Bloomin' easy

I like flowers, but not in any kind of detail. They look nice in a vase, and I'm always happy to be bought flowers (usually I buy them myself from Tesco). But I don't really know one flower from another, and certainly don't have a 'favourite.' It was a short hop from this to deciding that flowers would not be a big part of our wedding - we are not having floral arrangements at the reception, so we just need what I call the 'people flowers.'

I do have a favourite florist though; Fiona Hogg is based in my parent's village, and we always order special occasion flowers form her. She does beautiful arrangements, without us needing to know anything about flowers! She also comes with a royal stamp of approval - they did the flowers for the Queen when Ascot was raced at York in 2005.

I crossed my fingers that she would be within our budget and checked her website for prices. I can't find her price list online now (grrr), although the ordinary bouquet prices are there. She was quoting £65 for a tied posy, £20 for flower girl pomanders, and buttonholes range from £5.50 to £11. Perfect.

I sent Mum on another reconnaissance mission - would Fiona do our wedding flowers, and could they be purple tied with blue ribbon? Answer: Yep. Easy peasy. Lots of purple flowers will be in season at that time, she doesn't even want a deposit until January as she will be able to do another wedding on the same day and won't have even have to deliver our flowers (the florist is next to the hairdressers). I just have to pop into the shop in January to confirm how many buttonholes we need, and it's all sorted.

And the best bit? All of that took about an hour. I feel no guilt for not comparing prices, as I'm supporting a local business whose work I love and who is within our budget. Definitely the easiest vendor so far!