Anyone actually bought Wholesale flowers?

sschulth617

I am thinking about doing my bouquets myself to save money.  I bought a small bunch of roses at our local grocery store just to test myself and see what I was capable of and it didn't take as long as I thought and they turned out great.  I have looked at fiftyflowers.com and bunchesdirect.com.  Has anyone out there ever used these or have a suggestion for another wholesale website and had good success?  Like most brides who use wholesale flowers, I am nervous about getting them so soon to the wedding and want to make sure I go with a trustworthy site.  Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Sue-n-Kevin

I have one experience with Costco, who I plan on using for my flowers in Aug 2011.

I ordered their 100 various colored roses for $89 for my Mom's birthday in January. Based on the tracking site I was provided, from Ecuador to her house was 3 days.

They arrived boxed, with cardboard around every 25 roses. We followed the directions provided and they lasted 7-10 days. I think maybe 3-4 were wilted before then.

Make sure they arrive 2 days before your wedding so they have time to get acclimated, and you have time to arrange them.

Alternatively, Costco (and I understand Sam's Club as well) have fresh floral areas in their stores. I've purchased 2 dozen roses from Costco for $16, as well as other fresh floral arrangements. I have NEVER been disappointed in them. Our local Costco has a floral designer who actually puts the arrangements together. She was there once when we went, and told me she can do customized arrangements. I'd recommend, if you don't have a membership at either of these retail stores to use a friend or family members and drop in and see them in person. You can do this if you are wary of online ordering.

Good luck.

suz62984

My friend's mom used Sam's Club. She said the flowers got there when she needed them too: however she waited to have them delivered the day of the wedding. I would suggest the day before the wedding for delivery. She cut it a little close.

The flowers were beautiful and everything turned out well.

crazyDCbride

Check in your local area, and you might find a local wholesaler that sells to the public.  You just need to call and ask.  It's usually above the "real" wholesale price, but on par with Costco, etc. 

At my local wholesaler, I can buy roses by the bunch (25) - and they run about $25-30 per bunch.  The nice thing about this is that they have about a zillion different varieties to choose from.  (http://www.flowerwholesale.com/Roses.asp)
They may ask what stem size you want - for bouquets, I choose the shorter stem size, since the flower heads seem to be about the same (to me anyway), but the shorter stems are a little cheaper.

I would recommend getting your flowers on Thursday for a Saturday wedding.  It sounds like a long time, but, it's not too long (unless you're using really delicate flowers...)

When you get them, you just need to  cut the stems, put them in water, and put them in a cool place (like in the basement, if you have one...)

ashleymhinkle1

We used sams club for my sister's wedding flowers. I aggree with the others about having them delivered 2 days before the wedding because some of them have to be placed in water and will take a day for the blooms to open. They were all beautiful and on time. One thing we did though was buy the bulk and my dad put them together, the packages they offered were more expensive. Here's a picture of the flowers from my sister's wedding.