To DIY Wedding Flowers, Or Not? / Placerville Sacramento Lake Tahoe wedding flowers florist

via Green Bride Guide

Okay, so I love this photo from Green Bride Guide.  Now, this looks like a backyard or park wedding, and someone's mom is DIYing the wedding flowers.  You know that I'm all for that, in fact, I sell bulk DIY wedding flowers to Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and Placerville area wedding couples. Take a look at that look of frustration, or "what am I supposed to do next?" or "how the heck am I going to attach the flowers to the arch???" or "the wedding starts in 15 minutes and I'm not dressed and I'm very much perspiring and I'm not anywhere near done!" 

Here's the difference between DIY wedding flowers and paying a floral professional:  lean in closer: psssstttt: they are professionals, trained, with schooling, they do this all the time and so are experienced, and you are paying the floral designer more for their skilled LABOR.  When you DIY, you are cutting 1/3 to 1/2 the cost because you are providing labor.

As long as you don't expect perfection, then DIY may be for you.  As long as you can roll with the flow, and not get bent out of shape on your wedding day, then DIY may be for you.  DON'T, and I have to say it again, DON'T DIY if you only get your venue a 1/2 hour or hour before the ceremony or reception.  You can't do it.  It's very difficult even for pros when the venue is cranking out the weddings and only give you a 1/2 hour to get in.  There's one place in Sacramento that I am thinking of, and we had to wait in our cars on a hot day with the air conditioning running for over a half hour while the venue shooed out the guests from the wedding before, we had to rush setting up the ceremony site, started decorating the bar area as guests for our wedding were arriving, then madly dashing about the reception area, rushing the venue to change out the linens so we could get big, abundant centerpieces up (I was helping another designer).  We barely made it.  If I ever have to work that venue again, I will be adding the cost of at least 3 assistants to get it done on time.

Seriously, if you are going to DIY, it's great if you can get a venue that gives you a half day, full day, or overnight to prep it.  THAT's the way to go to DIY wedding flowers.  KISS - Keep It Simple, Silly!  Don't let changes in plans keep you from having great memories.  Really, it's all about celebrating a new stage in your life with the people you love, right?

If you need bulk DIY wedding flowers in the Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, or Placerville area, or surrounding counties, please contact me by email:  monique@aspecialdaydesigns.com  .  You can get the same flowers that I get, and I will quality control them for you.  I'm better than the box stores and it's safer ordering from me than some unknown website.  I'll condition your flowers properly so that they are fresh for you.

Of course, if after reading this post and looking at that picture, you don't want to DIY wedding flowers after all, LOL, contact me!  I do custom floral design too!  Go to my website at:  http://aspecialdaydesigns.com  .

A Mother of the Bride's Real Warning about Flowers Ordered over the Internet Arriving in Brown Boxes!

via Florist Detective   ...This is what arrived in the box!

I know you've seen the ads:  200 roses for $89!  All your wedding flowers for just $150!  I just warned you in a prior post what can happen  - flowers coming to you delivered over a day or two in hot or freezing weather can end up dead or severely wilted....then what will you do, because the company that shipped them is in South America or someplace else in the U.S.? Or what if they don't send you the right flowers?  It's not a local person who can fix it for you!

Here's a snippet from a real Mother of the Bride talking about her daughter's experience ordering from a South American grower.  She is writing from the point of view that "silk" flowers (actually polyester) are the way to go.  However, my take on that is...no matter how beautiful, those faux silk flowers are mass produced in China.  I do, however, love the handmade artisan blooms that you see on places like Etsy or Artfire or 1000markets.  To each their own!  Real, fresh flowers, however, are fleeting and precious and invoke a great memory...not only do I have great memories of my wedding day flowers, for the first five years of anniversaries, my dear hubby would give me a dozen roses per year - so on the fifth anniversary, I got 60 roses!

I digress!  Here's the true story:


"Beware of “growers’ co-ops” on the internet who operate out of South America, who offer a jaw-dropping quantity of roses for a few hundred dollars–and they offer an amazing assortment, as well.  We used ‘BigRose.com’ for my daughter’s wedding.  We ordered and paid for the roses 4 months in advance.  They called us a few days before the wedding to tell us “sorry, but we will not have the exact shade of red” we had paid for months in advance, so were sending a mix of similar shades. They stopped speaking English when we protested.  We quickly realized that, so close to the wedding, there was no chance we could get this quantity from anywhere else at the last minute  (and certainly not for the money), so we decided that mixing dark reds would have to do.  Imagine our shock when they sent not only mixed reds, but hot pink and peach–for an all-red wedding!  We had relatives combing every Costco and grocery store in town–and because of this unplanned-for scurrying, we DID make up most of the difference in quantity–but additionally, the South American roses, which were supposed to be thornless, arrived with as many thorns as petals–HUGE, rainforest-caliber thorns!–and thus took a far, far longer time–requiring each stem and thorn to be shaved down before they could be made into bouquets–than the time we had allowed–and we had tried to overestimate.  It all turned out beautiful, but the florist among us had punctured, bloody, inflamed hands.  Back to that reliable old expression, “If it seems too good to be true–it probably is.”  (You’d think we might have recourse, but my bank refused to pursue the matter because the seller did have a Fed-Ex receipt showing that goods were delivered–even it wasn’t the goods we ordered.) "

