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Cheap Wedding Flowers:
Keep Your Blooms In Budget!
As you have probably now discovered, cheap wedding flowers are three words that you typically won’t find in most florist designer’s
vocabulary.
However, there are a lot of tips and tricks for the smart, savvy budget bride (you!) when it comes to this part of the wedding.
Incorporate one, or incorporate them all - there are money saving techniques for every bride out there regardless of
your style or size of your
budget.
One of the easiest ways to score cheap wedding flowers is to choose blooms that are in
season for your area . For example, the Hydrangea
is in season during the summer out West, but not until the fall and winter in the Southern and Eastern regions of the US. You will have
to have your florist “import” them from those regions which will tack on quite a substantial sum of money to your bottom line. You can ask
your florist for a list of flowers in season by region, along with a price chart for each. Or if you are
DIYing your wedding flowers,
check out the DIY wedding flowers page to find out how to get them at wholesale.
Depending on where you have your ceremony, this next cheap wedding flower idea has a “coin toss” element to it. Having your wedding near a
holiday can either help your budget, or hurt it. For example, near Christmastime (Poinsettias, Garland, etc) and Easter (Easter Lilies,
greenery, etc.) churches and chapels are already decorated quite beautifully to reflect the religious season. Thus saving you the expense
of having to decorate for your ceremony much, or at all. However during these times flowers generally are in much greater demand thus elevating
the price for any other wedding flowers you will choose.
Additionally, during the Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day “seasons,” you can almost count on having the cost of your flowers doubling and you
will not have your church decorated for “free.” Worse than that, you may not be able to find any flowers at all. A friend of mine that chose
her wedding date as the day before Mother’s Day had to buy silk flowers for her wedding. Not a florist in town would do her wedding because
Mother’s Day is such a huge money maker for them. Definitely no such thing as cheap wedding flowers during these seasons.
Although quite beautiful and unique looking, exotic flowers such as Cymbidium and Phalaenopsis Orchids will skyrocket your bottom line.
7-10 stems of these flowers will cost you $200. Wholesale. However there is one exotic orchid – Dendrobium - that is priced as low at $139
for 60 stems. However it’s unlikely your florist will sell you wedding flowers at wholesale, so check out the
DIY wedding flowers section on how to find and make your own wedding flowers at wholesale
prices.
Phalaenopsis Orchid
Cymbidium Orchid
Debdrobium Orchid
This is a super simple super easy cheap wedding flower idea. How about carrying a single flower or a few of the same flower tied together
with a single ribbon? Long stemmed flowers such as Calla Lilies are perfect for this and it would be stunning whether you carried one or a few.
If your heart is set on a large, ornate bouquet, have your bridesmaids carry one simply done or single flower arrangements.
Double duty to the rescue! The majority of the time will be spent at the reception, therefore more emphasis
should be put on the flowers at the reception. Most people won’t even remember what arrangements you do have at the ceremony since all eyes
will be on you. Whatever your selections end up being for your ceremony, have someone transport
them to the reception so you can make the most
of your blooms.
If you choose not to have your ceremony arrangements transported, choose less expensive flowers since they will only be seen from far away.
Go green! This is one of the easiest - and prettiest - cheap wedding flower ideas. Ask your florist to add more greenery and foliage to your
bouquet as it will make the bouquet fuller and thus you won’t need as
many flowers. Additionally, the contrasting green colors make the color of the blooms stand out more and greatly adds to the affect ,
in my
opinion. Some awesome choices for cheap greenery are Bells of Ireland and Gladiolus.
Sometimes less can be more. Consider scaling down your pew decorations. Just tulle (super cheap!) and/or greenery is beautiful and
ultra chic and no flowers
are needed at all. If having blooms on your pews is a must have, think about alternating flowers every other or every third pew, etc. This is
also a great DIY money saving option.
Keeping with the spirit of less is more, if you are a bride who is dying for ginormous, extravagant centerpieces, think about doing ONE over
the top centerpiece and significantly scale down the rest.
Trust the professionals! Choose your general color scheme and share some must haves and have nots with your florist, and let him or her choose
the flowers that best fit your budget. Note – this cheap wedding flower idea is for flexible brides and you must trust and have faith in the
florist you’ve chosen to pull off a fantastic look with the budget blooms of their choosing.
Call chain craft stores and local community colleges and ask about their floral design/flower arranging instructors and classes. You can buy
your flowers wholesale online and pay this craft store or college instructor to arrange them for a fraction of what the florist would charge.
The DIY flip side to this idea is to take the classes and learn how to arrange them yourself.
