Alternatives to bridesmaids flowers

mbrewed312 · May 2015

I am having 6 bridesmaids I began to look for alternatives to the bridesmaids flowers because they can get kind of expensive and I am paying for the flowers without any help. When I was looking for other options I came across bridesmaids holding lanterns with tea candles instead. What are your thoughts on this? We are having a Friday evening service with lots of candles. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

artbyallie · May 2015

Would you not pay just as much for the lanterns as flowers? There are cheaper options for flowers, too, like the grocery store or Sam's Club. IMO bridesmaids carrying lanterns would look a little odd for one, and be kind of a fire hazard as well. They also don't have to carry anything.

MobKaz · May 2015

mbrewed312 said:

I am having 6 bridesmaids I began to look for alternatives to the bridesmaids flowers because they can get kind of expensive and I am paying for the flowers without any help. When I was looking for other options I came across bridesmaids holding lanterns with tea candles instead. What are your thoughts on this? We are having a Friday evening service with lots of candles. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

Your BM's don't have to carry full bouquets. They could each carry a single stem flower with an attached ribbon. You could also have a vase waiting at the top of the aisle, and the BM's could place their flowers into the vase to create an instant porous or altar decoration.

lachattefatale · May 2015

A quick google image search tells me this will probably look awesome. Experience tells me you want your girls to carry battery operated candles, not real ones.

My brother's wedding was around Christmas, and the bridesmaids carried these gorgeous bouquets with red roses and a lot of greenery and a red candle in the center. When my SIL reached the altar, the MOH bent to adjust her train, BAM! Red wax all over the white satin. A lantern might *partly* guard against this but....

Also, a lot of venues that allow stationary candles still get nervous about hand-held ones. So get the battery lights.

Knottie67282180 · May 2015

I think this is a great idea! Not only will you save money, but you will have a cool feature that people will remember!

BrinkyDink16 · May 2015

I think that would look beautiful and be really unique.

We're not doing flowers either because damn are they expensive! We thought about doing grocery store flowers which would be cheaper but there's no guarantee they'd have what we were looking for the day before or of the wedding. We're doing fake flower balls. Each girl got a styrofoam ball, we picked one cohesive flower, and then they all picked whatever other flowers or embellishments they wanted. I think they're going to look really awesome.

lembaslover · June 2015

My FSIL used lanterns for the bridesmaids and it was really awesome. Each girl had a unique one. She also had lanterns hung around the reception which were given away as favors at the end of the night. I love mine and use it around the house as a decoration. She got them from a bunch of places like ikea, etsy, amazon so they weren't crazy expensive (definitely cheaper than a full bridesmaid bouquet).

I was in a wedding where each bridesmaid had a single rose. It was simplistic and pretty. This would be your cheapest option.

I am doing paper flowers bouquets for myself and bridesmaids,groom and groomsmen boutonnieres, and centerpieces. This is cheaper than real bouquets and they wont be dead when I get back from our honeymoon. They are a lot of work though. However I'm lucky and before I even asked for help my aunt and mother jumped on the idea and started making them.

thisismynickname2 · June 2015

I actually really like the lantern / fake (!!!) candle idea and think it would be really pretty. But, I don't think that's more cost effective than flowers. My BMs carried fake flowers (hydrangeas) and that was very inexpensive.

MollyandD · June 2015

Flowers from Sam's Club aren't expensive. I think it was about $100 for 150 roses. I made my own bouquet, bouquets for my 6 bridesmaids, and boutonnières for the men.

The lantern idea sounds beautiful, but just be aware that you can get inexpensive flowers.

FrenchHouseCat · June 2015

You can also do dried flowers, there are people that make arrangements on Etsy, or you can buy dried flowers in bulk and make yourself. You also have more time to make them since they are not as fragile or temperature sensitive as live flowers.

artbyallie · June 2015

FrenchHouseCat said:

You can also do dried flowers, there are people that make arrangements on Etsy, or you can buy dried flowers in bulk and make yourself. You also have more time to make them since they are not as fragile or temperature sensitive as live flowers.

Huh? Dried flowers are super fragile, way more so than fresh.

southernbelle0915 · June 2015

At my sister's wedding we carried single calla lilies. I don't know for sure, but I imagine this cost less than lanterns would.

emmaaa · June 2015

I think lanterns would look lovely, however, I don't think this will be more cost effective. For my SIL's wedding we all carried a single hydrangea. For my wedding, the BMs all carried a very small bouquet of 5 roses and baby's breath (I had 8 BMs) and that probably cost about $60. We ordered all of the flowers for the wedding (centerpieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, etc.) and did the arrangements ourselves.

primafaba15 · June 2015

Another inexpensive idea is just to do silk flowers. I know they look less realistic and that depends on how it goes with the rest of your decor, but it's a cheap option (maybe cheaper than the lanterns, depending on how you do it). My bouquet and all 3 BM bouquets are going to be silk. It cost me roughly $15 for each of their bouquets (3 bunches of white hydrangeas from Michaels, each) plus probably another $5 or so for ribbon (a little bit more for embellishment, but I admit I bought it in a moment of weakness and it was 100% optional).

If you wanted to spend a little bit more, Afloral.com sells pre-made bouquets. I bought mine from them for about $25 and it is absolutely gorgeous.

klk111415 · June 2015

I was going to do lanterns, but it's a day wedding... so not really appropriate. But lanterns are a cool idea, but as others have said- don't use real candles.

If you are afraid of flowers costing a lot- making bouquets is really not that expensive. I'm making mine with a couple of my bridesmaids the day before and getting the flowers from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. My friend did this and they came out beautiful.

Knottie1434490749 · June 2015

Maybe you could have your flower girls each carry a single large bloom, depending on your season and colors maybe: something like this Allium. Or even Wands with little flowers tied on?

Lanterns sound awesome, but expensive. Good Luck!

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