I am not a florist, and thus do not know what is typical and what is ridiculous in terms of what flowers to except for what cost.
I am having a May Wedding in the Chapel Hill area, about 150 people. Our main color is purple. We would be requiring a couple of flower arrangements for our church's alter, 1 bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets. crosages/bountenierres (sorry for the atrocious spelling) for groom, 4 groomsmen, both mothers and fathers, 3 grandpas, 3 grandmas. Would need a few flowers for the cake. Would need 8 tall (not necessarily super big/chunky, but w/ some height) centerpieces for the ballroom, and about 7-9 short ones for cocktail tables/side room tables. The only flowers I really want included are hydrangeas, which I believe are seasonal, otherwise I am not married to any other flowers - i just want them to look pretty, be in shades of purple, white, and off white, and be in my budget.
I have about 2000 to work with. The first florist I've gone yo proposed a cost over twice that. They were able to change the proposal to fit the budget, but it sacrificed our tall centerpieces to short ones and significantly reduced what our short centerpieces would have been.
I guess my question is, am I expecting way too much for our budget (given that I really don't care if we have plain or exotic flowers) and should I scale down my expectations of what I can afford, or should I be seeking out different vendors to find what I would like? And if so, does anyone have any suggestions on triangle vendors? I felt like I had an very generous budget before, but now I'm not so sure...