Picking Flowers

Heh, see what I did there?

No?  Too subtle?

Whatever.

So, flowers.  Flowers are representative of life, growth, and all other sorts of things that happen in a marriage, so of course they feature prominently in traditional wedding day decor.  For weddings in spring and summer, there are a gazillion [the technical term] varieties of flowers to choose from, and why wouldn't you want to bring some of that outdoor beauty inside to the party? 


During medieval times, weddings took place during the summer because that was typically when people took their annual bath and, well, since it was likely the first time the groom would be seeing the bride, she needed to freshen up a bit.  Carrying a bouquet of sweet-smelling flowers would further mask any unpleasant odors picked up during the time between Bath Day and Wedding Day.

However.

We're getting married in November, we've met each other before, and we both take showers every day.

Also, when you look at our priorities for the wedding day, flowers are...at the bottom.  Actually they're not really a priority at all.  To us, flowers seem like a huge waste of money in the Grand Scheme of Wedding Things.


Therefore, we're not having flowers at our wedding!

Err.

Okay I lost that battle.  Apparently it's not a wedding without flowers.  I care so very little about floral arrangements, however, that this doesn't faze me in the slightest, so we are having a minimal amount of flowers at our wedding.

Last week, Mr. Potion and I made the trek down to Alex City for a week of wedding stuff (wedding stuff which will be the subject of many a blog in the coming weeks!  Stay tuned!) and one thing we did was visit a florist.  She was currently prepping for another wedding, however, so we weren't able to have an actual consultation, but we did look at her sample books and talked things over with our moms.  Potion Mom is going back tomorrow for a consultation and hopefully will arrive at a solution to fit our needs.


What are our needs, exactly?


-7 bridesmaid bouquets comprised entirely of baby's breath
-1 small toss bouquet for the reception (don't care what kind of flowers, just something tiny and short-stemmed)
-2 identical arrangements for the sanctuary
-1 small bouquet of red roses to lay at the feet of the statue of Mary (more on that in a later post)



 Notice I didn't say anything about my bouquet...you'll have to stay tuned to find out about that!


I guess I haven't shown you where we're getting married, have I?  Well, here it is: St. John the Apostle Catholic Church in Alexander City.

{personal photo}

Don't worry- I'll be devoting a whole post to this cute little parish sometime soon!


See those two green ferns in that picture?  If it were up to me, I'd remove them and their pedestals completely, and let the decor of the church speak for itself.  However, it's traditional to decorate the church with flowers for the wedding and then leave those flowers as a gift to beautify the church after the wedding.  In this parish, different parishioners donate floral arrangements or plants for 2-week intervals, so our arrangements could be there for up to two weeks after the wedding day.


After talking it over, we've decided to use the pillars those ferns are sitting on, and the urns those ferns are sitting in, for two floral arrangements.  As far as what those arrangements look like...well, I'm going to leave that up to the professionals to decide.


At a time like this, I would normally turn to Mr. Potion and ask his opinion so we could go with that.


Unfortunately Mr. Potion has about as many opinions on the topic of flowers as I do; that is to say, none.


After putting our heads together and poring over the sample photos from the florist, we came up with the following criteria for our arrangements:


-Round.  We want the arrangements to be circular, globe-like...round.  I don't know what the proper term is here.  Basically I'm picturing a dome of flowers filling up the round urns with nothing dangling out of them or sticking up from them.  Compact and round.


-Green and orange.  Green and orange are our secondary colors, and we're looking for places to include them since red and purple are sort of stealing the show in bridesmaid dresses and bow ties.  Mr. Potion and I are no flower experts, so we're not sure what flowers are orange or green, or if these flowers are even in season.  We're thinking maybe green spider mums sprinkled throughout an arrangement consisting mainly of orange carnations, if that's possible/pretty.  We're really looking to the florist to help us decide here, but basically round flowers that come together in a round arrangement would give the effect we're looking for.


I trust that Potion Mom will be able to present our needs to the florist and determine the right solution :)  She's good at these things!


Are flowers important to you for your wedding day decor?  Are you an expert in flower arranging or a total n00b like us?  What flowers would you use in the arrangements I described above for a November wedding?