Local Flowers: An Eco-Friendly and Wallet-Friendly Choice

My husband and I spent a whopping total of $51 for all of the flowers at our wedding. We had my bouquet, three bridesmaids bouquets, flowers for our hair, boutonnieres, and several large arrangements for food tables at the reception hall. That total included the ribbon and floral supplies needed to make the bouquets.

Seasonal Wedding Flowers

Photo Credit: The Real Estreya

How was this possible? We took full advantage of the seasonal flowers available in our location for our wedding. And we got a little help from our friends. From the beginning, we knew that we would locally source as many elements of our wedding as possible. Wildflowers grow naturally with little effort, so no pesticides are required. If your flowers are seasonal, chances are they weren’t grown in a hothouse, which requires a lot of fossil fuels to heat. Plus, local plants eliminate the refrigerated transportation required to ship exotic or out-of-season flowers, thus lowering the environmental impact even more.

Photo Credit: Ian Hayhurst

Photo Credit: Ian Hayhurst

I’ve always been a big fan of wildflowers. My favorite flower is the daisy and, lucky for me, daisies were in full bloom for my June wedding. They were also free for the picking in gardens, fields and even by the side of the road, along with other beautiful wildflowers.

I asked my parents and a friend from Vermont to let wildflowers grow in part of their large yards. My mom showed up with a cooler full of daisies, and my friend had a huge variety of daisies, yarrow, yellow larkspur, and purple lupine, some of which she stopped to pick from the roadside on her way to the wedding. She also brought gorgeous pink peonies from her garden. My father purchased a few bouquets of flowers grown at a local farm, which included delicate pink calla lilies and purple allium. The morning of my wedding, we employed a few friends to make the arrangements and the bridesmaids and I had fun creating our bouquets together.

DIY Wedding Bouquets

Photo Credit: Chrissa Markos

If you decide to grow your own flowers, make sure you plan ahead and plant extra so you will have a large selection to choose from. I recommend visiting a reputable garden center for growing advice. Many nurseries do have a local flower section, if you don’t want to start from seed. I would also suggest having some friends or family members grow flowers as backup. My sister had a mini-disaster with the flowers she planted for her wedding when they were accidentally trampled by a construction crew at her apartment. We ended up picking wildflowers along the road the morning of her wedding, and supplementing them with sunflowers from a local farm stand. For my wedding, I noted the location and hours of several local florists, in case my plans fell through and I had to purchase flowers at the last minute. You can also inquire with your area florists and nearby farms about seasonal, locally grown flowers that you can order in advance.

Photo Credit: Jasmine&Roses

Photo Credit: Jasmine&Roses

Seasonal Flower Guide Resources:

http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/growingflowers/flowers-and-seasons
http://weddings.about.com/od/weddingflowers/a/Season.htm

To see what’s available at local farms: http://www.localharvest.org

DIY Wedding Bouquet Instructions:

http://100layercake.com/blog/archives/2390
http://www.projectwedding.com/wiki/show/diy-how-to-make-a-wildflower-bouquet

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Filed under: Eco-Friendly Friday, Flowers, Our Team

Be Sure to Shop Around!

Regardless of the stage of your planning … you should be cat-like and ready for anything that comes your way. This rule stands true for anything new you bring into your perfect day.

How Negotiating with Your Wedding Vendors Can Help Save

Most brides are aware, but not familiar with how to negotiate with wedding vendors. For some reason negotiating is a daunting, and embarrassing task that is often skipped. For example, when booking my hall, we originally planned to have it on the Sunday of a holiday weekend, thinking it would save us some moo-la. Once we had our deposit together, I put my game face on. Having been in sales for quite some time I went into our ‘booking’ meeting knowing that they wanted my business and acted accordingly. I talked about various dates and different options while my future hubby bonded with them about how he is a chef. While they massaged each others ego’s , I asked about different dates and reminded them that I had cash in my pocket and was ready to make a deal …. Well, long story short … Our tag team tactics not only saved us money, but we walked out of the office with a contract to have our wedding on a Saturday for $10 less per person than the original offer for the Sunday afternoon wedding.

Photo Credit: BlueBouquet.com

Photo Credit: BlueBouquet.com

You know the term ..you can’t win if you don’t play. This is more true than you know …. I know a couple who will be getting married weeks after us. I tried to offer them advice on how to save money by negotiating and they actually declined the offer stating that I sometimes come on too strong and that is not how they like to act. Although a bit slighted, I did understand. What happened as a result? They took the offer given to them and were charged more for a Sunday morning wedding than the going rate for a Saturday night wedding at the same venue!

