TNWC Real Brides: Nik’s floral conundrum and her thrifty ideas for wedding flowers on a budget
Charlie
I hope you are all enjoying reading the wedding adventures of our TNWC Real Brides – they are all planning such varied but personal days and I can’t believe that it’s almost time for some of them to actually get married! Today we have the lovely Nik who is planning a two part wedding and she’s got some fab ideas for being thrifty with your wedding flowers….enjoy!
Tick Tock!
Before I launch into today’s post, I just wanted announce that there’s only just over two months to go ’til we say “I do”!!
This is both terrifying and very exciting. On the one hand, soon I will be married to the love of my life, which is indescribably surreal and wonderful; but on the other hand, I’m a terrible coordinator in charge of the biggest day of my own life, and am constantly terrified that I’m forgetting something important! I hope this is a normal fear, and I keep reminding myself that we want a simple, relaxed day and that the ONLY important thing is that we come away from it married to one another.
All Things Floral
This month, I thought I’d give you a rundown of the many ways we plan to feature flowers/plants in our wedding celebrations. With our wedding being split into two parts, two days apart, it was crucial that we came up with floristry solutions that would ensure we could decorate both our venues, but that also fit within our relatively small budget of £200.
Fortunately, I’m not a fan of huge arrangements or expensive blooms – I much prefer a rustic, simple, ‘thrown in a tin can’ kind of feel and adore wild flowers and abundant foliage, so I’m happy to go with a ‘whatever I can get my hands on’ approach.
Homegrown and Foraged Flowers
As I touched on in my first ever Real Brides post, I really wanted to try and grow some of my own flowers, but as a flower gardening novice, I knew it was impractical to think that I could single-handedly grow everything we needed in just a few short months. So I’ve stuck to simple annual flowers, such as ammi majus, cornflowers, nigella, cosmos, sunflowers and bupleurum, which I will use to complement ferns, foliage and ivy that will be picked from the farm hedgerows on the morning of the wedding, and replenished two days later for the reception.
Although my blooms appear to be coming along nicely, I’m acutely aware that there is still plenty of time for everything to go spectacularly pear-shaped (I’ve already thrown my seedlings all over the floor twice!), so I’ve made sure to arrange for professional back-up in case of a disaster!
I intend to do all the arranging myself, and I’ve been practising wreaths, garlands, hairpieces and buttonholes with every spare bit of foliage I get my hands on!!
Dried Flowers
You can get all sorts of flowers in dried form and it really is the perfect solution to the longevity issue with cut flower arrangements – so in addition to freshly gathered stems, we are also using dried wheat, hanging dried rosebud hearts, dried lavender and pine cones in our venue decorations.
I’m a huge, huge fan of lavender, and when it came to my wedding ‘bouquet’ it was a toss-up between carrying a bunch of lavender or a single sunflower. In the end, I’ve opted for a dried lavender bouquet from Pollyfields, who I met on my hen party at the Country Living Fair.
I love the idea that I can carry it on the wedding day, and then display it at the reception. I’ve also opted for dried lavender bunches for my two bridesmaids and a dried rose pomander for our flower girl, so they will be able to keep them as a memento of the day.
As our wedding ceremony is taking place on a working farm, with many animals roaming, allowing guests to bring conventional confetti was not an option (and I hate the stuff anyhow!). Instead, TNWC supplier Forage For is providing us with a seasonal mix of dried petals, which will be provided in galvanised metal buckets for everyone to grab a handful!
Pot Plants and Containers
Ever the thrifty bride, I just can’t see the point in eating up the budget on vases and containers to display my flowers in, so I’ve put a call out to family to lend me theirs instead!
I’ve also been collecting tin cans and have planted up some white freesias in terracotta plant pots – I think they will look great on the tables, and will travel well between the venues. I’m even tempted to bring out my houseplants – I have an orchid that I’m very proud of!
I’m really impressed by how Nik has chosen to do her wedding flowers, especially as she has the double challenge of not only a small budget, but also wedding celebrations spread over two days. Is anyone else planning this kind of wedding and what solutions have you come up with?
If you like Nik’s ideas I’ve done a great feature on living centrepieces, and also shared this inspiration for using dried flowers.
Images: (1) Illustration by Izzy Burton; (2+3) Brides own pictures; (4+5) Pollyfields; (6) Brides own picture
Categories: Planning
Tags: dried flowers > Forage For > lavender > living plants > real bride Nik > tnwc real brides
Emma on 2. May, 2013
Nik this all sounds wonderful! Your little plants should go crazy now the weather is warming up! X x
a natural bride… a floral conundrum | Little House In Town on 3. May, 2013
[…] You can see what solutions we came up with here: Nik’s Floral Conundrum and her Thrifty Ideas for Wedding Flowers on a Budget […]