I hope that every bride out there is as lucky as I am to have such a loving and informative panel! What’s a panel you might be asking yourself? Well, a panel is the group of people that you turn to when you’re not quite sure how to proceed. Most of us have a panel in some sort, shape or fashion regarding everyday things, but when you’re planning a wedding…a panel is a MUST!
My panel consists mainly of my Maids. But there are other VERY important people also included on my panel…mom, sister, FMIL…and of course, Mr. CC! A panel wouldn’t be complete without the groom. The fact that I listed him last bears no actual importance to the order of my panel, trust me! These ladies, and man, often help me puzzle things through. They are my bouncing board…hearing everything first, and “guiding” me with advice and tips. As you can tell from reading my blog, if you’ve been reading any length of time, there are a LOT of decisions that must be made…not all of them involving the wedding, even. So, in times of need my panel has never steered me wrong.
Why is this relevant, you might ask? Well, because remember when I posted here about finding artificial flowers? That I was thinking of (gasp!) not using fresh flowers in my wedding, or using them in a limited capacity…well, my panel was the first to be talked with on this subject. They all encouraged me to order the flowers as a trial, knowing that I could send them back if unhappy with them for any reason. So I did, and last week…amidst all of the birthday excitement, they arrived.
First of all, let me preface this by saying that some of these flowers FAR exceeded my expectations…and some fell WAY short. Without further ado, here are the bouquets that I ordered.
Now, if you remember, here is the catalog picture…
Here is real life.
Not too shabby. A little on the smaller side than I was expecting, but really…what was I expecting for a measly $13? Not a whole lot. When I pulled this bouquet out of the box, it was pretty tight and closed (which made it look that much smaller) so I spread the flowers out a bit, and quickly decided that I could easily slip in either a) more fake flowers or b) some real flowers the day of the wedding. This would fill the bouquet out nicely, and since I need to wrap the “stem” with ribbon regardless, adding some more stems to the mix wouldn’t do any harm to get the look that I am going for.
Here is bouquet #2 – catalogue picture.
Here is real life.
Well…I don’t really know what to say about this one…I really don’t. Mama CC raised me with the firm belief that if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Silence.
(cricket, cricket)
Yeah. But the winner comment from the panel goes to MOH. I sent out these pics that I took last week when I received the box in the mail using my crackberry, and MOH promptly sent me this email…
I am glad that you are not thrilled with the second one - please do not use it -from the picture the first thing that comes to mind is a cheap wedding decoration!!!Sorry if I hurt your feelings. It looked good in the pictures.
She later replied back to my reply to let me know that her sister, who has a degree in interior design/decorating also agreed with her. As if her opinion for the panel wasn’t enough. LOL!
So, maybe you’re picking up on the fact that NO ONE has yet to be impressed with the second bouquet. I could say that some of the problems lies with my crackberry, which I used to take the pictures. And that wouldn’t be a total lie…the flash did come on for that picture when it didn’t show up on the first bouquet. And I’m hoping that it’s the flash that is making the color seem so…well, I don’t know…trashy? Cheap? Pick one, any one will work.
But, like the good little bride that I try to be…I’m carting both bouquets with me up to Dallas this weekend so that my Maids (“The Panel”) can see them in person. And what I’m also hoping will be delivered to me here at work tomorrow is a bunch of extra stems that I ordered from the same company…to see about the possibility of filling in the bouquet with more fake flowers. I need to do some double checking and make sure that the order will be here…if I have everything, I’ll take it all with me so that we can all see everything in person and try to work with it.
Otherwise it’s back to the drawing board for this project!
Did you have something happen like this in your planning? The website picture just didn’t quite make the cut in real life? Did you just send it back and start over, or did you try to work with it and make it better?
My panel consists mainly of my Maids. But there are other VERY important people also included on my panel…mom, sister, FMIL…and of course, Mr. CC! A panel wouldn’t be complete without the groom. The fact that I listed him last bears no actual importance to the order of my panel, trust me! These ladies, and man, often help me puzzle things through. They are my bouncing board…hearing everything first, and “guiding” me with advice and tips. As you can tell from reading my blog, if you’ve been reading any length of time, there are a LOT of decisions that must be made…not all of them involving the wedding, even. So, in times of need my panel has never steered me wrong.
Why is this relevant, you might ask? Well, because remember when I posted here about finding artificial flowers? That I was thinking of (gasp!) not using fresh flowers in my wedding, or using them in a limited capacity…well, my panel was the first to be talked with on this subject. They all encouraged me to order the flowers as a trial, knowing that I could send them back if unhappy with them for any reason. So I did, and last week…amidst all of the birthday excitement, they arrived.
First of all, let me preface this by saying that some of these flowers FAR exceeded my expectations…and some fell WAY short. Without further ado, here are the bouquets that I ordered.
Now, if you remember, here is the catalog picture…
Here is real life.
Not too shabby. A little on the smaller side than I was expecting, but really…what was I expecting for a measly $13? Not a whole lot. When I pulled this bouquet out of the box, it was pretty tight and closed (which made it look that much smaller) so I spread the flowers out a bit, and quickly decided that I could easily slip in either a) more fake flowers or b) some real flowers the day of the wedding. This would fill the bouquet out nicely, and since I need to wrap the “stem” with ribbon regardless, adding some more stems to the mix wouldn’t do any harm to get the look that I am going for.
Here is bouquet #2 – catalogue picture.
Here is real life.
Well…I don’t really know what to say about this one…I really don’t. Mama CC raised me with the firm belief that if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Silence.
(cricket, cricket)
Yeah. But the winner comment from the panel goes to MOH. I sent out these pics that I took last week when I received the box in the mail using my crackberry, and MOH promptly sent me this email…
I am glad that you are not thrilled with the second one - please do not use it -from the picture the first thing that comes to mind is a cheap wedding decoration!!!Sorry if I hurt your feelings. It looked good in the pictures.
She later replied back to my reply to let me know that her sister, who has a degree in interior design/decorating also agreed with her. As if her opinion for the panel wasn’t enough. LOL!
So, maybe you’re picking up on the fact that NO ONE has yet to be impressed with the second bouquet. I could say that some of the problems lies with my crackberry, which I used to take the pictures. And that wouldn’t be a total lie…the flash did come on for that picture when it didn’t show up on the first bouquet. And I’m hoping that it’s the flash that is making the color seem so…well, I don’t know…trashy? Cheap? Pick one, any one will work.
But, like the good little bride that I try to be…I’m carting both bouquets with me up to Dallas this weekend so that my Maids (“The Panel”) can see them in person. And what I’m also hoping will be delivered to me here at work tomorrow is a bunch of extra stems that I ordered from the same company…to see about the possibility of filling in the bouquet with more fake flowers. I need to do some double checking and make sure that the order will be here…if I have everything, I’ll take it all with me so that we can all see everything in person and try to work with it.
Otherwise it’s back to the drawing board for this project!
Did you have something happen like this in your planning? The website picture just didn’t quite make the cut in real life? Did you just send it back and start over, or did you try to work with it and make it better?
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