Online Flower Purchase

abby0313

Hey Everyone! First post on The Knot....

My wedding is late September 2013 and I'm currently interviewing some florists to get pricing, ideas, etc. Obviously we all know flowers can be a huge expense, I'm wondering if anyone has ordered in bulk online and assembled bouquets/centerpieces on your own?

If so, when did you order (how far out from your wedding), how did you store the flowers, etc.

Thanks!!

nafallon

We ordered flowers from Sam's Club for both my daughter's and son's weddings.  We had bulk bouquets for one and bulk baby's breath for the other.  The flowers arrived on Thursday and we made the bouquets on Thursday night.  Everything looked beautiful for the weddings which were on Saturdays.       My daughter-in-law used one order of bulk bouquets and made her bouquet and 5 bridesmaids' bouquets.  For my daughter's wedding we made all the bridesmaid's bouquets (5), bouts(12), and centerpieces(10) from 2 orders of baby's breath. She only used baby's breath in the arrangements.  We spent a little over $100 dollars for each wedding for the flowers from Sam's.   I placed the orders as soon as we decided what we wanted, but I believe the website gives suggested time frames.  I didn't help with my daughter-in-law's floweres so I don't know how she stored them, but we put the baby's breath in water in an ice chest (with the lid open).  It was the only thing I could think of that was big enough to hold them all.  I just kept them in the kitchen and once we made the bouquets we put them in vases, pitchers and glasses with water until the last minute when we wrapped the stems with ribbon.  If it's hot, I would suggest storing them in the coolest area of the house.  We did store the bouts in the refrigerator. If you are doing a lot of arrangements be sure and allow plenty of time or have lots of help.  The bridesmaids all wrapped their own bouquets the day of the wedding......

They also have pre-made wedding packages.                  

abby0313

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_flowers_online-flower-purchase?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:28Discussion:83711f03-fc13-44ed-a2d0-85b46fd204e5Post:fa3282f1-3f49-4e3a-99fb-34110a69d452">Re: Online Flower Purchase</a>:
[QUOTE]We ordered flowers from Sam's Club for both my daughter's and son's weddings.  We had bulk bouquets for one and bulk baby's breath for the other.  The flowers arrived on Thursday and we made the bouquets on Thursday night.  Everything looked beautiful for the weddings which were on Saturdays.       My daughter-in-law used one order of bulk bouquets and made her bouquet and 5 bridesmaids' bouquets.  For my daughter's wedding we made all the bridesmaid's bouquets (5), bouts(12), and centerpieces(10) from 2 orders of baby's breath. She only used baby's breath in the arrangements.  We spent a little over $100 dollars for each wedding for the flowers from Sam's.   I placed the orders as soon as we decided what we wanted, but I believe the website gives suggested time frames.  I didn't help with my daughter-in-law's floweres so I don't know how she stored them, but we put the baby's breath in water in an ice chest (with the lid open).  It was the only thing I could think of that was big enough to hold them all.  I just kept them in the kitchen and once we made the bouquets we put them in vases, pitchers and glasses with water until the last minute when we wrapped the stems with ribbon.  If it's hot, I would suggest storing them in the coolest area of the house.  We did store the bouts in the refrigerator. If you are doing a lot of arrangements be sure and allow plenty of time or have lots of help.  The bridesmaids all wrapped their own bouquets the day of the wedding...... They also have pre-made wedding packages.                  
Posted by nafallon[/QUOTE]

Thanks! Those turned out fantastic!

Sue-n-Kevin

We ordered the 20 piece white rose wedding package from Costco, which was all the bouquets, bouts, corsages, toss bouquet and a couple of centerpieces for $399. They have other colors of roses, plus other flowers. Most of the packages with 20 pieces run $350 to $499 depending on the flower. They have to be ordered a minimum of 30 days beforehand. They recommend having them delivered to your home 3 days before the wedding, so the flowers have time to open up a bit.

Some info here: http://www.costco.com/wedding-event-flowers.html . Watch this webpage because the flower selections do change from time to time, not so much seasonally, but I think they add some, or subtract some over the years.

A Costco membership is $55 a year, and totally worth it.

Also, I went to the customer service desk at the local Costco and they gave me the phone number for the local florist who arranges the bouquets for their kiosk. I called her to find out how this works. I could order flowers direct from her and pick them up from the warehouse. I ordered 96 white vendella long stem roses, 80 stems of white asiatic lillies, and 2 large bunches of baby's breath, all for $173. I picked them up on the Wednesday before the wedding, which was Saturday, and stored them in the large buckets she gave me with the flowers in my basement where it is cool. They opened perfectly and I assembled our 10 centerpieces the morning before our wedding, took them to the hall when we went for our rehearsal, and they were lovely the night of our wedding. They actually lasted about 2 weeks afterward (as did the bouquets from the pre-made package). The florist told me she does this for up to 18 weddings a week in the summer.

I made 5 tall centerpieces and 5 short

Tall with lillies, baby's breath and long grass that came with the lillies (those are jelly balls holding them in place, you can get from craft stores)


Made 5 short centerpieces with the roses and baby's breath



I understand Sam's club does similar packages, and may do the bulk flower ordering as well, but we don't have a membership.

My bouquet from the wedding package is in the pic below, the bridesmaids were the same but smaller.

abby0313

Thanks everyone!

kdjj

I actually ordered flowers in bulk last week from costco to do a mock up of my centerpiece to see how hard it will be to DIY.  FI suggested since I was doing this, to order the flowers to practice with, and then I can use the flowers as separate centerpieces for holiday functions.  So...I will have flowers delivered next friday and will be doing my mock up over the weekend.

I'm hoping my vision isn't hard to accomplish in real life since I'll be able to do about 15 centerpieces to the price of 4 made by a florist (this is including buying my own vases, etc.)

I'll let you know how my trial run turns out.

katey911

Kdjj, how did your mock trial turn out? I'm debating ordering flowers online and DIY myself but am a bit scared I'll wind up with a mess on my hands...

KarenJohnson85

I've ordered from www.wholesaleflowersovernight.com with great success for a few of my gal pal's weddings.  They have a huge selection to choose from, it's incredibly inexpensive, AND they have free tutorials for amazing bouquets and arrangements on their site.  You should definitely check it out if this is something you're considering.  They're incredibly helpful too!  Going the DIY route is something I would suggest to every bride brave enough to try.  It's been nothing but a good experience for me.