How much to pay for wedding flowers???

glenstan

I went to floristry class to be able to make bouquets for my daughters weddings, whilst training lots of people would come into college and order their wedding flowers at much reduced prices. This also applied to other celebations as well, valentines, mothers day and birthdays. The course tutors are always pleased to supply on demand. Not many members of the public realize when college does floristry, they often have a mock up shop, to enable students to understand the retail side of things

beautifulgorgeous_2

My bridesmaids had little baskets with artificial flowers and pink feathers which they put in their bedrooms after the wedding.

pinkpixie_2

Thanks everyone, am going to get in touch with my local college!!! Pink Pixie

morganb

Have you tried your local garden centre? Ours does flowers at a very good price (apparently)

Mummy_Jo

My cousin got married last year on a super tight budget though you wouldn't have known it. For the table decorations she did them herself. She went to IKEA and bought a load of vases for 60p each some tealight holders and som mirrors to put them all on. She then put sweet peas in the vases as they are cheap. It lookked fantastic and cost next to nothing. I think she paid sub £20 for the lot. I realise that sweet peas are not in season but maybe you could look at flowers that are in season and cheap thus doing it yourself.

We had balloons on our tables and they look quite good. You can get them to match your colours too. If I was getting married again I would speak to a friend that is maybe a bit artistic and ask them to consider doing them for me. I now do all my own decorations at home for Xmas etc and they are quite good if you keep it simple.

Good Luck for the day

julybride

I definately recomend classes a the local college/evening school. Or look at your local college; our one has a florist shop attatched to the College. Its brilliant much cheaper.

lister

pinkpixie wrote:

Hello. Hope I can get some much-needed advice. We're getting married in May and had a quote from our local and supposedly cheap flower person last week. The button holes @ £3.50 and table decorations @ £15 were on budget BUT the bridesmaids posy was £25 and worse still my bouquet was £85!! Given that my dress was only £89 this seems extortionate!!! Have I asked for something really elaborate? I didn't specify flowers except I wanted pink ones and a trailing bunch rather than upright. What should I expect to pay for a standard sized bouquet? Any advice welcome! Pink Pixie

Those prices are probably pretty competitive, but your florist should be explaining the prices to you - at least if they want your business. The fact that you want a shower bouquet by the sounds of it, rather than an over-the-arm style will have increased the cost to start with. It also depends what flowers you are after.

One of the most frequent problems I find dealing with clients is that they look in our fridge and work from flower prices in their head. If I had a pound for every person who has expected 12 roses in a bouquet to cost twelve times the price of a rose I would be a rich man... After all, you find me a mechanic who will service your car for the cost of the parts.

Typically a third to a half of the cost of a brides bouquet is time, not flower or sundries cost. Wedding work is exacting and there is no room for second best. Even a simple shower bouquet can take an hour to complete, and often longer.

Add to that the fact that florists always over order for weddings to make sure that we have enough flowers in absolutely perfect condition to use. In my shop we don't pass on all of the cost of the flowers ordered as we can resell some of the extra, but we have to pass on some as we often don't sell all of them, especially when they are an unusual flower.

So it is a trade off. If you want particular flowers and you want them in the best possible condition, and looking absolutely perfect on the day, it is going to cost you unless you have a good friend who is a florist... If you can compromise, then some of the other suggestions in the thread are good ways of reducing the cost.

simmons123

I came across this site that has wedding advice the other day and posted a simular message about someone looking for fishbowl vases for their wedding flowers.

http://www.thewedding-guide.net/costofweddingflowers.html

The guide to the costs around wedding flowers can be found on the above link.

Horace

If you just wanted a bunch of roses say then M&S do them for £35. Remember too that if you use flowers that are in season then they will be cheaper than those that are flown in from abroad.

Shop around a few florists, speak to people who might be able to assist you. You could even consider doing them yourself but you will have to get up early to go to market.

Volupturaptor

Having been inspired by the links to videojug that are posted at the top of the forum, I decided to do my own flowers.
I don't get married until next May so I have plenty of time to practice.
The other day while out shopping I bought two reduced price bunches of roses in Tescos, 75p each! Together with some foliage that I cut from my garden I made my first ever bouquet and I have to say that although it was far from perfect, I was pretty impressed with my handiwork.
With practice, buying reduced flowers when ever I see them, I'm convinced I can get really good by the time the wedding date comes round.

Have a try!

Suzy