Prepping for a DIY Wedding With Libby Meyer
Author: Michela Thompson / Libby Meyer
Is DIY Even Doable For Me?
This is the question Libby Meyer found herself asking after a florist quoted her $10,000 for her dream wedding flowers. She knew this florist was charging appropriately for their time, experience, and the cost of flowers in the Palm Springs area, but she just couldn't justify spending that kind of money. Libby truly belives that the finer things in life don't have to be exorbitantly expensive, and that just because something is cheap doesn't mean it has to be cheap, ya smell me? Thus began her DIY wedding journey.
Libby Meyer has graciously shared her DIY Wedding process with the whole world via her TikTok. We wanted to sit down with her and get all the juicy details of her process so far and follow her progress to her wedding day. We hope her insight is helpful to you as you plan your own wedding, or at the very least, entertaining!
Libby purchased her own custom design, her own flowers for her sample order, and will purchase her own wedding flowers. In the interest of transparency and fairness, she does earn a commission if you use her code at checkout. Thank you for supporting small businesses & your favorite content creators!
What drew you to Flower Moxie?
TikTok! I started searching for DIY wedding flower tutorials when I received a $10,000 quote from a florist…Yes, $10,000. By the time I started reaching out to florists, my fiancé and I had already made a list of things we knew we wanted to splurge on for the wedding. Non-negotiables for us included a live band and an open bar. Plus, our wedding will be in Palm Springs which is technically a “destination wedding,” so we wanted to allot the budget for other guest activities like welcome drinks, etc. We knew our guests were going to spend significant money flying in!
I needed to find a place in the budget to save aggressively and thought I'd start with flowers.
I needed to find a place in the budget to save aggressively and thought I’d start with flowers (since $10,000 seemed outrageous to me.) When I first started searching for DIY tutorials, all I saw were videos of brides ordering flowers wholesale from Costco or Sam’s Club and some brides even running THE WEEK OF THEIR WEDDING to Trader Joe’s. A lot of these brides were doing all white flowers (like baby’s breath) but because I knew I wanted bright colors, I definitely didn’t trust myself to design centerpieces on my own or without any practice. How was I supposed to know how many flowers to get? How do I decide what flowers even look good together? And most importantly, how do I actually assemble a centerpiece?!
That’s when I saw a TikTok from a Moxie bride. I saw her flowers were delivered directly to her which excited me. Then I saw that the flowers came with all the tools and vases she would need, and I immediately started Googling Flower Moxie. Once I was on the website, I couldn’t believe all the premade wedding sets they had. I was so grateful a company like this existed to make wedding flowers more affordable for brides on a tight budget. I scheduled my custom designer call ASAP.
How was your experience with your custom designer, Jessica?
It was SO fun. I shared some inspo pics with her prior to our call so she already knew I was inspired by bougainvillea and wanted to stick to pinks and greens. I also included photos of sample centerpieces and bouquets that weren’t in my colors but were the shape and size that I wanted. On the call, Jessica had me log on to the Flower Moxie website and go to the “pink flowers” category. She patiently went through every single pink flower they had with me and took note of which ones I liked and which ones I didn’t. I knew I loved the pink carnations and peonies, but she also pointed me toward some new flowers that ended up being my favorites like scabiosa and spray roses. We did the same thing for “green flowers” and “greenery”.
When I put the first piece of greenery into the centerpiece it was daunting to think about how I was going to turn this into something professional, but I was surprised by how easy and fun it was!
Next, we went over the shape and size of the centerpiece I wanted, and she suggested the oblong plastic design bowl. It’s not something I would have ever picked out on my own, but when I saw what it would look like filled with flowers, I loved it. She also explained to me how you actually assemble a centerpiece (by either filling the oblong bowl with floral brick foam or chicken wire and then sticking the flowers into that.) She said floral brick foam was much easier for beginners so that was the CLEAR choice for me. We went through everything from centerpieces to bouquets, boutonnieres, and aisle flowers. I told her I didn’t love the look of wrist corsages for my mom and future mother-in-law, and she suggested a smaller version of my bridesmaid bouquet for them instead which I thought was a great idea.
