The Truth About My Wedding Flowers

I get asked at least once a week during the flower season about designing flowers for a wedding.  Soon, I will post a longer explanation regarding the fact that I don't typically do weddings. But for now, I’d like to simply share a story with you– the story of my wedding flowers.

One day last summer, a customer at the farmers market asked me if I had done my own wedding flowers when I got married.  I laughed.  First of all, I only started growing and designing with flowers in 2019, when I started my business. Since then, I've just been learning as I go.  My flower business wasn't a lifelong dream, and honestly wasn't something that was even on my radar at all a decade ago. Secondly, I have never considered myself to be an artistic person. If you would have told me on my wedding day that today, I would be running a flower business, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.

Back in 2011, when Paul and I got married, there was one word to describe me as a bride:  practical.  After jumping through a million and one hoops to go through the immigration process, I was just happy we were able to get married at all. And so, I vowed not to get all wrapped up in the crazy details, or let myself be ruined by some mishap.

My wedding dress? It was actually a bridesmaid dress, ordered in white.  I had to find something that could be easily packed in a suitcase, since we were having one wedding in the US, and then another a month later in Cuzco, Peru. 

Our honeymoon? We didn’t leave the state. After a few years abroad, I was content to just show Paul a little more of Wisconsin. 

Invitations? Programs? Let's make them ourselves! Music? We'll just make a playlist. Photography? My college roommates to the rescue!

Everything was very nice, but as practical as possible.

And so, when I was asked if I had done my own wedding flowers, I had to pause for a minute.  Embarrassed, I realized that I couldn’t remember what specific flowers we even had.   

“Ummm, no,” I said, saving it, “We actually got our flowers from a florist.”

True . . . kind of. 

The whole truth was that, in an effort to keep things simple, I had asked my sister, Linda, to just go to Walmart on the morning of our wedding, buy a few supermarket bouquets, take them apart, and make enough bunches for myself and bridesmaids.  I think about it now and just shake my head. It's funny, because now, supermarket flowers are one of the things I actually despise the most. Paul knows that if he wants to insult me, all he has to do is bring home a bouquet from Walmart.

When I had tasked my sister with this wedding flower master-plan, I remember her kind of squinting her eyes at me and nodding slowly. She agreed to help me with the flowers.  What I didn’t know was that after that conversation, she went to a local florist, and ordered me real wedding flowers. 

On the morning of our wedding, we were surprised and thrilled to find out what my sister had done for us.  It was so appreciated!  We had pink and white roses and baby's breath, and they were beautiful. Linda, in her infinite wisdom, knew that random supermarket flowers just weren't going to cut it. And looking back, even though I’m happy with all our other “practical” choices for our wedding, my Walmart flower plan probably wasn’t my best idea. 

Now that I know the quality of locally grown flowers, I would definitely grow my own wedding flowers if I could. But what’s done is done. For now, it’ll just have to be filed away a sweet memory with my sister, and a slightly embarrassing story for this flower enthusiast.