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New Feature/Giveaway

I've been running up against a lot of misconceptions about how much wedding flowers cost these days. Keep in mind that I have been told by clients over and over again that I am underpriced. Still, even I have a hard time fitting everything a bride wants into her budget sometimes. So, just for fun, I've decided to add a new feature to my blog called "Guess The Price!"

Here's how it works:
1) I will post a photo of an arrangement out of a magazine
2) You, dear readers, will leave a comment with your guess as to how much that centerpiece would cost
3) The first comment to hit the right answer, or to come closest without going over (price is right rules!) in one week wins a prize!

Fun, right? OK, so here is your first shot:

This is a centerpiece from Martha Stewart Weddings. It's all carnations. Those who know me know I'm not a huge fan of carnations, except en masse like this. This look has been quite popular the past couple of years. In fact, I just did centerpieces like this for a wedding last weekend!



So, what's your guess for the price of this centerpiece *NOT* including the white container it's in?

This week's Prize: A bag of salted carmel from Sweet Necessities!

The Appendectomy

So, I bet you're curious to know how a wedding florist goes about getting an emergency appendectomy during wedding season. Well, lucky you, I just happen to have a first-hand account of that very scenario!

Wednesday night: Don't sleep all night because you have a strange pain in your stomach. Debate going to the emergency room. Decide they will probably just tell you you have a stomach bug, and it would be a waste of money. Get up and run an inconclusive symptom checker through WebMD. Go back to bed and try to sleep.

Thursday Morning: Finally wake Husband up at 5 & tell him you're not feeling so hot. Convince him to wait for nearest Urgent Care to open at 7 to avoid going to the ER and paying too much money. Load up baby and head to Doctor. Wait. See Nurse. Wait... and wait... See Doctor. Get labs run. Wait. Wonder how Husband is getting along taking care of baby in the lobby. Get inconclusive lab results & instructions to drink nasty orange liquid and have an CT scan in 4 hours. Insist on being sent home while waiting for CT scan.

Thursday Late Morning: Drop baby off at grandparent's house. Send Husband to work. Head out to flower shop and put together bride's bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquets, and samples of boutonnieres, corsages, and centerpieces for assistant to copy.

Thursday Afternoon: Get picked up by brother in law and driven back to Urgent Care. Wait. Have CT scan (weird experience!). Wait. See nurse again. Wait. See Doctor. Find out appendicitis is the culprit and an emergency appendectomy the only cure. Insist on being sent to Enumclaw Regional Hospital to be close at hand should any flower questions arise. Run home one more time to meet assistant and go over everything. Leave baby with Gram. Head to hospital with Husband.

Thursday Evening: Have appendix removed. Wake up in worse pain than before. Have visits from awesome family and friends. Try not to stress to much. Take pain meds. Stay overnight in hospital. Get woken up approximately every 5 minutes to have vitals taken.

Friday Morning: Insist on being sent home as early as possible. Hobble in pain out to flower shop to inspect everything (which looks fabulous, by the way- great work, Kylie) then hobble inside and lay down. Go over delivery details with assistant and mom (thanks again, you two, for your help). Wait anxiously.

Friday Afternoon: Receive positive report and glowing reviews about wedding flowers. Breathe a sigh of relief, say a prayer of thanks, and try not to stress about next weekend's weddings!

As you may have gathered, it's been a little more nuts than usual this wedding season! Although, the same was true last season with the arrival of our sweet baby boy. Here's hoping this doesn't become the norm! A HUGE thank-you to everyone who pitched in, prayed, cooked, babysat, made me an awesome banner that says "boo appendix," brought me coffee, and generally encouraged me through the ridiculousness that was a wedding florist's wedding season appendectomy!

Sierra & Mack

Hi there blog readers! I'm hoping you can help me out with something.