What was the inspiration for your wedding palette?
There is so much beautiful bright pink bougainvillea in Palm Springs, so I knew I wanted to try to incorporate that color. I was drawn to the look of one singular color in centerpieces but when I told my fiancé I wanted our wedding palette to be just hot pink he wasn’t exactly on board…initially. But luckily, he really trusts my style and taste so he offered to take me to a local flower shop that night so I could show him in person what I was envisioning. At the flower shop I realized we could also add some vibrant green flowers (instead of just greenery) and after seeing both colors together –-and hearing from the florist that it was one of the most beautiful and unique combos he had ever seen– my fiancé was on board.
Once you got your hands on the flowers, how did you feel?
If I’m being completely honest, overwhelmed. Initially. I quickly realized I will need to enlist help for prep night. The unpacking, cutting, de-leafing, etc. took much longer than I anticipated. I also did not get NEARLY enough buckets. I am so glad I did a sample so now I will be incredibly prepared for the wedding.
When I put the first piece of greenery into the centerpiece it was daunting to think about how I was going to turn this into something that actually looked professional, but I was surprised by how easy and fun it was! I filled in the first bottom layer of greenery, stuck my favorite peony in the center, and then slowly started building in the other flowers around that. I was VERY happy I went with the floral brick foam because it was super easy to move flowers around if I didn’t like the original way I placed them.
After practicing, what will you do differently for the big day?
I will most definitely enlist more hands to help me on prep night and buy more buckets! I was also very scared of cutting the stems too short because there is no going back after that. Luckily, the centerpiece was pretty tall once I was finished. So next time, I will be less scared of cutting the flowers shorter.
The sample was also helpful in playing with colors. I realized I want to stay with all bright pink and stay away from deeper tones. Because of that, I am cutting out the darker garden roses and the ranunculus.
P.S. One of the best things about Flower Moxie is that you don’t have to lock in your final flowers until 3 months prior to the wedding so you can always edit the recipe should you change your mind (which is something I have discovered I have already done quite often in the wedding planning process).
Were you excited to see the response from your followers?
Yes! I absolutely love sharing tips with other people, especially if it’s a place where they can save money. My fiance always laughs when we are out and someone comments on something I am wearing and I tell them how affordable it was and send them the link to where I got it but it truly brings me so much joy. Luxury doesn’t always need to be expensive and just because something is affordable doesn’t mean it’s cheap. The flowers looked amazing and looked that way for over a week after without me even spraying them or doing anything extra to keep them intact.
What was something that surprised you about the process?
It was SO fun. I had read testimonials from other brides about what a great memory the flower assembly was with their family members or bridesmaids from the wedding weekend, but I still wasn’t sold. I was doing this to cut costs, not because I thought it would be particularly fun. But once I did the sample (with the help of my mom), I realized why everyone says that. Doing stuff with your hands is so relaxing and being creative and working as a team with the people you love really is SO fun. I realized floral wedding arrangements are not that SERIOUS. I felt like the wedding world had told me you must hire a professional to do this, but that’s just not true.
Do you have advice for anyone on the fence about DIY?
Do a sample! I wasn’t 100% sure I would be capable of doing my own flowers, so doing the sample bouquet and centerpiece gave me the confidence to know I could do it. It also taught me that flower prep (cutting them, taking off the leaves & placing them in buckets of water) took a lot longer than I anticipated. Conversely, putting the actual centerpieces together was so much easier and quicker than I anticipated. So, instead of having more hands to help with that, I would recommend having those helpers for the prep and allotting more time for the prep night than assembly night. I think the ultimate key to success when DIY’ing is preparation. You can never be TOO prepared. Make sure to practice and schedule enough time to execute.
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About the Author
Michela Thompson is the media manager here at Flower Moxie. When not writing flower puns, you can find her trying to pet every dog in a 30 mile radius, playing video games, or hanging out with her husband and dog. (The dog and the husband are two different entities, she is not married to a dog. Don't make it weird.)