Wedding Details

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Maybe you can use one or two real flowers in with the silk ones? When I made my bouquet I used a variety of silk flowers for the base of the bouquet, and then on the wedding day added in 6 large real lilies to create a 'fall'. It worked really really well. (Afterwards, my Dad took the lilies back with him to Canada to place on my mother's grave).

Edited May 17, 2009 by Kathryn41

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Maybe you can use one or two real flowers in with the silk ones? When I made my bouquet I used a variety of silk flowers for the base of the bouquet, and then on the wedding day added in 6 large really lilies to create a 'fall'. It worked really really well. (Afterwards, my Dad took the lilies back with him to Canada to place on my mother's grave).

awww that's so touching!

Here i'll show you guys:

Apparently the roses wouldn't stand up like that for to long if they were real, which makes sense. The wedding kinda has a roses theme: my bouquet has all red roses with crystals, and then the bridesmaids have white roses with some red mixed in, so i thought rose centerpieces would top it off. I'm not making them myself, so I don't know how much creative input I would have, but I could ask about maybe making the white ones on the bottom real? I don't know... but I do really like it just the way it is. It has that modern, funky, dynamic, but simple look I wanted...

[SapphireDreams 71]

That's actually really pretty Huggles! I like that! I've seen flowers stand high like that with green wire. The Florist could just attach wire from top to bottom and do a subtle wrap around the stem. It would probably be extra on labour, but might be worth it if you really want real flowers.

I think it thinks nice as it is though.

[TimandJoyce 1]

Maybe you can use one or two real flowers in with the silk ones? When I made my bouquet I used a variety of silk flowers for the base of the bouquet, and then on the wedding day added in 6 large really lilies to create a 'fall'. It worked really really well. (Afterwards, my Dad took the lilies back with him to Canada to place on my mother's grave).

awww that's so touching!

Here i'll show you guys:

Apparently the roses wouldn't stand up like that for to long if they were real, which makes sense. The wedding kinda has a roses theme: my bouquet has all red roses with crystals, and then the bridesmaids have white roses with some red mixed in, so i thought rose centerpieces would top it off. I'm not making them myself, so I don't know how much creative input I would have, but I could ask about maybe making the white ones on the bottom real? I don't know... but I do really like it just the way it is. It has that modern, funky, dynamic, but simple look I wanted...

That is very pretty! Silk flowers look just like real ones now a days..you might be able to add a little spray to make them smell too...

ooopss I mean give off a scent!!

Edited May 17, 2009 by TimandJoyce

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I got what you meant with the smell thing, no worries! That would actually be a cool idea! I think i'm just going to stick with the silks... I mean, the centerpieces weren't in our budget to begin with. The Sheraton was suposed to provide us with centerpieces with the wedding package, but I saw the designs they offered and was pretty unhappy with them. They weren't willing to be very flexible with this either, so I decided that just going and getting our own was the best idea. Bill's grandmother has a friend who designs and makes wedding centerpieces, so this is where this design came from. She did a very good job! Bill's grandmother is actually getting them done for us as a wedding present, so I don't want to be to particular and increase the costs for her. Thanks for the input guys!

[MrsCat 6]

Just a thought about taller center pieces. Depending on table placement, you may want to lower the center pieces slightly. There is nothing more annoying than enjoying great food and great company, and having to shift your head around a center piece to talk with others on the other end of the table all night long.

Depends on the set up of course.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Just a thought about taller center pieces. Depending on table placement, you may want to lower the center pieces slightly. There is nothing more annoying than enjoying great food and great company, and having to shift your head around a center piece to talk with others on the other end of the table all night long.

Depends on the set up of course.

