Floral Delight

Let's talk flowers shall we?

I love flowers. I love receiving them, I love sending them, and I love planting them. I couldn't get married without some sort of floral presence in my wedding. In my dream wedding flowers are everywhere and I mean everywhere but sadly, reality kicks in and shatters my dream. Flowers are freaking expensive! As I mentioned before there isn't room in our budget to do floral centerpieces but we are still doing the bouquets and boutonnieres. There are all kinds of alternatives to the real deal but they just don’t do the trick for me.

Since I am getting married in a garden I would feel weird walking down the aisle with fake flowers – doesn't really work for me. I knew my bouquet would have to be real and that’s when I went “ummm”.

gif via Giphy - quite possibly my favorite ever!

  I like flowers but I don’t know a danged thing about them! All my planting comes from whatever my mom suggests or what I think looks good. Mama Barn has the best green thumb of anyone I have ever known. So when it came time to book a florist I was conflicted because I always wanted my mom to arrange my bouquet. It’s one of those things I have envisioned since I was a little girl.

The hold up? Our semi-destination wedding.

As much as I really wanted to do them myself and have my mom arrange my bouquet, there were several factors that stood in our way:

1. Nowhere to store flowers

2. Limited space to arrange said flowers

3. Transporting the flowers can be tricky

4. No time
5. I don't know anything about picking which flowers to use

Mr. Farmer and I will be arriving in Eau Claire with the kids the Thursday before our wedding. By the time we get there it will be fairly late and we would like to spend some quality alone time as a family before things start to get crazy, which means we just don’t have time to arrange anything and neither does Mama Barn. So to the professionals I turned, which bummed me out a little bit until I met my florist. Lacy from Allure Premiere Event Florists is amazing! I contacted her based off the suggestion of our wedding coordinator, Collette, and one quick conversation with her and I knew she was the one for me.

She is incredibly attentive to what her clients' wants and needs are. We spent 45 minutes on the phone for my initial consultation, since I couldn't be there physically, and I hung up feeling totally confident that she understands what it is we want. Since I was unable to find a picture I wanted to recreate, I was worried I wouldn't be able to give her enough information. I didn't know what kinds of flowers I wanted, but all I had to do was show her a few arrangements I somewhat liked and she took it from there. 

Erin Volante Floral, Photography by: Boutwell Studio photo via Erin's Blog

  I love the texture of this and the fact that there are several different kinds of flowers present in it, however I'll be adding more roses and will be using fuchsia instead of plums and purples. Mr. Farmer loves roses and gets them for me quite often but I wanted more than 1 type of flower in my bouquet so his recommendation was out (he suggested doing all roses).

Flowers via Best Blooms 

I love the look of this and the colors are pretty perfect. I knew for sure that I wanted both white and fuchsia in my bouquet and that I wanted my maids' bouquets to be all fuchsia. I think it will look pretty striking against their navy dresses. For those of you following along who remember that my matron of honor will be wearing fuchsia instead of navy, fear not, hers will be fuchsia with soft pinks and slightly larger than the others. That way it will contrast with her dress and won't blend in completely. 

Once we figured out the bouquets we turned to the boutonnieres. Mr. Farmer said he wanted a rose, since they are his favorite, but both Lacy and I agreed that it would be best to use something other than a rose. They wilt like crazy so she suggested using calla lilies. According to Lacy it's pretty impossible for them to wilt and I am all about using something that will stay nice for the duration of the evening. Plus as a fun fact they are the first floral arrangement Mr. Farmer sent me while we were dating. 

Image via Etsy shop Songsfromthegarden

Something like this, without the embellishment and silver wrapping. Oh and real since this is an image of a silk flower.

There are times when you have to turn to the professionals and seek their expert advice and opinion, that's what they are there for. Giving up control has me a little freaked out because I don't know for sure what my bouquets are going to look like, but I just keep reminding myself Lacy knows what she is doing and she knows the look I am trying to accomplish. Plus for as pretty as flowers are, there really aren't any "ugly" arrangements that I have come across.

Did you have to give up an idea because of logistics? Does anyone else struggle with not being able to visualize something?