Florism

One weekend when my Mom Hyena was in town, we made appointments to talk to a few florists, just to get ideas and quotes. This picture sums up everything I wanted in my wedding flowers.

Peonies! Maroon and pink peonies! Perfection! I die! (source)

Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about flowers prior to getting engaged, so when I saw online that peonies were spring flowers, I said "YESSSSS," fell in love, and decided there was no other flower for me. Then, when I met with the first florist, she said peonies stopped being in season in Texas around the end of March, and we wouldn't know until closer to our May wedding whether or not we'd be able to fly some in from somewhere.

Fly them in? What? That costs extra!

Not all hope was lost though. We still had another appointment! Maybe they would have a solution!

They didn't. Instead, I was offered two hours of anxiety. Florist 2 not only said peonies were likely unavailable, but said we should come up with a backup plan. However, instead of coming up with a backup plan, she came up with a Plan A for a bouquet that was totally different than I wanted, then told me it would cost $250! What? We were not budgeting very much for flowers, and that definitely fell outside the allotted amount.

The colors in this are exactly what wanted, but for the flowers themselves I wanted something a little less wild. (source)

Because we were trying to get a lot done in the short time Mom Hyena was in town, we also went to check out cakes and artificial flower options at Michaels, but I was so overwhelmed and anxious about the florist appointment that I stopped seeing Mom Hyena and Mr. H as helpful, and instead started seeing them as trying to force decisions on me RIGHTTHEN instead of listening to my ideas and taking my time to choose things that will ultimately make me happy instead of stressy.

The main thing I learned from this experience is: When you're feeling overwhelmed, take a step back. Do something non-wedding related, even if you only have a short time with your mom before you go back to planning on your own. Take a breather and calm down. Then, if you feel better, dive back in. If you don't, that's okay, but it's better to get nothing done than to make decisions you'll have to undo later.

Anyone have ideas for reducing stress in planning?