Tips and Guidelines for Wedding Flower Budgets December 1, 2011

You’re planning for your big day, and you are working on your budget. How much should you set aside for flowers?

Here are tips from our experience and general industry wisdom:

1. Work with a Wedding Planner. They are organized, often have sample budgets you can start from, and not only will help you set the budget, they will also help you stay in the budget. Many vendors provide preferential pricing for clients of wedding planners as well.
2. The national average for wedding flowers is from 8-15% of your total wedding budget, depending on where flowers and decor fall in your priorities.
3. For many years, florists have followed the guideline that a good rule of thumb was to consider that 1/3 of your budget will go to the bridal party and personal flowers, 1/3 for the ceremony decor and 1/3 for reception decor and centerpieces.  A new trend when on a tighter budget and still wanting flowers throughout the wedding is to ask your florist to creatively re-purpose the ceremony decor to the reception, or planning for the centerpieces and then planning out how to decorate the ceremony with them. Some brides choose to not drop the amount they spend on flowers when doing this, instead they are spending a larger amount on fewer arrangements for a larger wow factor. When going with this second option, it is helpful to remember to build in an extra fee to hire the wedding florist to stay through the ceremony and move the flowers to the reception so that your family and friends can really enjoy and celebrate with you, be in the pictures, etc.
4. To know whether you want to adjust the average, be towards the lower percent or higher, consider these factors: How much personalizing does your venue require or do you desire? Do you want to be awash in color and texture, or are you looking for a pop of color here and there? Are you looking for a rich Hollywood look with lavish bouquets? Does your theme lead you to more simple or more lush floral designs? Do your favorite flowers include peonies, hydrangea, calla lilies, stephanotis, or tropical flowers, which tend to fall in the higher price range per stem?

Other blog posts that might interest you:

Seven Questions to Ask before Hiring a Wedding Florist

Three Tips for Maximizing your Wedding Flower Budget

Thank you to

http://www.katinaphotography.com/    http://beautyoflifephotography.com/    justinemillerphotography.com

for the wonderful photography!

List of Cost-effective to High-end Flowers for Weddings November 30, 2010

This is a basic list of flower types grouped by general pricing, to help brides not get their heart set on pricey flowers when they are on a very basic budget, or vice-versa! Please note that pricing is variable depending on the time of year.  And this pricing is based on dependable wholesalers who can be counted on to be able to get quality florals  for our brides.

The price of the bouquet is also dependent on how many stems are needed to fill out the space. Hydrangeas tend to be a much larger bloom, so you only need a few to fill the same bouquet compared to a smaller flower like a freesia or ranunculus.

High-end Flowers

Set A: Very High End
Peonies (except for a few weeks in the summer when they are in season)
Lily of the Valley
Phaeleanopsis Orchids
Heliconia
Eremerus
Proteas
Antique, Pink and Purple Hydrangea

Set B: Moderate High end – $15 per stem
Calla Lilies
Oriental Lilies including Stargazer

Set C: Wedding must purchase whole box
Gardenia (3 large or 20 small per box)
Stephanotis (25 per box)

Mid-range-priced Flowers

White and Blue Hydrangea
Ranunculus and Tulips in Fall/Winter
Spray Roses
Roses (can be cost-effective if using a lot of them and if on special)
Dendrobium Orchids
Hybrid Delphinium
Gerbera Daisies (color guaranteed)
Carnations – True Purple/Lavender
Birds of Paradise
Ginger
Anthirium
Agapanthus
Allium
Anemone
Cornflower
Crespedia (Billy Balls)
Dahlia
Bearded Iris (in season in spring only)
Lisianthus
Lavender – Fresh
Ornithalgum – Star of Bethlehem
Sunflower
Gladiolas
Chocolate Cosmos
Trachilium
Green Dianthus
Veronica
Sedum
Cockscomb
Tuberose
Heather
Asiatic Lilies

Cost Effective Flowers

Ranunculus and Tulips in the spring
Alstromeria
Button Mums
Spider Mums
Larkspur
Delphinium – standard (shorter)
White and yellow standard Daisies
Bells of Ireland
Gerbera Daisies in a mixed color box (we can get on special – can’t guarantee colors)
Carnations, except the true purple/lavender
Blupereum
Stock
Iris
Hypericum
Safari Sunset
Lavender – Dried
Liatris
Queen Anne’s Lace
Riceflower
Phlox (in season)
Wax Flower
Babies’ Breath

We are committed to assisting you in making the best decision for the look you want and where you are happy with the cost as well.