Wedding flowers courtesy of your nearest wholesaler (From Hereford Times)

When planning your wedding becomes second nature...

12:58pm Tuesday 21st July 2009

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Unless you are one of those annoyingly organised or admirably laid back types, for most people planning a wedding can feel like a bit of a mountain climb when you first set off on your engagement. For a start it’s taking way longer than the eight hours it took the husband-to-be and I to climb Snowdon and then fall back down it again, but on the upside has probably involved less arguments (I tried the ‘hillwalker’ look for him in the beginning but it just wasn’t working).

But the lovely thing I have discovered is that by month 7 preparations start to take on a life of their own and all you have to do is enjoy the ride. It feels like this thing has embedded itself so far into my sub-concsciousness that my mind has begun to think for itself. Add to this your mum’s unhealthy obession with mother-of-the-bride outfits (and the event in general) and what you end up with is a kind of lethally trained expert force that can wheedle the name of any dress designer/cake maker/florist out of the most reluctant/forgetful relative, friend or more often than not a complete stranger.

It’s an approach that has seen us tick off several areas of ‘the list’ in the past month including my dress (having it made), fabric for the bridesmaids and the band (name of which was forcefully removed from the addled brain of a scared friend while she was round for dinner).

It is also this mentality that led the other half and I to return from a romantic weekend away in the Midlands recently with 18 glass vases, four boxes of rose petals, three car ribbons and 150 long-burning nightlights after visiting what turned out to be the most generous B&B in the whole wide world.

Its proprietor had the most beautiful lilies in long tall vases at the breakfast table one morning and we happened to mention we were getting married and what a wonderful table arrangement it would make.

An hour later we were on our way to this woman’s wholesaler with her card one hand and a list in the other! Now I’m not suggesting for one minute that prosective brides should be relying on any fairy godmother to bring her flowers to her like ours did, but it surely is worth asking any local B&Bs or hotels, or any friends and family you may have in the hospitality business (a lots of pubs have big functions now too), where they do their shopping for stuff like this. They should have renamed the place ‘Affordable Wedding World’ (see below for details). The other half had to sit down after the first hour but I could have stayed in there all day - fake flowers of every kind you could imagine with every sort of vase to go with them and countless lots of pretty things to decorate with. Ribbons, invitations, candles, oasis, balloons, confetti, hats even. I actually died and went to heaven.

When the fiance dragged me back from the brink we packed it all up and I got thinking about the old wholesale thing and found that we do have a wholesale flower seller in Hereford (details see below), which I plan to contact very soon with a view to filling said vases.

In fact, the whole experience got me thinking about how much venues pay for things and how much us muggles pay, and I think you’ll find we pay a lot more than they do so don’t be afraid to ask your nearest pub for tips - and don’t be afraid to haggle over anything.

This month’s revelations - Country Baskets - Wholesalers of floral, giftware, glassware and decorative supplies. Nearest branch is Birmingham, others in Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester. Visit www.countrybaskets.co.uk.

We also have local wholesalers - Just Flowers Wholesalers, Holmer Road, Hereford. Visit www.justflowers.ltd.uk.

Fabric shops do have wedding stuff, you just need to know where to look. The best one so far has been Butterfly Fabrics on City Road, Cardiff. Visit www.butterflyfabrics.co.uk