How we became flower haters...

The week (maybe even weekend!) after we were engaged, my mom was up the street at this local sugar house buying maple sugar. Now, my mom can talk... and one thing led to another and she told the daughter of the store's owners that I was getting married. The daughter, Jessica, just so happens to have a florist business. She told my mom to have us check out her site and request information. Chris and I had just gone to a bridal fair, and had BAGS full of information so we figured what was the harm in one more email or pamphlet.

Big mistake.

So, I filled out the online form and stated that we had just become engaged and we were in the early planning phases. The next thing I knew, my inbox was flooded with emails from Jessica suggesting different venues to hold our wedding/reception. It was really overwhelming. It wasn't like we were completely computer illiterate and couldn't find the websites for these venues on our own. Instead of being annoyed, I tried to be positive and was grateful that she had taken an interest in our wedding and had seemed really neighborly. Well, then she prodded some more and insisted we meet the following weekend. At this point, Chris and I were under the false impression that her flowers were artificial. We liked the idea that the flowers could be re-used and therefore not a wasted expense and would be "green".

Jessica made our heads spin. It was something out of the Exorcist movie. We told her that we were not the typical couple whose mommy and daddy were footing the bill for their wedding. We were looking for simple and understated. She scoffed at my idea of using daisies. She said it was cheap. She told us that the average bride spends $3,000 on their flowers. To this sentiment, we chuckled and said that was beyond our spending limit. When we told her that we were paying for the wedding, she laughed and said that's what her parents said. She said that in the end, they gave her $8,000. Not going to happen here!

Jessica was beyond pushy. She turned to me and had the audacity to say, "You aren't going to be one of those brides that tells me what flowers to use. Are you?" She spoke as if it was insane for a bride to have a say in the one day of their lives that they scrutinized and dreamed about since childhood. She went to town and we nodded and smiled. The next thing I knew, she had picked purple as our flowers' color (ICK!! BARNEY here we come!) She told us we'd have buckets of flowers on the pews, a purple flowered trellis and arrangements on every table. It was if she was trying to show us that our "simple and understated" was nothing compared to what she could do for us. At the end of this incredibly awkward meeting, Jessica made a tally of several numbers (not telling us where she was getting her figures or what each figure correlated to) and gave us the quote of $4,400 for our wedding flowers. With this news, we scurried out of the shed (did I mention she does her dealings in this child sized playhouse/shed!?) and never looked back.

So, even 9 months later, this area remains to be the one part of our wedding planning we dread. We really feel that the flowers are a huge waste of money. We feel people spend too much money on things that aren't even reusable. We would much rather put our money towards a cause that both Chris and I are passionate about. Don't be surprised if our bridesmaids are empty handed and a check is made out to cancer research!

P.S. We don't like you, Jessica.