I've just always wanted an all white bouquet. Alllll white.
I envisioned big, white fluffy peonies and roses, calla lilies... all that good stuff. And then, my world was opened up to the ranunculus and it's millions of fluffy ruffled petal goodness. Which reminds me of a story.
Mr. Ramen: "So... what kind of flowers do you like?"
Miss Ramen: "All of them. But I really like peonies, roses, calla lilies, orchids.... Oh! I really like ranunculus!"
Mr. Ramen: (cracking up) "What? Radunkulous? That's not a flower!"
Miss Ramen: "I've shown you ranunculus before!" (shows Mr. Ramen 1/2 a million photos of ranunculus in her "wedding inspiration" folder)
Mr. Ramen: "Ohhhhh, yeah. Those are cool. I like the radunkulous."
Miss Ramen: "RaNUNculus."
Mr. Ramen: (too busy watching Youtube to respond)
Miss Ramen: "So, do you have any ideas of what you'd want your boutonniere to look like?"
Mr. Ramen: "Can I have a radunkulous?" (cracks up again)
And the rest is history.
looooove the light pink ranunculus!
So being a budget-concious bride (and who isn't these days?), I tried to figure out what flowers I could use to get a fluffy, soft, romantic, organic looking bouquet without selling my firstborn child. I quickly learned that you could substitute garden roses for peonies, throw in some hydrangea and/or lisianthus for filler if you wanted, and even get a fluffy effect from some Queen Anne's Lace or baby's breath.
So that became one of my major checkpoints with a florist - personal flowers; unfortunately most florists, unlike caterers, only give you quotes AFTER you have a consult; you kind of go into these meeting blind. So you guessed it - at the end, I had met with almost 10 different florists. It wasn't too painful since I loooove flowers; but still exhausting to talk about the same thing over and over.
sweet pea and light pink rose love
For you Phoenix area brides here's a little brief review on most of the florists I met with. I tried to narrow it down by going off of reviews, booths at bridal shows, and looking at pictures off of their websites, since I wanted my flowers to have a look that most AZ florists don't do. After getting quotes back, I ended up having to search for more (keep in mind that I had told them all the exact same budget...).
- Teonna's Floral Design - Recommended by newlywed friends. She's very artistic and knows a TON about flowers; they even host weddings in her gardens, so she has absolutely everything you could ever dream of wanting in her huge workrooms. She would be ideal for a bride who has a vision but isn't sure exactly what she wants, as Teonna is full of creative suggestions. A drawback but also a plus is that she verbally gives you a quote at the end of your consultation - no emailed line-itemized quote. I think she does a great job of sticking with your budget, but beware that she charges 20% for setup/delivery.
- Wildchild - She works out of her home, which keeps costs down; although surprisingly, her quote was the same as some other store-front florists. I think her style is (obviously) a more bold, very ultra modern look, which wasn't what I was going for.
- Freshcut Romance - I actually only checked this place out at the urging of Mr. Ramen's parents, as his grandma owns the building that this florist rents. If you are thinking "Cha-ching! Hookups!" I was too, but alas -no dice. They were one of the pricier options.
- Tabletops - If you need a full service sort of deal (linens, etc), they are a great option, since they have a lot of really cool linens, plates, and such. They also have lots of sample work portfolios, which is nice.
- Studio @ Cactus Flower - Corinna was the head wedding florist when I scheduled my consultation. She was really sweet and had lots of good suggestions; I was a little turned off by working with such a huuuuge florist shop. They were unfortunately WAY over my budget.
- Butterfly Petals - a relatively new florist, she works out of her home. She's super creative, and is very knowledgeable about her flowers. I loved that she was so artistically inclined. One of my big concerns was that she lives out in Gilbert - pretty far from Phoenix, so delivery charges could be a bit high. While she came in UNDER budget, her itemized quote to me wasn't exactly the same flowers that we had discussed in our meeting.
- Blume/I Do AZ - the first florist I met with, Kristen is really nice. She's actually the first florist to offer manzanita branches to me at a very affordable rate. A lot of her work is more in the line of what I like for flowers.
Petal Pushers - My personal favorite, as this is the florist we ended up hiring! Tamara is a DREAM to work with - she's super responsive even though she's ridiculously busy, insanely knowledgeable, extremely organized - and just an all around awesome person. Her background is actually in set design (for plays/musicals), and so her creativity shines through. She quickly caught on to my vision and had millions of helpful suggestions.
When we decided to go the insane route and DIY the centerpieces, she was willing to work with our new budget (and my changing vision). Did I mention that she was the most affordable too (lowest pricing for bouquets and bouts)??? I seriously love her. It is definitely not a coincidence that she is listed in SMP's Little Black Book of vendors! I haven't even gotten married and I heartily recommend her!
My bouquet will actually be something like this - mostly white, with a hint of light blush pink.
Of course, I'll be incorporating some white and pink "radunkulous", along with white lisianthus, brunia berries, white and blush sweet peas, garden and vendella roses, and some dusty miller. I seriously can't wait to hold my wedding bouquet!
My lovely ladies will be holding mostly light pink bouquets of ranunculus, Eskimo roses, lisianthus, brunia berries, and dusty miller.
The Ramen Flower Tips:
- Consider having someone pick up your flowers FOR you - we're saving $ by having our DOC do the pick up instead of the florist delivering them.
- Beware the set-up/delivery fees! It can seem like a florist fits into your budget.. until you factor in that extra 10-20%.
- Ask your florist to scale the bouquets down - I was able to have the flowers that I wanted, but just in a smaller version, and saved a lot of money doing that!
- Work with someone who understands what you want and can make suggestions that go with your vision but keep you in your budget.
- Beware the florist who never returns your calls/emails!
- Know what general flowers you want before you head into a consultation - which ones are in season, which ones are more rare, etc.
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