Florist Consultation Questions

Looking at the per piece pricing of the centerpieces, I can see how they got to the $4K mark. First of all, the very best way to approach a consult is to be upfront with your budget. That puts the burden back on the florist. If you told him that you had $2300, for example, he then has to do some research and pricing. I tell every bride the same thing -- it will only lead to confusion (and possibly a bad case of sticker shock) if you just tell me what you want without telling me how much you want to spend.

If you want to get that $4K number lowered, consider doing seven of the expensive centerpieces and seven more modest coordinating centerpieces. You can even do it in thirds if you want -- five large, four low, and the other five can be tall cylinders with submerged callas that you do yourself. We do a mixture all the time (last week's wedding was 6 cylinders with red hydrangea, Freedom Roses, and curly willow with the other 6 tables had 2 or 3 smaller coordinating arrangements on the tables).

Flowers can be crazy expensive! I was really surprised when I saw how much some brides were being quoted. I'm glad I read about it beforehand, though, because then I didn't have sticker shock when we did our florist consultation last week. Our price comes to $2168.61 and here is the break down (I have a small bridal party of two BMs, one Maid of Honor and one Matron of Honor and my FI has two GM and one Best Man):

Bridal bouquet (dark blue hydrangea with ivory rose) $150

Bouquets for my bridal party (white hydrangea only) $60 each so $240 total

Boutonniere for the groom (white rose, dark blue delphinium, jasmine vine) $20

Boutonniere for the GM and the friend who will be escorting me down the aisle (white rose only) $12 each so $60 total

Honored ladies: pin on corsage with white spray roses and blue delphinium $85 total for three corsages

We're having ivory rose petals covering the entire aisle that I'll walk down so that is $250. Then I have 6 centerpieces of dark blue hydrangeas in a tall cylinder vase and those are $150 each, so $900 total. Then for the flowers that we'll have on our cake (dark blue hydrangeas again) it's $80.00. We have a set up fee of $200. Plus tax, which brings us to a grand total of $2168.61. We were able to cut costs by having fewer floral decorations in general - for instance, we won't have any floral decorations on the chairs during the ceremony and we won't have any floral decorations on our wedding arch.

I thought about using something else for our centerpieces during the reception but decided on flowers when I saw how far below our budget we were. If you're trying to cut corners and you're creative, maybe use silk flowers for some of it? I've also seen where some brides just buy flowers from the local grocery and make their own bouquets and boutonnieres.