Flower Arrangements

My niece is planning her wedding for the end of June. I decided to have a bridal shower for her at our home. Her favorite flowers have always been daisies and carnations. I went to the local farmers market the day before the shower and purchased large bunches of daisies and carnations to make flower arrangements for the shower. I had stopped at the floral shop the week before to purchase flower arrangements, but after seeing the prices I decide to do them myself.  The florist is the person that suggested that I go to the farmers market to buy the flowers, especially since they were both in season. By buying the flowers that were in season I was able to save even more.

When I got home from the farmers market I cut the daisies and carnations to different lengths and made flower arrangements in three crystal vases to place around the house. I had enough flowers left to do a small arrangement for the bathrooms. It is always a nice touch to place fresh flowers in the bathroom when you are entertaining. When you do your own flower arrangements you can use your own vases, which adds to the personal touch.

The morning of the bridal shower I checked the flower arrangements to see if they needed more water. They were still looking fresh and the bright colors of the flowers made the rooms feels warm and homey.

My niece enjoyed the lovely and generous gifts that the guests had brought. We visited and gave pieces of advice to the bride about having a long and happy marriage. I had framed some pictures that I had gotten from the mother of the bride and mother of the groom. I had pictures of the two of them growing up as well as pictures of the two of them on various vacations that they have taken together. My niece was so pleased with these that she decided to use them at the wedding reception also. We also ate a light lunch and had cake that I had also decorated with fresh flowers.

The bridal shower was great fun to host. The guests complimented me on the beautiful flower arrangements and commented that they must have cost a lot of money to have so many flowers. I explained that I had done the flower arrangements myself and had bought the flowers at the farmers market. My niece has asked me to arrange flowers from the farmers market for the tables at the reception. This way she will not have to spend as much money at the florist. We decided that we will make the arrangements together the day before the wedding so that they can also be used for the groom’s dinner. Doing your own flower arrangements is a great way to save money and insure that you have fresh flowers.