Let's talk about flowers

I decided long ago that I wanted fake flowers. I didn't want to spend a thousand or two at a florist on flowers that were going to die. I also didn't have the resources to order fresh flowers online, store them in my fridge and then tie them into bouquets right before the wedding. Using fake flowers, I get to keep my wedding bouquet indefinitely, I get to make them way ahead of time and not worry about them and I can get flowers from any season.

I played around with the idea of making ribbon flowers, or just sewing fabric into ruffles and using that as a bouquet. Crepe paper flowers were also attractive and there are books you can download online that can teach you how to make different crepe paper flowers. Both ribbon and paper flowers can be quite pretty. They both also require a lot more work than I'm willing to put out these days.

Lately, I've been feeling exhausted. There are too many demands on my time and energy right now and there are always tasks in the back of my mind nagging me that I need to check off. It's hard to concentrate on any one thing when there are so many directions you're being pulled at once.

So anyways, back to the flowers. I definitely wanted daisies. Chaucer said that the daisy was the flower of true love because the yellow center represented happiness and warmth like the warmth of the sun, and the white petals represented purity, truth and innocence, free from guile. The popular red rose, he said, was false love and represented lust, and not true love. That is why I've always had a thing for daisies.

I also love lotuses. Not only are they pretty, but in buddhist culture, the lotus is revered for growing in the dirtiest of waters and still blooms clean. Unfortunately, they are not as popular a flower and thus, they are harder to find as silk flowers. Roses are everywhere and you can usually find hydrangeas as well. I specifically wanted lavender lotuses, but most of the ones I found weren't the right shade.

So I ordered cream gerbera daisies for my bridesmaids and little white daisies for the bouts. I'm also ordering lavender roses as filler flowers for the daisy bouquets and the bouts. I'm not sure I'll be using any filler flowers in my own bouquet. I supposed we'll see once the flowers all come in. The truth is, fake flowers are not necessarily cheaper than real ones, but I'm paying for the convenience of putting them together way ahead of time.

All in all, I have to make one bridal bouquet, a smaller toss bouquet, 4 bridesmaids bouquets, the groom's bout, 2 groomsmen bouts, 2 mommy corsages and 2 daddy bouts. So that's a total of 6 bouquets, 5 bouts and 2 corsages. If I have any time and resources left over, I'll make 3 extra corsages for the groom's sisters.

Wow, that's a lot of work! Lol!