Floral madness!

Following a fun-filled weekend of dress shopping and registry completion (well, the team portion of the registry is completed anyways; Stay tuned for the individual portion of the program where I go crazy at Macy's while Bryan's out of town next week....shhh.....), M.O.H. Nicole and I headed to Abby's Floral Designs (www.abbysfloraldesigns.org), a home-based business in Suwanee, on Tuesday morning for the first consultation regarding, what else, flowers!

To give you an idea of how different it is to go somewhere with Bryan versus, virtually any other person on the planet, I will tell you that I made it to Nicole's house 5 minutes ahead of time (at 7:40am). Don't worry, we got our Starbucks fix on the way up to Abby's. You might be thinking, 7:40 a.m., why on Earth would you go so early?? Well, our appointment was at 9 a.m. and Suwanee, according to GoogleMaps, was going to take 37 minutes to get to from Nicole's apartment complex. Add in the fact that on the way up, the morning rush hour could tack on a good half-hour to that, and we decided to play it safe. But the kicker was, Nicole was ready to go. Nicole has no history of running late, don't get me wrong, but I am so entrained to going places with Bryan that I forgot what it was like for someone to be ready when they were supposed to be. What happened? There was no traffic and Nicole and I sat outside of Abby's house like stalkers for 1/2 hour before our meeting.

In this neighborhood, we figured my red Honda Fit probably looked somewhat suspicious so to entertain ourselves we imagined what the 911 phone calls would sound like reporting us ("Hello, 911? There is a suspicious vehicle outside my neighbor's home. It's a red Honda Fit, no one drives that tiny of a car in these parts...yes, yes, I know it handles well, Ma'am...yes, it is a pet-friendly car, maybe that is why they have it...but I think they're going to rob her and take her flowers. The perpetrators appear to be wearing pink coats. One is wearing hot pink and the other a pale pink, a blonde and a brunette, they are no doubt dangerous.") Don't judge us, we thought it was funny.

Anyways, we walked in at 9am and met Abby and Norma. I was told to fill out a questionnaire so they could get a feel for what type of wedding I wanted (the words "rustic yet elegant" were used per Bridesmaid Mrs. Smith's advice in response to my pre-floral-appointment-freak-out the day before).

I will say this: Thank Heavens for Nicole. I don't think I could name five flowers that don't include the obvious: lilies, sunflowers, peonies, daisies, hydrangeas, roses, tulips. So when someone is throwing words like, duo-something or other at me, my head spins around. Nicole kept me sane and in the end, it came down to me pointing at pictures like a 5-year-old.

Norma: "Do you like this?"
Me: "No, well (to Nicole) what do you think?"
Nicole: "No"

Norma: "Do you like this?"
Me: "That's pretty (to Nicole) what do you think?"
Nicole: "Well...."
Me: "No"

Ok, it was initially a little difficult. But Nicole managed to point out pros and cons of things I didn't even think of. And I loved that everyone present pointed out, "Well, you (meaning me) know what you don't like". So I was being useless about what I did like (because remember, I hate making decisions!), but when I thought something was...not what I was going for, I was outspoken about it. Although I did worry I was coming off as slightly rude when I didn't like something!

Then once I found out I could involve pine cones anyway I wanted, the flood gates opened.

Norma: "Do you like this?"
Me: "Can we put pine cones around it?"
Norma: "Yes"
Me: "Then yes"

Me: "Can I have candles?"
Norma and Abby: "Of course"
Abby: "We can do a beautiful satin fabric to frame the beautiful gazebo with some beautiful flowers that match the ones in your beautiful bouquet and it will be so beautiful"
Me: "Are there pine cones and candles?"
Abby: "Yes"
Me: "Sounds beautiful"

Needless to say it ended up being a very productive meeting. However, Nicole and I had the initial panic the second we stepped back outside.
Me: "Uh, did we just order $10,000 worth of flowers?"
Nicole laughed! "Maybe"
Me: "Whoops, Bryan's going to kill me if the flowers are that much. We're gonna end up with one flower per table."

The sheer number of decisions floored me. Do we want my bouquet to be different from the other girls? Do we want the M.O.H. bouquet to be slightly different from the other bridesmaids? Do we want a throw-away bouquet (a concept I still don't understand, why am I paying for it if I'm throwing it away?)? What type of corsages do the mothers want? Are we putting flowers on the cake? What do you want the boutonneires to look like on the groomsmen? Do we want corsages for: readers, musicians, singers, hostess(es), ushers, godparents?...and the list goes on. Are you renting the vases or providing? Do you want the same types of centerpieces on every table or various?

We asked Norma how often the groom accompanies the bride to the floral consultation. She said, "About 30% of the time, and he usually just stares blankly." Well, who could blame him, this is insanity! But I will say, it was all very pretty and once we actually got everything sorted out and written down, I could really start to picture the wedding!!! Abby and Norma were AWESOME to work with and had the patience of Saints with me (I am in no way endorsing New Orleans in the Super Bowl with that comparison....they really were incredibly patient).

That being said, Go Colts!

Oh, and P.S. Don't forget to check us out on The Knot!!!
http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/BryanHoey&StephanieGutzler2010