want lilies for wedding but worried about staining!! help!

Surely its only the yellow bit in the middle that stain, and they can be removed really easily? Am sure your florist will sort it out for you!

As the previous poster said, it's the pollen on the ends of the stamen that stains and all florists remove the ends of the stamen with the pollen before using the flowers. In fact you can also do that too when you buy lilies - as soon as they open just snip the ends of the stamens in the centre off. I just hold a bit of kitchen paper or something under the flower and snip them off with scissors - that'll save your windowsill getting stained too! The pollen is also highly poisonous for cats (maybe other pets too - not sure!) which is another reason why I always remove it.

HTH
Catherine

Your florist will remove the stamens on any open lillies and any buds should be tightly closed so the pollen will be contained inside. A good way of picking up pollen without it staining surfaces or fabric is to hold a peice of sellotape just above it and gently remove it.Here are some pics. The first ones are my designs in silk but can be replicated using Fresh flowers:

Some I found for you:

'tis one for your florist to sort out. My wife had lillies when we got married and the florist did something with the Stamen in the lilly to stop it staining. No problems all day.

Ditto to the above - most florists now take out the stamen as a matter of routine so they don't get sued for damages to the dress!

Sometimes, not always, this can affect the fragrance but it's better to be safe than sorry.

i love lillies and also live the stamen as i think it looks strange without it. i had decided that we couldn't have lillies in my bouquet as i didn't want to remove the stamen. My H2B and my mum said they both like the idea of silk flowers so they could be kept after the wedding - which means i can now have lillies ?

Again florist standard procedur remove stamens to stop staining best to do as they just open so you dont get covered in yellow pollen..

The Artificial ones are almost imposible to tell from the real thing apart from the scent, one cheat we use is to plug in Air Freshners with a Lily Scent in the Venue!

My bouquet will have red roses and white calla lillies - red roses fit in with my colour scheme and lillies are my fave flower. If i'm honest i will miss the smell of fresh flowers but i may ask the venue if they have lilly scented air freshners ?

I may also get lilly scented candles for the tables - although are they only lit in the evening?

In answer to your other question, I'd be looking to book your florist asap (not wanting to panic you though!).

From what I understand a lot of florists will only commit to one wedding a day, and as you're getting married at a popular time of the year (and only a year away) you might struggle to find one who has your date available if you leave it any longer.

You won't need to decide what flowers or anything you want at this stage; you just need to book their services for that day.

I agree with Kelly I have bookings for 2010 at the moment. As long as you secure the date you can decide what you want when you meet up with your florist. Gathering pictures & ideas will also help.

What everyone else has said, basically! Either use artificial lilies or remove the stamen. The lilies can look odd without it, so you can always look to replace it with crystal stems. I've also recently been experimenting with studding the centre of the lily with a rose which looks good too! See below