We wish you luck with your wedding. Flower bloom time can be so unpredictable. Thinking we all gave our input on your original thread regarding wedding flowers in June. However, a final point to be made is that one should always have a backup plan especially when planning to use flowers for events. Perhaps you should check out your local farmers markets in your area. They are always a good source of fresh, locally grown flowers. You would be happy and less stressful. The flower farmer would be happy. And, you would be supporting the "Buy Local" movement. Warmest Regards, Trish

Houseful, just as an added idea, when we planned DH's parents' 50th surprise party, one of the things that we added at the last minute was a guest book for all the guests to sign. There was space to add addresses so we could send thank you cards later, and pockets to put photos that we printed off, so the parents could sit back later and reminisce over the events. We enlisted one of the grandteens to wander the crowd, sit with guests, and offer the guest book. It ended up being a lovely memory book! Don't forget to have a few extra vases for flowers that WILL arrive, and need a place to be displayed. Many of the inlaws flowers were later donated to a seniors home, so the vases we picked up were just from the dollar store, and we didn't need to worry about getting them back to owners. Not sure on what your situation will be regarding gifts, but we picked up a large basket for the usual anniversary cards and the small tags that were included with gifts. We also had someone in charge of writing on the back of some of the gift tags, just what the person had given the parents. Made it very easy to mention what the gift had been, and the giver if for instance "Love Mary" had been written on the card. Which Mary? Who? LOL. We ended up with a large 3 ring binder of "stuff", info on bakeries, caterers, videographers, business cards, bed and breakfast locations for incoming guests, maps of the area, etc etc, and pages and pages of notes of who was taking care of what, who was picking up what when, who was booking whatever. It was very handy to have one point of reference for all the info. We had a most lovely time arranging the anniversary surprise, as the parents live in England and some of the logistics of organizing long distance with all the siblings spread out across the UK and Canada, were a little more difficult to iron out. I will say that some of the best moments were not caught on camera or video sadly, but we all have lots of fabulous memories that we cherish! We DID have guests that showed up hours early, for some unknown reason, as they lived near the inlaws, intown, but oh well! We put them to work too! LOL Enjoy your event, and be prepared to be exhausted at the end!

Oh my, Allison I am sorry! I wondered how your DD2 became engaged and married so fast :-( I should have known you would at least have posted a dress issue or something on the conversations board with all that wedding talk! Very sorry for that misunderstanding. But initially the posts that crossed over to houzz were not dated, so I had no idea the thread was four years old. Now I see they are dated, although in the faintest possible ink color. (Houzz must have mostly 20 and 30 something users with better eyesight.) At any rate, the groom may not have been a keeper but the flowers were lovely!

I still would look into some kind of catering only because it's not fair to be mother of the bride which is stressful enough, and then have to worry about feeding 100 people. I was looking on line for another wedding and found that Carrabba's Grill will serve a meal for $10 per person which is incredibly inexpensive. I imagine if you shop around at some vegetarian restaurants you may be able to do as well. Even if you enlist the bridal party or family members in picking up the food, it would be so much easier on you. (Frankly, I remember more about the food at weddings than I do the music....) My poor mother made my wedding gown, her dress, plus the dresses for the girls in my bridal party, then did all the flowers for the wedding. By the time she got herself dressed, I was ready to go down the aisle so we actually spent very little time together before the wedding and she was exhausted. It was afterward that she told me how sorry she was that she did all that and felt like she missed out on so much....