Flowers can end up being one of the largest expenditures of your entire wedding and reception. Expect to spend 15-20% of your entire wedding budget on flowers. However, no adornments are more beautiful or festive than wedding flowers, so it is well worth the investment. But you don’t need to take out a personal loan to pay for your floral arrangements.
Here are 10 money saving tips to help you while you shop for your wedding flowers:
- Purchase your flowers from a wholesaler. If you live near a major metropolitan area, chances are there is a flower supplier nearby. You can purchase the wedding flowers and make the arrangements yourself with the help of your bridal party, or enlist a talented friend to be in charge of the task. Buying directly from the supplier cuts out the middle man, the florist. You’ll save money this way because you won’t be paying the markup that the florist would charge.
- Organize floral arrangements strategically. Bouquets and boutonnieres are pretty much essential, but you may want to forego bunches at the end of each row of chairs during the ceremony so that you can afford truly lovely centerpieces for each table at the reception. Or vice versa. If you insist on having arrangements at the end of the rows and at the reception, keep them simple, You don’t have to have extravagant arrangements everywhere. People are there to look at you. not the flowers.
- Select wedding flowers that are in season and native to the region you live in. Remember when choosing your flowers to keep in mind when and where you’re getting married. If you pick local flower that are in season they will be more affordable than exotic or imported varieties. If you really must have some exotic type of flower not grown in your area you might want to consider using silk flowers. They look like the real thing, but are usually about half the cost.
- Use a combination of real and silk flowers. Silk flowers cost less and often can be rented. That way you don’t have to burden your budget any more than necessary and you’re also not stuck with a whole bunch of arrangements after the ceremony and reception are over.
- Recycle: Transfer the flowers from your ceremony to your reception. You can also rearrange the flowers from your rehearsal dinner for your cocktail reception. Bridal bouquets can double during the reception for the head table, cake or gift tables. There’s no reason to buy double the flowers when you can just reuse them.
- Share Expenses with another bride. If your ceremony site is having more than one wedding that day, contact the other bride and talk about sharing decoration expenses.
- Use alternatives. Use alternatives to wedding flower arrangements, like candles, favors, balloons, potted plants, etc.
- Buy on Sale. Purchase candles, white lights and other decorations after the holidays when everything goes on sale. After Christmas is a great time to buy these items at a huge discount. Buying flowers on sale can be a good and bad thing. It’s good because you save money, bad because they might not have the quantity you need.
- Simple is best. Have your bridesmaids carry a single flower instead of a bouquet. If you want a bouquet, consider having just a few blooms of one type of flower and tie it with a ribbon.
- More filler. Use more greenery, baby’s breath, tulle for decorating and less flower blooms. Blooms are more expensive than the alternatives so use them as an accent to the arrangement instead of the main ingredient.
