However, if you do want to experience the flower wedding world, I offer a service where you can come into the shop and I will help you purchase the right amount of flowers and order them for you at a reduced rate. I will also allow you to use the space and refrigeration at the shop. I can supply buckets, water, flower food and help with an initial design of the centerpiece for you to recreate.
We offer an all-rose centerpiece for $50 that has a dozen-and-a-half roses in a gold or silver container. But if you wanted to make it yourself at the shop, you could make it for about $32. Mixed flowers are always possible as well. If your concern is money, try getting a tax write-off for a donation to the food shelter after your wedding.
I can design a basket of fruit with flowers and ivy that would be gorgeous on the table for your wedding reception. Afterward, you can remove the fruit and repack it into the cases and take it to a food bank to make your donation.
Remember, your guest will be looking at your centerpieces for the entirety of the reception. Make it memorable and classy, not homemade or cheap looking.
In the grand scheme of things, flowers and wedding decor will be the most talked about aspect of the wedding. And although guests may not know all of the flowers used, they will know if the centerpieces were beautiful or unattractive.
Give your florist the opportunity to offer cost-saving ideas instead of immediately thinking you have to do it yourself.
Again, if you are crafty and want to do something, limit it to a third of the tables with the other two-thirds done by a professional. We love what we do and we want your day to be magical and memorable, and not memorable for pulling thorns out of your hands.
Sometimes we have containers we are trying to get rid of that we can sell off price as well.
Bottom line:?Let your florist give you some options that will still be elegant and cost effective.
After all, that is what I love to do.
Scott Stevanus is the owner of Countryside Florist of Kirtland, 10535 Chillicothe Road.