When I got married in 2003 my colour were a dark wine red and white. I poured over wedding magazines to find the type of flowers I wanted to compliment that theme. I looked at vendors and then I got the quote from the florist. My heart just sunk. What I really wanted in the way of flowers would put me far out of budget. However what I could afford was far from my personal taste. The bouquets I was shown had a lot of fillers, a lot of greenery and babysbreath. Ten years ago I was not a fan of the latter and I didn’t like the way the green fillers in the bouquets took away from my colour scheme. Really how expensive could flowers be? I did my research and I found company who would sell me 200 wholesale bulk roses for only $200. I chose 100 black magic roses (the dark red ones in my bouquet below) and 100 white roses. I was so excited because this was far cheaper than anything the florist showed me and it was exactly what I wanted. The flowers came a few days before the wedding and we followed the simple directions to get them ready. The night before my mum helped the bridesmaids make the bouquets and she also put together the boutonnieres.
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| My 50 stem bouquet with Black Magic roses. |
So now that we are renewing our vows I am looking at flower options again. Since we are already married and this is our renewal, I do not have the same budget I had back in 2003. It is a much smaller and more intimate affair and we will be traveling to Wales to our holiday rental for the event. So far I have yet to find a florist near to the area that would be able to help me out. I have also been looking at ordering flowers online again. However smaller budget for flowers and not really liking anything I am finding online. Lucikly this time around we have the ever so popular Pinterest website. As you can see below I have a board dedicated to ‘I Do Again – Flowers’ and these would be my most recent pins.
With August still months way I have set anything in stone. However I have held on to one idea for the last two months that still seems like a lovely and viable option. Paper flowers. Paper is cheaper than fresh flowers so it fits my budget. There is the technical side that is involved in the decision to use paper flowers. Just how likely will it be that I can replicate any of the paper bouquets right now is up in the air. I also have been saving a ton of egg cartons because since we mostly eat Paleo we go through eggs very quickly. I saw how you can make flowers out of the empty cartons and that is another idea I am keeping in mind. Next to my egg cartoons I am also keeping every wine bottle and all the jars from our honey, coconut oil, olives, peanut butter, etc. So far I have quite a collection. It looks like if making my own flowers from recycled goods works I will have plenty to also use on tables and for decorations.
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| Here is just a sample of what I have saved so far from the recycling that we usually put outside for collection. |
My question today is: have you ever made flowers from paper and recycled goods, past the age of 10? What do you think about doing a eco friendly bouquet by repurposing materials from around the house? Did you find neat ways to save money for the flowers in your wedding?
