47 Days -

My weekend was really nice, and really pretty productive. We drove down to see Ryan's parents on Saturday, and our parents were able to meet for the first time. I think it went pretty well. Ryan's Mom had a delicious lunch made for us, as well as a pot of hot apple cider...mmm. Ryan's sister took Ryan and I over to see her new townhome, and we chatted for a bit. She's going to play a few songs on the piano leading up to the ceremony, as well as a hymn that we're going to have at some point during the ceremony. (which we have yet to decide on..) It's amazing to me how involved our families are in our wedding, and I'm so, so thankful for it. It makes it so much more special.

After church on Sunday, my Mom and I talked about and planned out more wedding details. We ordered the guest signature mat and frame from Pottery Barn.

I know I've posted a picture of it before, but it has been a while. It's something like 32" by 34", so it will definitely be large enough to hold all of our guest's signatures.

Also, a huge thing that we decided on is the flowers! I feel that florists charge an insane amount of money, but I checked on several florists that have done weddings at our church before. Basically, for them to do one bridal bouquet, the way I see it in my head, it would cost $130. Dollars. Then add on about $75 for each of the four bridesmaid bouquets, $15-20 per corsage for our mothers, and $8 per bout for the groomsmen/dads/grandfathers. Basically? A ton of money.

So, I had been looking at several wholesale flower websites. I heard great things about the Grower's Box, (www.growersbox.com) and most recently about Rose Source. (www.rosesource.com) (I know some people have chosen silk flowers over real flowers, but I adore roses, and the silk roses don't look real enough.) What won me over were all of the different options on Rose Source. We wanted both red and ivory roses--specific shades, and very specific amounts. Well, Rose Source lets you choose each color for each bundle of 25. (and they have over 100 rose colors to choose from!)

Here's what we decided on!

My bouquet will be red, while the bridesmaid bouquets will be cream. All the guys will have red bouts. (Our mothers/grandmothers can choose between the two colors, depending on the color of their outfits) We'll have some leftover to make an arrangement or two with, also. So, in all, there will be 150 roses, and the total, with shipping, came out to $173.00. (We've already ordered them) That's a really awesome price for all that we're getting!

They'll arrive Thursday morning, and I'll snip all the stems, and stick them in water with plant food. They suggest waiting 24 hours before doing anything with them, so we will wait until Friday morning to make the bouquets, corsages, and bouts. I've already researched and printed out instructions on how to make the exact bouquets I envision. So, needless to say, it's a huge relief to have that all squared away! I still need to find ribbon to wrap the bouquets with, but that's pretty much it.

I didn't get a whole bunch of sleep last night, maybe 6 hours. Not smart, considering I have a meeting with the company president today. I feel fine, though..not sleepy in the least. But I should get back to work! Hope you all have a great Monday!

¶ 7:56 AM