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)!