We are very lucky to have with us today the gorgeous and lovely Kyla Bea! If you are not already reading her blog religiously, get on it. She is a fantastic writer with a joyful soul and a DomestiGal spirit!
In her own words, Kyla is "a twenty three year old crafter, baker, reader, knitter, black tea aficionado, vegetarian, and stray dog rescuer from the Canadian Prairies. She just finished school, bought & moved into a 99 year old house, took in two crazy and wild puppies, and got married in September to my Mister. It took a lot of deep breathing, but it all finally happened! I guess the biggest question now is, now what?"
Read on...
Do you take this woman to be your Florist?
My Mister and I have been decidedly in the throes of young domestic bliss for a few years now, and when we started planning our wedding we had a lot to talk about. I'd never been one of those girls who thought about their wedding – I had obsessed about when he was going to propose, but some how that never gave way to wedding fantasies. As soon as we got engaged I wished that I had let my imagination run away with me, at least a little! Imagine how much I could have narrowed down! Getting married when the groom has no idea about what he wants is tough enough, but getting married when the bride has only attended two weddings, counting one where she served as the flower girl?
I'll put it this way – writing a ceremony is hard enough when you know what's supposed to happen. Writing a ceremony when you don't know what makes up a ceremony? That's a fast way to burn three weekends in a row.
Thankfully for everyone involved, there were many parts of planning a wedding that I already had some experience in – planning special events is part of my job so contacting caterers, tasting little desserts, and making sure that table cloths were spic and span was something that I knew a bit about. But what I was looking forward to, hoping about, and imagining as we got closer to the wedding was, decidedly, the flowers.
No matter how many bridal magazines I looked through they were the only thing I saw. I had it all planned out – we would having a very local wedding, all the vendors would be within 10 blocks of the church, it would be eco-chic! I knew exactly what I wanted – but not being a florist I didn't know what flowers went into it, so I drew up a list of everything I could describe my dream bouquet to be.
It would be woodsy, organic, local, the main colours would be green, white, and blue – it would be wild looking, with thistles maybe, and willow branches – something more undone than most bridal flowers.
I set up my first meeting, puffed myself up, put on my cute "I'm a young, laid back bride, please get me!" outfit and went out.
When I got to the shop I was pleasantly surprised – the woman was young, sweet, and owned the shop, it would work! I could feel it. We started talking – I used my best design terminology, pointed at pictures in wedding magazines and her portfolio, and then set my papers down. We were on the same page, I knew it all along.
And then she said it.
Florist #1: "I'm.....I'm thinking....Gerber daisies. And I
might be going out on a limb here – but I'm thinking all white Gerber
daisies. What do you think?"
Bea: "You're....I'm sorry? No, I don't think that Gerber
daisies are wild enough really that's....we're....all Gerber daisies?"
Florist #2: "No no, you're right....what about Gerber daisies
and some Baby's Breath? Or if you're thinking wild we could do bear
grass instead – that's very wild."
Bea: "I was kind of hoping that you could shop with local
growers, so we could have something a bit more unique."
Florist #1: "Local? Why? critial look Ms. Bea, no one wants that."
I was shocked and disappointed, I knew I couldn't be the only bride looking for something a little outside the norm! I set up meeting after meeting only to be told by four other florists that no one wanted what I wanted, that it wouldn't be possible to find, and that I really should be Gerber daisies. Whoever this Gerber is – I tell you he is paying florists to push his damn daisies!!
The flowers were the biggest sticking point in the whole planning process. It took over a month in my four month wedding planning process to get them hammered out. Finally after being dragged from meeting to meeting with less enthusiasm every time, I met a woman whose eyes got wide when I described what I hoped for and who said, "Well, it's not what we usually do – but I think I know exactly what you mean."
Forget finding someone who is worth marrying - finding the right florist turned out to be one of the hardest relationships I worked at while we were planning the wedding. But opening the boxes of bouquets on The Day Of? It was worth every Gerber Daisy someone tried to sell me.