Yeah that's very true... I was thinking about that myself. We have round tables that seat 10, but we are only going to put 7-8 at each table for space purposes, so I'm hoping there's a way to space things out enough that its not too annoying. I'm told that it won't be a problem because there will only be a couple steams blocking their view... I'll get my fiance's family to sit around the table and have a conversation then report back on how distracting the centerpiece was

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Actually, those centerpieces are quite lovely, and your florist is right, roses wouldn't stand up - they are actually quite delicate and wilt very quickly. Your bouquets should be fine as the roses will be in individual stem holders with water.

[minnew 4]

I have a question related to flowers, I am thinking about using Freeze-Dried Flowers or Silk Flowers for the wedding bouquets, boutenieres, corsages..all that fun stuff! There is a business here that prepares bouquets from freeze-dried roses in whatever colours you want. My question is how well would the flowers hold up after a 15 hour trip in a car in October, and would CBP allow Freeze-Dried Flowers to cross a POE? They are not fresh flowers, so I do not see why not, but I could see their excuse being to prevent spread bugs and disease. The reason I would like to go with Freeze-Dried or Silk is cost, but also I could not tell the difference in person when I saw the Freeze-Dried Bouquets and the whole flower package was only $400. I have not been able to find a similar business in the area I am moving to unfortunately

http://www.thecountryrose.ca/

Edited May 18, 2009 by minnew

[JillA 2]

I have a question related to flowers, I am thinking about using Freeze-Dried Flowers or Silk Flowers for the wedding bouquets, boutenieres, corsages..all that fun stuff! There is a business here that prepares bouquets from freeze-dried roses in whatever colours you want. My question is how well would the flowers hold up after a 15 hour trip in a car in October, and would CBP allow Freeze-Dried Flowers to cross a POE? They are not fresh flowers, so I do not see why not, but I could see their excuse being to prevent spread bugs and disease. The reason I would like to go with Freeze-Dried or Silk is cost, but also I could not tell the difference in person when I saw the Freeze-Dried Bouquets and the whole flower package was only $400. I have not been able to find a similar business in the area I am moving to unfortunately

http://www.thecountryrose.ca/

I know that flowers are OK to cross the border, as long as there is no soil. The problem with plants and such is the soil. My stepmom is a florist and has done weddings before in NY driving from Montreal with no problems. To be safe you could always check with the border.

[minnew 4]

I have a question related to flowers, I am thinking about using Freeze-Dried Flowers or Silk Flowers for the wedding bouquets, boutenieres, corsages..all that fun stuff! There is a business here that prepares bouquets from freeze-dried roses in whatever colours you want. My question is how well would the flowers hold up after a 15 hour trip in a car in October, and would CBP allow Freeze-Dried Flowers to cross a POE? They are not fresh flowers, so I do not see why not, but I could see their excuse being to prevent spread bugs and disease. The reason I would like to go with Freeze-Dried or Silk is cost, but also I could not tell the difference in person when I saw the Freeze-Dried Bouquets and the whole flower package was only $400. I have not been able to find a similar business in the area I am moving to unfortunately

http://www.thecountryrose.ca/

I know that flowers are OK to cross the border, as long as there is no soil. The problem with plants and such is the soil. My stepmom is a florist and has done weddings before in NY driving from Montreal with no problems. To be safe you could always check with the border.

Thank you! That was my next step as I could not find anything on CBP website regarding restricted items except plants with soil.

[JillA 2]

I have a question related to flowers, I am thinking about using Freeze-Dried Flowers or Silk Flowers for the wedding bouquets, boutenieres, corsages..all that fun stuff! There is a business here that prepares bouquets from freeze-dried roses in whatever colours you want. My question is how well would the flowers hold up after a 15 hour trip in a car in October, and would CBP allow Freeze-Dried Flowers to cross a POE? They are not fresh flowers, so I do not see why not, but I could see their excuse being to prevent spread bugs and disease. The reason I would like to go with Freeze-Dried or Silk is cost, but also I could not tell the difference in person when I saw the Freeze-Dried Bouquets and the whole flower package was only $400. I have not been able to find a similar business in the area I am moving to unfortunately

http://www.thecountryrose.ca/

I know that flowers are OK to cross the border, as long as there is no soil. The problem with plants and such is the soil. My stepmom is a florist and has done weddings before in NY driving from Montreal with no problems. To be safe you could always check with the border.

