Finding Divine Love

So here’s the thing about me and flowers. I know diamonds are supposed to be a girl’s best friend and if anything were to be a runner up it’d probably be roses. But I’ve just never been a fan of them. Of course, you would never hear my complain if I were to receive them from a special someone *cough* hint hint *cough*, but simply put, roses aren’t my cup of tea.

My favorite flower has always been the Stargazer Lilly. I love their fragrant scent and their beautiful coloring, but the thought of smelling them on the day of my wedding gave me a headache just thinking about it. Plus, they start wilting very, very quickly, and I don’t want to have dying flowers on my wedding day. It would kinda bring the mood down a bit, don’t ya think?

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(The flowers in the martini glass was a gift from Kenny on my birthday.)

At one point I was even considering Gerbera Daisies. I liked how bright and happy they were, and a huge selling point is that they’d be available in the winter.

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But something wasn’t right. While I think they’re a gorgeous flower, they just didn’t have that soft, romantic vibe that I was longing to achieve. And they almost seemed to be a flower fit for a spring wedding.

And then I found them—or something similar, at least.

I first found this photo and loved it. So lush, so romantic, so…perfect. The problem is that the flowers are peonies, and not only are they not available in February, but they cost a very pretty penny.

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And then—after more wedding-blog stalking online—I saw an article about wedding flowers on the cheap and this was the photo accompanying the article:

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Let’s look at them side by side, shall we?

You can hardly even tell that the bouquet on the left is made out of carnations, but yet it looks so much like the one on the right; except that it cost several hundred dollars less, of course.

Carnations are said to be called “divine love,” and its scientific name, Dianthus caryophyllu, translates to “flower of love” or “flower of the gods.” If that doesn’t seem like the perfect fit for a wedding, then I don’t know what will.

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We recently signed with our florist, Savon Cash and Carry Flowers (the one on Candelaria if you’re familiar with the area), and I’m really excited about how they took my vision and ran with it.

I saw them at a bridal show, along with several other florists in town, and loved their display. All of the flowers they showcased had the modern/classic vibe that I liked. We didn’t even meet with any another florist.

I know carnations have a bad reputation for being the “cheap” flower, but I think if cheap can look lush and has the right vibe, then cheap can absolutely be chic.

What do you think, are carnations cheap or chic? And what flowers will you/did you have for your wedding?

5 Comments

I think carnations are just fine! After all, this is YOUR day. If you like the carnations, then the carnations will be PERFECT. I, too, am not a "rose person." Don't get me wrong, they're pretty, but they just aren't for me. Like you, I MUCH prefer lillies and gerbera daisies to roses ANY day. When I got married (though not currently married now), I had calla lillies and they were beautiful. I say…be cheap AND chic…and go with the carnations!

I love carnation's texture! SO CHIC!

They are the same that did my flowers, so I warn you, check, double check and call on the day of your wedding to make sure they are done right… I HATE roses. I didn't want ANY in our wedding… on the order form it was written in all caps NO ROSES, underlined twice and circled… guess what was in EVERY arangement except my bouquet… roses. Literally EVERY one. I guess the bonus of it is that they refunded us for every arangment that had roses, and so our whole flower cost was only about $75.00. I would rather have had pretty arangements with no roses.

I hadn't heard anything about them being "cheap". As long as they're beautiful (and they are!) that's all that matters.

I went with white roses. 🙂

I love lillies too but have major allergies to them so I understand what you mean. I also love peonies, they are to die for! But, expensive and like you mentioned not always available. So I had to decide what else would look similar and I noticed carnations too. The thing I love about carnations is you can get them in any color you can imagine. And things like callalillies and hydrangea they don't come in the colors I want. So I decided to go ahead and see what they would look like in my boquet, I will be doing that next month so I am really curious! They aren't cheap looking, if they are done right. I have seen one boquet I did not like and it was all white and purple carnations. I think if done with the right shades they can look very lush! Can't wait to see what you come up with, I am familiar with the flower shop you are using also!