Baseball boutonnieres

Some people don't like fresh flowers. You don't get to keep them forever (unless you want to press them, but it's not exactly the same) and they can wilt or fall apart during the wedding day depending on the flower type. Additionally, some beach venues won't allow fresh flowers.

That's why I think Mark Ellingson of the San Diego area has come up with a fantastic invention: bouquets and boutonnieres made from baseballs and softballs!

Each rose's petals are handmade from the leather from a baseball or softball. The baseball varieties come in white, but the softball roses come in yellow or pink. It's perfect for the couple who loves America's pasttime.

Football roses are expected to come soon, and who knows? Maybe Mr. Ellingson will expand to soccer balls and basketballs...although I have a hard time imagining how a hockey puck rose would work.

Check out the Baseball Rose website here. Boutonnieres start at $13.99, but you can save buy buying in bulk. Bouquets start at $34.99 for a three-stem bunch.

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!

Untraditional

Contrary to what Lily would have you believe, a religious pastor does not have to preside over your wedding. The second wedding I attended this summer, performed in front of a waterfall at an Indiana county park (shown above), was conducted by the bride's congressman! She had worked for him while she was in college. Instead of biblical readings, before the vows were read, members of the party came up and read appropriate pieces of romantic poetry.
Here is a photo of the bride's bouquet, which I loved from the moment I set eyes on it:

On another note, I was talking with my boyfriend about weddings (he's so tolerant, I'm so lucky to have this guy). I asked him about a fall wedding, what you would do if your football team was playing. I figured he'd say that you just don't have a wedding in the fall for that very reason, but instead, he said, "Easy. Breakfast wedding, tailgate reception. You're out by game time."

Comments? Additions? Suggestions? Seems to me that if you had your heart set on a fall wedding but your fiance's team plays every week, the solution, then, is a Friday night wedding. And if your alma mater is important to you as a couple, have the wedding in your college town, and you and your classmates can head to the game the next day for a fun little reunion.