Review of the Flower Market

My mother and I went to the LA flower mart two days before the wedding.  It was a Thursday, and we arrived at 6 AM.  Now, I got married in December, so my experience might be different than for someone marrying in the spring/summer. 

 

We parked on the roof of the California Flower mart (in between 7^th/8^th street – the entrance is on Maple), and since we were there only an hour, we paid $1.75 for parking.  Entrance was $2/person, but bring dollars!  The man had no change for us, so we had to leave our keys with him.   We walked around the California mart, and then crossed Wall Street to the LA flower mart.  Now, it is really easy to miss it!  There are lots of other stores around it.  The only way I figured out where it was located was the person sitting there waiting to take entrance fees.  Note: your $2 will get you into both markets.

 

My mom and I did a quick walk-through of each mart.  There were very few prices listed.  I’m sure we were supposed to bargain, but instead, we just bought from the seller with prices listed.  They were right at the entrance of the LA flower mart.  Their flowers looked great.  I also got some purple flowers from another seller for $4.

 

We purchased:

 

4 kinds of carnations (20 – 24 each): $4 each

 

3 kinds of pink/purple roses (20 – 24 each): $12 each

 

20 – 24 cream roses: $14

 

3 bunches baby’s breath: $4 each

 

I’m sure we could have bargained more, but it was about $90, which was my limit, and it was all the flowers we needed.  My mom has fern growing in the back yard, so we added that to the arrangements.

 

We made 5 bridesmaid’s bouquets with a dozen roses each, some baby’s breath, and some fern.  My bouquet was 2 dozen cream roses, purple flowers, fern, and baby’s breath.  It was really heavy!!!  We had enough roses to make boutonnière’s and corsages for 6 guys and 2 ladies.  The carnations were for the centerpieces, along with some baby’s breath.  Mom also made a baby’s breath halo for the flower girl.

 

We took a wagon with us, which was a really smart idea. 

 

We brought the flowers home, put them in a large bucket with water, and covered them with a sheet.  We kept them in the garage, so it was about 50 degrees.  I also trimmed all the stems, since they had closed up over the journey home.

 

The roses held up well.  My cream ones were barely opened by the wedding, and the colored roses were about halfway open.  We kept everything in water until right before the wedding.  Then we wrapped each bouquet end with ribbon, and stuck it with two straight pins to keep from unwrapping.  I saw tutorials on Martha Stewart’s website, and I highly recommend it for ideas.

 

Note:  They had peonies in December, but it was about $30 for 8 flowers.