via Hemmroidz blog

Sunflower Centerpiece / Coloma and Placerville Wedding Flowers Florist

Here's a great option for a low centerpiece: a beautiful single bloom on zen rocks (or could be on flirty transparent glass gems). This is a great value and can be used with any large blooms - think gerber daisies, fuji mums, football mums, garden roses, etc. Cut your reception costs by alternating high and low wedding centerpieces - and it gives the eye visual relief and provides interest. See my website for this affordable centerpiece!

A Real DIY Wedding - Stacey & Eric are Married! / Sacramento Lake Tahoe Wedding Flowers Florist

What a beautiful indie bride Stacey was! It didn’t snow on her day, it did rain, but she told me that the rain let up enough for her and Eric to get some outdoors photos. She chose lovely green roses, orange spray roses, safflower, marigolds, sunflowers, barn red poms, and brought a vine and eucalyptus from home. To tie the bouquets together, she chose twine for a textural feeling. Even her dad pitched in to help make bouquets, and everything turned out lovely. She added dried lotus pods - which I provided to her - to her centerpieces for an autumn feel. Do you love her arbor? She said that each guest placed a flower on her arbor to show their support of her union with Eric.

Stacey was a great DIY bride. She had a good idea of what flowers she wanted, and asked for seasonal suggestions in her color palette. She didn’t get upset when the green sunflowers she really wanted for her wedding were not available at that time, nor were the brown eyed susans (just a little too late in the season, and not enough advance notice). She rolled with it when it rained on her day and she didn’t let the weather stop her from having a wonderful day. Cheers, Stacey & Eric, best wishes for a lifetime of happiness!

And visit MY website at : http://www.aspecialdaydesigns.com/

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What's in Bloom in March / Sacramento Lake Tahoe Wedding Flowers DIY bulk Wedding Flowers

Here's what's blooming and available in March:

Blooming Branches! They are gorgeous! I saw some forsythia at my vendors that was 6 or 7 feet tall - imagine that in some lovely tall glass cylinders for your ceremony. And quince branches, in their unique salmon color, as centerpieces on your tables. Looking for cream, consider some of the other flowering branches available, including dogwood. More branches available now and DIY prices effective March 2009 only:

• Almond Branches, $24/bunch
  
• Apricot Branches, $20.50/bunch
  
• Cherry Branches, Long or Medium, $24 or $20/bunch
  
• Dogwood Branches, Tall or Short, $24 or $14/bunch
  
• Forsythia Branches, Long or Short, $30 or $14/bunch
  
• Peach Branches, $16/bunch
  
• Plum Branches, $16/bunch
  
• Pussy Willow, Short, $14/bunch
  
• Pussy Willow, Tall (10-14 ft), $23/bunch
  
• Quince, Long or Medium, $33 or $26/bunch

If you're DIYing branches, I highly recommend that you check out Gay Smith's article on Blooming Branches over at ubloom. She tells you how to care for flowering branches and how to make them open. You can purchase the supplies she recommends through me.

Also unique and available is Columbine, $14.50/bunch, Campanula $18/bunch, Daffodils $6.50/bunch, ranunculus $12/bunch.

Special through April 15, 2008: Cymbidium sprays for only $39 each! Each spray contains 8 to 10 blooms. This is a great price, I got a special deal and I'm passing those savings on to you. The regular price is usually $60 each.

Forsythia Branches photo by Steve Sisney at http://gallery.pictopia.com/oklahoman/photo/934966/ .

And visit MY website at : http://www.aspecialdaydesigns.com/

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Sacramento Bulk DIY Wedding Flowers / Sacramento Lake Tahoe Wedding Flowers Florist

I have added a new service! The purpose of this new service is to reach brides who don’t want custom designed flowers - either they are brides on a budget, they don’t want to get into all of the details of custom-designed wedding flowers, or they might be destination brides. For any budget bride, or frugal bride, I offer DIY Wedding Flowers.

