Les Fleurs du Mal

Purple/white Cala Lily

To the Reader

Folly, depravity, greed, mortal sin

Invade our souls and rack our flesh; we feed

Our gentle guilt, gracious regrets, that breed

Like vermin glutting on foul beggars' skin.

Our sins are stubborn; our repentance, faint.

We take a handsome price for our confession,

Happy once more to wallow in transgression,

Thinking vile tears will cleanse us of all taint.

On evil's cushion poised, His Majesty,

Satan Thrice-Great, lulls our charmed soul, until

He turns to vapor what was once our will:

Rich ore, transmuted by his alchemy.

- Charles Baudelaire

Kermit Daisies (no joke...that's their name!)

Above is an excerpt from the collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire called Les Fleurs du Mal or The Flowers of Evil (click the title for more from that poem and others).  And truly, wedding flowers are evil.  They are beautiful and evil and, really, ensconced in greed, folly and possibly depravity...though probably not mortal sin.  The florists (Satan) lull you into believing that you need $500 or $800 or $2000 worth of flowers and turn your will power and feisty DIY-ittude into a mere payday.  

An interesting thing about me is that it is relatively very easy to separate me from my money.  Annnnd I'm kinda lazy. I knew that if I met with a florist, she'd give me exactly what I wanted (see previous post) at a price.  It happened with the caterer and I knew it would happen again.  This is why I was reluctant to book florist consultations...I was trying to avoid florists!  

My original plan was to DIY those flowers into submission.  I did a bunch of research and found via the phone that I could have a florist do my flowers for (at lowest) $600 or I could do it myself for about $100. However...my mom convinced me that it would be way too much effort and stress to do it myself and that I should just check with some florists (she probably wanted to prove to me that it wouldn't be as much as $600). Well I showed her...

Wax Flowers

The price to do just the personal flowers (1 bride bouquet, 9 BrMs' bouqets, 13 bouttoniers, 5 corsages) would be ~$785.00.  Which is about what I was expecting.  I knew she was putting some mini calla lilies (which are like $5-$10 per stem) into my bouquet, and I also knew that, contrary to popular belief, wax flowers are not cheap (but are very cute!). Here is a rough estimate of the itemized list:

- My bouquet: $150

- Bridesmaids' bouquets: $30-40 ea.

- Groom's bouttoniere: $7-$15

- Bouttonieres: $6.50 each

- Wrist corsages: $18

- Pin corsages: $15

Spider Mum (from the Chrysanthemum Family)

I also did like the florist a lot, she hates baby's breath (like me) and she is energetic and talkative and very personable.  I feel comfortable trusting her.  Another cool thing that she said she'd do, is accent our statuary/planter/nest centerpieces with flowers and purple fruit (eggplants, plums).  This is extra-cool b/c she even said that she would take all our decor, make the fresh flower accompaniments and set it up for us. HOLY CHRIST, REALLY?  That in itself might be worth the added expense of having her make the centerpieces.  She EVEN said that she would not include extra delivery or set up charges for that (she's gonna be toting around at lest 2-3 boxes of statuary, so I gotta give the lady a round of applause for that assertion). 

Some centerpiece statuary we have!

So.....I was sold.  I mean, isn't it better to get someone with expertise anyway?   And, c'mon, flowers need to be done the day or so before the wedding and what bride will have time to do all that?!  Not me, baby, I plan to go to the spa with my girlies, eat lots of food and drink (moderately) until 10AM on the big day.  By July 13, I'm going to be DONE (mentally as well as physically) with wedding DIYs and "have-to-do's".  

Purple irises -  The one flower I've wanted in my bouquets since last March!

*Unfortunately*..... I'm going to now have to go to other florists and get a price comparison to prove to the Parents that really this is about the price of flowers, before I can give the original lady the go ahead.  *Sigh* it seems that everyone thinks that when you get engaged it's like you were bitten by a radioactive love bug and can now turn into the Super Marriage-Planner of DOOM!  

"Free time? Sure I have lots! Family?  Fiance?  Don't worry, they all know that I'm out using my powers for good!  Or at least for not-evil."  

