Thinking of skipping bridesmaid bouquets?

Personally I think it is awkward to stand up there without something in my hands, I wouldn't know what to do with them. But I wouldn't think it is rude or tacky if you didn't do them. I would try looking at some other options like DIY. My sister ordered some beautiful fabric bouquets off of etsy for her wedding and I will actually be borrowing them (Along with boutonnieres and corsages) for my wedding. Good luck!

Can you ask about very small bouquets? I've seen some in pictures in Pinterest and after I saw it, I changed my mind and asked the florist to switch to these very small bouquets. It saved me about $45 per person.

They definitely would appreciate something to hold. Small bouquets of real flowers or fake flowers would suffice.

You can have them hold something else. I have seen a BP hold small lanterns that you can get $20 a pop and maybe decorate a little.

My BMs didn't hold anything. They had their hands clasped in front of them and the photos look lovely.

Also you will save money if you get regional in season flowers. Eta clarification: regional as in locally grown where they don't have to order them from a ways away.

What about a bouquet made with greenery? Or one or two flowers to give it pops of color? I definitely would not have my BM's go without a bouquet. It doesn't have to be fancy.

We did very simple flowers for our girls. Our floral bill for everything was $220. I think it would be weird without them holding something!!!

Have you considered using fake? Sometimes you can get them really cheap at Goodwill type stores or when the craft stores such as Hobby Lobby have sales.

I ordered my flowers from Wedideas Etsy shop. It was fairly cheap and they look nice!

I think you can find cheap alternatives like silk roses. I do not suggest that you just skip it. Hobby Lobby has 50% off floral stems ( Regular price is $8.99) like 1 or two times a month. Its 12 roses in a bunch. You can make something small and get some ribbon and call it a day.

I talked with a couple different florist and found out that more greenery doesn't always cut cost. We are thinking of doing something similar to this so that they are still in budget but pretty.

The last time this came up, someone suggested single flowers. Cheap, elegant, and solves the hands problem.

(I have all guys, so this isn't a concern of mine--but I really liked the single flower idea.)

We made them for my MOH's wedding. It was totally fun! After the rehearsal dinner, we all went to her house. She went to the floral mart and bought just tons of flowers. We got to pick and choose what we wanted. Her bouquet was professionally done with the same flowers and it looked amazing.

Maybe you can have a bouquet making party the night before with just your ladies!

I feel like it might be strange to not have anything for them to hold. My boss actually made it a point for her BMs to have bouquet even though she wasn't having one so it wouldn't be weird for them.

Also, I'm not sure what your flowers are are supposed to be but for 5 bouquets, our BM bouquets were only $55 each in NJ, but they were also only in season flowers. I'd say they were about medium sized. As I've seen in other weddings as well, their bouquets were then placed on our sweetheart table and around our cake during the reception. Then if they wanted to, they took them home at the end of the night. So even though they were used for about an hour (pictures/ceremony) by each BM, they were actually used all day.

All of our florals, the ones put together on barrels for the "altar" and aisle caps were also reused for the reception. Flowers were really important to me for the wedding so I didn't want to skimp on anything. I ended up saving here by making my own flower baskets for centerpieces and cutting my own vases out of wine bottles. I also asked a friend if one of her friends in the industry could look over my invoice and give me an idea if it was reasonably priced or not.

ETA: We also used flowers that are on the expensive side like hydrangeas and peonies, so we didn't need a lot of flowers to have the look I was going for since those are large.

My BM's will be holding one long stalk of hydrangea. It's simple, striking, and beautiful and it's costing me $9 per girl.

Give them flowers to hold and ideally, real flowers. I don't understand the lantern trend since it makes no sense to me. A single flower or tiny bouquet is better than empty handed or with something other than real flowers imho.

You could always have them place their bouquets in vases at the reception to double as centerpieces

I'm just getting baby's breath in bulk and then we will wrap them into small bouquets with floral tape and a burgundy ribbon. It's not gonna cost me much at all. Give them something to hold. Don't give them lanterns -- that's odd and I don't understand that trend (if it is a trend?).

Thanks to everyone ! Tons of great ideas here. I kind of like the idea of a bouquet making party. You guys are right thought it probably would look awkward,