DIY Bouquet vs. Bouquet from Florist

I used Bridesign for my bouquet sets when we planned to have our wedding in August. I couldn't cancel my order by the time we postponed and they got delivered anyways. I got the 7 piece set for $240 and I loved them! Going with them saved me a good $500 if I used a florist and I actually went to Michael's to assemble them and although it was about $200 just to buy the flowers (minus ribbons and other decorations) I find it is better to go with Bridesign or a florist. You are able to negotiate with them on what you want and what they can offer you. It's already a hassle to choose flowers and how you want them arranged, it's another to be the one actually assembling them. It's a matter of cost or time. Which do you prefer to give away?

Also, because they couldnt cancel my order and the delivery of them, they are giving me a 30% discount on my next order for our new wedding date! They are quality flowers and they take such good care of them during the shipping. They lasted two weeks!!

I think you should keep looking, maybe you can fin some good deals..In my case I found a package of roses, bride bouquet,6 bridesmaids bouquets,6 boutonnieres, 6 corsages, 2 floral arrangements for church and 6 mini center pieces for like cocktail hour or to decorate the aisle at the ceremony, for $500.. I though It was a good deal..Good luck!!

I don't know how *many* flowers your ordering, but I think that sounds fair. I think it will be more of a pain to DIY the flowers. You'll need flowers, buckets of water, ice, floral tape, floral shears, floral pins, twine, ribbon, and a ton of patience. And keep in mind that you can only do all this within *days* of the wedding. Unless you're doing a single bouquet, I don't recommend the DIY route for flowers.

Trust me. I tried making my own bouquet once as a dry run. I had to buy all this floral equipment and it was a complete pain. Never again.

I was thinking I would rather just order them already arranged - I just didn't want to spend extra money on flowers if doing it myself could save me a fair amount of money and not too much of a hassle. The $800 includes my bouquet, four bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres for all the guys, some corsages, and the flower girl petals. I think it's a reasonable price, just wasn't sure if there were cheaper options. Thanks for the advice girls and Breja thanks for sharing your experience with Bridesign - I was somewhat nervous about ordering flowers offline but your experience is encouraging!

Yes, I truly was skeptical of them too but to be honest, I found them on WW The rep that helped me out even emailed me places to get flower spray paint because I wanted Callas in a nice deep purple color, and they had Mini Callas that were not dark enough. She called me when she told me she would and helped me though each step. Flowers arrived on time and they call to verify if they arrived or not and how they looked. If one of them are damaged, they overnight new ones. I was highly impressed and I can't wait to reorder my set.

I originally was planning to just buy flowers at Trader Joe's or wherever and make bouquets (I only needed three, for me, MOH and BM; I was going to have the younger girls carry single blossoms). I'm pretty crafty and didn't think I'd have a problem. Fortunately I'm also a planner so a year before the wedding (so that I'd know what flowers would be available at that same time the next year) I got a couple of bunches to do a test bouquet with. Turns out I SUCK a making bouquets!! I checked out how-to videos, instructions, etc...and it is just not where my talents lay, apparently. The flowers were not good. So if you're thinking of making your own, do a test enough in advance that you can go with Plan B if needed.

I'd visit some florists to get prices in your area. I liked talking to them in person and know I'm not crafty enough to do my own..I only am paying $232 for my bouquet, 3 BMs bouquets, grandma's corsage, and 5 bouts, 20 single flowers for pew. Although my area is a lil cheaper for wedding things, but not that much..also to me budget was more important than adding in all these really expensive flowers..we are doing hydrengeas and roses mostly.

Flowers are the one thing I am really not trying to "save" money on. I am actually taking floral classes and I possibly COULD arrange them but to get a really good and STURDY bouquet it just takes a lot of time and IMHO a very good person that has an attention for detail. It can be stressful and that is NOT something I want to stress about. My florist was one of the first things booked. I know they have quality flowers because I have gotten from them before.

At first I thought I could.. but.. in the end I am going with a local florist. Shop around and really talk to the florists some will find you a better deal then you EVER could find online.

Good luck!

I did mine, and I'm fairy crafty. Unless you've got a very simple design in mind, start pricing out florists. Mine were horrible.

A good florist will be able to work in your budget if you're flexible; you don't want to be playing wirht fresh flowers the day before your wedding.

I went to my florist with an $850 flower budget. I got all my bouquets, bouts, corsages, ceremony flowers and half of my centerpieces for that price. I decided to make the other half of my centerpieces w/o flowers. I knew I couldn't afford to have all flower centerpieces but I really love fresh flowers so I went half and half. I'm doing a simple clear glass vase with fresh lemons in them with a charcoal gray ribbon around the top or bottom of the vase. I'm going to put votives around both the flower and lemon centerpieces. Simple, pretty and cheap. My florist worked within my budget and got me some great flowers. If you don't have crazy unrealistic ideas, I think a florist and can work within your budget and it's one less thing you have to worry about. My florist even offered to take my centerpieces that I'm making with hers and set them up. I say to talk to a couple florists before you make a decision. Good Luck!!

Check with as many florists as you can! I've been checking out a lot of florists over the past couple of months, and have been in shock over how much they want to charge. I was set to order wholesale until yesterday morning when I found a florist who was willing to give us a fantastic deal.

My bouquet will have yellow dahlias, ranunculus, yellow cremon, and yellow freesia (not exactly the cheapest flowers), and the florist is only going to charge $125 for it...other florists quoted me at $200 and up for the same thing. My BMs will have dahlia and billy button bouquets, and those are only going to be $35/each. FH will have a dahlia bout for $19.50, and GM will wear yellow freesia bouts for $16.50/each. Everything will be professionally put together, properly stored, and delivered for under $500.

For fresh flowers, it would be more worth it to just look around for a florist. With fresh flowers, you can't really make anything until the day before. Thats why they are so expensive.