I can't wait until all the stuff is booked!  Then I can clear up my calendar and actually have some time for ...*gasp*... dinner parties and me-parties and exercise! 

I want my bouquet to be something like this:
crazy and complicated (with feathers)!

DIY** Brides - Come see!

I've decided to make A LOT of stuff for the wedding, partially to save money and partially to make stuff that's exactly what I want.  Because you see...While it's possible to get the "perfect wedding" with no more effort than dialing some numbers on your phone, you will have to pay out the ass for such a luxury.  Sure, lots of companies customize stuff to your tastes, but a non-mass produced item will take more time and supplies (no fault of the craftsmen and women, I'm sure they do great work it's just..) Well, my time isn't worth that much, so being a DIY bride is a great answer. Plus, I can choose how I get my supplies and I can do so at the very lowest cost possible.

(**For those  who are not blog-a-holics like me, DIY means "Do It Yourself")

The finished headpieces. Unfortunately, the purple doesn't show up so well
on the black background.  The flower girl headband is there too.

Over the weekend Mom and I started on our Mega Wedding Crafts.  (It's "mega" because we need 9 BrMs' headpieces, 9 BrMs' necklaces, 9 BrMs' sashes, my veil, ring pillow, flower basket, head thing for the flower girl, decorations, signs, maps, invites.....and the list goes on).  However, if we can have a few weekends like this last one, we will get it all done in no time!

The first thing we worked on were the BrM's headpieces.  It probably cost around $20 for all the materials and we didn't even use up everything.  I did burn myself a couple of times with hot glue melted at the "nuclear" setting, but as they say:  "No pain, no wedding." Do people say that? Well, if they don't, they should!

The Burn. I had a worse on on the corner tip of my right index finger
that hurt a lot more but didn't photograph well.

What you'll need per headpiece:

1 Barette
Colored feathers
Small "Silk" Leaves & Roses
Any Color Felt
Hot Glue Gun




1). Cut an oval out of the felt that roughly matches your barette.  I used the shape of a Goody "ouchless" barette from the super market ( $3.99 for 2).  However, for most of the others I ended up using another kind  that was more rectangular, b/c they were cheaper and worked just as well.

2. Glue gun all over the felt (sounds dirty ,doesn't it?) and place the feathers in a circle trying to cover the whole felt.  Don't worry if you can't get it all b/c the rest of the stuff you add will ensure the felt is covered.  Do this with all colors desired, adding glue as needed (but careful!  It gets hot! Remember my pain).  Make sure to have the "curve" of the feather all pointing the same way otherwise it doesn't seem to lie flat.

My mom got the feathers from a fly-fishing store for ~$3/pkg (x3 colors for me: purple, green, gray), but you can get them at a craft store as well.

3). For leaves and flowers, you can find them at your local Craft Store (wedding section) for $4-$10/pkg  which gives you a lot. Also, look for coupons because I know places like Michael's and JoAnn fabrics have them frequently.  Use a wire cutter to cut the stems off the leaves and flowers. Sometimes they're sold in bunches with paper holding the stems together, so you have to rip them apart first.  I glued two different colors of leaves together for added depth, but 1 color is good too.  Add leaves in a triangle in the center of your feather circle.

4). At this point I kind of cheated because Mom knows how to tie flies so she took some pheasant feather strings and tied them together with the other feathers to give it an added layer of color and texture.  However, you could probably add more small feathers for the same effect.

5). Glue roses in the center of the leaves.  Make sure to use some glue to stick the flowers to each other for stability.

6). Wait for them to be pretty dry then glue onto the barrette. Once they are all the way dry, bend the leaves up a bit for a more 3D look that makes your flowers look not so "out there".

The finished green one

These can be worn off to the side or in the back, I may let the girls decide. I'm probably also going to put a little bit of colored birdcage netting on a hair comb to turn it into a '50s-style "hat", though I don't really know how that will work yet.

