How To Save Money Buying Wedding Flowers
You can save money buying wedding flowers for your big day.
Wedding planning is an exciting time for a groom and bride-to-be, even though many girls have their dream wedding thought up years before the big day happens.
Next to the wedding dress, the wedding flowers are a big deal for any wedding budget.
Today, I will discuss how to save money buying your wedding flowers and various options.
Proper wedding planning can save money in some of the more expensive parts of your wedding budget.
Take the time to know how much you have to spend and how much you are willing to pay following your tastes.
There are so many things to think about when planning your wedding, including your dress, the venue, guest list, menu, flowers and décor, to name a few.
If you have a tight wedding budget or don’t want to spend an outlandish amount of money on your wedding, making a couple of correct decisions, in the beginning may pay off for you in the end.
My mom is a florist who, over the years, has worked with many brides-to-be, and I am sharing below some of her tips for saving money on your wedding flowers.
Skip The Extra Wedding Costs
The internet sure has become a handy tool and is a great place to start to look for ideas for dresses, flowers etc.
As exciting as it may be to buy the latest wedding magazines, they are not cheap ranging in price upwards of $15.00 or more for some of the best magazines.
Alternatively, you could look online to see if anyone who just got married is giving their magazines away or scour the thrift shops to see what they have lurking about.
If you want to skip the magazines, you can easily use the world of information at your fingertips online with no extra fee on top of your regular internet bill.
Research The Best Wedding Flowers
The colour(s) you choose for your wedding will impact your choices.
The options are endless when making decisions, such as bridesmaid dresses, décor and flowers.
If you want to include white wedding flowers in your arrangements, keep in mind it is characteristic for white flowers to turn slightly brown.
Some cut flowers may start browning within a few days of being cut, even if your white flowers are arranged on the day of your wedding.
You still run the chance of having brownish-white petals on your flowers.
Generally, darker colours such as red and purple are associated with winter and autumn/
Lighter, paler colours such as yellow and pink are associated with spring and summer.
If your flower choice is not in-season or readily available, it will be more expensive to buy.
How To Choose Seasonal Wedding Flowers
Choosing seasonal flowers will always be cheaper than rare flowers.
As well, they are readily available and will be of a higher as they are seasonally grown.
While roses are available year-round and in a wide variety of colours, they may not be the first choice of flower that every bride and groom want to use.
There are also other seasonal options such as berries, small pine cones, crab apples and chestnuts.
Using fillers in bouquets reduces the number of flowers used in the arrangement.
Seasonal Wedding Flowers
Below is a brief list of popular seasonal wedding flowers.
- Spring-Bursting with colour, these spring wedding flowers are sure to please. Roses, Tulips, Peonies, Hyacinths, Anemones, Calla Lilies, Irises, Daffodils, Hydrangea, Lily of the Valley, Sweet Pea, Delphinium, Alstromeria
- Summer-Roses, Sunflowers, Asiatic Lilies, Gerbera Daisies, Peonies, Stock, Delphinium, Irises, Calla Lilies, Lisianthus
- Fall-Roses, Gerbera Daisies, Hydrangea, Delphinium, Amaryllis, Carnations, Viburnum, Irises, Narcissus
- Winter- Frost your special day with these popular winter wedding flowers-Roses, Tulips, Hydrangea, Amaryllis, Lilies, Orchids, Stephanotis, Ivy, Evergreens
Exotic wedding flowers, including Orchids and the Bird of Paradise flower, will always be a more expensive option no matter the season.
Before your florist places any orders, ask them if they have colour charts for the specific wedding flowers you have chosen.
Typically the wholesale flower supplier will give the colour charts to the florist to share with their customers.
Referencing these colour charts before ordering can prevent disappointment at your wedding when your flowers arrive and the exact colour is not what you expected.
Ordering pink flowers is not specific enough and look over these charts with your florist.
Purchasing the exact shade gives you the peace of mind that your flowers will arrive in the colours you ordered.
Choosing A Wedding Florist
My mom is an experienced florist and has heard stories from some clients who have gone to a florist for advice about wedding flowers.
Without purchasing a wedding package, we were refused any advice about using fresh flowers at our wedding.
Do not choose a florist who will not discuss your ideas and devise a plan with you without seeing some money first.
Any good florist will be happy to take the time to see if they can meet your needs and desires.
Grocery Store Florists
I have heard of good and bad experiences using grocery store floral shops.
Purchasing your wedding flowers from the grocery store can be a cheaper alternative for sticking to your wedding budget.
However, you may find that they offer only wedding packages with very little room for changes without incurring more fees.
Word of mouth is a great way to find a good florist.
You can also ask married friends and family to get their feedback about wedding flowers.
Go in with an open mind and be willing to discuss other options the florist may be able to offer you.
Bring photos to show the florist to see if they can achieve the same or similar results of designs and arrangements that interest you.
Local Farmer’s Market For Wedding Flowers
You may have a talented friend or family member with DIY wedding ideas for decorating and arranging flowers.
Asking someone close to you for help may save you money on wedding flowers.
