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Buying flowers wholesale off line?

Mrs KNSMrs KNS
10 Comments
in Flowers

Is anyone considering buying their flowers off line wholesale?  I've checked out www.fiftyflowers.com and find pricing pretty reasonable.  However, I'm a little nervous and worried about the turn out.  If anyone has any advice as to arrangement ideas or preparation please pass on!  I cannot see spending thousands and thousands which is what average florist charge. 

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Re: Buying flowers wholesale off line?

  • bekahjane89bekahjane89 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I haven't personally done it, however - a close friend of mine did that for her wedding. They turned out great!
    Things you should consider, wherever you have them delivered you will need space to work on them and refrigerator space to store them. You will also need helpers to put the flowers into bouquets in time for the wedding.
    My friends flowers arrived and we had several steps of directions to follow to get the flowers looking healthy and to get them to open up. Then after they were open we created the bouquets and other arrangements. Because they were all done at the last-ish moment none of the arrangements were elaborate and there weren't that many. Still, they were beautiful and it was nice to have fresh flowers; a nice touch for a spring wedding!

    Good luck!!
    Beka Lou
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  • ehathewaehathewa
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I used both fiftyflowers.com and flowersandfreshness.com  Both delieveries were free and on-time and the quality was great. 
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
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  • abbycobb812abbycobb812
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I used American Floral Distributors (www.weddingflowersofamerica.com) and was really happy with the flowers. The flowers are sad and sleepy when you first get them but they perk up - it's kind of amazing. I only used the wholesale flowers for my centerpieces though, I still had a florist do all the bouquets and boutineers.

    It's not a bad idea to practice with some of the same type of flowers now before you order anything. That's what I did, and realized the stems of the Alstromeria I was going to use for the centerpieces were way too thick for my vases.

    Also, try to Google a coupon code for wherever you order from. 15-20% off your order can save you nice chunk of change.
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  • stitchingchicastitchingchica member
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Wow, great information! I have been considering this for a while, especially since I'm getting married the day before mother's day and assume a florist may not pay particular care to my flowers anyway, with so much else to do. I'm impressed with all the websites, the main thing is figuring out how many are needed! weddingflowersofamerica and bunchesdirect have the best ability to order smaller amounts so I can get a variety. Thanks for the info!
    Anniversary
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  • kt&mattkt&matt
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    My only advice is if you buy flowers locally, at least you can take them back if they go bad in a day!  You can't if you get them online.  You need to get flowers a certain amount of time too, lilies, a week before, roses, three days, etc...  We own our own floral business and we get all our stuff locally mainly because it is guaranteed.

    good luck!

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  • rhalpin4rhalpin4
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    how did you decide exactly which flowers you wanted and plan out how many you would need without ever actually seeing them in person?  I am planning to buy flowers online and have just started thinking about this.  I don't know a lot about flowers and it's hard for me to picture everything.  Any tips you have would be much appreciated!
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  • abbycobb812abbycobb812
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_flowers_buying-flowers-wholesale-off-line?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:28Discussion:6296ec41-6a5b-40a6-a5ed-acd6a8ebd73fPost:b810fd8b-e958-49a5-820d-6874d9821c97">Re: Buying flowers wholesale off line?</a>:
    [QUOTE]how did you decide exactly which flowers you wanted and plan out how many you would need without ever actually seeing them in person?  I am planning to buy flowers online and have just started thinking about this.  I don't know a lot about flowers and it's hard for me to picture everything.  Any tips you have would be much appreciated!
    Posted by rhalpin4[/QUOTE]

    <div>Order/buy some of the flowers you think you want to use ahead of time. You may not be able to use one of the online wholesale companies if you just need a few stems though. You can try out a few arrangements, and see exactly how many stems of each you'll need for each centerpiece or bouquet.</div>
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