How much is too much to pay for wedding flowers..

Flowers aren't a priority for us so we're only spending £86 on silk flowers. I'd rather spend the money elsewhere.

We're paying....

Bridal Bouquet £90

2 x Bridesmaids Bouquets @ £70 each

3 x Corsages @ £8 each

And I've made the men's buttonholes myself out of felt ;-)

We're paying:

£45 for my bouquet (tulips)

£35 for bridesmaid's bouquet (also tulips)

£9.50 x 14 for pew ends (tulips and lily grass)

£35 x 8 for table centre pieces (tulips and lily grass)

£3.50 for best man's buttonhole (tulip)

This is in central London and a florist who has a royal warrant from Prince Charles!

I think I win - bouquet £15 + two buttonholes at £4.50 each = total flower spend of £24. I am really not bothered about flowers. ?

It depends how important they are to you. If they are a priority then splash out. I dont know what is a good price, as I will be using silk flowers for the bouquets , and probably make my own arrangements for the tables with flowers from a supermarket, luckily I work in one so I can order in what a need (and maybe be cheeky enough to ask my boss for a little discount) hehe!

We have got a wedding package £300 for all the below!

1 x Brides Handtied boquet

2 x Bridesmaids hand-tied boquet

6 x Buttonholes

1 x Top table arrangement

10 Table flowers centrepieces

All in our choice of flower Pink Gerberas x

We are paying £700 for flowers to include: bridal bouquet, 4x bridesmaids bouquets, 1x flower girl posy, 6x button holes for grooms men, 2 corsages for mothers, 2 thank you bouquets for mothers, ceremony display & 10 centre pieces.

I think that is pretty reasonable, but I do currently reside in lala wedding land where anything under £1000 seems reasonable!

Haha i'm right there with you!! Bloody bonkers ain't it?!?!

I don't think there is a straight answer to that question! All you can do is decide what's important to you and shop around until you find a price you can live with....

On that note - RomanticGoldConfetti you are getting an absolute steal! I don't suppose you are getting married in Essex? ?

I have had three quotes from Essex florists that don't seem to vary all that much from each other but need to go back and see what I can tweak....

Im paying around £350.00 in the North East and this is for

Brides Bouquet

1 adult and 1 childs hand tied bouquet

1 mums corsage

1 mums buttonhole

6 mens buttonholes

1 childs artifical buttonhole (my 3 year old will probably try and eat anything real!!)

3ft top table

6 centre pieces that im buying and she is filling them

This cost is around standard i have found as ive seen 4 florists and they vary from £300 to £500. Also im having roses in most of my flowers so they make it more expensive

Unfortunately not lol! I live in Wiltshire so prices are much cheaper down here! Also the flower package is exclusive for everyone who gets married at our venue so that's why it's so cheap! x

Ah dammit! Nevermind ? It's good that your venue is helping you in getting such a good deal. Ours doesn't do anything like that and I'm sure one of the florists who has quoted us has bumped up her price because of where we're getting married...

Good timing - i just received my quote today its £273 which split down is:

brides Bouquet - £65

Bridesmaid Bouquet - £30

2 x flower girl posies - £40

7 buttonholes at 4.50 each

White hydrangeas for tables - approx £100 for 10 tables

£10 delivery on the morning of wedding

I was quite pleased with that quote to be honest and as the florist is local and we know other people have used her we are quite happy to pay that!

We are only doing my bouquet which will be about £10. Just getting some Tulips from the local shop and then binding them with silver ribbon. None for church, venue, men or bridesmaid.

I'm getting married in Cornwall and the florists down there must be super expensive! I've had quotes from five for:

Brides bouquet, 1 bridesmaid bouquet, 3 button holes and 1 corsage

Four all said £200 - £300, one was about £185.

I want big fluffy David Austin-style roses which I think are quite expensive, but I'm still getting over the shock of these quotes. Glad I'd already decided to use artificial flowers for the table decorations!

Are those quotes inclusive of VAT ladies?

I'm weighing up options at the moment - loved one florist but the price if I include VAT breaks my budget, haven't had a quote from the other hotel preferred supplier and was somewhat underwhelmed by them at our meeting, so now wondering whether to go for the pricey blooms or hope that the lacklustre option comes in better than expected and/or cheaper.

There is no VAT applicable on flowers sold by the florist - it's exempt.

That's very interesting. Is that true of all florists? Because my quote specifically says "This quote will be subject to VAT at 20%."

As far as I know yes, unless it's changed recently with the budget. I know the florist does pay VAT on the stock she/he buys as I used to have a shop myself but it wasn't passed on to the customer. I'll have a look to double check if it's changed.

My quote doesnt mention VAT anywhere on it

Flowers are not exempt from vat, however a lot of florists may not be vat registered if their annual turnover is relatively low

Gotcha - these florists do a lot of corporate stuff so probably too big to be VAT free. Thanks. And sorry for hijacking the thread with talk about taxes!

