****2017 Brides****Currently 166 Brides and 1 Groom****

I'm paying:

£120 for bridal bouquet (orchids)

£30 each for BM bouquets (gypsophilia)

£5 each for buttonholes

Still waiting to confirm centrepieces - we need to talk through the designs more.

£100 for delivery 50 miles away isn't much - it's a 100 mile round trip, so works out at only £1 per mile, which probably will only just cover running costs (fuel, wear and tear on the vehicle etc). The AA was quoting £0.80 per mile costs in 2014, and they'll have increased since then. Once you add in the time for someone to actually do the driving and drop the flowers off, and consider that that is time that they can't spend on other work for the business (seeing clients, creating arrangements etc), it isn't very much at all.

The types and quantities of flowers that you want will have a big impact on the cost. For example, if you want a lot of flowers that are out of season, or a lot of flowers which are expensive generally (e.g orchids), or flowers which can't be bought from the usual auctions, then it will be more expensive than if you're only having a very simple bouquet of three or four in-season blooms. My bouquet will only be a few orchid stems, but because they are out of season and the type I want can't be bought from the Dutch auctions, it is going to cost me the same as someone having a much larger hand-tied bouquet of roses. Similarly, if you want complicated arrangements (like I am for some of my centrepieces), then it will cost more because of the time involved.

I think we are paying £65 for a hand tied bouquet for me, £35 for the bridesmaids, about the same as you for buttonholes and centre pieces are £28 but we are having mason jars so nothing very fancy.

our florist has also won lots of awards and was a lot cheaper than I thought she would be.

I do think that the delivery is quite a lot, we are paying half that for a ski liar distance. She has based it on the 0.45p a mile you can claim for tax I think.

I'm growing my own flowers (guess what kind)

Was a bit worried this winter as it was ridiculously mild. Had daffodils in flower around here before Christmas. Can do without bizarre weather until I'm married, thanks!! Can I just have normal well behaved spring flowers in spring please!

Just been down to our allotment to check on mine and lots of leaves are peeping through now.

I am still thinking of my colour scheme

I haven't even thought about flowers yet!

do I need to be doing this so soon? I thought I had loads of time to sort that out maybe not

You don't need to have a firm idea of what you want, but it's probably a good idea to get your florist booked in early. Most of them can be flexible - mine's told me we only need to firm up exactly what designs and flowers I want a fortnight before the wedding. Up until then, I can change flower types, colours, styles, number and design of centrepieces - all of it.

I have booked my first appointment to try on wedding dresses .......

So nervous and feel sick

What are you nervous about?

Im sure you will have a lovely time and enjoy yourself

I know what you mean. I am really excited but I'm also a bit nervous. I hope I find 'the one'! :-)

Exactly what MadamRed said. I met with a florist yesterday who said they will meet with me about two weeks before to confirm everything and in case i change my mind.

So I have met with three florists so far. I absolutely loved the first one, who is recommended by my venue. She quoted me £1600 which I was really pleased with as I was expecting about 2K or something ridiculous. The second florist I wasn't keen on as she is mobile so she came to my house. She just let me show her my ideas and didn't show me anything. She is going to email me the quote next week but I think she is too laid back for me!

I met with another florist yesterday and she had some really lovely ideas to bring the cost down (which I actually preferred to my, more expensive, ideas)! She has quoted me £1120 which I am really pleased with. This now leaves me more money in the budget for chair ribbons, light up letters etc. X

Oh dear, think the budget's going rather out of the window! So far this weekend we've booked a Chinese lion dance for after the ceremony, booked a videographer, and enquired about fireworks! Oops!

June 3rd

This weekend I decided on THE dress after going back and visiting the bridal shop for the second time...haven't ordered it yet as I wanted to go away and make sure I didn't get that nervous feeling about my decision and I definitely haven't (thank goodness!) and I booked the DJ that we really wanted! I'm definitely feeling back in the swing of planning after giving it a break...next is flowers!

After reading all of your posts I think I've massively underestimated the budget for flowers! I haven't met with any florists yet but think I might have to re-think the flower budget!

Had my first florist quote back today, not too bad really!

£22.50/table - we're supplying cocktail glass vases to be filled with coloured water beads and then flowers on top. We're having 5 tables and 2 centrepieces on top table so that's £157.50

Brides bouquet - hand-tied with yellow tulips, roses, and blue eryngium ( comic book detail) £60

Just need to decide what we want for Bridesmaid bouquets and button holes but this is looking like it'll come in at the £500 or so that I had budgeted

Just had a break from wedding planning - but all back to it now!!!

im getting married in Southampton. Ceremony in a church local to our parents. Then the reception at St Mary's Stadium (home of Southampton football club) - we're both big Southampton fc fans, so this is a big dream for us

That's all we have booked so far. But we've emailed a couple of photographers we like and waiting to hear back. Also we've got an appointment to see the car at the beginning of March.

Just trying to research florists, a band and bridesmaid dresses (which currently my biggest stress).

Going to start wedding dress shopping in April.

But before that I'm going to the wedding fair in London with my sister, to get inspiration and ideas.

Any other Hampshire/Southampton brides?

hope everyone's planning is going well xxx

Lion dance is booked ? , and I've sent an email to the videographer to book him. We decided to go for a professional so that we can get a decent video of the lion dance. I'm also getting quotes for fireworks. OH would love them, but thinks they're too expensive, so I'm thinking of booking them as a surprise. Got an appointment tomorrow to try my dress again with my shoes, as well.

