Floral Budget?

Also, I made all boutonnières and purchased the candelabras and lanterns and will purchase petals for flower girls and extras (which in total cost about $1k

Ours was $1200 for 4 bouquets, 14 bouts, 6 corsages and ceremony arch. I did all the reception decor myself for about $300. I just couldn’t justify spending $100 per centerpiece etc.

That seems about right for cost. Actually, it is much cheaper than my florals! If you were originally quoted less by the same person, I would ask them why the price difference. It very well may be related to the pandemic.

Have you changed season? Some flowers are more expensive certain times of the year because they're not in season or something could've happened to the bloom this year since everything shut down and they could be expecting diminished supplies for the future. Mine is coming in right around $1000 for my bouquet, moh bouquet, groom boutonniere, 7 boutonnieres, 3 corsages, 4 pin on corsages, flowers for the arch, centerpieces with terrariums and fairy lights, and cake flowers.

It really depends on where you live. In Rhode Island, that’s a pretty average cost. Some may even consider that low. I’m personally taking the risk and going through fiftyflowers.com. I bought copious amounts of floral for under $1500. They have tons of tutorial videos on how to prep the flowers and so on and so forth, but it’s still pretty risky. I decided to take this route after speaking to two different florists One of which had an $8000 minimum, and the other one had a $6000 minimum. Again, this is in Rhode Island, close to Newport so it’s pretty high here. There are definitely florist that will do the job for $2500 - $3000 but in my opinion, it’s not worth it for what you get. I just can’t see spending $3000 on tiny centerpieces that look like they could’ve been done DIY.

Did your wedding change seasons? Flowers cost different amounts during different seasons. She could also have to pay more for shipping do to COVID. I would flat out ask her why it's $1000 more now.

View Quoted Comment I’m from Chicagoland area.


Boutonnières are already made and I purchased all of the lanterns and candelabras myself. I also plan to purchase the floral petals from Costco or something for flower girls and additional decor. These costs out of pocket will be close to $1200, if not more. My florist didn’t have any lanterns or candelabras for rental, so that is obviously adding onto the higher cost.
She told me that the floral we were looking into for the bridal bouquet was still in season next summer (mainly wanted peonies, hydrangeas, garden roses) but I was okay with going smaller and with different floral for the bridesmaids. I am being quoted for my larger “splurge” bouquet, 7 bridesmaid bouquets, and 4 pearl bracelet corsages. I figured at most this would cost $1k for the remaining personal floral.
I asked for 15 wreaths for the lanterns that I purchased and estimated these to be $40-$50 per and I estimated the floral for the candelabras to be about $200 (5 of them).
Thoughts?

View Quoted Comment It might be the wreaths and candelabra flowers that are so expensive. See if your florist can give you an itemized breakdown of costs.

If you were originally quoted $1,000 less, that seems crazy for the sudden increase. If you were told it depended on the flowers you chose and you've decided on flowers that are either harder to get or not really in season, I'd understand the upcharge. But if there's an upcharge because you pushed your date back, that doesn't seem fair to me.

Price of flowers varies depending on several different factors. I know peonies can be expensive too. But considering that you are making the boutonnieres yourself and you have the major decor items (lanterns, etc.), that does seem a bit high to me. I'd definitely ask the florist about the price difference and for a breakdown of costs before agreeing. I know we got all our lanterns, etc from our florist so I anticipated the cost of rental.

I would have had a mild panic attack if my flowers had cost that much. But I’m having a smaller party than you, so I’m sure that factors in.
I would definitely ask for a pricing breakdown because they should have given that to you to begin with.
Like I know my bouquet was 95 and my girls were 60 each. My FH bout is 15 and the remaining 5 boutonnières are 12 each. Our mothers are getting wrist corsages for 24.50 each. The most expensive thing we had were two garden urn arrangements for the ceremony space. And that came out to 200 including renting the urns.
If they aren’t providing with a pricing break down in your contract, I would be concerned that they could hike the prices even more.

I've read that the floral providers have had to raise prices due to the pandemic to cover costs from not as many orders. Here in LA, the large wholesale flower mart has seen some vendors having to shutter their businesses and those who are still open having less stock and older flowers since not as many people are buying. I bet your florist is quoting you higher due to this.

View Quoted Comment So I feel like I was roughly quoted a number and then all of this Covid stuff happened. I’m still waiting on a formal quote, but it was sounding like she was saying it would be $1k more. I was upfront about my budget initially, which I did explain, but financially with everything going on there is no way that the fiancé will approve spending an extra $1k or so. We didn’t have a formal quote or contract and this was someone that I used to work with, so I don’t want to burn any bridges. Just not sure what the right move to make is.

That seems like a big jump to me. We had signed a contract for the original date (and we signed an additional one for about $1000 worth of flowers for our mini-wedding) which may have influenced things, but I just checked our original contract and the 2021 one and she didn't increase our prices at all. I would definitely ask your florist for an itemized proposal so you know what you're being charged for, especially because it sounds like you'll be doing a lot of the work yourself.

View Quoted Comment

I definitely get that, you don't want to burn any bridges or anything. Maybe wait for the actual quote and see what it says. If you told her your budget, and she wrote it down, I'm sure she knows and will want to work with you. If she sends you a quote that's more than you can pay, be honest and upfront with her. Maybe she can make suggestions and recommendations on ways to cut the cost?!