One thing I realized during this appointment is that my bouquet inspiration looks really different in person!
It turns out that that cranberry-colored rose in the middle there is not actually that light in real life. In real life, it looks more like a dark burgundy, like so:
Pretty, but not quite berry...
The colors in my inspiration photo aren't entirely accurate. The florist I’m working with—Cindy—graciously brought out these flowers for me to see in person. When I saw the burgundy rose, I wasn’t that excited about it. It didn't do it for me, which was sort of disappointing, considering I’ve been using this photo as inspiration for months! You would think that, because I chose this color combination for our wedding, I love red. But I only just like red, and I’m not the biggest fan of red roses. The roses in the photo seemed to be more of a berry red, which I loved. So I had a moment of freaking out that my floral "vision" was not going to be possible and it made me sad. I'll admit, it wasn't my proudest moment.
Then I started thinking about alternatives to red roses, maybe even something more lush and fluffy. I asked Cindy about dahlias. Dahlias come in that same cranberry color family but I like the look of them better. Maybe you remember one of the pictures I took of my ring back in this post? It was with a dahlia!
Personal Photo
Luckily for my bouquet, the price doesn't change by switching out the roses for the more-expensive dahlias so I'll get my wish! My bouquet won't look exactly like my original inspiration but it'll look very similar. Here are the flowers it'll include:
Now, for the centerpieces, it's a different story. Having dahlias in the centerpieces will raise the price by way too much. An additional $30 more (per centerpiece) than if I just stick with roses. I'm not that enthusiastic about the burgundy roses but I'm getting over it since they're my most economical option. Flowers by Brian had a lot of lovely arrangements on display in their show room, many including roses, and they all looked beautiful. As of right now, our centerpieces will be roses, ivory hydrangeas, hypericum berries and the yellow flower stock. I might ask them to add some peach/yellow roses as well. I'm sure they'll look pretty and I'll get to see a mock-up before the wedding. In the end, the centerpieces aren't the most important part of the wedding. They won't even end up in that many pictures. But I have to admit, there was a pang of disappointment about not being able to afford the exact flower that I want.
Overall, it was a productive appointment, and I thought Cindy was helpful and super-sweet when I didn't know what flowers to use. She ran to the back several times to bring out some sample flowers to show me. The quote for this florist is a little higher than the house florist (a difference of about $300) but the quality of service is also better. I didn't see a single live flower at the house florist and I wasn't told that my inspiration photo wasn't accurate. I feel much more confident that Cindy understands what I want and will create something beautiful.
This experience made me realize something, which has changed how I go about planning our wedding from now on…but I’ll save that for another post!
Love your inspiration! It's too bad that the roses are more "red" in real life, but I think you ended up with a great alternative! My bouquet is going to have hypericum berries too, but in green.
ReplyDeleteI totally know how it feels to be set on one color only to find out that it's a hard color to find. In our case, the olivine green we selected has been the biggest challenge, so I've now branched out to shades of green ranging from emerald to chartruese. At first I was bummed, but now I think that having a spectrum of a shade (like the cranberry to red in your case) will add more depth and layer to your decor. I can't wait to see how it all turns out :)
Sorry your original vision didn’t work out, but I think what you’re doing instead sounds beautiful. And it's great that the ceremony flowers are included in the fee! That’s fantastic!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it all worked out in the end and the florist was able to help out with your vision. Sorry it was disappointing initially but I can't wait to see how all your flowers turn out!
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome that flowers are included in your venue ceremony and cocktail hour! We are talking with a florist now about flower things. I am currently finding out about vision vs real life when it comes to flowers. Excited to read your next post about it.
ReplyDeleteI think your bouquets will look great..it's too bad they won't follow your inspiration pic to the T, but it will be uniquely yours. We are still figuring out the floral logistics, but I am thinking of making fabric floral bouquets which will look pretty nifty if I can pull it off...as far as flowers go though I do have a few DIY order by the bunch options.
ReplyDeleteglad that it didn't end up being more expensive!
ReplyDeleteCranberry lemonade sounds very pretty :) Now that you mention it, I have taken pictures of red roses that come out "berry." Only thing is, now will your photos come out differently? Talk to your photographer about the differences between how the flowers looked in your inspiration photo and real life. I bet they can compensate, but a heads up never hurts.
ReplyDeleteJust stumbled upon your blog...it's funny because a lot of the inspiration that you reference from other blogs, are pieces that I've saved for my own inspiration!
ReplyDeleteMila
The daliahs sound divine. Love that shot of your ring too - it's so pretty.
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