To remedy with something a bit more helpful/ relevant - the quoted breakdown I've had so far is:

Bride's bouquet (trailing, incl roses and freesia): £90

Bridemaids x3: £35 each

Buttonholes x 5: £6 each

Corsages x 2: £15 each

Total: £255

We get reception flowers included in our package with the hotel, so I'm not entirely sure what the pricing is on those!

I'd ask them to clarify if vat is included in the price they gave you, or if you need to add it on top. It seems a bit unfair to give you a price without it and then add it on as you're not as business and won't be able to claim it back, so really the vat amount is irrelevant.

We were quoted about £550 (I'm guessing that's including VAT!) and that's for:

My hand tied bouquet

6 buttonholes

2 corsages

about 30 jars/bottles and 6 jugs to be filled (she loans the enamelled jugs FOC)

flower garland along top table

gyp bouquets for 2 bridesmaids

gyp pew ends

i love flowers so wanted a fair few and I was really pleased with the quote. It's for 'countryside flowers' I guess the type of flowers you love can make a difference, I imagine roses and lilies would be more pricey...

I suppose too much is more than you can afford/have bugeted for!! Our florist is supplying:

Brides bouquet

3x Adult Bridemaid bouquet

1x Young Bridesmaid bouquet

2x Flower girl headband

Groom buttonhole

7x other buttonholes

5x small fishbowls for registrar table

10x centre pieces which are 3 vases filled with water and flowers, floating candles and tea lights

With hiring of the vases, set up and collection etc it is 1K which is on the nose for what I had bugeted but we are central London!

With reagards to VAT my florist said she didn't have to charge it as she is a one person business.........

Now I am horrified. I set aside £1000 for flowers... Went to a florist with a wish list and got a quote back for £2000. Now yes, I want ALOT of flowers but I was absolutely mortified. I got carried away by wedding magazines and Pinterest -_-

Needless to say with another florist meeting on Friday I shall be going back with my bartering head on and some different choices of blooms.

I love flowers but didn't want to spend an absolute fortune, so we've got:

Brides bouquet - £55

Bridesmaid wrists corsage on a pearl bracelet (she didn't want a bouquet!) - £12

2 ladies corsages - £17

4 buttonholes (including a 'posher' one for the groom) - £18.50

2 presentation bouquets - £50

20 of my jam jars filled with flowers - £80

Delivery and set up (about an hour away) - £12

My bouquet is a mix of roses, peonies, astilbe, gysophelia and foliage and the others will be a mix of these. When VAT is added it comes in at about £293.

With VAT, it all depends on your turnover. Most florists don't have a turnover large enough to have to pay VAT. When I had my shop in the late 90's, I had to pay VAT on the flowers themselves which I bought from the wholesaler but the actual arrangements I sold to customers weren't subject to VAT but having had a quick check, apparently there are different rules for florists regarding flat rate VAT now so it's worth checking to be on the safe side and then at least you know you won't be having to find extra money to cover the VAT charge. I would imagine though as another poster mentioned, most florists wouldn't say a price and then add VAT on, it would be the inciusive price.

Just for fun, I got a quote for my wedding flowers from the florist who did Prince William's wedding... £10,000!!!! For two bouquets, 14 pew ends, 8 table centre pieces and a buttonhole. All tulips.

We didn't go with that florist in the end...

I don't want to spend much on flowers, so have bought 24 large silk roses from Ebay and some black lace to make my gothic bouquets. Total cost about £50 (and about 200 hours of my time to make them, but I'm free!)

Flowers are low prioirty for us. However if we are going to do it I'd want fresh over silk. We've spent on seeds, florist tape and string. If it works then we'll have flowers; if not then we won't!

We are paying just under 470 for 27 small mixed vases that can be grouped for the tables, bouquets for bride and 1 bridesmaid, circlet and posy for a flower girl, 2 mums bouquets, plus buttonholes for the groom, 4 ushers and 2 bridesmaids. That includes some lily of the valley and roses, and delivery to the venue which is an hour or so away. The bouquets will be the registrars and top table flowers as well.

we are having the evening party in a different place than the wedding breakfast, so when we leave the first venue I'll be asking guests to grab a vase to decorate the next one! That is why I wanted lots of small vases, so they are easy to carry and can be set in casual groups when we get there.

I have also planted 76 white marigolds and 20 chocolate cosmos. We aren't counting on them but if we get good flowers I will use them as extra decoration at the reception.

my sis has warned me that some people expect to take the centrepieces! The vases belong to the florist so I will need to make that clear but we will try to include some takeable elements as well.

I wouldn't have said flowers were a big thing for me, but in fact I'm spending more on flowers than my dress so that must say something!