Bouquet detail, photo by cd

We tried to save money on flowers. Swear to god. We gave it our absolute best shot. We met with two florists - one in Sac and one in Davis (sister-in-law of a friends’ wife, did their wedding, lovely stuff, too costly for us; plus, in-town is just easier). We ended up going with Twiggs - located on J Street, conveniently next to The Raven - into which you’ll probably want/need to duck after contemplating the cost of flowers. Flowers that while pretty and nice smelling, will die and leave you with zero tangible benefit. You can’t eat them. You can’t drink them. They look really great, sure, but if you’re a non-weak bride, flowers will make you angry.

I hate being made angry by flowers. I love them. I take endless numbers of flower photos. I’m all flowers, all the time. But that sh*t is expensive.

I will say that our experience with Twigg’s owner, Wes, was never less than great. He patiently listened to me change my mind and incoherently describe what I wanted. And everything came out great anyway. It was delivered on time and looked fresh.

We originally contracted for the bouquets (mine and my bridesmaids’), the boutonnieres for the boys, flowers for our mothers, and that was about it. We decided upon hearing the cost for centerpieces (around $50 each) that we could do those ourselves and save money.

We ended up with this:

This is its partially-complete state - imagine it sans-plastic. We found flower pots at Ikea that complemented the room. My fiancé sacrificed a few brain cells spray painting them and coordinating candleholders a nice matte gold. Into each pot went a $12.99 white orchid (phalaenopsis, to be exact), and we surrounded them with a few more glass candle holders. Accordingly, each table’s treatment cost less than $20 and hit a decor note we thought harmonized with the venue.

Of course, in the end, my mom wanted more flowers for the ceremony - so the addition of some chair ornaments, 2 HUGE displays of flowers, and a smaller table display (for still unknown reasons) brought us back to . . . . the exact same amount as if we had let Twiggs do the centerpieces from the start. So we actually spent MORE because we did the centerpieces ourselves. Ah, weddings.

Churches benefit from those large ceremony floral arrangements because they are placed, duh, in the church for the ceremony. At the end of our night, we had GIANT displays of flowers and nothing to do with them. We ended up calling a taxi and paying the cabbie $40 to take the arrangements to our church. Did they get there? We don’t know. I should check. Or maybe I would rather live in the unknown.

Best advice: get married at Christmas time, when clear bowls of festive Christmas baubles would make lovely, cheap centerpieces. Ikea is great for this right now - if anyone has an upcoming event. Or just accept that flowers are lovely, costly parts of a wedding. You can find ways to save without sacrificing the look of your day - but to best do that, you’ll need to stop answering calls from your family.

(Dear Mom: I know you read this. It’s okay. We liked the pretty flowers and we really have no standing to complain. But I have to. For my art. You understand. Love, cd)

In closing: we happily recommend Twiggs - not cheap, but not out-of-the-ordinary either. (Unfortunately.) Friendly, attentive service and a great final product ease the blow to your budget.

For more:
Day One: The Series
Day Two: The Dress
Day Three: The Photographer
Day Four: The Music
Day Five: The Cake
Day Six: The Flowers
Day Seven: The Legal Stuff
Day Eight: Random Other Stuff