STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Elle · Hermes

Flower Costs

Collette · Chanel

The florist we are working with has been fantastic in working with us. Our flowers are going to average about $10,000 but it was alot more in his original quote. He just worked with us on choosing different flowers that don't cost as much but still work with the general theme we wanted. I told him flat out what we could spend and he worked with in that. If your budget is $1000 or $100 tell her and I bet she will work it down for you.

If they want your business they will work with you. Good luck!

JoceyBaby23 · Gucci

LMonet, Make sure the flowers you request are going to be in season.. and getting natural colors with help with the price too.. (ie. if the flower doesnt come in fuschia, choose something that does). This should help a lot.

My wedding is Mothers day weekend and florists are known for over-charging weekends like that. (some will not even book a wedding for busy flower holidays) and my flower bill is still only going to be $900! Keep shopping around and you will find something!

Collette - Do you mind me asking how much money is allocated for your wedding overall? Sorry for being nosey, but your flower budget is amazing! :)

Collette · Chanel

quote:
Originally posted by: JoceyBaby23
Collette - Do you mind me asking how much money is allocated for your wedding overall? Sorry for being nosey, but your flower budget is amazing! :)"

It's okay you're not being nosey!

We have around $100,000 allocated for the wedding itself. As of now it looks like it will be between $80,000-$100,000. Depending on if we plan to cut back on a few things. And another $40,000 for the Honeymoon. We figure we're only going to do this once (god willing) so we may as well go hog wild!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

L- check around for other florists. My cousin found a guy just starting out (only been in business for a few years) and his quote was $600! She is also cutting down on the groom's boutineer (spray roses vs. regular roses) and is doing a few lower priced flowers in the bouquet mixed in with higher price flowers to cut on costs.

nyc_shopgirl · Dooney & Bourke

We are allocating between 4-8k for flowers

DC Shopper · Dooney & Bourke

LMonet - as you can see florist costs vary, but honestly...I am spending maybe $900 on flowers and this includes my bouquet, 5 bms, corsages for mothers, grandmothers, and groom and 4 groomsmen, ceremony flowers as backdrop to the vows. Very hip/modern florist types with flashy websites tend to be more expensive but I think if you go with a good "regular" florist and just be specific about the style you want and your budget, you can get the same kind of arrangements for much less. also, you can buy some of the other stuff yourself for cheaper, like vases or tin buckets or whatever. most florists will let you do that. and if you have some very simple arrangements in mind, you can buy some of the flowers wholesale yourself and have a trusted friend do the arrangements for you on the day of. that is what we are doing for our "pew" flowers.

nyc_shopgirl · Dooney & Bourke

I may have two florist... If they will let me one who does amazing ceremony work and another who does incredible centerpieces

rlutz · Chanel

our wedding budget is about $15,000 total....we spent about $1,600 on flowers...

Elle · Hermes

Thanks for the suggestions ladies. Unfortunately, everything is pretty complicated due to the fact that we are getting married in Portland, currently living in Spokane, and moving to Texas soon. It make bargain-hunting alot harder! We just got another quote today for, gulp, $3,900! That's about a quarter of the entire wedding budget! I think the quotes we've gotten so far are a bit inflated as we are going for a modern/clean/offbeat look and from what I can tell that isn't exactly what the florists have been picturing. Planning long-distance has also put a damper on alot of DIY stuff, but I might end up trying to fly to Portland a couple times to meet with our vendors and do some stuff myself. I think once the florists are clear on what we are envisioning we'll end up closer to our $1000 budget ($750 if I can help it). This is what we're envisioning:

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

My flower budget is around $1200 (6% of my budget -- I didn't plan it that way, I just did the math right now b/c I was curious). The biggest expense will be the reception centerpieces. Flowers are important to me, and I think they're a great way to mark the occassion (very sumptuous).

My suggestion to you would be to find very specific examples of bouquets, corsages, etc. that you want and send them as attachments in email to the florists so they have an idea of exactly what you're looking for. This is what I've been doing with mine, and I think it's eliminated a lot of miscommunication so far. Most web sites will allow you to copy an image and save it as a .pdf and then you can send it as an attachment.