Wedding Flower Ideas

Your wedding day really is one of the most important days of your life. Making everything perfect for this day is a daunting task. Finding the correct venue, selecting the perfect wedding dress, picking the most beautiful invitations, and choosing wedding flowers, are just some of the things you have to contend with.

Let’s see if we can’t make these tasks simpler. Today we will go over everything involved in getting the right flowers for your wedding. Finding the perfect flowers starts long before your wedding day. Here are some things you should consider beforehand.

• What colors are you using in the wedding? This is a very important factor affecting the whole wedding. Flowers are available in almost every color these days. You wouldn’t want to fall in love with a certain flower and then find that it doesn’t work with your color scheme at all.
• Decide if you want sophisticated or simple flowers. Roses are the flower of choice for traditional wedding services. If you want something different, a little more modern, go with orchids or tulips.
• The budget is a big consideration when choosing wedding flowers. Flowers such as carnations are less expensive than roses, and roses cost less than orchids. Know your budget before going to the florist to pick the flowers. If your flower budget is small, use artificial flowers. There are some really good options out these days in the artificial flower line. Your wedding won’t suffer if you have to use them.
• How many people in your wedding party need flowers? Make sure you know the number of attendants before getting flowers for your wedding. Your wedding bouquet is the most important. Some brides have one bouquet that they keep and another to throw at the reception, so decide if this is something you wish to do. All of the bridesmaids need flowers, as does the maid of honor. The flower girl if you have one and the Mother of the bride will need flowers. You’ll also want boutonnières for the groom and his attendants.
• Another thing to remember when choosing wedding flowers is decorating the church and reception hall. Some places flowers are used in the church are at the altar, on the end of pews, and the front door. If you want to go all out, throwing rose petals along the isle is nice. For the reception hall, you’ll need centerpieces for each table, a larger centerpiece for the bride and grooms table, and flowers around the wedding cake. Remember to take the colors used on your wedding cake into account when picking flowers. You wouldn’t want anything to clash.

As you can see, there are quite a few things to consider when choosing wedding flowers. You want the wedding to be beautiful, and picking the perfect flowers will go a long way in achieving this goal. A little organization and planning is all it takes to have the perfect wedding.

Photo by Whimsical Chris

Related articles

• Planning your own wedding (weddingsetups.com)
• How to Choose a Wedding Theme (weddingsetups.com)

For the Fellas – A Valentine Proposal?

While The Wedding Gal’s Snarky Cousin isn’t always the most romantic creature in the world, nothing gets me right at the heartstrings like a heartfelt and creative wedding proposal.  It’s a perfect moment in time, or it can be.  It’s not about the right table linens or the perfect bouquet.  It’s not about bridesmaid dresses that could ruin friendships or whether or not to serve shellfish at the reception.  It’s a moment of maximum potential, when two people first make a commitment to spend their lives together.  It’s a fresh, new, unblemished promise – unsullied by seating charts and unruly flower girls.

So you’ve got this perfectly unblemished moment, full of romantic promise and magic, so why not make it happen on what is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year?  St. Valentine’s Day!

I know what you’re thinking.  How could I, The Wedding Gal’s Snarky Cousin, possibly expect you to believe that Valentine’s Day is actually romantic?  A Hallmark holiday that makes every unmatched singleton feel rotten and every person that is in a relationship feel this unfair obligation to buy gifts and confections?  Phooey on Valentine’s Day!  Right?

WRONG!!  St. Valentine, according to one legend, married young lovers in secret when marriage was outlawed by Claudius Gothicus.  St. Valentine kept love alive in a time of war and oppression.  Romantic, huh?  So, in keeping with romantic tradition, here are some do’s and don’t do’s for proposing on Valentine’s Day:

photo by oskay

Say It Sweetly

Conversation Hearts are the best-selling Valentine candy.  Made by Necco, they have been printing little sayings on the heart-shaped treats since the 1860′s.  The kind of conversation heart you can buy today have been around since 1902.  That’s a long history of being a Valentine’s Day staple.  Even though the company has tried to make their treats more current with sayings like “E-mail Me,”  you can go one better and use a fine grit sandpaper to remove the original message and add your own with a food coloring marker.  You can write “Marry Me” on all of them, or you can write what will be her married name on all of them.  She’ll get the idea.

DON’T go to all the trouble of sanding off the little phrases on a gajillion candies and then neglect to have something romantic to say.  You can do it.  Just don’t be all, “I got you this candy” and just stand there and look at her.  Creepy, Dude.

photo by CFei

Nothing Beats a Romantic Dinner

I read somewhere that next to home, restaurants are the most popular place for wedding proposals.  I read somewhere else that 10% of Valentine proposals happen in restaurants.  Somehow that math doesn’t sound right to me, but you can imagine that it happens a lot.  We’ve all seen movies.  Speaking of movies, see the “Don’t” section below for some more tips, but for now I will say DO take her someplace nice.  I know they all tell you to take her to the place you had your first date or the first place you said “I love you.”  If your first date was at McDonald’s, you may not want to propose there.  Unless she really, really likes McDonald’s.  I know I do.  But not enough to get engaged there.  Do say something sweet to her.

DON’T put her ring in food or drink of any kind.  Why?  Why would you a) get chocolate or crab dip or champagne all over her nice new ring or b) take the chance that she’ll swallow it and then have to go to the ER and eventually have to have the darn thing removed or….worse?  Don’t do it.

photo by autiscy

Say It Loud, Say It Proud

Use a billboard, a scoreboard, a sky-writing airplane, or an ad before a movie showing, but ONLY IF YOU KNOW SHE’S GOING TO SAY YES!!!

DON’T go to all the trouble, expense, and possibility for public humiliation if you have any doubt in your mind that she’s going to balk.

There you have it, Guys.  Don’t say I never gave you anything.