Thank you! That was my next step as I could not find anything on CBP website regarding restricted items except plants with soil.

I think my stepmom will do my flowers, it's about a 7-hour drive so I hope they'd be OK just in water and an AC van.... she is supertalented and gets the flowers at cost, labour is free too It'll be much cheaper than using a florist here.

Edited May 18, 2009 by JillA

[JillA 2]

So here's a question for you all....

When you're doing the guest list, you get your number of invites to send out, etc. But how do you know the approximate amount of guests will actually be there? We have to give our approx. guest count to whatever venue place we choose upon signing the contract, yet it's hard to do that because there are so many "maybes" due to out of towners.... and then you only give the final count a few weeks before.... So I could be way off in guessing how many guests will actually be there. I'm inviting many of my Dad's friends he asked me to, but he said they definitely won't come. Knowing my luck they'll decide to

[SapphireDreams 71]

So here's a question for you all....

When you're doing the guest list, you get your number of invites to send out, etc. But how do you know the approximate amount of guests will actually be there? We have to give our approx. guest count to whatever venue place we choose upon signing the contract, yet it's hard to do that because there are so many "maybes" due to out of towners.... and then you only give the final count a few weeks before.... So I could be way off in guessing how many guests will actually be there. I'm inviting many of my Dad's friends he asked me to, but he said they definitely won't come. Knowing my luck they'll decide to

Generally, you would plan for a 10-15% drop off rate. But, I think with out of town guests, its more like 25-30%.

If I were you, I would sort your guest list by the ones you know for sure, the ones that are maybes and then maybe the ones that are going to most likely be nos. Then I would find a room that fits all the Yes and maybe 85% of the maybes... that way if you have some maybes not come and then some of the Nos come, you'll be okay.

We got really lucky with our room. The minimum is 100 people and the maximum is 300. The reason is because we paid them a hefty room rental fee. But, the food/alcohol per head was much lower than any other place, so when you add them together, it was what you would normally pay a hall here. Obviously it gets more expensive per head when our guest list drops, but at least we're safe if a lot of out out of town guests don't come.

Or, I think your best bet is to find a room that fits 85% of your guestlist - that will accept a low minimum, like maybe 65% of your list.

[JillA 2]

So here's a question for you all....

When you're doing the guest list, you get your number of invites to send out, etc. But how do you know the approximate amount of guests will actually be there? We have to give our approx. guest count to whatever venue place we choose upon signing the contract, yet it's hard to do that because there are so many "maybes" due to out of towners.... and then you only give the final count a few weeks before.... So I could be way off in guessing how many guests will actually be there. I'm inviting many of my Dad's friends he asked me to, but he said they definitely won't come. Knowing my luck they'll decide to

Generally, you would plan for a 10-15% drop off rate. But, I think with out of town guests, its more like 25-30%.

If I were you, I would sort your guest list by the ones you know for sure, the ones that are maybes and then maybe the ones that are going to most likely be nos. Then I would find a room that fits all the Yes and maybe 85% of the maybes... that way if you have some maybes not come and then some of the Nos come, you'll be okay.

We got really lucky with our room. The minimum is 100 people and the maximum is 300. The reason is because we paid them a hefty room rental fee. But, the food/alcohol per head was much lower than any other place, so when you add them together, it was what you would normally pay a hall here. Obviously it gets more expensive per head when our guest list drops, but at least we're safe if a lot of out out of town guests don't come.

Or, I think your best bet is to find a room that fits 85% of your guestlist - that will accept a low minimum, like maybe 65% of your list.

That's a good idea Sapphire - I think theknot lets you sort your guest list that way, I'll get started on that. I love theknot.com!