We asked Craig Core of Suburban Wholesale Florist in Chatham, who married teacher Shannon Russo on July 4, 2008. Here’s what a florist creates for his own wedding:

Craig Core admits that armloads of roses are handy in the dating game. “Whenever I sent extravagant bouquets to Shannon’s school, the other teachers ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed,’” Core laughs. Suburban Wholesale Florist (973-701-0777) is a third-generation business that sells solely to florists. Craig and Shannon Core enlisted three of them, all personal friends, to create a garden wedding.

“I DO” IN PINKS & WHITES Joe Longo and Robert Bove of Seasons Floral in Summit (908-277-0051; seasonsfloral.com) decorated St. Teresa of Avila Church, also in Summit, by hanging giant floral wreaths on the columns and luscious bouquets on the pews. “The bride was a pink girl,” Bove says, “so we agreed to use white hydrangeas and roses in whites and creams and light to hot pinks. What we created with these ingredients was up to each florist.”

Jack Rekemeier of Rekemeier’s Flower Shops in Summit and Cranford (908-277-6333 and 908-276-4700; rekemeiers.com), a four-generation business itself, created the personals. He wrapped up rose, calla-lily, and orchid bouquets with pink satin ribbons for the bride and bridesmaids. “We made an extra, in case the bride’s bouquet wilted,” Rekemeier says.

COOL COCKTAILS David Mitchell of Still Life Event Design in Morristown (973-889-3615; stilllifeeventdesign.com) created large-scale plantings to greet guests at the Meadow Wood Manor in Randolph. A 100-foot-long garland festooned the entry, and eighteen-foot-high mahogany urns filled with palms and orchids towered inside the lobby.

“Craig and Shannon envisioned a cool cocktail hour in the midst of their hot-pink event, so we went all-white,” says Mitchell. He planted urns with viburnum branches and white roses. For centerpieces, he filled bamboo stem vessels with white orchids and roses.

AN OVER-THE-TOP RECEPTION Family friend Jack Rekemeier handled the banquet flowers. “Craig and Shannon liked these beach ball-shaped centerpieces from a Beverly Hills wedding,” says Rekemeier. “That presented an engineering challenge: How to elevate and support a globe of 750 flowers weighing 50 pounds.”

He found a way, with each floral ball resting on a glass cylinder and lit from within. “The guests expected the flowers to be over the top, but they were still wowed,” says Rekemeier. “Wedding flowers average $5,000 to $7,000. At a $100,000 value, this was 20 times the impact.”