Whole Foods Flowers??

Kellmp923

Hi Ladies - I've been lurking a bit trying to get a few ideas for my 11/12/11 wedding, but it's my first time posting!

FI and I are paying for the wedding ourselves, so needless to say, we're on a budget. We've decided the majority of our budget should go towards things that are important to us, ie, venue, food, drinks, photographer,etc... But flowers?? We both just don't care enough about flowers to spend loads when they'll be dead in a few days...

In my lurking, I've noticed that a few people have recommended Whole Foods for inexpensive flowers. Is there a particular location or person that you would recommend dealing with?

Any other recommendations for inexpensive flowers?

TIA for your help!!

Magdala9

In season flowers are always less expensive than out of season flowers.  Others have skipped flowers for not traditional centerpieces and bouqets.  Offbeat bride.com has a serious blog on nonfloral bouquets.   My SIL did candle centerpieces to cut down on costs.

RoyalOrient

The Whole Foods in Cranston got rave review from one of our lovely brides on here. I am using the Whole Foods in Providence for some of my floral needs. Definitely budget friendly. Also, we are doing half florals and non-floral to cut down cost. My bridesmaid are not carrying bouquets (just floral wristlets) so we saved money there. I also suggest checking out whole sale floral sites like fiftyflowers.com or go local to Robin Hollow Farm in Saunderstown.

KBinRI

Whole Foods did some of our flowers with very short notice. We had the exact same feeling about flowers as you do: nice to have, but not high on our priority list. We didn't have a wedding party so I decided to do my own but, three days before the wedding, the vendor for half of my online flower order called and said they were stuck in Miami. Great ... what now? This is from my vendor reviews; hope it's helpful:

After the flower debacle, I called Whole Foods in Garden City first thing Friday and spoke to Sarah, who commiserated with the situation and said they could absolutely help me. I went over that afternoon and met with her and Karen and we talked about flower types, etc. The best part is that my bouquet, two clutches for MIL and my dad’s wife, a wrist corsage for Bryan’s grandmother and three bouts cost $94. I was stunned. I wish I had gone there first. 

*******

Like I said, they were so great that I wish I had just gone there for everything first. (I also went to Robin Hollow like PP suggested, but she was out of my price range as well, as were all of the other five or so I met with.) I had to choose from what they had on hand but if you actually go, oh say, earlier than TWO DAYS before your wedding, they can order anything you want. (They had some amazing dark blue hydrangeas I was lusting after but they were ordered for someone else's wedding!) At that point I was prepared to pay whatever it cost to get the bouquets and bouts, but they didn't take advantage of the situation at all. I loved my bouquet and it was $25. I thought I must have misheard her and that it would be $125, as I hadn't been quoted anything less than $150 elsewhere.

Kellmp923

MANY thanks ladies!

I'll definitely look into Whole Foods as an option... I'm thinking of doing non-floral centerpieces (I like the look of some luminaries on Etsy and I think I might be able to make my own?) So I'm just looking for my bouquet (KB - only $25?!?! Fantastic! Do you have pictures of your flowers?), and then flowers for my girls/guys and important people.

Thanks again! I'll sure I'll be picking your brains for more help in the next 8 months & 1 day!

KBinRI

Absolutely! PM with or leave me you e-mail address here and I'll send you some. :-)