Flower budget

White_Sapphire

limelites wrote: »

Good advice isn't spam. I see links on here regularly and I am not here to spam. I've been participating in other unrelated threads.

and mostly about artificial flowers, whether or not the advice was asked for, or even relevant to the thread.

If you would like to post about your own experiences of planning your wedding, or are helping a friend plan theirs, or just because you enjoy wedding talk then you are more than welcome here. But you are clearly only here to shove your own business down our throats, which gets everyone's back up, and quite frankly puts people off going to you anyway.

Idiophreak

Have to say, we didn't know how much we'd end up paying for flowers when we went shopping, so were probably in a similar position to you. What I would say is that the cheapest florist isn't necessarily the best. In the end, we went for the most expensive quote we got (just over £1000 iirc) because they were the only people we really believed could deliver just what we wanted.

For that we got brides bouquet, bridesmaids bouquet x 3, button holes x 7, corsages x 2, table centres x 5, small arrangements x 3, large arrangement(XL) x 1, mothers' bouquets (gift) x 2.

In the end our flowers were absolutely stunning and well worth every penny, but it took quite a while to settle on the florist and thus the budget!

Em88

I would say it is worth going to see a few florists and seeing who you like. I emailed around several florists when we had decided what we wanted so I could get an idea as to the average kind of price for what we were looking for. Then we went to see a couple based on images of their existing work and how they had come across in their emails. When we did this we found one florist to be really helpful and giving suggestions based on what we said we liked, the other florist simply showed us more pictures (no real flowers) and gave no kind of input. Needless to say we went with the helpful florist who had seemed genuinely interested in our wedding and what we wanted for our flowers, who also happened to be the cheaper of the two (but not the cheapest quote we had over the emails). We paid £237 for my bouquet, a smaller version for my BM, a corsage for my mum and then 6 fishbowls for our table (we are having one large table as there will be around 25 of us) with 3 or 4 calla lilies in, with a further 8 small fishbowls with a single rose head in. We are also having 3 square vases for our ceremony room with flowers matching my bouquet which we will then move down to the reception room to decorate our dance room. However had the nice florist come in more expensive of those we met we would still have gone with them as he was so helpful and we felt we could really trust him. I think when you meet the florists you will be able to decide.

RainbowDrops

I went to a local lady (a one woman buisness) for my flowers & think I got a reasonable quote.

My bouquet was £65, which was more than I initially wanted to spend, but it was massive & the flowers were beautiful.
BMs flowers were £25 each.
Centerpieces (doubled up as ceremony room decorations were £9 each - just simple sweet williams in jam jars.

Pic to show what I got:

RainbowDrops

PS - The hair comb was £15, and all of the flowers were british & seasonal.

EllieBelly1

We have a quote for £650. This includes my hand tied bouquet with gorgeous Ocean Song and Amnesia roses, two bridesmaids posies, 7 table centrepieces consisting of 1 large flower arrangement surrounded by 4 little ones (which will double up as favours for the ladies) and 4 little candles per table, mini flower arrangements and candles for the top table, the bridal bouquet and bridesmaids bouquet will be in vases on the top table also and 5 rose button holes. All vases and candle holders will be ours to take away, hiring them didn't really save us any money and I like having momentoes to take away or give away as gifts. I'm happy with this cost as I adore flowers and would rather save some money on other things.

poddle911

Rainbow Drops, your flowers are gorgeous! I love your jam jars of sweet williams - how many did you have for your venue?

I have a quote for about £600 for a hand tied bouquet, 2 bridesmaids' posies, corsages for mums, buttonholes for the chaps, 8 centrepieces and extra flowers for outside tables, ladies loos and donkeys Ooh and it includes splashing out £150 for a chandelier decoration - which is much nicer than I've made it sound!

Meant to say, Trinity, I was exactly the same as you - had no idea about flowers or what the 'average' cost would be, but I told the florist the sorts of flowers I liked and colours I had in mind (and equally the ones I didn't like) and she was great. I think once you start talking to people, you'll find it comes really quickly!

lollipop80

I was the same, no idea about how much these things costs. Everything else seems to have a general price, but flowers can vary so much.

I decided to drive around the area of my venue to see what florists were about, as I figured they would know the venue well. I was armed with pictures of flowers that I liked. The florist I chose in the end was the one who I felt listened to me, and didn't try to push their ideas onto me, but gave helpful suggestions. One florist kept going on and on about getting roses, when I made it clear that I did not want them.

I'm having my hand tied bouquet, 1 bridesmaid, 4 buttonholes, 1 corsage, and a table arrangement that will be used on the signing table, and then the top table. It is costing me £150, which wasn't the cheapest, or the dearest quote I had. The flowers are all in season spring flowers, mainly iris, freesias and tulips with a few other bits.

trinity_enigma

You have all been so helpful- thank you. Will visit some florists and get some ideas of prices but you guys have given me an idea of a ballpark figure I can use until then.

sugarwalsh

If you have a cheap book shop near you it might be worth having a look for some floristry books. I own a couple, they were about £4 each and have lots of ideas in. They also have seasonal flower lists and flowers by colour, which may help you decide what you want.
Megan