Just received an $8K quote from the florist!

That's alot of money for flowers for one day. I think some people just be trying to get over some of of bride but some brides will pay that price for some flower but not this bride

I need to get into the bridal business, because these people are making a killing. I seriously cannot believe how expensive everything is.

That is nuts. I totally feel your pain, living in NYC. The other day a makeup artist quoted me $600 for bridal makeup. Just makeup, no hair. That would be for my makeup and trial. Bridal party not included. I was like, seriously? How ugly am I that it would take $600 worth of makeup to fix my face? Haha

Yeah thats a lot, BUT you're in an expensive city L.A with a large wedding. Everything is going to be expensive.

I hope it was for eight thousand flowers! :-P

What does that all include? Can you use cheaper flowers to bring down the cost? Or you can try to do it yourself.

Well....what did you ask for? lol

My quote was 5k for 100 people, so that seems within the realm of possibility if you asked for the same types of flowers that I did lol.

$8,000 for flowers?! That's over half my budget for everything. Glad I'm getting married in a small town...

I got an 8k quote and about fell off my chair and I'm in Chicago with no specific flowers (just color scheme). I did not go with that florist. I had quotes from 5 florist, went with the lowest who has done several family weddings. I was not disappointed.

That sounds about right for LA. We tried lowering our budget, but decided flowers are important, so we raised it back to $8500. However, we're using mostly (if not all) roses.

I would walk away!!! haha...but then again also LA is so much more expensive! I would def look around before committing to that!

Yikes, that's insane. However, depending on what you asked for I'm not entirely surprised based on your location and guest count.

Holy! I thought we were going WAY overboard with flowers and our quote was half of that for the same amount of people. I'm in New England but wow! I hope your other quote was way more reasonable.

I live in a big city, and that's why we're not having flowers. I wanted ALL of the flowers, or no flowers. Haha.

If you have 250 guests, that's probably 25 tables, which could be 4000.00 right there. If you have 5 BMs, 5 GM and you, that's another 1000 at least. Plus transport, setup, incidental flowers, corsages, ceremony decor..

Yep Lara; we're all driving Porsches because we rip off our clients. Geez, I get sick of that logic.

You invited 250 guests; what's the catering bill?

Hi - it is usually my partner who posts here... she does design with me - I do the sales, the quotes, the consults, etc. She also expresses herself a hell of lot better - haha!

Someone said they needed to get into the Bridal Business because we must be making a killing... as I type this, I have flowers for a wedding with 16 tables, 13 bouquets, 20 bouts, corsages, ceremony decor, etc. in water - so I will try to be brief (as they need to all be trimmed, for the 4th time. All 1000 stems).

Flowers are expensive. They just are. We do not get them for a quarter a stem.... the Garden Roses I used last weekend cost ME $5.75. Wholesale is wholesale, not garage sale. I assure you - we pay a lot for these stems... they are not fiftyflowers quality, they are outstanding.

We pay a lot for the floral food... and the crowning glory.. and the knives, and specialized shears for the different stems, the buckets, the cooling systems.. I could go on and on. We pay a lot for items you will never see - but they are needed to give you perfect flowers.

We spend a ton of time on every Bride before we purchase even one flower. Every time you send an e-mail saying, "I don't know, I saw something on pinterest I kind of like.. what do you think about maybe doing some of that at the ceremony?" it begins. We have to go through last years price lists and estimate how many stems of each flower we would need, where to order them from, how much shipping will be the week of your wedding... again - I could go on. After that we have to figure how many hours it will take to construct, how long to set up, how to transport them (go over a certain number and we need a second vehicle, and another driver) etc. 90% of the time we do this and then get "Oh, ok. No thanks, was just wondering."

Hundreds of e-mails, texts and phone calls... Starting a year or more prior to the wedding. If the response is not within 24 hours - complaints start.

The prep. The prep is insane. To have the stems look magazine worthy we have to get all the different varieties at different times. Peonies - 4-5 days in advance. Roses - 2 or 3 days in advance. Hydrangeas, 24 hours.. etc. They then need to be trimmed CONSTANTLY. Water changed CONSTANTLY (I hate the days of prep, can you tell? Stripping 700 roses of thorns might sound fun, but it isn't). Some stems need to be cut and then dipped in boiling water in order to keep sap from building up.... it is crazy.

Taxes. Don't get me started. We pay a lot of taxes. Sales tax, income tax... Brides never figure that into the quote, that a lot of the quote never even sees my bank account.

We do not end up rich. This wedding I am doing this weekend? We have to hire 2 extra people. They have to be paid. As they are designers - they have to be paid a decent amount. We have to purchase insurance to be at many of your venues. That insurance is not cheap.

The wedding this weekend? To date - has comprised of over 300 e-mails, 3 consults, 5 hours of driving to and from consults,.. several trips to wholesalers (and several more).... the day before the wedding I will be making flowers until 3am, and I'll start again at 5am the day of the wedding. I will not sit down until 9pm. After a wedding I am so tired I usually sit down and just stare at the wall... haha

In short - I do love what I do. But I am not rich and I highly doubt I will get rich off of this. I pay the rent, keep the lights on and feed my son. No big vacations here! But.. handing a Bride her Bouquet and having her cry (because of joy) really does feel amazing.

ETA: Plus to this business. I am always surrounded by these.... especially peonies.. just melt me... (sorry phone pic from last weekend)

Gross..... this is why i have not gone to the florist in my town.... makes me sick to my stomach to think of how much it is going to cost..

8k does sound like a lot until you consider the huge # of tables and things you need, as has been stated. Taken out of context anything can sound horrible. I would love to see you get into the wedding business. Do it for a year then come back and tell everyone how it went.

That does sound a little bit high, but it all depends on what kind of flowers and what you're asking for. Florists in my area are truly very cheap, yet do beautiful work. All of the quotes I got were about the same. FH and I are paying about $1200 for all of our flowers (16 centerpieces, flowers for the church, 8 boutonnieres, 9 corsages, my bouquet, etc.). The flowers we're using are all either in season or relatively cheap anyway. We're using ivory roses, mini plum carnations, and alstroemeria in 2 different colors (super cheap, but they're my absolute favorite flower). Try to use flowers that are in season to bring the cost down. FH and I are going to have a sweetheart table, but we plan on using my bouquet as our centerpiece. Doing that saved us from paying for another centerpiece.

Always remember ladies, when you lower your budget, you lower your standard. Expect to receive what you're willing to pay for.