Choosing the Flowers!

In case you haven't already figured this out about me, I am 100% a girly-girl. I love pink. And anything that sparkles! I also, really love flowers. If fresh flowers weren't so expensive and didn't die after three days, I would always have fresh flowers in our house.

So anyway, back to the subject at hand....I was SO excited about picking flowers for our wedding. Choosing a floral designer was an easy, no-brainer for me. One of my oldest friends, M, has been a floral designer for almost 15 years, and she does absolutely amazing work. Since she knows me so well, and knows my taste, I knew that I could trust her completely to turn my vision into a reality. This was one area where I told Keith that he had zero say. Besides, he's a guy, so how much could he care about flowers? :)

I "reserved" M as soon as we had our date settled, but we didn't get together until a couple of months later to discuss my vision and ideas. I knew I wanted green and white flowers,  it feels very crisp and clean, perfect for our preppy, nautical themed wedding! I want my bouquet to also have touches of pink flowers, and the bridesmaids bouquets to be white and green. Green orchids are some of my favorite flowers, and since my grandmother is still living in Hawaii, she knows someone who grows orchids and is sending them to me to use in my bouquet. I love that it will be a nice touch of "home" to carry with me.  Here are some of the photos I showed M during our consult.

Image courtesy of beach-weddings-florida.net / This has been one of my inspiration shots since before we got engaged! Love! 

Image courtesy of kellysweddingflowers.com / For my bouquet maybe? 

Image courtesy of theknot.com / I love the full peonies with touches of green

Image courtesy of  wedding-special.onsugar.com / Including green orchids and hydrangeas

Her and I came up with some great ideas and a day after we met she sent me a quote, and I was very pleased with the number she gave me. I know that the cost of flowers can quickly add up, so I was relieved and grateful to see that they were still (relatively!) in budget.

M and I also discussed my reception decor, but since that is a post in itself, I'll save that one for another day! 

What was your inspiration for choosing your flowers? Were you shocked at the prices of wedding flowers, or were you pleasantly surprised like me?