Like the sources talked about on the DIY wedding flowers page,
Costco.com also
offers flowers you can buy wholesale to DIY all your wedding
flowers projects, or you can also buy packages of pre-made arrangements from them. Don’t let the name throw you off, I know of brides who have
ordered their flowers from Costco.com and were very pleased with the flowers as well as with the level of customer service they received.
Here is a super simple no brainer cheap wedding flower idea. Get rid of unnecessary items such as the cake knife “corsage,” arrangements for
the cake table and the toss bouquet. The cake table needs no additional decoration, as your cake is feast enough for the eyes.
And just like
the table it will be sitting on, silver cake cutting sets are gorgeous as is and don’t need anything extra. However, if you feel a little
decoration is necessary, try some tulle or greenery. The toss bouquet is a wedding tradition that is quickly making its way into the past
so take advantage of this emerging trend and toss the idea of the toss bouquet.
Out with big and expensive! Large, tightly composed bouquets and cascading masterpieces are a trend of the past – thankfully, because they are
super pricey. Besides, you want your flowers to accentuate your dress, not overwhelm it. Hand tied bouquets tend to be the least expensive
type of bouquet – and in my opinion the most elegant and chic style. Choosing this style over another style such as cascading or biedermeier
styles can save you quite a bit of cash.
Is having exotic flowers a must have for you? If so, consider only using them to accent bouquets or arrangements. Using all or mostly exotic
blooms will at minimum quadruple your bottom line. Bouquets and arrangements accented with exotics can still give a stunning affect yet save you
a ton of cashola by mixing with other less expensive blooms.
When scouting out your cheap wedding flowers, keep in mind that sprays have several flowers per sprig. One spray can give the appearance of 4-5
different stems. For example, if you want roses in your bouquet, go with sprays instead of single bloomed stems. Perfect way to get the most
bloom for your buck.
Compromise and improvise! Instead of flower headdresses or halos for your flower girls – bobby pin baby’s breath into her hair.
It’s super cheap, and so pretty! It's also light as a feather so she will forget it’s in her hair – unlike flower pieces that
can be heavy for young girls and usually get torn out and tossed somewhere just a few minutes into the reception.
Lie, lie and lie again. As I’ve mentioned on several of this site’s pages, the second you say “wedding,” you can count on the
price being ridiculously inflated. Get your flower items from different florists and those corsages and arrangements could easily be for a
40th wedding anniversary or 80th birthday party celebration.
If your venue is already a beautiful surrounding such as the beach or mountaintop, orchard, park or vineyard – take advantage of the
natural beauty and eliminate several of your flower arrangements. You might only need your bouquet and a simple arrangement or two as these
places need little to no enhancement.
Faux flowers are a great idea if your heart is set on a super expensive bloom. Think about alternating silk with real. Placed amongst real
flowers no one will ever spot the fake. Very clever cheap wedding flower idea!
Is it a Peony or a Rose? This is one of my favorite cheap wedding flower ideas and I stumbled upon it purely by accident.
Garden roses look A LOT like peonies yet they are much more budget friendly. Garden Roses have different “breeds” and vary in price.
The Miranda Garden Rose and Phoebe Garden Rose wholesale for around $199 for 50 stems, the Walzetraum Garden Rose wholesales for around $259
for 145 stems. Compare that to a price of $499 for 100 stems of in-season Peonies and $599 for 100 out of season stems, and it’s a no brainer.
Consider carnations. Yes, that's right, I said carnations. Although not a favorite flower of most people, myself included, this particular
cheap wedding flower idea is a brilliant one. Carnations by the stem usually aren’t much to look at, especially given the options and choices
in today’s wedding flower world. However, not all carnations are created equal and I’ve seen them in arrangements and bouquets and I was blown
away that I was looking at a carnation. Depending on the type, (there are many), bunched together in large quantities makes a stunning display.
Priced at around $1 wholesale per stem and available in all colors of the rainbow, this bloom is also a great idea for filler flowers if you
want to incorporate some more expensive flowers into your bouquet or arrangement.
Hopefully these tips and tricks have given you some great ideas on how to make the most of your wedding flower budget. The more creative
and inventive you are, the more your budget will benefit!
Related Articles:
Ideas for Cheap Centerpieces
How To Make Wedding Flowers: Bouquet Video Tutorials
How To Make Wedding Flowers: Bubble Bowl Centerpiece
DIY Wedding Flowers
Cheap Wedding Flowers
Wedding Flowers By Season
Go back up to Cheap Wedding Flower Ideas
Go back to Big Wedding Tiny Budget Home Page
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