Flowers

Hiya!

Firstly dont panic... Do you have any idea of your sort of budget?

When also is your wedding as it will alter which flowers are available? And what colour are your bridesmaids in?

You could always do the centerpieces yourselves as this may save you some money - i think it depends on the sort of wedding you are having, are you more traditional wedding, vintage themed, rustic themed?

Pinterest is awesome for ideas so would recommend having a look on there.

Gypsophelia is lovely, can look amazing and is quite reasonably priced but is white so may be best for the centerpieces if you wanted something more simple?

Gerbera's are lovely too and you can get those is so many bright colours!

I'm sure you could still use tesco flowers. Just not tulips. ?

Maybe think about what you want and get a few quotes. You have an idea of starting point then. Then if need be look at switching flowers for things in season. Which displays you can move from one place to another. Using things twice means less costs. Can any of the table displays be something you can do yourself.

Here are some pics:

Gerberas:

If you google Gypsophilia centerpieces theres lots on there but heres 1 idea:

if you could use Jam jars and buy some gyp yourselves, this wouldnt be expensive at all:

We budgeted £300 and ours has come out just over that.

Ours consists of:

Bridal Bouquet + MOH bouquet, 3 slightly smaller bouquets and one even smaller one. (6 in total)

Groom buttonhole, 3 groomsmen and 3 fathers (7 buttonholes in total)

5 centerpieces of really tall lily vases with some roses and foliage in

2 flower girl wands

The flowers are gyp, eucalyptus leaves, ivory roses and a purple flower that looks similar to roses that I can't remember the name of. A good money saving tip with flowers is lots of foliage and filler leaves as these are cheaper.

When getting quotes, I trusted the florists that broke down the costs for me. I stayed away from the ones that just went away with a calculator and came back with a quote that was conveniently dead on budget - to me it just feels like they could have done it cheaper but want to stretch us as much as possible.

Hey, so I've come across such a mix of people's budgets. My future mother in laws best friend is doing our table centre pieces as having jam jars/ bud vases with gypsophila and then Avalanche roses/spray roses.

The actual florist has come in at £197 which is my bouquet including more expensive stems like the Avalanche, peony and white anemone plus all the other bits. Have scattered pearls and diamanté too. Same for my matron of honour. Then have a flower wand for my daughter, 7 buttonholes, 4 ladies corsages. Think we got a good deal xx

For 1 bridal, 3 bridesmaids bouquets. 5 male buttonholes, 2 female buttonholes £180. Church flowers are £100.

Not having flower centrepiece, because 7 fish bowls for hire, with 1 gerberea was £20 each. Not sure what we're doing, but not that

Hi,

I didn't really have a budget either. I had a look at flowers and arrangements I liked online and then went and met with four florists. They then broke down the costs for me, suggested cheaper alternatives etc and I went from there.

We are paying just under £1500 for our flowers but we are having a lot. We are having roses, peonies, hydrangeas, astilbe, succulents, eucalyptus, astrantia, Veronica (my late Nan's name) and Queen Anne's lace (Anne is my mum's name). My quote includes my bouquet (£85), four bridesmaid bouquets (£35 each), one flower girl wand (£12), six buttonholes for the men (£6.00-£6.50 each), three buttonholes for the mums (£8.50 each), a floral arch for the ceremony (£150), rose petals along the aisle (£90), one long top table arrangement interspersed with candles and single flowers in vases (£200), ten centrepiece arrangements with vases included (£70 each) and flowers for the cake (£20).

I went with the florist who I liked the best and felt the most comfortable with. I did receive two quotes which were about £250 cheaper but one was mobile so I couldn't see her work in the flesh and the other didn't seem as enthusiastic. My florist is recommended by the venue, is really enthusiastic and "gets" what I want.

Have a shop around and then you can get an idea of what prices you should be paying. The last florist I saw asked me what my budget was and I told her around £1200 as that is the rough price I was getting and she came back and quoted me £2000! Obviously I won't be using her! As another poster said, make sure you get itemised quotes, then you can save money on areas.

Hope this helps X

Hei,, i love

• MrsLBtoB ideaa...
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Thanks so much ladies. I'm meeting some florists in a couple of weeks so will definitely be asking for a breakdown of costs. I may try and buy some vases/fishbowls myself on eBay to see if I can cut down on the hire costs.

Thanks so much MrsLBtoB. We need to avoid white as the venue is white and cream so I want to inject some colour! bridesmaids are in navy and the wedding is in September.

Love the gerbera idea!

thanks xx

Hi,

I know it's difficult when you just don't know what you should spend on flowers, but florists need a rough idea of how much of your wedding budget you have allocated to flowers so they don't waste your time suggesting fabulous arrangements that are way out of your range.

I would definitely recommend having a proper consultation with a florist so they can understand what you are looking for and provide you with a sensible quote.

The type of flowers you choose greatly affects the price as does the size and style. A mini Gerbera can cost as little as £1 and comes in all sorts of bright colours, where as bright tropicals are as much as £3.50 each. Get an idea from photos online and in wedding magazines of the sort of thing you want.

I truly don't know any fellow florists who try to rip brides off with their wedding flowers. In a competitive market and ever rising flower prices from our wholesalers the only place we can cut costs is in our labour charges. If you get wildly different quotes I would ask for a full breakdown of what you would be getting for your money.

I hope this helps and don't hesitate to ask more questions about flowers

Lynsey

Keep us updated with how you get on.

Coral would look lovely with Navy and cream/Ivory!!

x

I'm getting my vases online because they are expensive to hire from the florist. I found ours on a wholesale website for florists. I've also been keeping an eye out for sales. After Valentine's Day all the glass vases were on clearance because stores had ordered so many for the holiday. Can the florists provide you with a list of flowers that will be in season for your wedding so you can get some ideas ahead of time? Mine provided me with a spreadsheet that lists what flowers they grow (it's a flower farm) every month of the year. I'm happy to share it with you if you want, but I'm not sure how relevant it is as I assume different flowers grow in differet areas.