Hawaii

Flower costs and non-floral centerpiece ideas?

As a few of you have already posted here I've seen, Yikes! Flowers are sooo expensive in Hawaii. I guess the myth that they would be cheaper on a tropical island are false. I didn't think I was wanting much, just your basic brides bouquets, 2 bouquets for bridesmaids, leis for groom, etc and some simple centerpieces. My budget was $1000 max and I was told that for what I want the minimum would be between $2000-2500. I didn't even specify flowers, just indicated what was most economical.

Anyways, like a lot of destination brides, I don't really want to spend a huge amount of money on flowers that I won't even be able to bring home. So I'm looking for ideas on non-floral centerpieces that you ladies have seen or done and would suggest. Our colors are turquoise and coral. I have purchased small turquoise tea light lanterns that are about 2 1/2 " X 4 1/2 ". My original vision was to have turquoise mason jars with light coral/peach flowers, but I was told last night that would cost me approximately $100 per centerpiece for a small arrangement. No thanks... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Re: Flower costs and non-floral centerpiece ideas?

  • FSForeverFSForever member
    First Comment
    edited November 2012
    I completely agree with you on the cost and leaving them. We gave ours to the housekeeping ladies at our Condominium Complex. 
    Have you thought about doing your own flowers? We did all of the flowers for my daughters large wedding last Jan. so I had the confidence to create 5 centerpieces and my bouquet for our wedding. We went to Costco the afternoon before the wedding and it seriously took an hour an half to run to Costco and make all six items. Total cost $86 plus ribbon, floral tape and bling.  I should say we also brought our own dollar store vases that I glued ribbon and shells to.  We brought a few extra and all faired just fine on the flight over. 

  • Wow! You made those? Those are amazing! I have thought about just going to Costco and buying flowers, but I am not as confident in my skills as I am definitely not a very crafty, creative person.. I will definitely check around though and see if any of our family or friends that are coming to the wedding would be willing to help out.. At this point, I may just go with bouquets for myself and my 2 bridesmaids and try to be creative and do something other than flowers for the centerpieces. Do you know if you can buy leis at Costco as well?
  • They really are easy to do. I researched on YouTube and watched a dozen or so videos. We then tried a few techniques first. The hardest part is making sure you get the floral tape tight enough but not so tight that the flowers start to fall off. 
    You can pre-order your flowers through Mauifloral and pick them up at Costco but they never answered my email so I just figured flowers weren't a main concern for me and if they didn't have what I wanted then we would hit Safeway or Foodland. We just lucked out that they had a lot of choices in our colors. They did have a lot of leis in stock also but our guests got them at our luau so we decided not to purchase them for the ceremony and brunch reception. 
  • Wow, those are really nice!
    I used Dellables and I spend quite a lot, but I had pretty significant sized bouquets etc.  My bouquet was $225, maids $95, centerpieces $140 (they were pretty big I think) and I had quite a few other things.  I LOVED what they did and I couldn't have done it myself. 
    At my rehearsal we made centerpieces with pinapples, big leaves and flowers.  My MIL did it, so I don't know what the cost it.
    Also, you can order your leis from Mary Ann at Ha'awina Farms- they were so cheap.  Our leis were about $25 (he had a double ti leaf and I had a triple strand of pikake, which smelled heavenly), the guys and parents leis were all $8 each.  I will say that they were a little smaller than I anticipated, but they still were fine.  If you search here on this board you can find her contact information.  She's great to work with too.
  • edited November 2012
    I'll get married on the Valentine's weekend (on Maui). So I actually didn't ask for any quote for flowers because I thought it should be crazy expensive and I didn't want to spend mony on real flowers. After reading your post, I'm totally shocked!!!! I never realized it's sooooooo expensive!! 


    1. bouquets: I'll make my own jewelry bouquet, and so does my MOH. It's not done yet, but it'll look like the picture below. 
     



    2. decoration: Originally, I'd like to pre-order flowers from costco and make my own centerpieces. But my wedding coordinator suggested me not to do so and suggested me to use lot of candles instead. Hope "candle centerpieces" will work for you, too. 

    (I won't use the idea of the picture below, but I guess you can change whatever color you want.)



     
  • Try Always Flowers (Oahu). Todd will work with you with your vision and price.   For about $1100, I got 5 bouquets,  10 boutonnieres, 6 floral centerpieces, flowers for hair, and a box of flowers for the aisle.

    Looking back, I'm glad I didn't try to deal with the hassle of making my centerpieces, or ask anyone else for that matter.   It would have been just one more thing to do.  The centerpieces were somewhere around $50 or $60 each, and they were beautiful.

