Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

We met with another key wedding vendor this weekend, The Gryphon and I. On Saturday morning, we had a 9:30 a.m. appointment with our florist, Carl Alan Creations.

We found out about Carl Alan Creations through the event vendor at our wedding site. She recommended him because they have worked with him before. As part of our package through our site we get basic centerpieces, although we intend to upgrade them.

We decided to go in a little early and have breakfast first. We were going to go to the Marathon Grill on 18th and Market Streets, but even though the business was open, there was nobody there, either customers or wait staff that we could find.

We went to a couple other places, and we had poor luck there, as well, just wondering around, until we hit another Marathon Grill, at 19th and Spruce, I believe. We were seated next to some out-of-towners wearing Hard Rock Cafe gear. The woman was talking about how, every time she comes to town she goes to the City Tavern, which I know, having worked in Old City, is popular with tourists. The Gryphon and I have eaten there, as well. Good food.

After breakfast, we had plenty of time to make our appointment. The shop is tucked into one of the largest office buildings on Market Street. There was a corridor with several stores and businesses. Carl Alan Creations is downstairs. There's not much of a display area: just a window. You step right into the shop.

We met with Cal, one of the owners. In the course of our discussion, we learned that he's had a long career in this area and has done a lot of big events as well as small events and weddings.

First, we met in a little office area, where we discussed the write-up we'd done for him, with pictures, of our vision for the retrofuturistic wedding, which we're calling the Wedding of Tomorrow. He is a high energy person, and I was very impressed with the fact that not only had he read thoroughly through the document we'd sent him and looked at the pictures, but he'd also done his own research to determine what would fit with the feel we were hoping to evoke.

We went through the various needs we had and discussed them. We discussed ideas for the ceremony, for the bridal bouquet, the bridesmaids, and the groomsmen. Then we talked about the centerpieces for the reception. He told us he'd be happy to work with us to keep it closer to our budget.

Of course, our budget numbers were determined using an online tool from TheWeddingChannel.com, and it was based on a percentage of our overall budget, not on practical market prices. So while we did come in above the number we'd budgeted, we talked about it and decided it's a reasonable price.

One of the things that Cal emphasized was that he does everything possible to get things finalized ahead of time so that there's no confusion or hassle at the last minute for the bridal couple.

After we talked ideas, we returned to his workshop area. He pulled out some flowers and showed us how some of those ideas might play out. Cal was on board with the idea that we'd had, to keep the colors minimalist, and striving for strong lines and geometric shapes, in keeping with the retrofuturistic style. I won't give too many details here, but I would say that his ideas were very much in keeping with how we were picturing our wedding.

Overall, the appointment took just under two hours, which was what Cal had told us to expect. The first hour had been our discussion in the office about what we wanted. The rest of the time was spent in the workshop looking at ideas.

The Gryphon and I have discussed it and agreed we want to go with Carl Alan as our florist. In addition to liking his ideas and the way he works, we also liked the fact that he's familiar already with the space. Cal was telling us that the assistant who will be setting things up the day of the wedding is friends with the event coordinator there. So I think that will aid with coordination.

Plus, I was impressed with Cal's enthusiasm and ideas. We didn't have to spend a lot of time explaining our ideas; almost everything we showed him we saw right away would work.

As always, it's good to be one step closer to getting things finalized. I feel really good about it.

More on Alyce's wedding planning:

Musings on Alyce's Wedding

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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