Florists

We've selected a florist! Derek and I decided that, for our bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages (remember, we're doing our own centerpieces), we are going to go with:

Moran's Flora, in Birmingham, MI. It's really close to my parents' house, so we don't need the flowers to be delivered--someone can just go pick them up.

• The owner, Lee, was very personable and down-to-earth. She was very concerned and understanding about the budget, and that is the main reason we are going with her. She was not judgmental about it at all.
• I realize their website looks like it's just FTD stuff, but I really got very personal service and I don't think FTD has anything to do with my flowers, which are all "original" designs.
  
• Here are the prices we got:

• $125 for a bridal bouquet of dark blue hydrangea (she swears they exist), dark purple lisianthus, dark purple carnations, and yellow spray roses.
• $50 each for 5 bridesmaid bouquets of dark blue hydrangea, dark purple carnations, and dark purple lisanthus (I asked Lee to keep these under $50 each. She said she could do it, but there might be a lot of carnations, which I am fine with).
• $8 each for 10 boutonnieres of dark purple lisanthus.
• $20 each for 7 corsages of dark purple lisanthus and purple roses.

• One thing that was a little annoying: there was no formal, typewritten contract for to sign. Lee wrote down her notes and gave me a copy. I overlooked it because I didn't have to put down a deposit. Lee just said to call her back when we get closer to the date.

Other florists we looked into:

Thrifty Florist

• The wedding consultant, Fran, was very professional and I would have felt very comfortable with her. She spent a lot of time with us, and was careful about details. She looked at my ring and asked about my dress in order to determine our style. She had several suggestions for different flowers. She was very knowledgeable about what would work and what wouldn't. However, she never asked me what our budget was.
• Here are the prices we got from her (forgive me, I don't remember exactly which flowers she was going to use. I thought I was taking good notes, but I guess I didn't).

• $106 for a bridal bouquet that includes hydrangea, aster, lisanthus and yellow freesia.
• $71 each for 5 bridesmaid bouquets of lisianthus and hydrangea.
• $7 each for 9 boutonnieres, and $9 for the groom's boutonierre. They were composed of different flowers, some were yellow freesia, some were lisianthus, some delphinium.
• $20 each for 7 corsages. Again, those were all a little different, some yellow freesia and some lisianthus.

English Gardens

• This is actually a garden center-type store, with a florist inside.
  
• I really liked the guy I talked to here, and he was the least expensive. However, there were two strikes against him: the florist is only in the store Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 (so who's going to be in charge of my wedding?), and he never called me back with a sample bouquet like he said he would. I thought that was really cool--he was going to create a small sample bouquet for me to see what the flowers and colors looked like together, but it's been almost a month (he told me it would take a week) and I still haven't heard.
• The prices here were interesting. The florist didn't really seem to take into account the type of flowers when he gave me prices.

• $60-$125 for a bridal bouquet. We were thinking blue delphinium and purple lisianthus, with yellow pompon daisies (I liked the delphinium, but the other florists thought it was not worth it because you can only use the top of the bunch of flowers, since it is a long stem of flowers and I wanted a round bouquet).
• $40-$60 for the bridesmaids bouquets, purple lisianthus and blue delphinium.
• $7.99-$9.99 for boutonnieres.
• $14.99 for corsages.

We're pretty happy with Lee, although I hate saying no to anyone. I realize you have to do it, though; it's good manners and it's fair.

What a whirlwind of a wedding planning summer! I'm going back to school soon, so I'm glad I got so much done while I had a little free time. Expect the updates on Daisy's wedding to slow down for a little bit, but I'll still try to stay on top of all the trends. Derek and I are also attending three weddings this fall, so I'll have lots of ideas to comment and report on. I hope you all had great summers!

Pants!

Years ago, back in college, a question stumped me. I sat down in class and asked my girlfriends, "If the bride wears pants to her wedding, well then what do her bridesmaids wear?"
My girlfriends were immediately flabbergasted. "Brides can't wear pants!" one said. Another reasoned, "It's your one day to be a fabulous princess; why waste it on pants?"
Of course neither of them answered my question. However, brides in pants are becoming more common, especially for second-time brides. Some ladies just feel more comfortable in them, and others appreciate standing out among other brides. Another benefit is that the price tends to be lower than for a dress. I imagined a bridal ensemble involving pants and came up with the doodle on the left.

Sadly, most designers don't seem to offer these kind of ensembles. The way to go seems to be looking for white pantsuits. Here is a cute one from Neiman Marcus.

If you want a look that is less suit-like but still involves pants, a great option is to look for mother-of-the-bride ensembles that come in different colors, and order it in white or ivory, such as this one from Alfred Angelo (style 6576 in ivory shown on right).

Unfortunately, no one has ever really answered the original question: what do the bridesmaids wear? My best answer is this: either 1.) being a wedding where the bride is wearing pants, the atmosphere is going to be informal enough that bridesmaids are not really needed, or 2.) whatever the bride wants: it's her day!

Lourdes