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DIY flower tips

Stitch10Stitch10 member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Texas-Dallas and Ft. Worth
Hey everyone,

We're considering doing flowers ourselves, mainly for the sake of stretching our flower budget a bit...the last florist I spoke with had a $4000 minimum! I'm still talking to florists, but I know a lot of ladies here have tackled this type of project themselves. Any advice? Any great places for wholesale flowers that are open to the public (I'm near downtown Dallas)? Or places to get vases or other containers for a reasonable price? How far in advance did you put the arrangements together? How did you transport them to the venue? How long did set-up/tear-down take? Did you have a lot of help from family and friends? Did you have any experience with flower arranging before?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated! I'm all for DIY, but I have to admit this idea intimidates me a bit. I worry that it would get out of control and it would be too late for me to recruit a pro. (FWIW, our flower budget is around $2000 right now, though if we went the DIY route, I'd hope to be able to keep it under $1000.)

TIA!
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Re: DIY flower tips

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    professorscienceprofessorscience member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited April 2013
    A girl who got married in 2010 had a really extensive blog post about DIY-ing flowers... I will see if it still exists...

    Edit: I am super proud of myself:

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    Stitch10Stitch10 member
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    You're awesome! Thanks so much!
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    rcpm44rcpm44 member
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    edited April 2013
    Thanks Amanda. I was just on here looking for that post. OP, if you have any additional questions feel free to email me at rcpm44 at hotmail dot com. I got married a couple of years ago and am never on this site. I'm only here now because Amanda asked me about my flowers post so email is the best way to get ahold of me. I'd love to help you out with my info and experience if you need it!
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    tcam2012tcam2012 member
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    I am copying what I posted in response to a prior thread.  I did all of the flowers without any help except the bouquets... 2 of my friends helped with those:

    I DIY'd our flowers.  I screwed up and made a mistake while ordering in bulk so we went to SAMs and bought bouquets the Wednesday before our Saturday wedding.  The flowers were beautiful!!!  Everyone liked them and when we said our guests could take them home at the end of the night, they all got taken.  This was even though most of our guests had about an hour drive home. 

    DIYing takes time though.  I would say we spent about 6 hours going to garage and estate sales to buy vases (which we liked doing!) so we spent about $60 on about 40 vases ranging from very small to very big.  I would say I spent about 11 to 12 hours cutting and arranging the flowers, including all centerpieces, bouquets, boutennieres (sp?), and the wedding cake topper.  About 4 hours just buying the flowers.  We spent about $500 on the flowers themselves (we had somewhere around 450 stems) and we had several bouquets left over for our hotel room.

    I think our flowers turned out so pretty, prettier than what I saw in many floral shops but it was a lot of work and my fingermails were definitely green by the end.  Of course, a french tip manicure took care of that :-)
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    aeliza06aeliza06 member
    First Anniversary First Comment

    I DIY-ed my flowers and ordered from Central Market (Preston & Forest). They allow you to pick up the day-of if needed! I picked up the day before and stored them in buckets in my ever-so-gracious friends' apartment refrigerator (side-by-side doors with adjustable shelves). In hindsight, I should have picked up the day of, but I was afraid of time. 

    The biggest advantages I saw to doing Central Market/Whole Foods vs. Sams/Costco was 1. More diversity in types of flowers 2. More flexibility with pickup 3. More help (this could have been a personal experience though) 4. Closer proximity to my venue (downtown)

    I spent 200$ on flowers and had flowers on each of my 11 tables, flowers down the aisle, and a bouquet for me and each of my 4 bridesmaids. I did non-flower items in addition to the flower centerpieces (in empty wine bottles- BIG $$$ saver since I just asked friends and family to give me their wine bottles) and had non-flower boutineers. Having non-formal arrangements really helped for a time aspect and I feel it is important to note that flowers were NOT that important to me. 

    The post above is very helpful. Things to think about: 1. Where to store 2. How much time to arrange 3. Vases/containers 4. Time of year/season

    I got married in May and had all the flowers I wanted: Peonies, Rannacoulous (sp), Dahlias, Garden Roses (LOVED my garden roses), and queen anne's lace. My aunts and MOH helped me arrange the bouquets in less than an hour. 

    HTH




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    Stitch10Stitch10 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited April 2013
    Thanks so much! Everyone's advice is so helpful. I think at this point I'm not so concerned about the project itself, but just how much time it could take. I think I need to talk with a couple florists and do a little more research on my own as to what I actually want the flowers to look like. Thanks again for getting me going in the right direction!
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    jillrenee&brettjillrenee&brett member
    First Comment First Anniversary
    A $4000 minimum is kind of crazy! I assume you are speaking with a bigger event planner? I got quotes from 3 different florists that were right at your budget & they all had an awesome portfolio. I went with Ashlilium, maybe check them out if you decide not to DIY. I almost DIYed some of my own, but when it came down to it, I am very happy I didn't. It was so nice to enjoy the time with my friends & family without stressing about (to me) such an important part of the day. Either way, good luck!
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    angelsong21angelsong21 member
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Comment
    We also did DIY flowers and bought them from Central Market.  Great selection and very good prices.  Sams doesn't have quite the variety that they used to I found out.  We bought them the day before, arranged them the evening before and a little bi the morning of.  It went perfectly.  We bought an entire shopping cart PACKED full of flower for $500.  I am not good at arranging flowers but my aunt is and did them all herself.  It took her about 6 hours to do my bouquet, my one BM bouquet, five bouts, 12 tables, and the ceremony space.  
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