Wedding situation - input?

[blueyes]

So, my bride-friend (in Burbank, California), for whom I am the MOH, has just informed me (in Annapolis, Maryland) that she has not selected ANY flowers for her November wedding (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

Following me here? She's in Cali, I'm in Maryland, and the wedding is in Pittsburgh in November. And she has zero flowers.

She's not coming back to the East Coast until September for her bachelorette/bridal shower and that is too close to select flowers. However, I am going back to Pgh (our shared hometown) in late July for another friend's wedding...

Should I get her guidance and look at flowers for her that weekend (or some other weekend)? This was the one thing that she and I talked about that she was absolutely positively for 100% certain going to take care of before she moved to California. But she didn't and I'm leery of f*cking this up. From my rather limited knowledge of wedding planning, flowers are a big damn deal - right?

I could always get her budget, take pictures, and send them to her, right? Or do I bow out of this and let the mother of the bride handle this one...?

...argh.

[WorkInProgress]

I'd let the bride take care of it.

But you might look and see if there are some places online for her to deal with.

I know that proflowers.com does wedding flowers, and I've ordered regular flowers with them many times and have been extremely happy with them. That might be worth checking out, because it seems like it would be pretty low stress, assuming somebody (like the bride's mother) is available for receiving the flowers a couple days before the wedding.

[sparky88]

If you are willing to look at flowers while you're visiting pittsburgh, tell the bride. That way she can decide if she wants to take you up on the offer, or let her mother (or herself) handle it. It is a generous gesture and I'm sure she'll appreciate it either way. Also, November is a good 4 months away, no worries~

[EmberMae]

They're a pretty big deal. But honestly, she can do it long distance. When I met with my florist to pick out my flowers, she just had me look at a whole bunch of pictures and say what I liked and what I didn't like and she crafted the flower order based on that. I never saw any *actual* flowers, but i feel pretty confident about what I'm getting. Soo. she can contact some florists and see if they're available and have them send some pictures of their work (most have it on their website anyway). It's getting a bit late though...my florist only does 2 weddings a day, for example & we booked her about 11 months before our date.

[MollyM]

I just did mine last week. Only two months before my wedding. It could wait; she might not have her first choice of florists. I didn't have a problem with anyone not being able to do it. November is off-season too so she should be able to find a florist. If she is doing a lot of flowers (big bridal party, flower centerpieces), than she should get on it sooner.
Tell her to look at pictures to make the appointment go faster/easier.

[pisces2473]

She can definitely interview them over the phone/email and see pics and stuff online, and go from there.

[steph78]

I let my mom take care of the flowers. I was in a similar situation, I was in Atlanta and my wedding was in VA and I didn't have any vacation days to take off from work to go up and talk to florists. My mom and I talked about what I liked and didn't like (plus, my mom knows me pretty well so I trusted her to pick something I would like) and she dealt with the florist. I never actually saw the flowers until they showed up the morning of the wedding, but they were absolutely perfect.

I'd talk to the mother of the bride about doing it - unless she really doesn't want to/cant it would probably be better to let her take care of it. Otherwise you are going to have to get way involved in their budgeting, etc. which might be awkward. You might research florists/suppliers but I would think the actual ordering should probably be left to their family.

[asm198]

I ordered my wedding flowers from a place online and everything turned out awesome. I ordered from freshroses.com and they arrived promtly at 10 am the Thursday before the wedding. I was having simple, handtied bouqets, so it didn't take that long to put them together. They still looked great on Sunday night. So, that's always an option or she can talk to florists in Pittsburgh and take care of everything through email.