Consider Home Grown Flowers for Your Wedding

With the economy shrinking every day, brides planning to wed soon must be realistic and economize where they can when planning their wedding budgets. The trick is to not lose the element of personal touch that makes each wedding day so special. One idea is to forgo expensive custom wedding flowers and bouquets. We are still in the winter season, but spring, summer and fall brides can start planning now to include home grown garden flowers in their wedding plans.

If you have a flower garden at your disposal, you are ahead of most. Not only do you flower gardeners know what garden flowers will be available on your particular wedding date; you know what will work and what won't.

For example, if you are planning to get married at the end of May or in early June, one of the most beautiful garden flowers available for wedding flower arrangements is the iris. Use them freely if you plan to have an outdoor ceremony, but be wary of using too many of them indoors as they give off a rather pungent odor when cut that is not too pleasing in close quarters.

If you are getting married in July, in addition to the beautiful roses that will be available for your wedding flower arrangements, you will have at your disposal daisies and daylilies, both of which can be striking compliments to roses! Be aware that the daylilies should be picked the morning of your wedding since each bloom truly lasts just one day. If you cut a daylily stalk with buds early, you won't be able to guarantee that those buds will open in time, if at all. Daisies can be picked up to three days in advance, but will start to lose petals if picked much earlier than that.

Fall brides need not fret that their wedding budget can't include home grown garden flowers. Many roses, hydrangeas, mums, and asters are available right up until the first frost! The beautiful color combinations are endless, and your wedding flower arrangements, bouquets, and centerpieces could include brightly colored fall leaves.

Perhaps your wedding location involves travel and you are uncertain that your garden flowers will remain fresh enough to use as wedding flowers in your bridal bouquet and in your wedding centerpieces, etc. You can always dig a clump of them out of the garden, roots, dirt and all and keep them in flower pots until you absolutely have to cut them! This is a bit cumbersome and messy, so brides-stay away with your gowns! The extra fuss is well worth the savings in your wedding budget.

O. K. Now for you future brides that would love to use home grown garden flowers for your wedding flowers, centerpieces and bridal bouquets, but don't have a garden or a clue what blooms when! Think of all your friends and family. Do you know anyone who loves to garden? Do they have a gorgeous flower garden year after year? Approach them and ask if they would be willing to let you use their flowers for your wedding day. If they are like most avid flower gardeners, they will be thrilled at the honor. Also, these people know their stuff. They can tell you what will be available on your wedding date and what will and won't work. (Just don't forget to thank them in some way after the wedding-perhaps a certificate to their favorite garden center)!

In addition to home grown garden flowers for your wedding flowers, consider any foliage like fern leaves or branches with berries growing in season at the time of your wedding. These extras can add lovely accents to your bridal bouquets and centerpieces.

Also, if you are getting married when there aren't enough dramatic flowers in bloom yet for you to use, consider mixing home grown garden flowers with a few exotics like tropical flowers or calla lilies. Your wedding budget will still be greatly reduced because you won't be purchasing all of your wedding flowers at the florist. Prior to purchasing flowers at a florist, though, visit a garden center, where prices will be less expensive. See if they have any of the wedding flowers you like already growing in pots that you can pick yourself when the time comes. Last, make sure you check to see if the florist has any of the pricey flowers you want growing in pots-it might be cheaper to buy them that way, rather then already cut.

Any way you look at it, using home grown garden flowers as wedding flowers adds a lovely personal touch that will help reduce your wedding budget.