If they are interested in decorating for your wedding, consider whether you are confident in their ability to make your wedding day look beautiful.
Choosing a florist not affiliated with a flower shop means they are not restricted to ordering from a specific supplier.
You can then utilize local resources such as farmer’s markets to purchase beautiful cut wedding flowers,
Without a doubt, wedding flowers will be cheaper than being limited to ordering through a specific supplier.
Fresh Flowers Aren’t For Everyone
Wedding Flowers can swallow up a large percentage of money in your wedding budget.
The cost can be overwhelming and surprising for some couples when they receive the estimated price.
The wedding flowers will all likely wilt by the time you leave for your honeymoon, and some may see this as a significant expense to throw away in a few days.
There are people in our world, women included, who do not care for fresh or any flowers.
Bouquets and table centrepieces can be made using things other than fresh flowers like brooches and different types of jewellery, paper flowers, and flowers made of felt.
Again, looking online, you can find many alternatives to traditional wedding flowers.
Being prepared and knowing a few things beforehand can make dealing with your florist a much smoother and possibly more budget-friendly experience.
Taking pictures with you and giving your florist a starting point and visual view to work with will help to ensure your day is as beautifully decorated.
Planning and being prepared for the expenses of wedding flowers may give you a realistic idea of how far you can stretch your wedding budget.
Discussion: What ways can you think of to save money on wedding flowers?
Share your comments below, and I’ll reply.
Thanks for stopping by to read.
Mr. CBB
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Flowers are a big deal for any wedding budget. Proper wedding planning can end up saving money in some of the more expensive parts of your wedding budget. Thanks.
I adore seeing brides hold rustic-chic hand-gathered flowers in her bouquet.
When we married 13 years ago, my bouquet was a mix of white flowers with lots of interesting green foliage, and not a huge bouquet, just a simple hand-tied one. My bridesmaids each carried 3 mini calla lilies. On the tables we had rented bowls filled with water and floating flowers and candles. Our church flowers were donated to the church for the service the next day. I don’t think we spent a lot, but we didn’t scrimp on them either as I love fresh flowers.
Many moons ago when hubby and I got married, we did the “destination wedding” in Hawaii and had a wedding coordinator handle the arrangements with a package included the minister, flowers, pictures, a video and a reception on the beach. I made all the clothing for the wedding participants so what I didn’t spend on clothing for everyone, I had for my wedding package. I am still very pleased that we did it that way. Our attendee group was small being a party of eight, not including us, so we were spared the expense of a lavish reception too. 😀
We used fake flowers at our wedding and I thought they looked fine. My mom even made the arrangements!
Way back when we got married, I carried Shasta daisies. The were inexpensive and I have always loved daisies!!! I have some in my garden now. I love carnations and roses as well but prefer the ones I grow myself as they smell so much nicer, especially the red carnations!!! Sad to say but the flowers grown for the floral industry have had the scent bred out of them….
When our daughter was in her best friends wedding party they had those mason jars with a cookie mix in them as table decor and every guest got a jar. They also had a goldfish in a jar at each table that somebody got to take home. We have cats so I passed on the goldfish, in case the cats thought it was a feline sushi bar.The reception was in a drive shed and the girls got a load of branches they painted white for decoration among other things around….The bride did a lot of that work herself. She dropped some serious money at Michael’s Crafts!!!
I’ll pass on the give away as I have no need for it and have no idea where the store would be!! Save it for someone that can use it well!!!
Another great article Katrina!!!!!!
Flowers can be a key element of a wedding – love the list of flowers here as it can be really confusing even thinking about the different types. I used calla lillies for our Autumn wedding, they were a lovely plum colour. I kept flowers to a minimum, using just a few calla lillies in tall glass vases for table centres. 🙂
Lots of great info here, well done.
As for my wife and I — We ended up going super-cheapo at our wedding and buying plastic flowers off of eBay.
They were gorgeous, actually. Don’t regret the decision at all.
I was blessed that my MIL worked at a florist so she got a steep discount and paid the bill! I still did not use much though. I got married in a garden with nature handling the decorations for me and we used just 5 in season calla lillies on each of ten tables. The rest of the centerpieces were done with cheap candles! Lastly, were the bouquets and corsages. The bouquets doubled as the head table decorations! You can definitely save a lot of money in this area!
We saved money on flowers by doing the centerpieces ourselves. It was fall, so we used big glass bowls and arranged gourds, habanero peppers, and cranberries in them. I know it sounds a little strange, but it was beautiful. The colors were vibrant and the shapes arranged so nicely together. Everything that went in the bowls cost $50 for 10 tables, and the bowls were $16 each, so we had $21 centerpieces that were unique and useful — our guests took them home and some made meals from them!
When I was married last 7 years ago my relatives decorate our garden (we had a garden wedding), they put an “anahaw leaves” Filipino leaves and put different flowers in the center of the leaves. Fortunately we didn’t spend a dime for the flowers and even the florist is my good cousin. And for sure I will try to enter the giveaway hopefully I will win. 🙂