What’s the key to a successful marriage?
That’s a loaded question, and quite honestly I think the answer is unique to each couple. But if I had to give one generality that I think could possibly apply to everyone, I would advise people to listen to their partner. I’m not referring to giving a nod and throwing in an agreeable statement every time there’s a pause in your partner’s voice.
I mean really listen to what they’re saying. The amazing thing is, your significant other will actually tell you what they want.
About a month ago, my daughter had her end of the school year dance recital. As is customary, Vonnie and I purchased a small bouquet of flowers to present to our dancer after her recital was complete. The flowers were placed in a vase once we got home, and beautified our home for a week or two as they sat on a bookshelf. When they finally wilted and turned brown, my wife threw them out and washed out the vase. As she was drying it, she commented:
“Hmmmm, this vase is empty again. It sure did look nice having flowers in here for a change.”
Over the last few years, I had expressed the opinion that there were better things than flowers to spend our money on for special occasions. But at that moment I knew that I would be getting my wife some flowers for our upcoming anniversary.
On Saturday, my wife and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. Being the first one up that morning, I began my quest to find an affordable yet esthetically pleasing floral arrangement. I usually have pretty good luck at Walmart, so I headed there first. In the middle of the produce section I found the floral jackpot I was hoping for. Scanning through the sea of flowers, I didn’t see a bouquet that had exactly what I was looking for. Then the thought occurred to me, why don’t I pick out a couple of inexpensive bouquets, and arrange them myself?
I picked out three different bouquets, and headed to the checkout lane.
Once I got home I unwrapped all three bouquets, clipped the stems, and laid them on the counter. I filled the vase (that had been suspiciously left on the kitchen windowsill) with water and plant food. I carefully placed the flowers into the vase, picking a stem from alternating groups of flowers until they were all in the vase.
I stepped back and admired my handiwork.
I placed the vase of flowers on the top of a bookshelf as to be visible when Vonnie came down our stairs, but out of reach from our cats. While I was cleaning up I reviewed the receipt from my purchase:
- 1 bouquet of 4 red roses
- 1 bouquet of 4 red-tipped roses
- 1 bouquet of some sort of white flowers that may have been mini-carnations (but I don’t really know).
Each bouquet cost $3.88, for a grand total of $11.64. Not bad at all!
I don’t know squat about floral arrangements, but I do have an imagination and creativity. That combined with the art of listening allowed me to give my wife something affordable for our anniversary that she greatly appreciated.
Have you ever arranged your own flowers? How did it turn out?
Looks great! We plan on being our own florist for our wedding. Even thought about planting some of the flowers ourselves!
Great idea, Michelle – I hope there will be a blog post on that subject! 🙂 (hint hint)
My mom has always been good at doing floral arrangements and has done several weddings for people over the years. She never had an formal floral training but just has a good eye for what looks good. If you can make the arrangements look good, it can save you money on many different formal occasions.
That’s awesome, zimmy – sometimes practice is the best education! Flowers are crazy expensive – especially around Valentine’s day when they JACK UP the prices! Great to hear from you Zimmy!
My wife bought very realistic fake flowers for our wedding – that way we could do them ahead of time and they lasted forever
I would ask the question, “But what would you do with your wedding flowers in the future” but I know full well how useful something like that can be. We have fake flower strings from a family member’s wedding that they didn’t want after the event which we use to decorate the top of our cabinets during the summer. We also have hurricane vases that were once used as wedding centerpieces that we’ve used for multiple events over the years. Reusing stuff like that comes in handy and saves a buck when you need it the most! Thanks for stopping by John!
My fave bouquets from Rick are the ones he picks from the side of the road somewhere. He is awesome at picking and arranging flowers, which is weird because he’s such a redneck in every other way. 🙂 We will also celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary this month, Travis – cool! And wish Vonnie a happy birthday from us tomorrow. 🙂
So awesome, Laurie – Imagination trumps just thumping down money every time (in my opinion). Happy anniversary to you, and I will pass along the birthday wishes. Do I remember correctly that you have the same birthday as my wife? If so, happy birthday to you as well tomorrow!