Flowers, blowing the budget?

I spent some time yesterday pondering my flower situation.

I had the Flame callas all chosen, in fact they were the actual decision I made about the wedding, and from them came the orange colour scheme!

Well, I started pricing them again (having only taken a less than cursory glance at the price when finding suppliers) and it looks like they will end up costing somewhere between $2.50 and $4.50 a stem! Ouch!!

So, I started looking at some floral designers websites to get some alternative orange flower inspiration. What do I then stumble upon...this gorgeous bouquet!!

It's from Birch flowers in San Francisco. They do BEAUTIFUL flowers, but this one caught my eye with it's simple chic-ness! And carnations? Well, who knew they could be so gorgeous!

Okay, so I'm now on a mission - find orange-y carnations. I was thinking this might be tricky, as the only orange-y carnations I've ever seen are those peach coloured ones they inevitably end up in the bouquet you buy to take to the hospital for a friend to cheer them up... not exactly what I'm going for on my wedding day!

But, wait....am I hearing angel choirs?

So, they are still yellow and red (well, officially the first one is yellow & purple, but certainly looks red to me!), and come in between $0.55 and $0.73 a stem! What a deal!?

I swear I will come under budget for this wedding!!! :)