Garden : Floral Arrangements for the Engagement

The Goal : Green & White

Our first task was preparing for the engagement day. My mother is every bit a perfectionist and control freak, so I tried to go for a simple color scheme which would minimize the possibility of unmatched things - a big disaster in mom's book.

I already had a gorgeous chartreuse kebaya in the making, so I went with a green & white scheme. Since the engagement was a small affair, I tried to DIY a lot of stuff too - also to minimize any drama caused by unruly vendors.

The Glitch

DIY is haaaaard, y'all!!! It's a lot of detailed work, not ideal when you have a busy working schedule. It would've been great if I had Santa's elf crew, or bridesmaids, or a hybrid of both, but I didn't. My girls were super busy career gals who could care less about weddings, for them to be able to attend it was enough support in itself. I kinda understand since I used to be like that myself a short while ago - you know, right about before a guy asked me to marry him. I know now why it's called Do It Yourself.

I set out to make pretty tissue paper flowers, but it was too much work than I can handle. I'm no crafty gal. So fresh flowers it is then! I intended to use local or cheaper flowers rather than the imported ones, so off we went to Pasar Rawa Belong, a local market specializing in fresh flowers.

The Greeneries

After walking through the market, rebuffing each stall owner's offers of imported roses and other expensive varieties, I finally decided on the flowers I wanted. To cut down on costs, I made a special arrangement with the florists : I set a ceiling budget for the flowers, the florists will then bring the flowers I chose on the morning of the event, I will determine which location points to be decorated and provide all kinds of available vases/glasses/jars/containers for them to put it in. Voila! 

My biggest splurge was the Casablanca Lilies. These are my favorite flowers of all time, but since they were rather expensive I only bought several stems just enough for one big centerpiece.

Casablanca Lilies, from Pinterest

I love Hydrangeas, they're fairly cheap and make an instant statement by themselves. And they naturally come in green!

Hydrangeas, via Pinterest

Green Button Mums (or Kermit Mums or Yoko Ono) are the cutest things! They're pretty versatile and hardy, and you can come up with all sorts of arrangements. 

Green Button Mums, via Pinterest

Mom loves Tuberoses, and the smell really provides some warmth to a room. Thankfully this is a local flower in Indonesia, and is very often used in traditional ceremonies as well. 

Tuberose, from Pinterest

I rounded things up with some baby's breath, and assorted button mums for a little hint of color. 

Baby's breath, image from Style Me Pretty

I arranged these last minute to cover up the grimy bannister

Good to Know

Here are some really pretty flowers you can use if you're thinking of a green color scheme. I found this inspiration board from The Flower Muse. Oh how I wish I'd found it way back when I was actually planning my engagement.