I am getting married in October and am trying to get as much planning taken care of now. So far I have met with only one florist, and she was less than helpful. I want all the flowers in my wedding to be white, accented with blue ribbons.

The flowers I want are white roses, gardenias and stephanotis. Everytime I said I wanted white roses, she interrupted me and said that white roses don’t exist and I would have to settle for ivory roses. PLEASE tell me she is wrong. I don’t want ivory or cream or off-white roses. I want white ones!

She also kept trying to talk me out of stephanotis because of the cost, but then tried to push peonies on me. Peonies aren’t in season in the fall, are they? So wouldn’t they be more expensive than the stephanotis? She also thought carnations would be a better choice than gardenias. Did I pick a complete flake to talk to first or is my taste in flowers that awful?

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance! -S

Sue of Hobart’s Fine Florals

[:/] Yes,sounds a bit flaky…Peonies…we wish!!!!!Keep looking for another florist. The whitest roses are “akito” and “eskimo”,”vendela” is white too. All of them have warm rather than cool undertones but they will work just fine.
Stephanotis is fabulous and truly white. Ask the florist you get to use pearl pinned centers. They do need to be wired but thats no big deal really. I always recommend that brides that use stephanotis use them only in their bouquet and for your future husbands bouttionneire (sans pearls of course!) Why…you might ask[;)?] Because they are the traditional Hawiian wedding flower and considered good luck. Another reason is that the fragrance is so unique and wonderful that when you fall upon it again later in your life it will bring back memories if this really special day.
Your gardenias will yellow over the day. It’s worth it for the same reasons as above. They need to be handled with care but would also be very pleasing corsages for your mothers. Be sure to get a florist that knows what she is doing and no problem.
Other very true white flowers you might consider are freesia, stock, lisianthus, ranuculas and dendrobium or phalenopsis orchids.
Trust your instincts. This is actually the kind of bouquet that most florists love to get to make for you. Find one that feels that way and have fun. Best of luck and be happy.[;)][:)][:)]]

Drish-to-be

YAY! Thank you so much! It is such a relief to know that I can have the flowers I want in the color I want- that they actually exist. I’ll just keep calling around to different florists until I find one who listens. Your suggestions were completely helpful- and I think I will keep the stephanotis just for me and my groom. Thank you SO much!
-S

Donna, Wedding Queen, President; Top Wedding Sites

If you are in the Massachusetts area please call Sue – as you can see she’s wonderful! [;)]