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Three hours to wire a single centerpiece. Three. Hours.
Last week I had a bride who wanted a floating cascade of orchids with no visible mechanics. No tape, no wires showing, nothing. I spent three damn hours trying to get that thing to stay put without the whole thing collapsing. Used about 15 different gauges of wire and three types of glue before I finally got it stable at hour three. The kicker is she didn't even notice the extra work when she picked it up. Anyone else ever had a customer request that sounded simple but ate up half your day?
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ivan7744mo ago
Whoa THREE HOURS on one centerpiece that's INSANE I would have lost my mind after one.
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jakewhite4mo ago
Wait, have you ever tried to actually pick out a centerpiece that's supposed to last for a whole dinner party? Because let me tell you, once you start messing with it, you realize you can't just throw something together in five minutes. I've been in that same boat more than once, where I thought I could just drop a couple candles in a vase and be done, but then the proportions are all off and the whole thing looks sad. The real trick is to keep a few backup options in a drawer, like a simple string of fairy lights or a small cluster of fake flowers, so you can swap something out fast if you hit a wall. Once you accept that it's gonna take time, you can actually relax into it and it doesn't feel as painful. Honestly, those three hours usually end up being the best part because you get the whole vibe right.
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wendy8204mo ago
And I had a friend who swore she'd never spend more than twenty minutes on a centerpiece, then spent four hours rearranging pinecones one Thanksgiving until her husband threatened to call a therapist. She finally just flipped the whole thing into a bowl and called it "rustic minimalism," and honestly nobody even noticed it wasn't what she planned. So yeah, three hours is totally normal, or at least that's what I tell myself when I'm buried in eucalyptus stems again.
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ben_lewis4mo ago
Honestly I think three hours is rookie numbers. I've spent entire weekends fighting with a single floral arrangement only to toss it in the trash and order pizza. At least your friend had the sense to flip it into a bowl and call it rustic minimalism - that's a pro move right there. The real problem is when you start out thinking you can just throw some candles in a vase and call it done, then two hours later you're googling how to dry orange slices at 3am. There's something about centerpieces that makes otherwise reasonable people lose all sense of time. I've seen @wendy820's stories before and they always hit too close to home because we've all been there. If you're not spending at least two hours questioning your life choices over a pinecone, are you even really decorating?
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