Photo Credit: Lemonade3d.com

Photo Credit: Lemonade3d.com

You have NOTHING to lose by asking a few basic questions … and you MUST shop around!

I have a few rules that I would like to share!

1) Ask questions! Regarding services and fee’s. Ask if there is a discount for cash!

2) Shop around, get quotes from all qualified vendors. You may know you do not want to use a particular vendor, but they do not. Get a price, use it for leverage, and move on.

3) ASK FOR A DISCOUNT … just flat out ask! The worst thing they can say is NO!

4) If you have a vision …. Tell them! The more they know about what you want, the smaller the likelihood of being considered a bridezilla … making demands at the last minute will cost more and cause stress!

5) Did I mention shopping around and asking for money off?

6) Confidence

7) Confidence

8 ) Confidence

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Filed under: Wedding Planning

Featured Wedding Website: Tiffany and Luguzy

Tiffany and Luguzy’s site is our featured WeddingWindow.com custom wedding website of the week. They took advantage of many of the great customizable options available to them to get the most out of their website. Great colors and use of photography! Congratulations Tiffany and Luguzy!

Tiffany and Luguzy's wedding website

WeddingWindow.com Website Design: “Elegance”

1. How has your website been most helpful in planning your wedding?
We are having a destination wedding in Asheville, NC and because neither of us is from there and everyone will have to travel to be with us that day, the wedding website allows us to share important information and updates with our guests. We provided hotel information, a list of activities to partake of in Asheville, and for those friends/family who have not been a part of our relationship, we can share the special details about how we met! Additionally, for those who will be unable to join us, this is a way for them to feel like they are with us. After the wedding, we’ll be posting pictures there so they can see all that they missed. Additionally, having the ability for guests to RSVP through the website is great!

2. How did you customize your website?
We customized our domain name, the pictures in the flash intro, the main pictures on the top of the website as well as our music. We added a song that is very special to us that our guests can listen to when they log in. We even added the lyrics of the song as one of our pages.

3. Did you customize other elements of your wedding as well? If so, what were they?
We took advantage of many of the various features on the website: adding pictures of our wedding party, confidential information under the Bridal Party only pages, and we also specially selected the colors on the website to match our wedding colors.

4. What was your favorite feature?
Our favorite feature is the ability to add pictures and music. We had a great time selecting the pictures from our engagement photo shoot as well as various pictures from throughout our courtship to add to the website, and we love that our song plays as guests log on to our website. Every page of our website reflects our personality, our love, and our relationship . . . from the colors to the music, the pictures, and the actual words on each page; Wedding Window gave us the ability to be creative and be flexible with OUR personal wedding website, and we love it!

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Filed under: Featured Wedding Websites

Giving thanks!

The Thanksgiving holiday is upon us! Not only should we give thanks for our many blessings, but we also must remember to give thanks to those who present us with shower and wedding gifts!

Ideas on How to Save Money on Your Thank You Cards

From the time I chose my colors, I was on the lookout for inexpensive thank you cards. I wasn’t being presumptuous—I just knew I would be receiving gifts at various wedding events, plus I wanted to send thank you cards to all of our bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers, the minister, etc. I could have ordered thank you cards that matched my customized wedding invitations, but they were pricey, and I figured this was one place where I could save some money!

wedding gift thank you cards

Photo credit: Target.com

So at every store I visited that sold paper and Hallmark cards, I looked for thank you cards that matched my colors or theme. I wanted to have a variety of patterns/designs so that no one would get the same card from me twice…or more. Let’s face it—there will be some people that will give you an engagement gift, a shower gift, a bachelorette gift and a wedding gift! If you are inviting 200 guests to your wedding (or approximately 100 couples), you are going to need at least 200 cards when you factor in all the events. (I didn’t have a single card leftover!)

Some great places to look are Target, Wal-Mart, any bookstore, any craft store and any party store. I found some great cards at Party City that were $1 for 8 cards! You can’t beat that! You can also find great cards online at any of these retailers’ sites.

Photo credit: Barnes & Noble

Photo credit: Barnes & Noble

You can also find some cute thank you cards online that are customizable yet inexpensive! VistaPrint.com is one of my favorite companies. Once I created an online account, I started receiving coupons on a daily basis. I even ordered return address labels that were FREE! All I had to pay was the shipping & handling, which only cost me $3.73. (I also ordered my Save the Dates from them, but more on that in an upcoming blog entry!)

Photo credit: VistaPrint.com

Photo credit: VistaPrint.com

VistaPrint.com will allow you to choose a design, customize the colors, the font, the wording, the text alignment and add a photo! You can order postcards or bi-folds, and you can order coordinating envelopes.