Just booked make up trial with Bobbi Brown! 60 mins free of charge, happy days appreciate the money don't pay on trial is in the products but worth trying out. Clinique wanted £23 for the same! Redeemable against products purchased but with temperamental skin like I have not worth the risk!

Hi everyone :-) We're getting married 20th May 2017. Church, venue and photographer booked. Now getting quotes for haur and makeup. Going to the wedding show at NEC 4th March so exciting. Will start dress shopping soon and ordering save the date cards xx

I'm a May 2017 bride!

Hi everyone!!
Please could you help me and my fiancé win our wedding photography by clicking this link and hitting the like button?? We would really really appreciate the support!!
https://www.facebook.com/brucemiddlemissphotography/posts/793536617418681
Hannah xx

Feeling a bit behind the curve with this post haha!
We're looking at March 2017, but as we're now looking at an outdoor venue (with indoor areas) we're not sure if this is going to be too cold - but with it being britain who the hell knows?!

I've been quite busy since I last posted. For starters I've bought my dress (!!!) which I may post a picture of as I'd really like some impartial opinions. Over Easter we are meeting a photographer and also a florist who have done a lot of work with our venue. They come highly recommended and I like their work, however their prices seem a little crazy. They have a £1000 minimum spend and they told me that most couples actually go to £****. That just seems ridiculous for flowers. Or is this the norm now?

Oo pics! Please show off your dress!!

Florist prices do seem a bit mad... it depends what you need though I guess. We don't need loads of flowers, so our quote is much lower. I've never heard of a florists minimum spend, are you able to look at other florists for the venue to see if that sort of price is the norm for what you need?

xx

Yes do post a dress pic!

I did find some florist that had a minimum spend and avoided them as my flowers aren't going to be that much. I found lots that didnt need the minimum spend and have settled on one and am spending about £500. Flowers are crazy expensive though!

Meeee! Booked last month after getting engaged on Christmas Eve! Me (Tamara ) and H2B(Dave) are getting married on Friday 17th March 2017! so excited!!!

I get married 12 August 2017 - we were super organised last year and booked photographer, venue, ceremony and dj practically stright away. The nspent the last 10 moths or so saying to people 'oh it's ages away, we don;t have to do anything for while .. .' so then this week we bought OH ring . . . . . and I ordered my dress. We bought the ring from Goldsmiths using Tesco vouchers which I'm really chuffed about. We had to pay £10 as the vouchers came out in multiples of £20. The dress was a bit scarier - it's being discontinued and they havea really liited amount of fabric so I had to bite the bullet and order it. it's sort of a shame because I had been surprised at how much I liked trying on dresses but now I have to stop. Oh, and now I want a dragon dance at my wedding. It sounds AMAZING!!

Can I join in please?! Got engaged two weeks ago & this weekend we went to look at some venues - have booked two provisional dates in, at two separate venues & now we have three weeks to decide which to go for! So it'll either be 7th May or 17th June!

At this stage I'm mostly feeling v confused!

Thanks for the replies ladies - I think you're right, a little more shopping around on the florist is needed. We can spend the £1k minimum if we need to, but of course I'd like to come in under that if it's possible.

Ccflo, I know if I were you I'd be tempted by the May venue just because it's sooner! But then I'm an impatient person.

It's hard being torn between two venues. I wasn't quite in that situation, but my fiancé and I did book a venue that I wasn't 100% sold on. I thought I'd grow to really love it when I started looking at flowers, décor etc. Then, after a few glasses of champagne, it really hit me how much I didn't want to get married there. They say booze brings out the truth! We cancelled the booking and took our time finding somewhere else.

It really comes down to your vision. When you daydream about your day, what do you see? How closely do your two potential venues align with that? Which one feels right and makes you both excited at the prospect of saying your vows there?

I am tempted by the earlier date too, I'm mega impatient!

Well... what we'd really like to do is a festival themed wedding, just put a big tipi up in a field & have bands playing, & a campfire in the evening etc, but when we started to cost it up it was mega money & if the weather was bad then I don't think my vision would be quite as accurate a reflection on how the day would actually be!

The two venues we've booked I love equally - which is what's difficult! They're both comparable in cost, the June one is the complete package, i.e. ceremony at the same place as the reception & accommodation so we can stay overnight, but they have weddings there 7 days a week, so it's a bit of a revolving door of couples.

The second one in May is a lovely marquee in the grounds of a beautiful house, but it would mean a registry office ceremony (where we'd be restricted to 50 guests & that's proving hard), & then we'd need to go off at the end of the night to a hotel somewhere (which I don't mind so much). They only have 12 weddings each year so we'd have set up time a few days before, & it'd be easier to make it a bit more 'us', so I'm leaning towards it even though it'd be more work for us in terms of booking caterers etc.

To be honest I'd be really happy with either place, which is what's making the decision so much harder to make!

I know what you mean though about the venue not being right - there was a third option which was about a third cheaper, but I just didn't get the right feel for it, although H2B did - there was a very loud, very high speed train line running right down the side of it, & all of the day & evening would be outside so if the weather was bad it'd be a bit miserable watching people sheltering from the rain.

So in answer to your question, I can see us exchanging our vows at the June venue, but partying at the May one!

So we've confirmed our date as 17th June 2017 - very excited to have that bit completed & I can start thinking about all the other bits & pieces, even though it seems like a very long 16 months away!

Eek this time next year we'll be married. The 1 year countdown has begun. I hope the weather is as nice next year as it was yesterday. Hope everyone's planning is going well

X

Hello! So, I'm a groom marrying my wonderful fiancée on Saturday 29th July 2017!