DIY Wedding Flowers - there’s loads of tutorials out there on the internet for DIY wedding flowers. There are even some books available for purchase, but I see lots of how-tos on ubloom, Flower School, and You Tube out there for free. Who should DIY wedding flowers? Budget Brides. Creative Brides. Calm Brides. Brides with family/friends to help. Brides who want a simple, elegant look. Who shouldn’t DIY wedding flowers? Frantic Brides. Impatient Brides. Perfectionist Brides. Brides who want big, huge, over the top designs that will take a lot of time and skill to make and install. Just remember, you’ll need to make the flowers the night before or a few nights before (for a simple wedding, figure about 9 people hours, minimum), have a way to keep them cool and hydrated, and have a way to get them set up while you are trying to get dressed and become the bride that you are!!

I offer a way for you to buy DIY wedding flowers just like the florists do - in bulk bunches. That means that you can order your bulk flowers from me, I’ll go pick them up for you, make sure that they are in good condition, and then you can pick them up from me, or I’ll deliver them to you. The benefit of buying from me instead of online flower wholesalers? My flowers are kept hydrated (in water), and I quality-control check them when I pick them up from my vendor for you. Personally, I would be a very stressed, upset bride if my flowers were to arrive in a box looking dead, with no one local to fix it, right before my wedding. The benefit of buying from me instead of the local big box store? I’ve looked into their floral departments, and it is very limited as to what you can order in advance. You get what you get….whereas, with my service, you order exactly what you want, and I make sure that they are in good condition - remember, it’s only a couple of days before your wedding. There are no do-overs!

I can also purchase your supplies…craft stores don’t carry all of the items that florists use, so I can get those for you too.

Take a crash course in wedding floral design! I’ll be blogging soon about upcoming classes.

What caused me to create this new service? I see a need to offer alternatives to brides. I lost one bride, that I hadn’t even met yet, to the big box store.com because of her perception that they had cheaper wedding flowers. At the same time, a friend told me about her friend who couldn’t find a florist that would do a daisy wedding - she liked daisies, but some florists look down on daisies as being “cheap” - which they’re not, they’re a beautiful flower and what the bride wanted - and the bride ended up DIY wedding flowers. The big box stores don’t offer all the different varieties of flowers and foliages that florists can access.

My prices are on the website, there for you to see.

So please visit the DIY Bulk Flowers page, if you are looking for DIY bulk wedding flowers at A Special Day Designs for Sacramento and Lake Tahoe wedding flowers packages (or even if you’re curious!) and let me know what you think!

And visit MY website at : http://www.aspecialdaydesigns.com/

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Welcome to A Special Day Designs / Sacramento Lake Tahoe Wedding Flowers Florist

Thanks for visiting my blog! I've been collecting a lot of great photos to inspire you, glassware for you to rent, and design and wedding tips galore. I have many years of floral design classes, and previously owned a wedding design business in Southern California. I was a budget bride myself, and I'm looking forward to helping more brides figure out their wedding flowers and be able to afford a beautiful wedding in these tough economic times. I offer DIY brides the following services:

• Bulk wedding flowers - and that means any flowers that are available, not just certain flowers from a big box store;
  
• Glassware rentals for your ceremony and reception, at great prices, to make your wedding even more affordable, in hip, trendy styles;
• Design recipe service - I will make a recipe for you to follow in making your DIY wedding flowers;
• Florist supplies - everything that you can imagine, and some cool hip trendy new stuff;
• Wedding Flower Design classes - everything you need to know to DIY wedding flowers;
• An easy to use, know-your-price-upfront Wedding Flower Calculator for semi-custom flowers;
• A semi-custom budget Value Collection based on roses and seasonal flowers that offers beautiful wedding flowers at an affordable price, like the Black Bacarra roses and seasonal flowers pictured in the monochrome bouquet in this post;
  
• A la carte services - you make some flowers, I make some flowers, it's your choice. Want to DIY wedding flowers, but don't want Aunt Susie to miss your wedding because she's setting up the reception? Hire me to set up your decor!; and
• Full service wedding flowers if you decide you want a full consultation and custom flowers from a professional.

A Special Day Designs provides wedding flowers for El Dorado County and Amador County wine country, Lake Tahoe, Placer County, Sacramento County, Yolo County, and Lodi wine country. Wedding flowers for Placerville, South Lake Tahoe, Pollock Pines, Camino, Apple Hill, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Coloma, Lotus, Georgetown, Cool, Grizzly Flats, Somerset, Ione, Rescue, El Dorado Hills, Latrobe, Jackson, Folsom, Granite Bay, Roseville, Lincoln, Auburn, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, City of Sacramento, West Sacramento, Natomas, Elk Grove, Galt, Lodi, Davis, and more.

And visit MY website at : http://www.aspecialdaydesigns.com/


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