October 2013 Weddings

Sticker Shock

So I had my first floral consultation last night, and apparently I have a much grander vision than what I thought.

I had no idea what flowers cost - I will start out by saying that. We talked about everything I was envisioning (personal flowers, ceremony and reception) and she gave me a rough estimate of cost - it was THREE TIMES what I thought my budget would be! I couldn't believe it!!

Need to start rethinking some things I guess. And obviously get some other quotes.
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Re: Sticker Shock

  • Have you considered making your own arrangements? You can get flowers for pretty cheap at Sam's Club if you wanted real ones.

     

  • Ro041Ro041 member
    Seventh Anniversary 1000 Comments 500 Love Its First Answer
    What was the price?  (I am just curious and being nosey).  I wanted to spend $700 and our flower cost is going to be a bit over 1k.  Sigh.  

  • I was going to spend around $1000 and we talked about everything I could think of that I might possibly want and it was $2500. Surprised

    We whittled things down and got to $2000 but that's still more than I am looking to spend. It was the first florist and I am going to meet with more. I am also going to look into doing the flowers for my centerpieces on my own - because they were charging $18 for 3 carnations in a bud vase. (beautiful, but I am positive I can do that for less than $18)

    Flowers are one thing that my parents are paying for, and my mom really really wants me to have real flowers. I am just trying to be cost concious with their money. 
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  • Have you tried looking for someone who does floral arranging on the side.  That's what I ended up doing.  The woman who's doing ours has a normal day job, but does wedding flowers on the side.  She has no overhead from having a shop, so her prices we really reasonable.

    I'm buying bulk flowers, probably either from Sam's Club or through my florist direct, for the reception space, because I don't need anything super big or difficult (some baby's breath, greenery, and roses).
  • In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_october-2013-weddings_sticker-shock?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:1925524f-fa8b-432f-a7b5-be486ce756efDiscussion:ae34891f-592b-42cf-a068-42ca122fbf58Post:e7918f79-7708-41a1-9d3b-c5ad0f1cd65d">Re: Sticker Shock</a>:
    [QUOTE]I was going to spend around $1000 and we talked about everything I could think of that I might possibly want and it was $2500. We whittled things down and got to $2000 but that's still more than I am looking to spend. It was the first florist and I am going to meet with more. I am also going to look into doing the flowers for my centerpieces on my own - because they were charging $18 for 3 carnations in a bud vase. (beautiful, but <strong>I am positive I can do that for less than $18</strong>) Flowers are one thing that my parents are paying for, and my mom really really wants me to have real flowers. I am just trying to be cost concious with their money. 
    Posted by hardlyhannah[/QUOTE]

    I agree that you should be able to do that for way less than $18 and I do not think it would be that hard/time consuming either. I would definitely get some other quotes.

    I am not much help though since I only talked to one florist (I am only getting my bouquet, corsages and boutonniere's (no bridal party besides flower girls and ring bearers)). I really like my florist's work and I was fine with her prices so I did not shop around.
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  • Ro041Ro041 member
    Seventh Anniversary 1000 Comments 500 Love Its First Answer
    I ended up using a florist for our wedding party flowers and altar arragements.  The centerpiece flowers I am going to do myself.  (I posted that pic a week or so ago). The florist I used hooked us up with their wholesaler, and they charge half of what the florist charges for loose flowers ($1.60 per Gerbera daisy etc.).  I thought that doing our own centerpieces would be a good way to save money without biting off more than we could chew with the WP flowers.

  • That's disheartening. I haven't met with a florist yet and frankly I don't know what I want for the flowers either. I hope they don't end up being too expensive.
  • In this whole process I was most shocked by the cost for florists and photographers. My first quote for flowers came in at almost 5K, and the second was almost exactly the same. So I scaled back my ideas and was able to get the estimate down to 3K. I knew it would be lot because we have a lot of guests and therefore a lot of centerpieces, but woah.
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