It’s week two of our six-week series on getting married on a budget and this week learn tips and tricks for saving money on your wedding flowers! (Last week: Saving Money on Invitations).
Flowers are one of the most integral parts of your wedding day’s overall look and theme. Not only are flowers heavy hitters in the look of your wedding, but they can often bring a heavy hit to your wallet. According to Florist Tiffany Saul from offbeatbride.com, wedding florists generally work on a 3x markup. Over 75% of florists use a 5x markup on wedding flowers – this means your costs can add up quick!
Here are some tips and tricks to save money on flowers for your big day:
Set a budget
If you are trying to plan a wedding on a budget, be sure you know how much money you have allocated for floral, and stick to it! Make your florist work within your budget. Don’t hesitate to ask what is a typical budget they work with before you go in for an in-person interview. If you are looking at a florist online and they do beautiful work, but their average budget they work with is over $5,000, more than likely this is not your florist. Narrow it down to about three florists who you have called and who fit your flower budget and set up in-person appointments. At the appointment, ask to see their portfolios of actual weddings they’ve done, not a FTD floral book- this is not their work and don’t be fooled that it is.
Think local and in-season
Once you’ve found a florist who you get along well with, you’ve seen their work and fits within your budget, the next steps are to discuss your floral design with them. One of the biggest cost saving tips is to use as many locally grown flowers as possible. Ask your florist which blooms will be in season during your wedding month. If it’s a December wedding, you may be limited to using a mixture of berries and greens, which keeps it simple and beautiful! On the other hand, during your summer wedding, using locally grown hydrangeas, or garden roses might be the way to go.
Think big
Larger blooms (heads) will often get you more bang for your buck. Think about it, using tiny flowers, berries, and such is going to take a lot more stems to get a high visual impact. Larger headed flowers such as hydrangea’s, lilly’s, rhodies, sunflowers and peonies are going to give you that striking look of ‘a lot’ of flowers with using significantly less stems – therefore cutting down on your cost. Also, think about using a good amount of ‘filler.’ This can often be found locally as well by using ferns, hydrangea leaves, etc.
Get to know your Farmers Market
In Seattle we are blessed in the spring and summer months to have some amazing farmers’ markets, not to mention Pike Place year round (although selection does vary). Often, if you are able to form a relationship with your local flower distributer through these markets, you can let them know you are getting married and would like them to provide your flowers. This will ensure not only getting a great deal on your flowers, but that they will order enough of them to cover your wedding in addition to their normal market business. Going the market route does not allow you much control over your color palette either, so if you are committed to having coral as your only flower color, this option may not be for you.
Do be aware however, that you will need to designate someone to go pick up your flowers for you, often on the same day as your wedding (as most farmers markets and weddings are on Saturdays). This does not leave you much room for error.
Markets are great options for the bride who likes that garden feel and who doesn’t stress over the details.
These centerpieces were made with flowers from Costco!
Use the big box wholesale stores and ask a friend
Did you know Costco and Sam’s Club actually offer wedding florals? They do, and they’re a great deal! I personally have just used Costco’s service, so I’ll speak just to that. Check out the Costco Floral website. Here you’ll find multiple packages that often include bulk stems (for your centerpieces), a bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets and all boutonnieres. The ‘standard’ package didn’t happen to work for my bride who had 4 bridesmaids and groomsmen. She was able to call Costco and ask them if they would be willing to modify a few things to make the package fit her needs and they did at no additional charge!
Costco contracts out the items that need assembly such as the bouquet and the boutonniere’s. The rest are just shipped to you a few days prior to the wedding date. In my experience using them, when the bridal bouquet was delivered on wedding day, it was awful. I mean the white petals had brown all around the tops of them, and the size was very small. We were able to make a quick call to Costco’s emergency hotline, and ended up having the florist remake and deliver the new bouquet on time, and it looked MUCH better!
Because the centerpiece stems come in bulk, obviously you need to have someone arrange them. Ask a friend (who is not part of the wedding party) if they would be willing to help you arrange your wedding centerpieces. What we ended up doing for my bride was using river rocks and roses in a small, simple square vase.
