My younger D doesn’t want ANY flowers. She feels they are a waste of money and would rather allocate funds to other things. She doesn’t care about flowers.
A basket- what brand is your dress? And does the label have a ski # or model name or something? I’ll bet we can find a photo!!
A basket-
Like this ?? https://wanelo.com/p/10443678/zoe-ltd-beaded-collar-dress-big-girls-nordstrom
Re FLOWERS:
My D, wed in 2013 at the outdoor pavilion of the Boston Museum of Science, said she did not see the need for any flowers, as the outdoor site right off the Charles River was so naturally attractive. (She and her groom totally planned their wedding themselves, so I had very little input.)
“What if it rains?” I asked her, “Nobody will be able to appreciate the natural beauty of the site then, and might appreciate some flowers to enhance the atmosphere. Please will you consider some flowers?” I pleaded.
Fortunately, a friend of the groom’s who had a floral business sideline offered to do the flowers at cost as a gift, so the couple relented.
So I eventually asked D what flowers were planned.
“I don’t recall the names, but the florist showed us some pictures, and they were pretty ones,” was the response. All D cared about was that their preferred color be used.
“Oh, I am so relieved you are not having UGLY flowers for your wedding,” I responded.
Drove me NUTS, as I am a serious gardener (see profile pic) and don’t know how I raised a kid who knows (and cares) so little about flowers.
Fortunately, the florist friend did do a wonderful job and the (not ugly!) flowers significantly added to the atmosphere of the site. (morning wedding and reception followed at the site)
But I can imagine there are some settings that work fine without any flowers, and brides and grooms are, of course, fully entitled to make their own priorities. One option would be to have table centerpieces other than flowers, after all.
Plus flowers can be overdone – I once saw pics of a florist’s daughter’s wedding, and there were flowers on the backs of the chairs at the reception, elaborate arrangements everywhere.
De gustibus non est disputandum!
I have searched and searched for my dress online with no luck! The brand is daniel rainn. The style number on the inner tag provides no link! I’ve tried everything!!
Son’s fiancé doesn’t care a lot about flowers. The reception venue is without character of any kind. White walls, no windows. The price was right for Fiance’s family and it was convenient to a lot of people. So…needs flowers!
I love reading the wedding threads on cc- even though there are no weddings for us this year, thank goodness. D1 and D2 got married in 2014 and 2015. When D1, who is frugal, announced they were not having fresh flowers I couldn’t believe it. She made all 7 bouquets out of silk and sola wood flowers and then made hundreds of flowers in her wedding colors out of, get this, cardstock. She had roses and lilies and mums (she did add some dried baby’s breath) and used vintage colored glass vases. Quirky but visually very appealing. She had gotten the idea from a friend who had made all of her wedding flowers from pages of old books (she was a teacher). Many wedding guests requested vases/flowers to take home and one of my friends used hers as a starting point for a room remodelling!
So when D2 started planning her wedding and said no fresh flowers, I just thought “whatever”. She and all bridesmaids had broach bouquets made by her sister- pretty but heavy. The church was already decorated for Christmas so no extra embellishment needed. She had 3 different styles of centerpieces and one type had flowers but they were silk gerber daisies which she embellished with broaches in the center. Both girls used the bridal parties bouquets in vases at the head table; this has been standard practice in our area for several years.
D3 is no where near getting married- but I’m positive there will be fresh flowers then. She’s an outdoor type who will probably marry in the middle of a poppy field!
We need a CC pinterest board of these great ideas, wedding dresses, MOB dresses, etc.!
I’m sure D2 will come up with some idea for something to put on the tables, just not flowers. I believe there is plenty of atmosphere (I’m attending tasting dinner there with her and fiancé when I go to NYC for the dress appointment) as it is right on the water (including outdoor patios for cocktail hour) and has view of the Statue of Liberty too. She doesn’t even want to carry flowers. It is not like she dislikes flowers. But there is a budget and flowers are a low priority to her in terms of how to use the money. For example, renting a piano is more important to her. She doesn’t even really want a wedding cake, just the dessert table. Fiancee wants something in terms of a cake, maybe a small one, not sure. She just doesn’t care about these traditional touches. The bridesmaids will not wear matching dresses. She is deciding on a color scheme and they can pick out their own dresses in that scheme.
