Flowers - The essentials

NoAngel

It's getting to that time where I'm starting to think about what flowers I'd like. Can anyone help with a few questions I have?

How much are you all paying for flowers? I'm hoping to keep things cheap but no idea where to start budget wise! I need a bouquet, flowers for 3 bridesmaids (one is a 6 year old), button holes and then some for the ceremony room and top table.

Any ideas about good questions to ask a florist? Should I expect them to deliver the flowers to the venue or do we have to arrange to collect them?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

wanchai_2

£500, which was more than we'd budgeted but the package we're getting for that price is AMAZING. So I bit the bullet and booked!

Any decent florist should deliver the bouquets etc to you, and set up the room(s). Ours is delivering the buttonholes to the guys, the bouquets to us, setting up all the displays in the church and reception venue etc - all included in the price.

How many displays do you need and what flowers are you thinking of? xx

Maysie

we paid £150 in april for my overarm pink lily bouquet, 6x one stem lily in cream for bridesmaids with special grass. we had 2 pink and cream for mothers and 5 male button holes and a fancier one for my oh. Having one stem large flower for bridesmaids is a good way to get the price down. Bridesmaid stems where placed in bud vases at reception on the tables so doubled as decor florists suggestion.

MaggieBaking

We spoke to the florist, gave her a rough estimate of our budget and asked her to work accordingly. It was something like

£30 bride bouquet
£10 posies for the flower girls
£10 groom buttonhole
£5 button holes for fathers
£10 corsage for mothers and granny
£1-£1.50 per guest buttonhole
£15 per centrepiece (I provided vases and vase fillers)

My flowers were carnations and our florist was a relatively cheap one to start with. Centrepieces aside we did not have a complicated set up.

Idiophreak

We spent rather more than I anticipated on flowers...Was something like:
8x button holes @ £7
2x corsages @£15
brides bouquet @ £70
3x bridesmaids @ £40
church £50 (organised by church)
2x bouquets for mothers (gifts) @ £40
3x small table centres for coffee table @ £25
1x arrangement for gift table @ £40
5x table centres @ £45
One large, "impact" arrangement @ £250 (a lot of money, but it was around 9-10 feet tall in it's vase, so not your normal bunch of roses ...)

Think that was about it. I have to say, although we spent more than we planned, our flowers were simply *stunning*. I've never seen such gigantic roses, with such amazing colours.

We chose the florist carefully just by talking to them, really. We told them that we wanted something modern, bright, funky and saw how they responded. It really seemed like you get what you pay for - the cheaper florists just didn't seem to "get" what we wanted - whereas the most expensive (that we went for) place was amazing. She really got what we wanted, brought a lot of creativity and left us feeling confident that they'd look amazing - sure enough, she turned up the day before and made all of the arrangements on site, in a couple of hours, and they were fantastic. She delivered the bouquets and button holes on the morning of the wedding.

EDIT: OK, I'll add a couple of photos too

kmmr

We really weren't sure about flowers, and they were one of the last things we (I!) decided. OH wasn't too fussed.

I wanted roses, so I knew it would be a bit more expensive, but found a local florist who did a good deal I think - bearing in mind I am in west London!

1x bouquet


1x bridesmaid boouquet


10 buttonholes in white, plus another 10 prepared flowers which were put on the cake. 2 x corsages with white and pink roses.

10 x table decorations. These were £45 each, but I think she did them quite cheap. Lots of roses, in a florist ring which were around the candelabras. This is a picture later in the evening when the tables had been mostly cleared.

plus a big one on the main table:



I absolutely ADORED everyone of them! I only wish there were more pictures! Really made the place, and it really was a last minute decision to go with it. All in it was £600.

Oh - plus two big sprays for the church. She delivered everything in the morning to the venue, and to the church (which were not that close), and all the bouquets and buttonholes to the house. I was really pleased I went with a local place, she was really charming, and you get a nice personal service. Plus she was around the corner, so when we needed last minute flowers for the cake it was no problem.

plus an excuse to show off my pictures! First time I have managed to post some on this forum.

kmmr

And flowers on our Marks and Spencer cake:

sugarwalsh

KMMR - totally gorgeous flowers. Bet you were very pleased with your last minute choice.

Megan

Jewelleryfan

Our local florist quoted me -
£50-75 bride bouquet depending on flowers and if it's a waterfall one etc
£30 bridesmaids, I'd need 2
£3-4 each for button holes, I'd need 8
£50 ish for top table arrangement

My friend has a friend who does floristry as a hobby so I've been speaking to her and she is going to give me a quote.

Were making our own MSE centre pieces but do we need flowers anywhere else? Cake table etc? Thanks

lisajane8482

I've opted for silk flowers, partly because it's cheaper and partly because my cat recently ate lilies and ended up in the vets for a few days (apparently lilies are toxic to cats) and now have a no flower or plant policy in the house just to be on the safe side.

I got a quote from the place who I'm hiring the wedding cars from for £150.00 which includes:
1 brides bouquet (burgundy roses with Ivory feathers)
1 matron bouget (Ivory roses with burgundy feathers)
2 flower girl bouquets (either mini version of matrons or mine or a mix of ivory and burgundy roses and feathers, not sure yet)
4 button holes (based around mine and the matrons bouquets)
2 Mother coursages
2 Grand mother corsages
any extra plain rose button holes are £1.00 each but I'm not sure how many I will need (OH is 1 of 7), was contemplating making pay for their own if they want one as is the usual thing within our family.

I fogot to ask if they would make a cake topper but will be askign when I go to pay the remainder of the balances in Jan.

For table decorations we're having balloons, we were going to hire some flower ones from the venues florist but I know for a fact OH family will no doubt half hitch one.

sugarwalsh

Idiophreak, great flowers. I like it when things aren't all 'matching' but complimentary. I especially love the last one with the bits hanging out - are they flowers or hearts?

MEgan