This option is definitely for the bride who wants to keep it simple. The box box stores don’t offer a lot of variety, you’re pretty much limited to roses, lilies or hydrangea’s, but you definitely get a great deal! Most of their packages run about $400-$800. Great price! You can also find clear glass vases at a great rate on their website too!
Find a newbie
Ask around. More than likely someone in your family or circle of friends knows somebody who knows somebody who likes doing flowers, or just starting a new floral design business. This can be to your advantage big time! Not only will this person more than likely have a business license – which allows them access to wholesale houses – but their labor cost will be significantly less. When anyone is new in the industry, you’re just trying to get your portfolio built to have something to show future brides. That’s when you can swoop in and often negotiate pricing much more easily than with an established florist. You will probably have to be much more specific in what you’re looking for as well, as they may not quite yet be ready to ‘take your vision and run with it.’
Fake vs. real
This is a hard one for me to take on as I’ll admit, I am not a fan of fake flowers. However, at times they are an effective way to cut cost, and also allow you to pre-assemble your arrangements way before your wedding date. If you have an eye for design, and the skills and patience to do your own arrangements, this may be a great option for you. Be sure you have decided beforehand who you’d like to give the arrangements to when you’re done, otherwise you’re going to end up with a lot of fake flowers at your house. 🙂 Use coupons for your local craft stores to save on your flowers.
Do NOT DIY!
Okay, this is one of the very few areas where I will put my foot down and tell you you are not allowed to do your own wedding flowers! Did you hear me? You are not allowed!! 🙂 Ok, I know I’m probably coming across harsh, but as someone who has been in the biz for over seven years now, I know that you will have plenty of things to worry about on your wedding day other then your wedding flowers. Hand it off to someone you trust. You will not have time to get ready, take photos, eat, be putting together your arrangements, delivering them, and set them up on your wedding day.
You are a bride, allow yourself to be a bride. This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, so delegate and enjoy it. Let yourself take it all in and be able to have the time to process the emotion that will come on the day your life is going to change.
Let flowers be a gift
One of my favorite parts of begin a wedding planner is that generally I get to take home some leftover flowers. It always freshens up my home, smells amazing and reminds me of that couple well after the wedding. Why not offer that same feeling to your guests? Some great ways to decide who takes home your centerpieces are to pre-designate one person at each table who will be taking them home. Maybe as a thank-you to your parents, or as a ‘in-memory’ to your Grandma who just lost her husband. Another way is to play a game during your reception. There are many wedding games that you can find online.
Again, I’d love for you to let me know your moneysaving tips on how you cut costs on your wedding flowers or if you have any questions that I did not address here, please feel free to message me on my New Creations Wedding Coordination Facebook page.
How have you saved on flowers for a wedding? Check back next week to learn about saving money on wedding venues!
-Rebecca
About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over six years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.
Stacy says
Farmers market are the best for flowers. For my wedding we got a large plastic laundry tub of flowers for $75. And stocked up on vases at yard sales. We had 10 floral arrangements for our tables. And all the wedding parties flowers for under $100.
It helped that we got married at a state park so it was completely casual. Our wedding spot and reception site was free since we were under a party of 50. So our wedding reception site was only the cost of parking for guests which was $50.
Sia Hills says
I am a huge fan of real flowers, but I did see a wedding recently where the bride made a slew of paper flowers and it looked great for the wedding style.
For our wedding we wanted a tropical style (and wedding was August) so we grew huge planters full of cannas, day lilies, crocromias (sp?) and more! They were gorgeous and then we supplemented with a lot of greenery in vases and that way did not have to spend much on fresh cut flowers at all. We then used the flower pots as gifts to those who helped with the wedding (and kept a few that are still in our yard to this day).
For my brothers december wedding we ordered greenery from a tree (cant recall which one, pine?) from an online wholesale shop and babys breath. Add some lights and there were few other flowers needed, and it was beautiful for the season (and added a great smell).
I love your tips above, but definitely think there are some great DIY options too. Great post 🙂