Flowers--Valentine's Day and Otherwise

I've been paying a lot more attention to flowers lately. When Dustin and I first started dating, I proclaimed that I hated cut flowers, and he was never to send me any. He didn't, for a long time, until he realized I was bluffing, and I really do love flowers, no matter how much I'd originally protested.

His first bouquet was yellow and white flowers in a smiley face mug. He's sent a few since, and I've dried a rose from every bouquet he's sent (they've all had roses in them, don't think he planned it that way...), and I have them saved in an antique vase my grandparents gave me.
On Thursday, I got two bouquets from him, and they are so lovely I have to share!






See? Told you they were lovely. They're even better in real life. (Okay, babe, I admit, I love having flowers sent to me from you!)

Getting these bouquets made me think a little harder about my own wedding flowers. My wedding florals are nothing I want to worry about. I was originally planning on growing my own wildflower mix and using those (which would have gone so well with the invitations we're looking at!), but I don't want to trust my growing skillz with my wedding bouquet. I can handle pansies and decorative cabbage all right, but I won't get to try my luck with anything harder until mid-March (I'm going to try to grow my own veggies!).

So instead, I'm thinking of asking our wedding guests to make my bouquet. I love the idea of guests bringing a flower or stick of rosemary from their garden and then tying them all together right before the ceremony. I think it will be a great way to involve my guests in my wedding--something they don't often get to do. How many times have you gone to a wedding and felt completely invisible?

As far as the wedding party's florals, I'm totally considering DIY. There are tons of tutorials out there, and I don't want anything fancy anyway. I'm very willing to try my hand at pulling together some Farmer's Market or grocery store flowers into some simple bouquets and boutinierres. It would be a big costsaver, especially since our centerpieces aren't going to be florals!!