Real Life Bride: Week 5

This week we got to meet with one of my favorite vendors - the florist!! Aside from the caterer, the florist for me is the next "most fun" vendor. It was great sitting down together and basically just sharing my ideas and then they pull it altogether into (what I imagine will be) a gorgeous display of florals! Until I started working at weddings, I never put it together in my head that the florist also provides other decor elements such as pots, lanterns, jars, etc to put the look together. And then actually visiting a florist's studio very much showed me all the props that go into the "floral" design of a wedding.

Now I say this was fun for me, but I'm fairly certain that there were two people having a WAY better time than even I was - my mom and sister! They knew all about what types of flowers they wanted to see, carry, use at the ceremony, use at the reception...even down to a preference for "crackled glass" on some lanterns! Basically I recognized "roses" and "lavender" and "herbs." My overall input? "Um, whatever will look pretty." Does that help?

Needless to say I was very pleased leaving that meeting, knowing that the look I wanted would certainly be achieved. Slightly less pleased when I saw the proposal with the bottom line! Now Beth assured me that this is just a starting point, it's all negotiable and we will work on certain areas, so I'm still confident that I will get the floral display I, my mom and my sister have all dreamed of!







On another note, with the engagement party invitations about to go out, we were advised that starting our registry with a few smaller items might be a good idea. I've known some people to do their entire registry before their engagement party, and others have waited until closer to the wedding so things didn't go out of stock. I figured registering for basic items that didn't require lots of pieces to be "complete" now, and then other items next spring/summer, would be a safe bet.

With Ryan in Oklahoma, I called to see if he wanted to go over it with me, but apparently I caught him mid-nap! So, I took it upon myself to create a registry and add some decor items and kitchen essentials, right from the comfort of my home computer! Crate and Barrel is my absolute favorite, so perusing the website and simply clicking the "add to registry" button was such fun! When we did look at it together, Ryan was very pleased with my initial selections, and we went through together adding a few more things. As fun as our online/phone experience was, though, I'm still looking forward to getting out to the physical stores together next year and zapping away!

Planning Status:
Venue/Date - Booked (yay!)
Photographer - Booked
Caterer - On hold (will go to tasting in January after fiance returns)
Florist - In negotiation
Engagement Party - Invitations done and going out next week!