Flower Mayhem!

I’ve cut flowers out of the table decorations and am doing all the bouquets myself. When I found myself going through all my friends’ wedding photos trying to remember what they’d done for their flowers, I realised that they’re not worth the money.

I’m ordering 2 large bouquets from Bloom & Wild, and will use them to create bouquets for me and my 3 bridesmaids - I’ve watched a lot of bouquet DIY videos and have done a trial run. I’ll then put a couple of vases on my top table and the gift table - my bouquet will go in one and the bridesmaids’ in another. I will have enough stems to make buttonholes but am finding it hard to work out how to make those, so might need to order those properly.

I am also ordering a set of 12 mini orchids from an online orchid supplier - one for each table and a couple for the ceremony. They’ll add that extra little floral prettiness and will serve as gifts for key wedding party members at the end of the night.

The flowers from Bloom & Wild will cost me around the £100 mark, and the orchids are £72. Cost wise it’s an easy decision.

There are downsides though. I won’t know what bouquets will be available until very close to the wedding, and I’m also giving myself a stressful task to get them done. There’s not a proper plan B if things go wrong, and of course there won’t be as many flowers at the wedding as perhaps I would like.

If you want a bit more control, you can order specific stems from wholesalers online - I did a dummy order and it came to about £250, so more than I’m spending but still a lot less than getting a florist to do it.

Going with someone who makes artificial flowers, so much cheaper. I was never going to pay for real ones, just a waste I feel. I’ve been quoted £217 for everything all in. That’s my bouquet, 2x bridesmaids bouquets, 1x flower girl wand and 1x flower girl crown, 10x button holes, 2x cake pieces and 1x top table piece. Plus, I will probably try and sell all of it after. I haven’t yet decided my table decorations.

What is the quote for? Are there any areas you can cut back on or simplify? Always remember, you don't have to have any flowers at all to be married, it is all completely optional, so don't be afraid to cut out anything that isn't truly important to you.

I paid a professional florist to make my bouquet and my OHs buttonhole - I love flowers and I reckoned it was the only time in my life I was going to pick a bouquet for myself! Plus, I knew that my bouquet and OHs buttonhole would be featuring in a lot of photos - the background flowers, not so much, so the venue was decorated with bunches of flowers from local gardens.

Buttonholes are fairly easy to make, and I've seen bridesmaids at weddings carrying either single stems or small bunches of supermarket flowers with a ribbon tied round the stems. And you can always DIY table flowers. There are loads of ways to cut costs - you just need to work out which bits are important enough to you to be worth paying for and which aren't.

I'm making mine myself with my bridesmaids from artificial flowers that I've collected from lots of shops b & m, Hoby craft, the range and garden centres. I got button holes made up from shein. I've got hurricane vases from matalan that I'm putting them in filled with fairy lights and will use the bouquets for my top table

I'm only having a bouquet, as my reception venue has quite a lot of non-floral decoration already. I've bought some jute tape to wrap around a lovely bunch of flowers, which I'm going to buy the day before the wedding from a supermarket - I'm just going to pick a really nice bunch that goes with my outfit.

I didn't want bouquets because I think they are pointless so only paid a florist for table decorations. We discussed the idea we had and let her lead us on what was value for money. We also gave her free reign over the type of flowers so she didn't have to quote us more because we wanted something specific.

Was that florist saying it's unrealistic to get what you want for £1500 or unrealistic in general for wedding flowers? A good florist should be able to work within your budget and advise you on how to get the most from it.

We have found a grow to order florist who is local to our venue, for 6 bouquet, button holes and corsages it's just under £400
We are going to do the church flowers and table flowers ourselves.

With mine and the girls bouquets we are going to have empty vases at the venue to re use these as table decor when we arrive and also means the flowers will last longer

Hello Amelia,

I've made a compromise about the flowers. I've bought lots of little vases for table decorations and will be buying fresh cut flowers to decorate the tables. I'm only hiring a florist to do my bouquet, bridesmaids' bouquets and the groomsmens' and parents' buttonholes.

We have a florist doing our flowers and it’s half of that! Do you want flowers that are out of season or like lots and lots of them, if not maybe it’s the florist who is pricey?


We have 1 bridal bouquet, 2x MoH bouquets, 4x buttonholes, 2x door ends, aisle/table decor (she’ll move them from the aisle to the tables) for 6 tables, registry/toptable decor (we’re just having a sweetheart table, so table size stays the same), candles & lanterns, and then some single stem vases for the lounge area where there’s about 10 tables. She does 2x consultations, all the setup, the change from ceremony room to reception, and then all the collection herself. Our flowers are all in-season and wildflower themed with a fair amount of green foliage as opposed to the more normal roses/carnations/peonies etc., so that helps bring the price down, but we have a wildflower meadow at our venue, and we love wildflowers in general, so I feel that likely brought the price down, as we want the in-season, cheaper stems.

