Floral question

tprice11

I am like most people, on a budget and am having about 18 tables (150 people) at my reception, not to mention guest book, ceremony decor, cake table, etc.  What is a good budget for florals, if my total wedding budget is $10-$15k?  Did you DIY the smaller centerpieces and have a florist do the larger ones or try to find someone cheap enough to do them all?  Any advice is appreciated!

fallbride1109

Most budget calculators tell you to plan to spend around 10% of your overall budget for flowers.  I spent around $2300 in 2009 which was about 8% of my budget.  Flowers were very important to me however.

That being said doing 18 centerpieces and your wedding party flowers for $1K-$1500 will be tough,although not impossible. It really depends on what all you need, how full you want your centerpieces, etc. 

One option would be to have a florist do your wedding party flowers (bouquets, corsages, etc.) and then DIY your centerpieces by just doing simple vases of flowers that you purchase from Sam's or Costco, etc. if you have some help and are up to the challenge.  Knotties here have done that so hopefully someone will chime in.

Another option would be to hire a florist but just do flowers on half the tables and candles on the other half.

I would meet with a florist or two first and tell them what you are wanting and what your budget is and see what they can do.  A good florist can do wonders with any budget.

Jen6862

Price out Costco, whole foods or central market. I've heard they can be budget friendly and do pretty table arrangements. People have also ordered them online. My florist did flowers on half and I rented large candle holder arrangements for the other half from her.

tprice11

Thanks for the ideas!

MLandCJ

I've heard great things about Market Street, but when I called for my wedding they were booked a few months ahead.

I basically went to a local florist and said, " This is what I have to spend, I don't care what type of flowers they are but this is my look that I am going for." The florist ordered her stock that week around my wedding and pulled from that. That way I didn't have to buy a certain number of bunches of each type of  flower.

aeliza06

When I priced out my flowers with a florist (Flor by Melissa- she did my friends' flowers- click), for 10 centerpieces, extras for the cake, and wedding party flowers, she quoted me around 900 for the flowers I wanted (including Peonies, succulents, and other pricey options). My budget was much less than this so I picked out the flowers I wanted (minus succulents because holy cow expensive) and ordered them in bulk from Central Market and DIY-ed everything. Everything came in at half my budget and the flowers were incredible. 

Ditto what PP's have said- figure out what maybe you can do on your own and order in bulk.  If this isn't an option- take your ideas and go to a florist- usually they can do their best to work with your budget by offering you a variety of options.

NathanandJordan

I used Sam's and paid around 500-ish for hydrangea (gorgeous and doesn't take many to make a statement) and ivory roses