DIY wedding decorations are becoming more and more common, especially when it comes to flowers.

I've been thinking about this post for a long time and how best to word a thousand things I have to say on the subject.

To begin with, I would like to say that I am not only writing this post from the perspective of a florist, but also from the perspective of someone who has chosen the DIY path for their wedding.

All of us who are obsessed with Pinterest are tempted to make everything from coffee tables, invitations, shelves, cakes, to, of course, decorations for our own wedding.

The whole idea of how we can make something on our own is very attractive to us. If we save money along the way, we soon see no reason why we should not embark on such projects.

But when it comes to decorating your own wedding, are things really that much nicer on the DIY side?

In short, no, they're not.

Back in 2014, when I was planning my wedding, the thought of hiring a florist was on my mind.

Why should I do this if I have two former florists in my family?

Well, I grew up with flowers, there's no need for a third expert to do decorations for me.

So, in my case, the option of hiring a florist immediately fell off.

I ordered one piece of decoration from the internet and was so proud to be "saving" money.

I bought candlesticks in Zagreb, and then it was the turn of the vase.

Given that I had a big wedding, I also needed a lot of vases. I imagined great arrangements that would remain in people's memory.

After five minutes of hysterical Googling, I realized that buying vases would spend a lot of my wedding budget.

Okay, now what? I have two months until the wedding, and I don't have the vases for the arrangements I envisioned.

In the end, I found probably the only company that rented inventory. I thought all my problems were over.

I wasn't ready for what awaited me.

Cut flowers do not last forever, therefore DIY brides have no choice but to buy flowers for their wedding a day or two before the wedding. In my case, the day before the wedding.

The green market works only until half past ten, it is necessary to arrive as early as possible (we are talking about half past six, six in the morning) in order to "catch" the best possible flowers.

After arriving at the Green Market, you have a bunch of choices, from importers to seasonals. You see a lot of beautiful flowers, and you get lost very quickly in your vision of what you actually want. In fact, 80% of the types of flowers you don't even recognize there. I went to safety, bought a lot of roses, greens and decided to leave until I was tempted. A person who does not deal with flowers for a lot of types of flowers nor does not know how to process them well, what he needs, how hardy they are, etc. This can easily grow into a recipe for disaster.

I am a woman myself, I believe that a large number of brides will not be able to resist the temptation. In a rush of enthusiasm they could buy types of flowers they don't really know much about.

Okay, so I bought the material, we have one whole day to prepare the flowers. My friends and family who have experience with flowers will come to me.

Without further ado, given the obligations on my part and the side of friends/relatives who offered their help in this chaos, we were done arranging around one in the morning. That's where it became clear to me that DIY wedding decorations might not have been a good idea.

On the wedding day, my friends were in charge of putting those same decorations in the hall. One part of the decorations had to be placed in the church. The O.R. team wasn't allowed in until late afternoon. While we were all already starting to rejoice about the wedding, my friends tried to set everything up on time.

The church crew couldn't even get inside before the ceremony. So, in the end, the decorations for the church remained in the trunk of the car.

The hall turned out great, but what happened was that my dear friends didn't make it to the church for the ceremony. Not only that, but they didn't even get as far as they planned.

I'll be eternally grateful for it, but now I see how unnecessary it all was.

The day after the wedding, all these decorations had to be removed from the hall. Tired of the night before, we had that task waiting for us.

Today, when I put finances on paper and compare them to the wedding budgets I work with most often, I've spent more than the average Bloom bride spends.

On the spent nerves, and the stress that my closest and I went through, it is impossible to put a price on.

In closing, I would like to add that, of course, there are cases of DIY wedding decorations in which everything turned out perfectly. Money is saved, the bride happy. In essence, no one can guarantee that this will be the case at your wedding. For a successful DIY, it takes a lot of things to come together, it's not just a matter of creativity, organization and resourcefulness. Most of all, it's a matter of luck.

My advice from the ex-DIY bride's perspective is, if you have the option, don't do it to yourself. Your wedding should be as stressful as possible. Not just for you, but for everyone present.

They should celebrate their love with their partner in a relaxed manner. Don't worry about whether everything will be ready and if there will be enough time.