The Great Flower Saga, the Conclusion

So with the Boys' bouts assembled and ready, and with further fortification in the form of food and wine, we went back to the bouquets for the Maids. (If you need to catch up, click here.)

We picked the flowers back up and I was honest with MOH about the pink and cream peonies. I just loved them too much to take them out! And having the solid cream peonies is the only thing that linked their bouquets with my own. I wanted something similar, but not exact. Being honest with myself and MOH about what I really wanted helped us focus our efforts on keeping the peonies (both of them) in the bouquet. This was one time that I couldn’t just say “yeah, that’s cute” in a non-committal tone when I didn’t really mean it, you know? And since MOH would be one of the girls carrying the bouquet, she couldn’t fudge the truth either.

We decided that what was throwing it off was all of the “other” flowers in the bouquet. So we took everything away except for the peonies.

MOH like the idea of carrying a single peony. The buds were Ginormous, which is what gave her the idea...

But I thought that they looked too skimpy. Two peonies together wasn’t enough either. Three tied off together was better...but not quite there still...six together was the perfect size, but the organization was just "off"...

And suddenly, without any effort (on my part!) at all, the image I had in my head shifted and changed and what MOH held in her hands was perfect! I loved it. It was full and not skimpy at all, but still smaller than my bouquet, which made MOH happy. It complimented my bouquet with the shades of ivory, but was unique on it’s own with the hot pink. Love it, love it, love it.

Oh, what was that? You want to see a picture? Oh, OK, but only because you said pretty please!

What do you think? I think that the big greenery leaves that we scavenged from other poor flowers that didn't need them anymore is what made the difference for me... Here’s a picture of my bouquet along with two of the Maids’ bouquets just sitting in vases so you can see them all together. (The bouquet looks really full there but keep in mind that there are two in the one vase. And in real life, they ARE actually smaller than my own bouquet, I promise!) Man - that is one MESSY table, huh? I'm sorry for the mess...you should have seen the floor...LOL!

In the end, keeping it simple worked the best for us. It wasn’t what I envisioned, but I loved it. And I showed them off to my Maids the other day via email and the consensus was that they love them too! Which is good, because it’s what they’ve got whether they like them or not...hee hee!

I’m so tough! Not really. So now, I just need to decide about the parental units and I’m done with flowers for the wedding. I’ve got a box of cut flower stems waiting to be arranged into centerpieces and I used the last of my credit with our supplier to get some last minute filler flowers...and wouldn’t you know – they have MORE of my bouquets! I’m SO excited! I had wanted to buy more and break them apart so that the flowers that made up my bouquet were used in some of the centerpieces, but when I went to order them last month they were all sold out! Insert sad face...but it was all better yesterday when I went to place my final order and they had them again! Score!

The rest of the flowers should be here Monday or Tuesday, just in time. And the rose petals arrive on Thursday...along with my special ordered Stargazer Lilies. I called HEB to make sure that they would still have them in stock, and the florist placed a special order just for me to come and pick up next week to ensure that I have enough. At. No. Charge. I love HEB...

Are you DIY-ing your flowers? Are you using real flowers, or are you going to be a renegade too and order artificial ones? If you are, I would highly recommend afloral.com. (Follow the links above to get to their website.) The flowers were usually a good quality (with a few exceptions), the return policy was GREAT, and they’re usually running a special where you can order enough to get free shipping. I’d love to hear about your floral experience if you’re doing them yourself...