We were quoted the same (and more!) for real flowers and then quoted £500 for artificial flowers! I've been in and seen the artificial ones and after originally being sceptical was sold on them, it's such a huge saving for something that wasn't a high priority item for me (I'd much rather put that £1500 difference towards something else!) and photographers say you can't tell the difference in photos so that's what we've gone for

I am paying a decent amount for my flowers (around £1500) because they are a top 5 priority for me and I don't want the stress of DIY. My florist is very sustainable in how she operates and I am only having flowers that are locally grown and in season. I am going to do the table decorations with some help as I have a lot of tables and I don't think that will be memorable for what it costs. I am thrilled with my florists ideas for the wedding party, church and top table decorations so happy to pay for all that. It's a lot of labour to source, grow and maintain flowers for a wedding (my florist actually grows a lot herself). Like others have said, you don't have to pay any particular amount - it depends on your priorities, the type and volume of flowers you're looking for and how much you are prepared to take on yourself (not just time and energy, but risk of something going wrong and causing stress). Good luck!

We've got artificial flowers and centrepieces for the tables (I *think* they're glass vases with fake candles in them), and the top table decoration will be on the ceremony table and then moved.

It came to a shade under £500, which suited us. We've seen pictures of the arrangements, and also met with the supplier and they look good.

For the wedding party I've got paper bouquets (mostly because I love books, and my fiancé isn't that bothered! Haha) They were just over £100 altogether (4 bouquets and buttonholes, so 8 in total). I did a lot of looking at artificial flowers for the bouquets, but decided I liked the book flowers best. They reflect me more.

You'll find something - does your venue have a recommended supplier list at all?

I’m getting my dried flower bouquet from the dried flower company. A fraction is f the price and just a beautiful

Our florist is a lady who has her own flower farm and will be sourcing the flowers directly from there (helps we are getting married during the summer) but she has come up much cheaper than other florists we've found and talked to, I guess it makes sense as she's not sourcing in from elsewhere who will also be adding their own cut too. Maybe worth a look into seeing if there are any flower farms local to you.

We are getting her to do 3x large arrangements for either side of the ceremony pavilion and the signing table, my bouquet, 5 bridesmaids bouquets, 10 button holes, 3 small flower arrangements for the cake, then she will also provide us with loads of loose cut stems which we are going to make our own table decorations from, with help of mums and bridesmaids. Totalling around £800. We were being quoted almost double elsewhere for what we wanted.

Faux or dried flowers are an option, they can be almost as expensive as fresh but you can look to sell them on after which obviously then cuts down the cost to you.

I hope you manage to get things sorted. Good luck

Hi,
So an idea that we are considering for our wedding is going to a florist where you buy buckets of them. You can buy large buckets of flowers which they pick or some places you can either go and pick yourself. The large buckets cost £80 and will do all your centrepieces. Obviously prices may vary around, My mum and myself are also going to plant some flowers in our garden that we can add to some of the bouquets/ greenery to add to fill out some of the bouquets/centrepieces.

I have gone with a company on etsy called Paper Your Day the bouquets are made of paper and faux flowers it works out cheaper and lasts forever plus they do Buttonhole and bridesmaid flowers. They can do centrepieces as well.

We have decides to go with real flowers mainly because my fiancé is a gardener so he was insistent on real flowers. I had really expensive quotes from local florists and really thought I had hit a wall with trying to get them cheaper however we went to one of our local garden centres, we use their florist for bouquets for birthdays so asked in there and they do wedding flowers. They gave me a copy of their wedding flower brochure so I could get a rough idea and booked in a meeting with them. Their flowers are always beautiful, last well and their quote has come in so much cheaper that we added more flowers than originally planned.

View quoted message I have done exactly the same after the quote was nearly £2,000. The top table decorations were going to be £200! I'm getting the florist to go my and my bridesmaids bouquets and bottom holes/corsages and the table decorations will be simple gypsophila in little vases.

Hi
I have started doing my own table decks with fake flowers of of Amazon and SHEIN really has helped me so far plan on getting some real ones for my bouquet nearer the time and putting them together with some help off my neighbor.

Flowers are very expensive, I am surprised a florist said that to you though. My flowers come to £1000 including set up/ delivery at 3 different locations, plus midnight collection.

We basically cut down by limiting the flowers on our centrepieces, as that was wear most of the money was going.

My friend cut her flower cost right down, by going to a Flower wholesalers herself, buying the flowers and arranging herself. She got the same amount of flowers as me but for less than £300.

Choose artificial flowers rather than genuine ones. Start with a colour scheme that just needs a few different flower types but can be easily go up with extra decorations. Monochromatic colour schemes are stylish and reasonably priced. Research topics, images, and themes that appeal to you online and save them. Once you've found some flowers, arrangements, and decorating concepts you like, you can further your study to learn how you might replicate them on a budget. A wholesale florist will offer you a significant discount if you purchase in large quantities. Choose flowers that are in season; they are always less expensive. Visit: Flower by design to help you in your wedding decoration.