Missypie , PM me if it turns out you need another name for flowers. I have a name in the area - whenever any event is scheduled someone then says “And then Darla will do the flowers” (not her business name) everyone at the table relaxes and says “ok, that’s checked off”.
For those DIY types, I just found out Costco sells flowers in bulk! I wish I had know this when I hosted a large party and paid way too much for flowers. I ran from store to store the weekend of trying to collect enough flowers in the right color for cheap; this would have been cheaper and easier.
There are also cut flower wholesalers. DS’s wife went with her florist to the venue in their city to select the flowers that the florist would later purchase there for the wedding. It did help to keep the cost down, I believe (and I paid for the flowers-- the price seemed reasonable for the weekend event). Also we too used the parents (MOB/MOG) nosegay bouquets, the maid of honor’s bouquet as floral arrangements at the reception. Yay for recycling. Oh, and as a shout-out to the thread about how to treat our son’s girlfriends (or daughters boyfriends), I insisted that my younger s’s gf, who was not a part of the immediate wedding party per se (DS#2 was best man), be included in having a nosegay to carry and have in the photos. That’s just me. I treat my s’s gf’s as family.
At my daughter’s wedding, instead of cut flowers on the tables at the reception, there will be flags - a US flag and an Albanian flag (4"x6" size). What we need to figure out is what kind of base to put the flags in. The groom has few opinions, but he really is happy with this idea. It is a way for them to show that this marriage will be a merging of two cultures.
I did tell her about the ‘reusing the bouquets on the reception tables’ idea and she is open to that. There will be a very small bridal party, so only a few bouquets but maybe we’ll use them on the head table. It’s a really good idea.
My daughter had two event florists on her list from all those she has encountered working in the event industry. I went with her and her fiancé to meet with them. I know the words my daughter and the florists were speaking were English. But they must have been speaking in some kind of industry code about designs, shapes, color palettes, arrangements, containers, placement, staging from the ceremony through the reception, reconfiguration and reuse at each stage, etc. To say that I was nothing more than an observer lost in the vernacular of “industry speak” would be an understatement, lol.
Confession: I had to look up what a nosegay was when they suggested that’s what we should carry. I thought it was a flower 
MOTHER-SON DANCE SUGGESTIONS?
I know I can Google this and there are websites that provide such lists, but I have had such good results from CC posters in the past (one of whom suggested my MOB dress for D’s wedding).
So last night S mentioned doing a mother-son dance at the (June '16) wedding reception. I asked if he had a song in mind, he said my choice. I suggested we each make our own lists of contenders and see if any match. I might like a waltz but am open to ideas, though tend to prefer oldies to current songs, and am not a “country” fan.
Thanks in advance for the help!
I checked our local wholesale floral place but they are not open to the public. 
I posted the Costco bulk flower link here recently but would still like to hear from someone who has actually ordered flowers this way. The timing scares me a little! (can’t order too soon or too late! What if there is a delay?!)
^ One concern I would have with ordering flowers to be shipped is keeping them refrigerated and fresh until the ceremony. Florists have refrigerators specially designed for that purpose. Some types of blooms (such as the currently popular baby’s breath) last well without refrigeration, but I would worry about that – and prefer to cut down on stress.
I read a lot of online reviews about Costo bulk flowers. It seems that one of the issues is that some do not arrive in bloom. That goes to your worry about if they arrive too late to be in bloom.
Son’s wedding reception is in a facility owned by a municipal body. Fiance’s mother actually had to met with the fire marshall about candles. There are lots of rules, including that the votive candle had to be in sand inside the glass candle holder!
I had thought extensively about a song for my M/S dance at S’s wedding, but I was presented with the plan he and DIL wanted and I guess it worked out pretty well. DIL and her father began by dancing to the Louis Armstrong version of What a Wonderful World.and dj cued us to join halfway through. I think S felt all that dancing (with bride and with me) with everyone watching was awkward.