
Wedding Flowers: A Calculated Reduction of Stress
Wedding flowers are tricky things because they have so many variables to them. For example, they must be in season, delivered on the correct date, stored at the proper temperature with a good amount of water, and they must be tended a certain number of hours in advance so that they bloom at the optimal time for the ceremony.
To summarize, they were a portion of my wedding that I was not looking forward to and I kept procrastinating on the decision. Finally, I decided to do something non-traditional.

Photo by Rebekah Sampson Photography.
The Use of Paper Wedding Flowers
I found paper origami flowers on Etsy.

Photo by Rebekah Sampson Photography.
In searching for something low-stress and practical, I stumbled upon something absolutely beautiful and better than any of my dreams.

Photo by Rebekah Sampson Photography.
My wedding bouquet contained pages from Sherlock Holmes. My father gifted me this book as a young child and I have been told that my brain works frighteningly similar to Sherlock’s mind. Even the small detail of the print on the paper, a detail I didn’t even know to ask about, was perfect.

Photo by Rebekah Sampson Photography.
Because I had a destination wedding, I did not see the flowers until the day before the wedding. My flowers arrived in the desert before I did! Yet they looked exactly the same the day they arrived, the day before the wedding, the day of the wedding, and the day after the wedding. This worked to my advantage considering the amount of rain we had on our wedding day! All of our formal couple pictures were taken the next day with my bridal bouquet showing no signs of wilting.
It is Impossible to Eliminate all Stress from Life.
Frankly, I wouldn’t want to. That is not truly living. Life is all about experiencing both the happy stress and the not so happy stress. Cortisol is the buffer that allows people to handle all types of stress. Because I have Adrenal Insufficiency, I produce no cortisol. This leaves me two options: I can either surrender my life to my disease or I can fight it.

Photo by Rebekah Sampson Photograph.
Paper origami wedding flowers in lieu of live flowers allowed me to save spoons for my wedding day.
I choose to fight to be Clearly Alive. I choose to LIVE with my Adrenal Insufficiency. I choose to reduce unnecessary stress so that I can focus on good stress and live my life to the fullest.
I am Clearly Alive.
Anonymous
Beautiful!
Nan Blume
If you put it that way, wedding flowers were just as complicated as wedding food, as they must be delivered at a specific date and maintained a correct temperature as well. In that case, I see how it’s better for you to go for non-traditional. Anyway, your wedding bouquets were lovely! Best wishes to both of you!
Nan Blume @ Nan’s Blossom Shop
Amber
Hehehehe, I actually didn't handle any of my wedding food either! It was too overwhelming for me with all of the details. My wonderful mom took care of it all. I think the only requirement I gave her was, "I'd like to be able to eat." 🙂
Gemma
Thank you so much for this post. It has made my decision even easier, to have “real touch” latex and silk flowers at my wedding.
xxx
admin
Those sound beautiful!