Leap of Faith

I bet you were thinking this post was about my decision to marry Jon. No. That was too easy. No thinking about it. My heart had that one figured out a long time ago. This entry is actually about picking a florist. FYI: Creating your bouquet is nothing like it is in the movies. Florists do not stock a wide variety of flowers and walk around a greenhouse with you mixing and matching different blooms until you are sure that is the design you want. Not even close. They have piece of paper that the two of you have to fill out. Oh, and the flowers, they're all in a book. Good luck trying to imagine what they will look like together.

Lets rewind. One day I decided it was time to find a florist. The night before I scoured wedding magazines to get an idea of what I wanted. This is a must when searching for your florist. It puts you and the florist on the same page. It also makes the whole process easier. They can then visual what you want and suggest flowers at different price ranges.

The next day I decided to drive around near my parent's house and talk with different florists. Apparently, florists are very busy in the morning. Did not dawn on me (no pun intended). The first florist basically scolded me, sat me down with a book and refused to answer any of my questions. She suggested that I make an appointment and I thought otherwise. The next florist was much more helpful. He worked up a quick quote, admitted he was very expensive, and I was on my way. My flowers would have been around $1,200. Way over my budget. Oh yeah, did I mention I only budgeted $300 for flowers. Not realistic, but I had no idea flowers were that expensive. I mean the freaking things die in a week. Anyways, I was determined to come close. The next couple of florists were nicer and I did make appointments with them. My last stop was Felss the Florist in Mt. Healthy. I almost passed his shop. Good thing I didn't. He was super helpful. We came up to around $600 including my bulk flowers for my center pieces. Much more in my price range. I promised I would be back, but had to meet my other appointments. He then basically wished me luck on finding a cheaper florist.

Long story short, Felss was the cheapest. One guy never emailed my quote and two others were over $1,000. I went back one afternoon and finalized the flower selection. My total came to around $660, but I think that's pretty good considering it includes bouquets for 8 bridesmaids and 1 groomswoman.

Felss has been in the business for a long time. He has taught many of the local florists so he knows what he's doing. Our minister also gets all of her flowers for the church there, so it feels good to support a local business. But as I said in the title it is a leap of faith. I have no idea what my flowers are actually going to look like. I gave him my picture and specs, but its up to him to design them. It is by far the scariest decision a bride will have to make.

My inspiration