My Mister and I have been decidedly in the throes of young domestic bliss for a few years now, and when we started planning our wedding we had a lot to talk about. I'd never been one of those girls who thought about their wedding – I had obsessed about when he was going to propose, but some how that never gave way to wedding fantasies. As soon as we got engaged I wished that I had let my imagination run away with me, at least a little! Imagine how much I could have narrowed down! Getting married when the groom has no idea about what he wants is tough enough, but getting married when the bride has only attended two weddings, counting one where she served as the flower girl?
I'll put it this way – writing a ceremony is hard enough when you know what's supposed to happen. Writing a ceremony when you don't know what makes up a ceremony? That's a fast way to burn three weekends in a row.
Thankfully for everyone involved, there were many parts of planning a wedding that I already had some experience in – planning special events is part of my job so contacting caterers, tasting little desserts, and making sure that table cloths were spic and span was something that I knew a bit about. But what I was looking forward to, hoping about, and imagining as we got closer to the wedding was, decidedly, the flowers.
No matter how many bridal magazines I looked through they were the only thing I saw. I had it all planned out – we would having a very local wedding, all the vendors would be within 10 blocks of the church, it would be eco-chic! I knew exactly what I wanted – but not being a florist I didn't know what flowers went into it, so I drew up a list of everything I could describe my dream bouquet to be.
It would be woodsy, organic, local, the main colours would be green, white, and blue – it would be wild looking, with thistles maybe, and willow branches – something more undone than most bridal flowers.
I set up my first meeting, puffed myself up, put on my cute "I'm a young, laid back bride, please get me!" outfit and went out.
When I got to the shop I was pleasantly surprised – the woman was young, sweet, and owned the shop, it would work! I could feel it. We started talking – I used my best design terminology, pointed at pictures in wedding magazines and her portfolio, and then set my papers down. We were on the same page, I knew it all along.
And then she said it.
Florist #1: "I'm.....I'm thinking....Gerber daisies. And I
might be going out on a limb here – but I'm thinking all white Gerber
daisies. What do you think?"
Bea: "You're....I'm sorry? No, I don't think that Gerber
daisies are wild enough really that's....we're....all Gerber daisies?"
Florist #2: "No no, you're right....what about Gerber daisies
and some Baby's Breath? Or if you're thinking wild we could do bear
grass instead – that's very wild."
Bea: "I was kind of hoping that you could shop with local
growers, so we could have something a bit more unique."
Florist #1: "Local? Why? critial look Ms. Bea, no one wants that."
I was shocked and disappointed, I knew I couldn't be the only bride looking for something a little outside the norm! I set up meeting after meeting only to be told by four other florists that no one wanted what I wanted, that it wouldn't be possible to find, and that I really should be Gerber daisies. Whoever this Gerber is – I tell you he is paying florists to push his damn daisies!!
The flowers were the biggest sticking point in the whole planning process. It took over a month in my four month wedding planning process to get them hammered out. Finally after being dragged from meeting to meeting with less enthusiasm every time, I met a woman whose eyes got wide when I described what I hoped for and who said, "Well, it's not what we usually do – but I think I know exactly what you mean."
Forget finding someone who is worth marrying - finding the right florist turned out to be one of the hardest relationships I worked at while we were planning the wedding. But opening the boxes of bouquets on The Day Of? It was worth every Gerber Daisy someone tried to sell me.
Thank you, Kyla, for this fabulous post! Those flowers are to die for. Gals, for more Kyla Bea, click here. Be sure to check out her wedding recap!
xoxo,
Sue and Jen
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2 comments:
What a cute post! I have a lot in common with Kyla. When I planned my wedding I had NO IDEA what I was doing. I was the first of my good friends to really get married and I'd only been in one wedding in my life. I was so stressed about how everything would play out and researched CONTINOUSLY, but it was beautiful. And I almost wish I could do it again just to enjoy the process more and not freak. ;)
Kyla -- thank you so much for guest posting for us. I just love all the wedding pictures of your wedding party drinking milkshakes on your blog!
xx,
Sue 'n Jen
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