Photo credit: VistaPrint.com

Photo credit: VistaPrint.com

You can also upload your own design! The company is quite helpful, and they can send you a proof for your approval prior to printing. I learned about this company from another bride on a wedding community blog. So from one bride to another and on to you, I give the company a two thumbs up!

Of course, there are other companies out there that do similar things. WeddingPaperDivas.com is a great example, if you are willing to spend about $1 per card.

Photo credit: WeddingPaperDivas.com

Photo credit: WeddingPaperDivas.com

One last note on thank you cards—do not wait to write/send them all after the wedding. Write your engagement thank you cards immediately after the party and before the bridal shower; write your bridal shower thank you cards before the wedding; and so on.

And do not wait more than a month after the wedding/honeymoon to send your wedding thank yous (two at the most). Not only is it poor form, but your guests will be wondering if you even received their gift. There is nothing worse than a friend asking you if you received their blender and having to reply, “Yes, I just haven’t finished all my thank you cards yet.”

My husband and I made an evening out of writing our thank yous, complete with wine and tunes! Make it fun! Make another memory!

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Filed under: Our Brides & Grooms, Thank You Cards

Etiquette Emergencies 11/18/09

Wedding Etiquette Q&A – Wedding Advice from Expert Jodi Smith

Q: My fiancé and I are thrilled to be getting married. We have been out in the working world for years and already have established a home together. Instead of including registry information to our guests, we would like to include a little card that says something about no-gifts. What do you suggest for wording?

A: First, please allow me congratulate you on your upcoming wedding! And I am very impressed that you are focused on the occasion, not on the gifts. There are quite a few etiquette guidelines that come into play here. I will lay them out for you, then you can decide how best to proceed. Typically, your invitations are sent out. Guests are so pleased about the happy occasion; they want to give a gift to help celebrate. Brides and grooms are pleasantly surprised that their guests wish to bestow a gift upon them. In an effort to make the gift selection easier, some brides and grooms will register at a store/website in advance of the wedding. The registry information is given by those involved in the wedding only to those guests who specifically request it. (i.e. Registry cards are NOT included with the invitation as that would been seen as a way of strong-arming guests into giving gifts.) When receiving any gifts, from the registry or not, brides and grooms are so thrilled that they pull out their pens and write a thank-you note to the giver.

I know you are thinking, “But I asked about NOT receiving gifts!” The no-gift guidelines mirror the gift guidelines. You would never be so presumptuous as to assume all of your guests cannot wait to run out and purchase a gift for you. Therefore you would not include a note about no-gifts with the invitation. However, as you receive the responses to the wedding, you (or your fiancé, or your mother, or your maid of honor) would let the guest know that for this occasion, their presence is more than enough.

Please keep in mind, that most mannerly people will not let a little thing like “no-gifts please” stop them. It is said that giving a gift is just as much for the giver as for the receiver. When invited to a happy occasion, most people do want to add to the festivities by contributing a small token of their esteem for the honored guest(s). With that said, you and your fiancé may wish to consider a favorite charity so that if the guest insists on honoring you, they can make a donation to your favorite organization. The information about where you prefer donations will be shared in the same way described above. With all of that said, do not be surprised if you still do receive gifts. In my experience, I have found that people are very generous.

Q: I have a question regarding wedding gifts. I am invited to a wedding of a friend from college that I haven’t been close with in over 5 years. I am bringing a date to the wedding and wondering what is an appropriate amount to give as a gift? Please advise.

A: Wedding gifts (like all other gifts) are dependent upon both your budget and your relationship with the person. If you are 5 years out of school, the range is between $50 -$75 for a wedding with a date. After that, the going rate is between $100 – $150 when attending a wedding with a date. Keep in mind, these are ranges. If you are doing well, you would give more. If you are on a budget, you would give less. You might want to review their registries and pick something in the mid-point range.

Q: First of all, this website has been incredibly informative. I am about to be a second-time bride. I have a question for you. I have three sons (ages 24, 21, 21). Would it be appropriate for all three of my boys to give me away, as I’m not sure how I could choose. Your response to this question would be greatly appreciated.

A: Hello and congratulations! Going on the little information you provided, I would recommend three options:

  • The twins at the alter as attendants and the older son walk you down the aisle.
  • The older son as the attendant at the alter and the two 21 year olds on either side of you as you walk the aisle.
  • All three waiting at the alter as attendants.

Please keep in mind that there are many honors within each wedding, from readings, to solos, which you can bestow as appropriate.

Jodi R. R. Smith is a nationally known etiquette expert and author. She is the president of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting. You are invited to email her your etiquette emergencies at Salem@Mannersmith.com

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Filed under: Gift Registries, Guest Experts