Wedding Registries Make You Greedy

We got our first registry gift recently!  Unfortunately, I bought it for us.  You see, this is the weird thing about registries....

Our (hopefully) new bedding set! (Crate and Barrel) - Need 1, Have 0

Wait, let me start with some back story.  When Math and I got engaged we were all " Oh...we don't need much. maybe we'll just register for a nice set of dishes and a few thing we need (like a pizza cutter and cookie sheet). Maybe a food processor."  We picked Crate and Barrel and Bed, Bath and Beyond as our registry places of choice since they're pretty wide spread. 

The Agave Bowls

One day in June of 2011, I was walking through C&B, not even intending to shop, when I saw The Agave serving Bowl and mini bowls.  It was love...perfect color, artsy shape and food safe!  I was just going to buy it outright, but there was one teeny problem:  It was $70 and the minis were $35 each.  Well shoot.  Then I thought "Hey! I'm getting married, I'll just start my registry!"  I knew it was super early, but I checked with the clerk and they confirmed that there were thousands in the warehouses so it was likely to last for the next 13 months.  So I decided to chance it and I went home and straightaway started a registry online.

Little did I know that this would unleash a monster.  After registering for a few things at C&B online, Math and I were shopping (well I was shopping, he was walking!) downtown Boulder in around September, and we decided to go into Peppercorn which is an independent kitchen and bed supply store that has cutesy things as well as high-end functional kitchenware. Well...they had some cute stuff and I hadn't registered in a store so I wanted to try.  Two hours later, more or less, I came out with a Peppercorn registry and a FREE gift that included some cooking utensils and chocolate.

Our dishes set.  So lovely!! (Crate and Barrel) Need -12, Have - 0

WOW!! That was fun, so next it was off to C&B for my in-store registry process and free gift (small rectangular vase). Then in the subsequent 5 months I had a registry at those two places plus Bed, Bath and Beyond, Sur La Table and Macy's (Sadly, no more free gifts, though I haven't yet gone into Macy's physically...so who knows?).  We also now had around 200+ items on our registries, from the large ($399 food processor) to the small ($3.99 garbage disposal cleaning capsules).  We are also registered for some of the same things on two or more registries (currently just pots and possibly also knives) just in case some of our guests are more Macy's or BB&B shoppers.

I put so much stuff on for 3 reasons:  1) It's really annoying if a couple isn't registered for much at one store thus making it a PITA for last minute shoppers to actually buy a gift in the store. 2) let's face it, there is so much cute/useful stuff that you would totally buy if you had infinite money that would replace your worn/crappy stuff! 3) You get into this mentality that it wouldn't hurt to have extras of some things (slotted spoons) and that you should be allowed to have nicer stuff (fancy serving spoons instead of the plastic ones) now that you're entering into "real adulthood".   And bonus #4) You find all the things that you would really "like to have" but can't bring yourself to buy (note the $399 food processor listed above. That sexy beast).

The Sexy Food Processor - I'm registered for it at Sur La Table, but I think you can get it other places too!

Which leads me to how I got my first registry gift.  I noticed in one of my compulsive registry checks that The Bowl was now in "Limited Quantities" and probably would not last till the wedding. Luck was with me in some respect as it was now only $30 instead of $70.  Since it was the reason I started the blasted registry so dang early,  my (il)logical brain told me that I HAD to have it and wouldn't stop thinkring about it till it was mine.   One of my BrMs did suggest that I tell someone to buy it for me but I found this a little awkward. So I told her and waited 2-3 weeks and when it was still on the registry as "Need - 1, Have - 0" I decided to buy it outright. And I did.

I know it was a pretty rediculous move and I don't need a giant green glass bowl but registries make you greedy.  You go "pretend shopping" with real item and get attached.  And really, it's TOO easy to buy stuff when you're not actually spending money.  Nevermind that you don't actually GET the gift...it's effectively yours.  You're entitled to it.  You must have it, because, don't you already have it anyways?  It's kind of like the feeling you'd get if someone just came into your kitchen, took all your plates, and walked out.

In conclusion, registries = basal consumeristic greed but also = fun!!