    Leis at Costco are about $12 I think? 
  • amwong22 - I am totally in the same boat you are and really don't want to spend a lot on flowers/centerpieces. I am getting married in May and am thinking of going with Mary Ann at Ha'awina Farms. I contacted her and got a quote on her prices which was very reasonable. I think her quality is not as nice as the professional florists such as Dellables, but I am not that picky about flowers.  I am going to have her make our lei's and my bridal bouquet. You can find her on facebook and see some sample pictures of lei's she makes.

    FSForever - amazing bouquet/centerpieces!
  • ashleynr410ashleynr410 member
    First Comment
    edited November 2012
    I live on the big island of hawaii and my flowers where very affordable!  I went through Noelani Floral designs, they are a small family owned business that work with the orchid farms directly so no middle man and crazy mark up on the flowers. I had a small beach wedding so I only needed three bouquets which only cost me $500 total!! Each bouquet was entirely made out of beautiful pink orchids!  Its was amazing!  Good luck!!
  • Hi All! Thanks for the great advice and ideas. It is really appreciated, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who is having these issues with costs of florals and decor. I will definitely check out Todd from Always Flowers. Mary Ann looks awesome too, but is she located in Maui? Our wedding is in Oahu, so probably won't work if she is in Maui.

    Ringer 101- our wedding is on Feb 20, so just after Valentine's day. I wonder if that is a contributing factor to the crazy cost? Probably not... the vendor that I talked to said that prices are 30% higher in Hawaii for flowers. Also, your jewlery bouquet is absolutely stunning and amazing! I wish I had the craftiness to put stuff together! Also, thanks for the candle idea. I do like that, and though of putting floating candles, or sand and starfish in different size vases.

    AJ 913- I will definitely check with Todd. That seems like a great deal you got for all the florals you had, compared to the quote I was given. I think the vendor that i was referred to is definitely more artistic in her design and style, but I don't think I am willing to pay double the price for that..

  • AJ 913- would you happen to have any photos of your flowers that I could view?
  • Bride, BMs, and centerpieces
  • Thanks AJ913- I emailed Todd yesterday and he is so quick to respond! I love it! Your bouquets are beautiful. I'm hoping he can work with our budget as well. Thanks for all the help and your photos!
  • I am using Pacific Blue Florals. My wedding is in 2.5 weeks, so I can't tell you how it will be in person, but I got a great deal at around $2k for: bridal bouquet, 6 bridesmaids bouquets, 6 mini bridesmaids bouquets for flower girls, 7 boutonnieres, 9 leis for family members, tossing bouquet, flowers for my hair, cocktail table centerpieces, welcome table flowers, and centerpieces for 9 tables. She has moved away from weddings, but still does them. She says she does more private events and parties than weddings, now, because that's the direction in which her business went. I hope she does a good job, though! Michelle could definitely see my vision so I hope she can follow through with it...
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  • Dianalynm- Good luck on your wedding! So exciting that it is coming up so quickly! I will definitely check out Pacific Blue Florals as well. Can't wait to see your pictures! Time is flying for me, I'm only a few months away, so I'm sure time is definitely going by so fast for you now!! :-) Happy Wedding!
  • When I saw how much flowers cost, I was in the same boat.  I was going to go the Costco route as well and had a couple of friends who were going to come and get ready with me and make the bouquets/centerpieces.  I finally decided I didn't want to stress about it and went to Watanabe Florist.  I think our final bill came to around $600 (with delivery!).  They give you 10% off if you are military and they give you 15% (maybe 20?) if you  bring a ticket stub from any UH sporting event.  We had my bouquet, two bouquets for my bridesmaids, 3 maile leis for my husband and the 2 groomsmen, 2 leis for the moms, 2 leis for the dads and 1 lei for my grandmother.  Not having to stress about it the day of was totally worth the $600!!

    For centerpieces, I ended up spray painting some wine bottles with chalkboard paint and writing cute messages on them.  My colors were yellow and grey, so I ordered some dried yellow flowers (MUCH cheaper than real) off Etsy ahead of time and made them well in advance of the wedding.   I also bought some cheap clear vases from the craft store, tied jute string around them and put in some pinwheels.  The overall effect was great and MUCH cheaper than fresh flowers.  Here are some photos (from my awesome wedding photographer!), to see the bouquets/centerpieces:
    http://rebeccakeizerstudios.blogspot.com/2012/12/delia-jason.html

    good luck!!
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