DIY flowers

mars101010 · June 2010

Has anyone did their own wedding flowers? I'm really considering this because I can't justify paying over $1000 on flowers. If so, do you have any flower wholesalers in the GTA you can recommend (I'm in the west GT area)? I was looking at purchasing from www.flowers-direct.ca and they seem well priced and good quality, but I can't find reviews on them.

Thanks!

ring_pop · June 2010

Sort of. My brother's girlfriend did them for me. We bought our flowers from one of the shops at Avenue & Davenport downtown. All of the flowers for 2 BMs, 2 GMs, ourselves, our parents, and 18 VERY simple centrepieces totaled about $300. That doesn't include other stuff like ribbons, pins, floral tape and vases though.

She was happy to do it for us and I was very grateful, but I soon learned why florists charge the markup that they do. I had to practically clear my fridge to make space for the flowers (sounds somewhat trivial but can actually be difficult). She and a friend spent the afternoon before the wedding doing the flowers, while my husband and BM helped me set up the reception venue. Remember that they have to be done as close to the wedding as possible to keep them fresh - this isn't something you can do a week in advance (unless you're using fakes).

If you have a small wedding party, have storage space for all of the flowers, and know someone who knows how to do it, it is a good way to save money. But I'd strongly recommend trying to do it yourself as you won't likely have the time.

Good luck!

miellen · June 2010

My mom did our flowers, though to be fair she used to be a florist and own a flower shop. I'm forever indebted to her regardless.

We also bought our flowers from Avenue & Davenport - the store is called Kaye + Young (and they have a second location about 3 stores down on Avenue) and they have incredible flowers and the prices are really good too. You need to go there and order them about 1-2 months in advance, and pick them up yourself.

If you have had no experience with working with flowers, I would say it may be too a huge job to take on. If you do have experience, then it's definitely a possibiility. All the flowers have to be done the day before because if you do it too early, they will die. You'll also need to have cold storage like a floral fridge, or maybe an unfinished basement with cranked up air conditioning and fans going on all day and night.

Don't forget tall buckets (with water) to store the flowers while you're working on them, and plastic boxes to keep the boutonnieres and corsages, floral tape (for wrapping stems and waterproof one for holding down foam) and wires, and fancy pins and ribbon.

mars101010 · June 2010

Thanks for the tips on vendors and effort ladies. My mom is paying for the flowers for us (but on a very limited budget) and I can't seem to find someone who will do the same amount of flowers a ring_pop had for under $1000. If I buy the flowers and supplies, I found I can do them for $800. A few of my bms offered to help with the bouquets and I bought rose vases for centerpieces that will form the bouquets easier.

I think I will check out the store on Avenue and Davenport. I've only heard great things about this store.

ring_pop · June 2010

Whoops! I meant strongly recommend AGAINST doing them yourself. Unless you have lots of time the day before the wedding. (We had our rehearsal that evening, so I didn't.)

Try making yourself a trial bouquet and take note of how long it takes you, just so you can get an idea of what you're getting yourself into.

Good luck!

fayrees · June 2010

I got my flowers done at Superstore; 4 bouquets, 6 corsages, 6 boutonnieres and 2 large altar pieces. I also got 30 5" potted flowers for centrepieces and decor.
All of this was under $700

Here is a picture of my trial bouquet. I added peonies for the real thing.

The florist at Superstore (she was the manager of the floral dept) was really amazing! She knew her stuff, had great ideas, went out of her way to be helpful, and could work with any budget. The only issue was that she was sometimes difficult to reach, and the other members of the department were not helpful. But that was fine for me because I was often there to buy groceries anyway.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

DIY flowers

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