Visiting Evan’s Flowers for Wedding Flowers in MA

After collecting business cards from 2 years worth of bridal shows and Googling “Wedding flowers, MA” I met with a florist at Evan’s Flowers this afternoon.  I almost didn’t get in because they told me their wedding person had the day off.  But today was the only day I had this week to go in, so although I said I could call back for next week, they made it work.

The flower shop was nice; I didn’t have much of a wait even though they saw an impromptu-last-minute-bride-to-be right before me.

The first thing the florist asked me was if I had done any research or talked to anyone else so far, and I let her know she’s the first florist I saw, but I had looked at plenty of floral arrangements for weddings online, and I brought those in.  On my netbook, hehe.  Along with pictures of the wedding ceremony and reception site.  And a spreadsheet preformatted with the quantities of my all my floral needs.  Yeah, I did my research, hehe.

I had narrowed my search to 9 photos of flower arrangements for weddings that I like, with one that, if she could replicate for me exactly I’d be happy (The image is copyrighted but you can view it here).  I wasn’t 100% sure it was an orchid (because it looked huge).  She said it was not a true red, and, well, that was obvious, hehe.  But as she started referring to it as being on the pink side, I worried a little.  She said closer to the time we'd need to look at precisely what color I have in mind.  She mentioned the greenery too, echoing my own thoughts EXACTLY.  It’s wintery, but not so literally Christmassy that it looks tacky for late February.  Said she LOVES it.  And that overall the floral arrangement has great texture and would be fun for her to do.  I agree; it’s pretty cool!

Then we talked about my maid of honor’s dress.  I told her I was actually hoping she could give me advice on that!  She told me we don’t need to match the house, we just need to look okay in it, hehe.  Which I knew.  But then I told her that my sister didn’t want to wear red.  And It was clear that this was a ridiculous request in her mind, though she stayed professional.  She told me that the dress choice is MINE.  She doesn’t realize that my sister would probably just not show up if I tried to dictate what she wears if she’s not on board.

I could understand her concern, however.  The bouquet has red and white.  If she doesn’t wear red, that leaves white.  And that’s obviously unacceptable for a maid of honor dress!  So I mentioned that I like chocolate brown…and she told me that would look too fall-like.

That broke my heart.  I mean, obviously I need to do what I want.  But she said exactly what I feared.  I like fall colors, but my wedding’s not in the fall.

Next we talked about scale.  I let her know I thought the flower table arrangements should be on the small side because the room is small and the tables will seat 4, so they’ll be small, and she agreed.  I said I want my “altar” flower arrangements to be larger, and she agreed.  She mentioned using branches (thin, curly sort of branches), which I’m not certain about.  Once upon a time I liked the natural look, but I think I’ve outgrown it.

She also talked a bit about the containers.  Just as I thought, she recommended that I do NOT go with the standard glass cubes, and I should get my own somewhere.  I was a little disappointed they didn’t have options for me, but she was helpful in suggesting Micheals or A.C. Moore as a cost effective way to go.

She talked about boutonnieres, and agreed with me that cream colored roses for the men would be best, and red not so much, haha.  And for the mothers of the bride and groom, I was a little unsure.  She told me probably cream for them too, since we don’t know what color their dresses are.  She suggested an orchid that I wasn’t familiar with, so she went and got me one.  It had thinner petals than some orchids, which I was okay with.  And I told her I like that idea because when I go to visit Adam’s family, his mum always puts an orchid in my room.  So that sort of settled that!

When it came down to flower prices, it was higher than I HOPED, but it wasn’t on the high end either.  Really fell right in the middle in terms of price.  So it went okay!  Design-wise we were on the same page 80% of the time!  That made me feel good.  I’m almost glad we weren’t 100% because I don’t want to be patronized; I do want to hear the professional’s ideas, and I got to.

So it went well!  I might hire her.  But this is probably the most artistic I get to be in the wedding planning process.  I don’t want it to end yet!  I’m going to keep playing with the designers for a little longer, and see a couple more wedding florists before I put this to rest, hehe.