When I first met my husband, Christopher, we soon discovered that we shared a lot in common, such as our love of the color green, reading The Hobbit, and writing poetry. Also, we shared a favorite flower: the beautiful Sunflower. Since we met, he has given me bouquet after bouquet of lovely sunflowers, and it has never crossed my mind that the sunflower shouldn't be the one that we choose for our wedding.
When we eloped in the August of 2009, I purposely chose a simple location: the Justice of the Peace. Also, I purposely refused to have a bouquet, a fancy dress, a first dance, music, personalized vows, professional photos, etcetera. I always told people that it WASN'T our wedding, simply a marriage ceremony. I wanted to save my wedding for a time when we had the extra money, the ability to be together for more than a weekend, and when we lived in a location that allowed both sides of our family to attend. Now, I am having a blast planning the details with my husband, mother, sisters, and friends, and I am ready to have the wedding of our dreams, for a realistic cost that won't break the bank or put us in debt!
Now, more about the flowers! The sunflower is native to North America, and is not only beautiful and decorative, but is highly USEFUL as well, providing us with yummy seeds and healthy oil. The myth that a sunflower follows the sun with it's "face" is untrue, stemming from the fact that sunflowers in a field all face the same way. Actually, the truth is that they all face EAST as they grow, which is very interesting. There are many varieties of sunflowers, all of them cheerful and lovely to behold.
I know that I want the wedding ceremony to take place in a natural setting, somewhere out-of-doors in the fresh air, that we won't have to decorate or alter. The idea is to find somewhere beautiful, natural, peaceful, and happy, a place where we can feel a part of the world around us, and each other.We never liked the idea of an indoor ceremony, because, to us, no ornate ceiling could be as beautiful as the open sky, be it clear or clouded, and no windows and walls could be as breathtaking as trees and fields and the glory of nature. Using an outdoor ceremony, the need to decorate with masses of flowers and ribbons would be obliterated, and the only flowers that I would need for this chapter of the wedding would be in bouquets, for my bridal party and myself.
This Photo is Inspiring!
My only debate for the bridal bouquets is whether to bind together a grouping of smaller sunflowers for the ladies to carry, or if they should carry one larger flower. I have seen both ideas online, and both are very attractive options! I am leaning toward one, giant, beautiful sunflower for each member of the bridal party, and then making my bouquet out of many smaller ones, cascading together. I love the idea of only using sunflowers, keeping the color palate simple, yet stunning, and really letting the beauty of one flower that means a lot to us both, shine through.
I was pleased to find websites that would allow me to order bulk sunflowers, leaving me enough to craft arrangements for the reception from. Ideally, the reception will only have 25 to 30 guests, and only a couple of tables. We really only want our closest family and friends, there is no point in pretending for a day that everyone we know, who can't care enough to be there for us in our daily lives, should be there for us on the most important day of our lives, I wouldn't be comfortable with that. Plus, by limiting the guest list, we can really go all out, and have an elegant, lavish event for the people who love us! Quality, I think is more important than quantity.
A smaller reception will allow me to really deck the place out with sunflowers, and one-hundred stems will go a lonnnng, lonnnnng way! I plan on using GROUPINGS of vases on each table, of different shapes and sizes, with a group of sunflowers in each one.
kind of like this, but with more vases
Keeping the flowers simple will allow me to be able to DO MY OWN ARRANGEMENTS and I will be able to BUY BULK FLOWERS, therefore, saving me quite a lot of money in the long run. Average wedding flower costs are nearly $700.00, and that is NOT counting the reception flowers. Crazy, right? I can't imagine investing almost a grand in decorations that will be dead in a few days anyway. Doing the flowers my way will run about $200.00, for the ceremony, reception, delivery charges, AND incidentals like vases and ribbons and floral binding tape. I am feeling good about this!
So, opinions?
What is your favorite flower?
What do you think of my bouquet and centerpiece ideas?
I'd love you feedback, dear readers!
Please keep reading as I plan Billijean and Christopher's Dream Wedding 2013! This is the second article about the planning process ^_^
Also, if you haven't yet, "like" Pink Forsythia's Facebook page at : http://www.facebook.com/pinkforsythia
Thanks for reading!
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