Budget florist recs, Tampa/St.Pete?

jbenbe28

Hi!  We're having a destination wedding and I'm trying to set up meetings with possible florists.  Does anyone have any recs for smaller/possibly family owned florists?  I'm thinking $50-$75 per bouquet type pricing, which I know will be difficult.  Originally we were planning a wedding here in Chicago, we found a couple florists here in that price range so I have hope that we can do the same in Florida   Thanks!

coraleetbwed

I'd try For Better For Less and Apple Blossoms.

http://forbetterforless.com/

http://www.appleblossomstampa.com/

chescam

I used Arlene with arlenefloraldesigner.com

adamar15

I used Apple Blossoms.  They were great.

Kristin789

We have a grocery store chain in the south called Publix and at many of their stores, they have a bakery and a florist.  Both full-service.

That means that we ordered our cake from Publix's bakery, and it was wonderful and about 1/2 the cost of a traditional bakery's cake, and we ordered all the flowers from the Publix florida, and exerything was beautiful and we spent about 1/3 of the cost of a traditional florist.

In addition - and I realize this wouldn't be OK with every Knottie, Publix packages the cake and the flowers for transport no matter if THEY are delivering the stuff to your venue or YOU are picking up the stuff and delivering it yourself.  So my FI went to the Publix and they taught him how to remove the cake and how to unpack the flowers, and HE delivered the stuff to the venue, and we saved more money by doing that...

Again, this suggestion isn't for everyone.  There are people who would never consider a GROCERY STORE for doing their WEDDING cake, for example.  In fact, the friend who I asked for a recommendation for Wedding Cake Bakery, responded first that he thought his girlfriend was C R A Z Y for suggesting a GROCERY STORE could do their wedding cake, but that their Publix cake was fabulous and they froze the top layer and ate it one year later, and it was not crappy like you hear so many brides complaining because they bought lower-quality cake or didn't wrap it correectly or both - it was fabulous.  BTW, our top layer was fabulous one year later also...

jbenbe28

Thanks ladies!  I sent out some emails and am just waiting to hear back   @Kristen, I've heard great things about Publix and I am in no way above getting my flowers from there.  I didn't realize they did wedding flowers.  I'll be stopping there on my visit next month. 

SKW2011

I second Publix!  We're going through them for both flowers and cake as well.  I've always been a huge fan of the taste of Publix cakes, so it kind of seemed like a no-brainer for us :)  Ellen in the Hyde Park location has been wonderful to work with so far

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-west-coast_budget-florist-recs-tampastpete?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:62Discussion:0406ee7c-94f1-4f2f-8071-a99c0413362fPost:2cd6e23f-56e3-4d6f-b4e6-ba158de3ad29">Re: Budget florist recs, Tampa/St.Pete?</a>:
[QUOTE]We have a grocery store chain in the south called Publix and at many of their stores, they have a bakery and a florist.  Both full-service. That means that we ordered our cake from Publix's bakery, and it was wonderful and about 1/2 the cost of a traditional bakery's cake, and we ordered all the flowers from the Publix florida, and exerything was beautiful and we spent about 1/3 of the cost of a traditional florist. In addition - and I realize this wouldn't be OK with every Knottie, Publix packages the cake and the flowers for transport no matter if THEY are delivering the stuff to your venue or YOU are picking up the stuff and delivering it yourself.  So my FI went to the Publix and they taught him how to remove the cake and how to unpack the flowers, and HE delivered the stuff to the venue, and we saved more money by doing that... Again, this suggestion isn't for everyone.  There are people who would never consider a GROCERY STORE for doing their WEDDING cake, for example.  In fact, the friend who I asked for a recommendation for Wedding Cake Bakery, responded first that he thought his girlfriend was C R A Z Y for suggesting a GROCERY STORE could do their wedding cake, but that their Publix cake was fabulous and they froze the top layer and ate it one year later, and it was not crappy like you hear so many brides complaining because they bought lower-quality cake or didn't wrap it correectly or both - it was fabulous.  BTW, our top layer was fabulous one year later also...
Posted by Kristin789[/QUOTE]