Who needs a florist?

So after having surpassed my panic attack, I have made some progress on the decoration and flower front. I have thought a lot about flowers.... and what they cost! After a little research, I have found out that flower arrangements are insanely expensive! And though I LOVE flowers and want them to play a major part in our wedding decoration, I simply won't pay thousands of kroners (or dollars!) for something that will die in a day. And seriously, how difficult can it be?

If you take:

(source: white roses; pale pink & lavender roses)

shouldn't you end up with something like this?

(source)

Eh well, you get the picture. If I buy my flowers in bulk and make my own arrangements, I will save PLENTY of money, still have beautiful flower decorations and have some more money to spend on the food, music or a honeymoon ;)

COLORS PLEASE!

Warning! Long post ahead! So grab a cup of joe before you read on....


So who ever said that wedding colors had to be white, white and more white, with a splash of green and maybe some light pink? Well, actually, nobody said that.... that's just how little imagination *I* have! When I started to think about how our wedding should be, where, etc. I always imagined pretty round tables with white linens, white plates and shiny silverware, with a centerpiece made of white roses and some green stuff.... Yeah, green stuff because I'm actually a flower idiot, so I can't get more precise than that. And that's exactly how I imagined our venue for a garden-party-style wedding, with maybe a hit of very light pink, to add a vintage touch to it all.

But then....

EVERYTHING changed! It started with the news about the whole we-can't-have-our-venue-in-summer thing. At first, I was really, and I mean REALLY, bummed, and my FI and I had intense discussions about what to do. We both wanted the summer wedding, because it just seemed so cozy and we could picture it so vividly in our heads, but we actually found out that we wanted our venue even more than that. So we discussed what other time of the year would work for us, and since I almost fainted at the idea to organize a Spring wedding, I mean c'mon, december is knocking on our door, so Spring is waaaaay too close! Therefore, it had to be Autumn or Winter 2011.... and we decided.... an Autumn wedding! I still have one teeny tiny issue I need to work on, and that's getting over the fact that we won't be wed outdoors. Let's face it, it's simply going to be too cold, too windy, and.... not realistic (anybody living in the High North understands this.... nodding in agreement, yes?).  So even though we already had a really sweet officiant (a family friend) for our (so we thought) outdoor ceremony, we will now be moving into the candle-lit warmth of the sweetest church (more on that later).

So as I said, everything changed. I now had to get entirely new pictures into my head. And that's when I fell into the photo gallery at Project Wedding! Lord do they have tons of inspirational pictures! I loved it! I immediately started to search the flower & decoration section, and here is a VERY little selection of the stuff I drooled over (please excuse my not so pretty boards):

(ALL pictures are from the photo gallery at Project Wedding.)

Autumn colors! Love them, and they are perfect for an Autumn wedding.

I'm loving the hot pink 'N orange combination! Super fresh! I would never have dreamed of combinding these two colors, but I'm lovin' it.

Now here's another thing I would never had thought about: using fruit in the flower deco.

Now isn't that lavender bouquet so sweet and vintagey? And I love the drama in the Calla lilies bouquet! Yeps, I did my homework on ID'ing this flower!

Love, love, love! Especially the idea of having a town as table name instead of a number.

Oh, look! More vintage inspired decorations! Do you see a trend? :)

Here's another color palette that I fell for: the crisp black & white, with a splash of color! Fresh with the lime green and dramatic with the red. I like both, but am more drawn towards the lime.

Here's another one. Oh oh oh! Did I also mention that I am completely OBSESSED with the Damask pattern?? Yup, obsessed BIG time! By now I'm sure that it will make an appearance at our wedding.

And here's another decoration that we appear at our wedding: blankets! So cute and useful since we have a big patio at our venue!

(source)

And here's how I want my food: adorable raw veggies and amuse-bouches as appetizers and a huge dessert buffet (see the Damask on the buffet table BTW?.. told you I was obsessed!!!!)

(source)

So as it turned out, I had absolutely NO idea of all the gorgeous, classy and colorful decor one can do for a wedding! My head is literally spinning right now from all this input! I want to do all the color palettes, darned I only have *one* wedding to decorate!

To DIY or not to DIY, that is the question

Since the very beginning of this wedding planning adventure, I have been thinking about all the DIY projects I could take on, especially to save a little $$ here and there. So here's a list of what (I think) will be my DIY wedding projects:

• The invitations: the whole package, including save the dates, invites, RSVPs, directions, thank you cards, etc. - I actually look forward to this!
• The flower decorations: this is a major savings point. Flower decorations can be extremely pricey and since I do want lots of them, I'll have to find simple decorations that I can do myself. For the bridal bouquet, I might get some professional help though.
• Other decorations: like candles, vases, etc. I also plan to sew my own table runners, napkins, etc. I mean, how hard can it be to sew a piece of square cloth?
• The music: what's wrong with good iPod playlists?

Well.... basically everything! Does that sound crazy? I mean I know it will take some time, but we probably couldn't afford all these things if we had to contract vendors. Which reminds me, I should actually post our budget at some point, shouldn't I? I also have to say that the idea of spending time creating my own decorations, invitation and so forth will give me much more joy and I'll appreciate them a thousand times more.

What DIY projects did you do for your wedding? Did you succeed?