I first met with Sierra back in November. We got her floral vision down on paper and started the ball rolling. Shortly after I sent her contract, Sierra was diagnosed with brain cancer. She has had surgery to remove the tumor, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy and rehabilitation.

Sierra and Mack are still planning their fall wedding. Since Sierra had just started a new nursing job 3 months before her diagnosis, she obviously did not have adequate medical coverage for the care she needs. Add planning and paying for a wedding and, well-- it's a bit overwhelming.

That's where you come in. My cost to do Sierra's wedding flowers as we had originally envisioned them before her cancer diagnosis would be around $1200. I am planning to donate all of the design work, delivery, etc. But I'm hoping you can help me cover the rest of the cost. If you're interested in being a part of helping this amazing couple's wedding dreams come true, please get in touch with me via email at paula@paisleypetals.com.

Sierra and Mack are such an inspiring couple. They are fighting this disease with everything they have. Through it all, they remain positive and it's obvious how deeply they care for each other.

Click Here to read more about Sierra's story and what her wedding photographers are doing to help!

Carnation Urn

Photo by Heather Boren


Photo by Luke Rutan


Want the lush look of ruffled peonies but it's not peony season? Try carnations! This is the one and only way I like carnations-- en masse. They take on a whole new aesthetic when presented this way. I did this centerpiece for the young life event, and also for a wedding 2 Septembers ago. The bride really wanted peonies, but they were just too far out of season locally to be affordable (read: I could have had them flown in from New Zeland, but that would have put her waaaay over budget!) so I went out on a limb and suggested carnations. She was thrilled with the result! (see second photo)Many people turn their noses up at carnations (trust me, I understand!) but they really do look lovely when they are used by themselves in a large arrangement or pomander.

Color Cube

A couple more centerpieces from the Young Life event. These are 2 variations on the same idea--LOTS of color in a cube vase with an interesting accent. The first one has roses(red intuition variety from rio-- take a closer look! One of my favorite roses!), spider mums, hypericum, freesia and anemone. We added black accents with paper, ribbon, and colored wire. This would be a great way to add color to a wedding where the attendants were wearing black (which happens more often than you might think!)

The second arrangement has a lot more orange and no black accents, so the overall look is brighter. It's made up of roses, freesia, asiatic lilies, kermit mums, anemone, and hypericum with lilly grass accents. We also used a piece of scrapbook paper under the vase to make the arrangement stand out more against the white tablecloth. This is one of my favorite inexpensive ideas for table decor. It's a great way to bring in a theme like black & white damask.

Thanks again to Heather Boren for the photos!

Picnic in the Grass

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of donating some centerpieces to the Young Life "Palate of the Plateau" event. I love this event because I'm given total creative freedom. They auction off the centerpieces, so it's good for them to be different to appeal to different tastes. I'm not given a color scheme, style, size, or anything-- I just get to do what I want! It's so great because I get to have the BEST time creating and support an organization I believe in at the same time.

So, I made about 12 centerpieces and was pretty happy with the results. Then I realized that I was about to have another missed opportunity to add to my portfolio. I'm not great at taking pictures, and I don't have a good camera, either. So, anytime I try to take photos of my work, they end up looking lame. So, I called up my new friend Heather Boren with Heather Boren Photography and asked her to do me the HUGE last-minute favor of swinging by the event during set-up to take some photos of my centerpieces. The venue was a high school cafeteria, so needless to say, the conditions for shooting decent photos were not ideal. I just got the photos back from Heather, and I have to say, I am SO impressed with what she managed to do in that big, ugly room! If you or someone you know are getting married, needing senior pictures, or a family photo shoot, PLEASE give Heather a call. You will not be disappointed!

There are so many of these centerpieces, I was tempted to put them all up in one post. But, I decided that since they were all different, it would be fun to blog them one at a time. I had a hard time picking a favorite, so I went with the one that seems to fit the best with today's beautiful, sunny weather. I'm calling it "Picnic in the Grass:"





Photos by Heather Boren Photography