Anyone doing (/has done) their own fresh flowers?

Hi

I trained as a florist and worked in one for a few years. I know you want to cut down on the cost but I would strongly dissuade you from doing this! I'm not trying to get you to buy my services as I don't do this anymore. But you will need to buy the flowers the day before and need to start arranging them the morning of your wedding. If I was doing a wedding I'd start at 3am (obviously that's me doing it alone) and I'm assuming 10 table centres, a venue display, your bouquet, bridesmaid and buttonholes.

It is very time consuming. Also...you'll have green fingers and cuts on your hands on the day of your wedding.

I know several people that have suggested doing their own and have all done a trial, realised how long it takes and not done it. You just don't want that extra pressure on your day.

But if you do want to do it....there are lots of youtube tutorials and I have no doubt you'll get information on here from people to help you.

K

xx

I've done a trial of the centrepieces, and since I'm only having a couple stems each (half the teacups will be candles) it's really quick and simple to do, and there's 7 tables. I've also trialed a BM bouquet, and since I'm only looking at 1 kind of flower and babys breath it was also dead simple to do. I know how to do them, just wondering if there's a good place to bulk order the flowers, and whether I should be treating them somehow in the days before the wedding. Or would I be alright just getting them from a local shop?

Oh ok, well you can get them from New Covent Garden Flower Market (it's in Vauxhall so if you're in Kent should be easy to get to). However, they sometimes like bulk orders.....

If you buy from them, go the day before about 9am and get them. They'll be getting ready to close then so are more likely to do you bargains.

You just need lots of buckets of cold water and flower food. You need to cut 1" off all the stems, untie and unwrap them and leave them in the water until you're ready to use them. You really won't need to treat them any more than that. (if you're using carnations, cut immediately above or below the knobbly bit on the stem of they'll not be able to drink and will die pretty soon.) Keep them cold over night in a garage or with fans on them.

Alternatively you can go straight to your florist as they won't necessarily want bulk orders. If you're confident that you can find what you want from a supermarket then go for it, but they won't be as fresh.

Thanks for the tip about the flower market, Katie V. I should probably check it out pre-wedding to see what it's like

Yeah do it. Go check it out first. https://newcoventgardenmarket.com/

And I lied....you want to get there about 7am not 9am. The reason being is if you go much earlier than that the real florists will be there and as such the stall holders won't have a lot of time to talk to you about flowers, because they'll be keeping their regulars who spend ££££ happy. After that time it quieten's down and they'll happily chat away to you. But even if you don't buy direct from there it's worth a trip, the smell as you walk in is gorgeous! But wrap up....you are essentially walking into a giant fridge.

I'm doing my own flowers. We're just having one type, OH's favourite, and I'm ordering them from the greengrocer where we usually buy them for the house.

I did a trial a few weeks ago, and I've worked out that I can collect them on the Saturday, put them in vases for a few days to open up, and make the buttonholes etc on the Thursday afternoon ready for our wedding on Friday.

Oooooh I was thinking exactly the same thing today!

I only want daffodils and in APril I'm hoping they should be easy to get hold of! I only want simple bunches in vases (like you'd have at home) for centre pieces - and since it's taken the florist a week and I'm yet to receive a quote (and I'm staring at a bunch of daffs in my lounge!) I'm thinking I could probably make my own bouquet and the same for the bridesmaids...

I think the only thing we'd really want from a florist would be buttonholes & corsages and a wrist bracelet for the 2 little BMs.

I'm planning on having a practice - was just going to order some ribbon & floristry tape! We haven't yet considered where to get the daffs from yet though! But again I can't imagine they'll be hard to track down!

My ideal is 3 or 4 hydrangea heads in a glass jar on each table. Hoping to get them for free as my budget has GORN!

I really like your idea of it being an ecclectic mix and nothing too uniform. Sounds very pretty.

But I am no help at all, practically, I am afraid!

Thought I would update. I wanted to see if I could make it any simpler or easier than it was before. The previous trial I had done I bought an assortment of fresh cut flowers from a local florist, cut the green foam to fit the tea cups, and the flowers stuck out quick a bit from the cup and was a full arrangement.

A few days ago I spent £5 on spray carnations and small roses, nixed the green foam, and cut the stems short enough so that the flowers just sat above the rim of the teacup, amking it require far fewer stems per teacup and insanely quick to do. I put water and plant food in the teacups as well. the £5 worth of flowers would have been enough to fill 7-8 teacups. The plant food came with the flowers, and over 2 1/2 days later they still look amazing. I'm chuffed.

Here's a photo:

They are cute!!

I am doing my own flowers -Its one of the things I am most excited about!!

I agree, they can take longer than expected to do (I did flowers for my friends wedding a couple of years ago) but the hard work is so worth it and you will save ££££'s!!

I am doing my own , i am getting the flowers from a whole salers . I am getting them on the thursday to use on the saturday

I have had practices making what i want and gone well the only thing im worried about is the conditioning of the flowers x