Morning everyone – this piece by Jay Archer Floral Design is so good I don’t need to say a thing! Enjoy!
Budgets. Money. The essential thing we all need to talk about when wedding planning but nobody really likes to! When it comes to flowers, it can hard to know where to start. However, you have a lot of options and a good, experienced florist will be able to work to most, realistic budgets.
Choose your areas
Before you even consider favourite flowers and table centres, you should work out what is important to you on your day and what flowers you actually need such as the:
Bridal bouquet
Buttonholes- for the groom, best men and fathers
Bridesmaids/ flower girls
Church/ ceremony- including front of church, fireplace, pedestals, signing table, pew ends/ chair flowers, font display
Reception/ wedding breakfast- table centres, gift table, cake/ table, fireplaces, windowsills, entrance to marquee
Venue decorations- candles, fairy lights, garlands, escort table, entrance decorations, wall lights, bar arrangements, decorative wreaths, entrance
Once you have established your ‘flower essentials’ list, you can then think about working out your budget and, if there is money left in the pot, maybe you can have that at the church?
Seasons, locations and re-usability
Nowadays, flowers are imported from all over the world and it may surprise you that spring time flowers are widely available from October and Summer flowers as early as February! Traditionally, winter weddings were difficult to provide for and the main options were roses or orchids but now there is a lot of choice.
Seasonality is key.If you use seasonal flowers and foliages then you will keep the costs down easily. For example, a July- September dahlia will cost around 45p a stem, whereas a rose can be £1.20- £3.50per stem. On top of this, you need to allow for workmanship and travel expenses- ask your florist about this upfront and check if they charge VAT.
There are an abundance of British grown flowers and, if you catch them bang in season, they can be cheaper still. You could also look for florists who grow their own flowers, like me. The flowers can be grown to order and again, are a lot cheaper as growing them on your own land keeps travel costs down- and is environmentally friendly too!
Ask your florist to provide a price range in the quote for each arrangement to reflect the seasonal and higher flower costs. For example ‘eg. Bridal bouquet £55- £120’. In Summer, the lower priced bouquet would likely be a handtied including grasses, delphinium, scented herbs and stocks whereas the higher price would be a wired shower bouquet to include roses, orchids and crystal detail- a wired bouquet can take around 4-5 hours to make! Table centres can start from £45 per table to include a mix of glass jars, jugs, bud vases and candle votives whereas as candelabra would be around £70-£90each.
All images © Jay Archer Floral Designs
Seasonal and home grown bouquet
Seasonal foraged bouquet
Roses, peonies and glassware
Another point to consider is the move around of arrangements. A good florist will move arrangements from room to room or from the church to the reception. To save money further, why not ask your florist to turn the pew ends into the gift bouquets for Mums and use the signing table arrangement for your top table or gift table?
A rough budget guide!
To help you further, please see the budget guide below. I have based these costs on price lists from various florists around the country to give a good overall price. However, it really is worth speaking to your favoured florists about working to your budget. Please note, none of the budgets account for travel expenses or VAT:
- £100 budget:
- Handtied bridal bouquet to include seasonal flowers and a few roses
- Buttonholes for groom and best man
- Depending on final cost of buttonholes, maybe a few jam jars or, if you are sourcing flowers from a grower, maybe a small bucket of flowers to use as you wish
- £250 budget:
- Handtied bridal bouquet to include seasonal flowers and a few roses
- Small bridesmaids bouquet of seasonal flowers
- Buttonholes for groom, best man and Dads
- Corsages for Mums
- Top table arrangement- low and low or mix of pressed glass, jars and votives. This could double up as your signing table arrangement?
- £500 budget:
- Handtied bridal bouquet or wired shower bouquet
- X3 bridesmaids bouquets with seasonal flowers
- Buttonholes for groom, best man, Dads and Ushers
- Ladies buttonholes for Mums (cheaper than corsages)
- Gift bouquets for Mums
- Top table arrangement- low and low or mix of pressed glass, jars and votives. This could double up as your signing table arrangement?
- X1 vase arrangement on plinth for church/ ceremony room. To be moved to Reception later on
- Small posy of cake flowers
- £1000
- Handtied bridal bouquet
- X3 bridesmaids bouquets with seasonal flowers
- Buttonholes for groom, best man, Dads and Ushers
- Corsages for Mums
- Gift bouquets for Mums
- Top table arrangement- low and low or mix of pressed glass, jars and votives. This could double up as your signing table arrangement?
- X2 pedestal arrangement for church. To be moved to Reception later on
- X10 low level table centres
- Basket of confetti cones
- £1500- £3000 budget
- Handtied bridal bouquet or wired shower bouquet
- X5 bridesmaids bouquets with seasonal flowers
- Flower girls baskets of petals
- Buttonholes for groom, best man, Dads and Ushers
- Corsages for Mums
- Gift bouquets for Mums
- X2 large pedestal arrangements for church. To be moved to Reception later on
- Pew ends
- Archway for church
- Confetti cones for guests
- Top table arrangement- low and low or mix of pressed glass, jars and votives. This could double up as your signing table arrangement?
- X1- £15 low or tall table centres
- Cake flowers and arrangement for cake table
- Gift table
- Venue decorations including candles, decorative wreaths, escort table, lanterns, garlands, fireplace dressing, olive trees, fairy lights, pedestals, rose petals
- Flowers for canapé trays
Florist checklist
- When choosing your florist, visit their website and directories- are there recent wedding photos in their gallery or on their blog? Are there recent reviews of their services?
- Before meeting, check they have worked at your venue before. If they haven’t, meet them there as if they provide a quote without seeing the venue the cost may increase once they go and measure up!
- Be honest about your budget- a lot of time goes into writing quotes and the florist needs
- Know what you are prepared to spend- there’s no point rejecting someone for being too expensive when you didn’t tell them your cost expectations!
- Ask the florist where they source their flowers- can they get local, cheaper flowers or can they grow their own?
- Does the florist have another wedding on the same day as yours? If so, they may not be around to move your arrangements around between venues and this could mean you either have to do it yourself or waste your money!
- Do they have a range of pieces to hire and if so, are hire prices included in the cost ‘per table’ or per arrangement? Will the quote include VAT and travel expenses and when do I need to pay a deposit?
- Finally, after meeting them, do you like them? If you’re not sure they ‘got you’ or they came unarmed with pictures, an open mind or were cagey with some of their answers when you asked about money, they probably aren’t right for you.
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