Florist vs. DIY

After going back and forth about whether or not I need to hire a florist, I'm swinging back to the DIY side of things. Initially, when I began wedding planning, I was all about just using silk flowers. "Who needs to send thousands of dollars on something that is guaranteed to die the day after the wedding?" I asked myself. I did some research and found silk flower wholesalers online and saw some beautiful silk flower arrangements.

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... but then I started seeing pictures like this real flower bouquets and they are equally as beautiful:


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Maybe real flowers wouldn't so bad after all. And just like that I was looking up local florists. But, alas, I still couldn't fully commit to the notion that I'd be spending a large portion of my wedding budget on florals. So, with even so much as a singular quote from a florist, I decided that I would do floral centerpieces using cut flowers that I could pick up at any grocery store. No florist necessary.

Beautiful, simple, cheap ... but what about my bouquet, the bridesmaids bouquets, and the boutonnieres? Do I want to hire a florist to do those arrangements for me? Cutting stems off a flower and putting it into a vase is one thing. Arranging an entire bouquet is entirely another.

Recently, a friend of mine asked how the wedding planning was going and I spouted off the laundry list of things that need to be done; one of which is deciding if I want to use a florist. She's recently married and recommended the person who did her flowers, which of course immediately set off the internal debate that's be going on in my head. I went to the florist website and checked out the his work and I opened up my email to start write up a request for a quote ... but again, I could not pull the trigger! The thought of pay someone to do something that I feel might (might?!) be within my capacity to do myself would not allow me to hit that send button. So, DIY bouquets and centerpieces it is. I've heard that it's hard work, but I don't think that it's anything that I can't handle. Stay tuned to see how my first trial bouquet turned out.

Are you going to DIY your flowers? Are you at all nervous about the outcome?