The happiest day of my life was Christmas Day 2013. The day my sweet Nick proposed. It was the very last gift stuck away in the blanket basket. When I opened it-my heart melted. Right there in our little living room, next to the Christmas tree all lit up in the wee hours of the morning, I had gotten engaged.
As hard as it is living in our teeny tiny apartment and I can't wait to find a place with lots of room and storage-is there ever really enough?!-a part of me never wants to leave there. The place where our entire story began. After showing off my ring to friends and family, I could not wait to start planning! I have been planning this wedding for years. My Pinterest wedding-LOL! Can you say hello wake up call! I looked into these fabulous venues, caterers, chair rentals, centerpieces, wedding gowns, the whole nine yards. And none of which me and nick could afford. But I like a challenge. I'm a total DIY kind of gal. If I can make something that looks just as fab as the original at a fraction of the cost, you can bet I'll be doing it. So I'm offering my advice to all future and current brides, bridesmaids, mother of the brides and friends of brides-my ups and downs of planning a DIY wedding! I'll share with you all my crafts, ideas, trials and errors and all the lovey dovey ness as well too! 😉
First things first- Flowers. Do you realize how expensive flowers are? I love the look of fresh flowers at weddings. The smell, the atmosphere it gives, the prettiness..everything. But when you are on a budget, sometimes this is the first to go. But you really don't have to cut them out! I found a super inexpensive way to have beautiful flowers at a reasonable price! My world completely changed when I walked into Heinens. Why did I not know about this before? They have an assorted flower arrangement section with gorgeous flowers to choose from. And here's the best part- they have a growers bunch special every single week..pick three flower bundles for $12. Or one for $4 each! Uh hello-score!!!! And I'm telling you, these are not your average grocery store flowers! They have greenery, HYDRANGEAS, ferns, baby's breath, celosia, roses, carnations, stock, berries, I mean honestly the list is endless! What's even cooler, they have new flowers in every week. For those of you who are getting married the first weekend in June-they have Peonies! I mean come on-SWOON! If you are not good at picking out flowers that look good together, they also carry premade bouquets with gorgeous flowers as well for prices around $6.99-12.99.
Think about it girls- $6.99 for flowers and a $1 vase from dollar store or good will and you have a centerpiece for less than $10. Completely reasonable! Like I said before- I love a challenge. I have been putting together different flower arrangements to practice for the big day. (Let me be clear-I do have someone doing my flowers and bouquet for the wedding, [I'll save that for a future post] but for the little areas you wouldn't think to throw in flowers, that's what I'm practicing for!) I'm going to share some arrangements I have made..
(I never said I was a pro-please don't judge!!) ;)
..So as you can see, there is a wide variety of flowers there and they are beautiful! I've used them in photo shoots and they have not let me down! Today I recently heard trader joes has some awesome flowers to choose from too-they will be next on my list to try and I will for sure let you know how it is! Leave some pictures in the comments below if you have used heinens for flower arrangements before! I can't wait to see! ❤️❤️❤️ Hope this helps! :)
**One last tip: I've talked to the florist at Heinen's and they will order a box of flowers for you in what color you need and still sell you at the grower's bunch price. So if you want 100 pink roses, you got it!**
