Here’s a look at Erin’s experience with wedding flowers. For her bouquet she wanted something that reminded her of her grandparents. I’ve seen bride’s remembering someone through flowers by wanting a certain flower in their bouquet to remember a family member, one bride tied a ring from her grandma around her bouquet, and some bride have pictures of family members in lockets that they tie around their flowers.
For our bouquets, we don’t offer as specific a design, like what Erin is looking for, but we do want the brides to select the style and colors that represents her. Most bouquets are included in the price of the package. Our all-inclusive packages helps with brides to stay on budget.
Remembering Someone Through Flowers – The Sentimental Search for Flowers
Planning a small destination wedding can be a challenge, especially when it comes to selecting which vendors to use and a venue. The most stressful part of our search was finding a venue in California in June, possibly the worst time of the year as far as ease goes! Since the timing and other variables did not work in our favor for a beach wedding in Pismo or Santa Barbara, we decided to expand our search further north. If I were a true California Gal, I would be in the southern camp. My husband-to-be is truly a mix of the two, which is both confusing and rare as I usually find people to be in one camp or the other. We looked at Monterey and even the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, Yosemite National Park, and the John Muir Woods. All of these would have been beautiful settings, but in considering our guest list, we determined that a number of relatives would not have appreciated hiking through some trails, some with young children in tow, standing for our ceremony, and hiking back.
We decided on the City Hall in San Francisco. This checks a lot of boxes for us, which keeps our authentic selves in our plans, and accommodates our entire guest list –that extensive list of twenty-five people! What attracted us to City Hall initially was the historical grandeur and the location. We have family that either live in the Bay Area or close by and those family members who are traveling from the east coast would have plenty of things to do while we are busy with wedding items. It puts our minds at ease knowing that we do not have to entertain the entire time we are there. In fact, we are planning an excursion with just the two of us for a little peace before the wedding! More to come on that.
For some reason, the thought of flowers did not immediately cross my mind! At times I get into the mindset of: put the most significant item in place (in this case the venue), and everything else will fall into place. The first thing I will say about selecting a florist is that the price tags are shocking. I am by no means a scrooge, but I consider myself to be (mostly) fiscally responsible. We do not live an extravagant lifestyle, and I refuse to go into any debt just to get married. My initial search for a florist almost convinced me that we would have to take out a small loan! Here is what I wanted: I wanted to select a florist that would be able to celebrate the spirit of my Japanese American (Nisei) grandparents who are deceased. Once I decided what I wanted the flowers to represent, I was able to narrow my search down.
I selected an Ikebana florist to design our centerpieces and my bouquet. Ikebana is the Japanese art form of flower arranging. Its roots are centered in the Shinto religion of Buddhism and emphasize spirituality and oneness with nature. Balance, minimalism, and graceful lines are the elements of Ikebana. I chose this to honor my grandparents for a few reasons: my grandfather was a landscaper and loved his garden, they were both Buddhist, and I just love the style! It is slightly more than I would like to spend on flowers; however, it is important to me to have my grandparents honored and represented during my special day. True, I am a sentimentalist and may be going over the top on this one. Flowers are an excellent way to keep authenticity in our wedding and reception and to have a spiritual reminder of loved ones with us. To me, this is more meaningful than going with a bouquet that is gorgeous but holds less sentimental meaning.
Balancing the vision of our wedding day, planning from a distance, and staying conscious of our budget is a challenge. For us, it is a matter of determining what is important to us. This requires communication between the two of us, which is essential as I mentioned in a previous post. The lesson I am learning while planning a destination wedding is that communication is key in order to keep our authentic selves and meet our sentimental and spiritual needs. Our specific flowers have not been decided on as of this writing, but I am exchanging photos with the florist as ideas come to mind. I find this to be a great way to help get ideas flowing because I do not know the specific names of most flowers and this gives me a better idea of the color scheme. Exchanging ideas and sending photos of flowers that are appealing is a suggestion the Natalie and the team at Coastal California Weddings, one that I highly recommend if flower selections are important to you – it has worked well for me!
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