Planning a Sustainable Wedding? Here’s Why We Grew Our Own Wedding Flowers
Each spring, a wave of tulips rise up in our yard—bright, fragrant, and full of memory. This is just one reminder we get of our special day. Among all the planning and details, growing our own wedding flowers was one of the most personal, grounding decisions we made. It wasn’t just about saving money or skipping the florist. It was about creating something real and intentional. If you’re planning a sustainable wedding, I want to share why this simple act meant so much to us—and how you can do it too.
Why Sustainability Mattered in Our Wedding Planning
As we planned our wedding, it was important to us that our celebration did not come at the cost of the environment or create too much waste. From locally grown flowers and borrowed decor to reducing waste and supporting small, eco-conscious vendors, every choice we made was with care for our budget and our planet. There are many ways to make a wedding more eco-friendly, but growing our own flowers was one of our favorites.
Why We Chose Tulips
Tulips have always been my favorite flower, so when we were deciding on wedding flowers, it was an easy choice. It also aligned perfectly with our wedding date, so we were able to have flowers that were in season. We didn’t anticipate growing our own wedding flowers, but when we found ourselves with space to grow, we knew we needed to do it.
We started our gardening journey with a large patch of tulips along our driveway, planted in the fall before our spring wedding. I’ll admit, it was a bit stressful wondering if the tulips would actually bloom on time, but we knew we could buy the tulips from a local florist if needed.
The Process: From Bulbs to Bouquets
Tulips are fairly easy to grow in many climates. We’re in zone 7b, so we purchased our tulip bulbs from a local garden store in the fall and planted them between September and October. For a standard tulip display, you plant the bulbs 4-6 inches apart. We were trying to grow around 130 tulips in a small space along our driveway, so we planted them around 3-4 inches apart. Planting them closer together like this can result in smaller blooms, so keep that in mind if you choose to grow tulips.
We planted a few different varieties of tulips, which gave us a higher chance that some of them would bloom at the correct time. There were a few flowers that bloomed too early for us to use or were a color or size that didn’t quite match what we wanted, but the majority of flowers ended up blooming the week of our wedding.
Two days before the wedding, I cut 75% of the flowers to use for the wedding and the other 25% remained uncut in the garden. One of our friend’s came over to help us create 4 bouquets for the bridal party and 4 bouquets to use as decor during the wedding reception.
Pro tip: Repurpose bridal party bouquets for reception decorations after the ceremony.
We did purchase some additional flowers from a local shop, mainly to fill in around the tulips with some greenery. We bundled the bridal party bouquets together with some ribbon and a hot glue gun. All of the bouquets were displayed in vases that we already owned or were able to borrow from friends and family.
Once the bouquets were arranged in the vases, we stored them with a little bit of water near a window. You can also store them in the fridge to slow down the blooming process, but we were happy with how they looked on the wedding day.
Wedding Day: More Than Just Flowers
Our wedding reception was at our home, so one of our favorite moments was when the guests arrived and saw the tulips that were still blooming in the garden. We were able to share with everyone how we turned the 130 tulip bulbs into all of the flower arrangements that they saw placed around the reception.
Tulips are a perennial flower in our zone, meaning they come back every year. Every spring, the tulips reemerge and provide a vibrant and fragrant display that reminds us of our special day.
Advice for Growing Your Own Wedding Flowers
Do your research
Look into what flowers will be blooming at the time of your wedding. If you have a specific flower in mind, check when that flower is in bloom in your area. If you want to grow your own, give yourself enough time to plant them and have them bloom the week of your wedding.
Grow more than you think you’ll need (or be okay with supplementing)
We planted around 130 tulip bulbs, choosing different varieties to give us a better chance that they would bloom on time. A few of the tulips bloomed early, but they provided beautiful decoration in our garden. The majority of the tulips bloomed the week of our wedding and we supplemented by purchasing some greenery pieces at a local store to fill out the bouquets.
Growing anything comes with risks. The weather, animals, or any number of things can impact when and how your flowers will bloom. Give yourself a cushion by growing some extra flowers or consider supplementing from a local florist. Supplementing is a great option if you are limited on space or just want a back-up plan in case your flowers don’t bloom as expected.
Get help from family and friends
While we planted all of the tulips ourselves, I did recruit one of my friends to help put the bouquets together. It was helpful to have another set of hands and have someone with a good eye for what color combinations looked good together. We borrowed vases, ribbon, and a hot glue gun from family and friends so we didn’t have to buy anything extra to put the bouquets together. If you have a friend that likes to garden, ask them for some advice on what might grow well or maybe they’ll even offer to grow some flowers for you!
