What is expensive and what is reasonable? (Florist)

This is what I want:

tight white rose bridal bouquet with some blue orchids

4 tight white rose bridemaids bouquets

1 flower girl basket

maybe kissing balls(not sure yet)

8 white rose boutonnieres and 1 white rose with blue orchid

2 corsages

flowers down the aisle

flowers to decorate gazebo

2 columns with flowers in a vase

I have approx 200 guests so I think flowers on tables for 34 tables

I want babys breat submerged in a vase on the escort card table

simple white rose petals around the cake

bouqet toss

white rose small floral arrangement as centerpieces for about 34 tables

Did you florist give you a "total price" for everything you want?

Our florist total cost is $1050 and some change.

This includes:

My bouquet all white roses and black feathers and a few vintage broaches(both of which I supplied)

4 BM's boquet all of them are miniture versioms of mine.(again, I supplied the feathers and broaches)

8 Boutonniers for FH, his guys, both dad's and his grandfather.

5 corsages's for both mothers and 3 grandmothers

No flowers needed for our ceremony....our venue provides thems FREE

Reception:

200 guests aprox 20+ tables

They will alternate between 3 leveled vases each with a single flower and a floating candle and then the others will be a low bowl filled with water and flowers.(I think...I already forgot what he said)

FREE throw away bouquet and our florist stays untill I physically walk down the aisle. He fluff's my dress, makes sure everyone has flowers and they look good then he's out.

We paid over 2000.00 for fresh flowers. orchids were our main flower and they were 6.00 per stem so that can get expensive. make sure your florist is willing to cut back and re adjust if it over your budget, most are good to work with.

here is a pic of my bouquet it was 150.00 i think that is an average price

We had two bridal bouquets, one MOH bouquet, and one bout, and the total was just under $250 (including delivery). The minimum price your florist would charge for this would be $355, even without the delivery fee. We also paid $25 for enough freeze-dried rose petals to scatter on 10 large tables (a mixture of 5' and 6' rounds), a cake table, and the cake. Your florist is charging $5 per cocktail table, which I would assume is much smaller than one of our tables. So this seems a bit high to me.

However, prices vary a lot depending on a) your geographical area, b) what flowers you are using, and c) how much labor is involved (e.g., hand-tied bouquets are much less than fully wired ones). So I would check out a few florists in your area, and find out what they would charge for the items you want, then compare.

(cont.)

If prices are still too high, you might tell them your budget, and see whether they have suggestions for getting your total cost within that budget. For example, my DIL originally wanted peonies, but they were very expensive. Ranunculus, which look similar, were much less expensive.

You might also consider reducing the quantity of flowers. Aisle runners are not really necessary, and are most dramatic when viewed from behind where the guests are sitting--which means your guests will never get the full effect if the aisle runner is rolled out just before the processional starts. And if it's rolled out before that, you either have guests dirtying the runner by stepping on it, or guests having to walk around to get seated without stepping on it.

You could also reuse some flowers. For example, altar flowers, urns and columns filled with flowers, and even bridesmaids' bouquets might be reused as reception decor.

(cont.)

You might consider submerged flowers for your centerpieces. The water tends to increase the apparent size of the flowers, so you can often use just one stem for a centerpiece.

Finally, you could consider nonfloral decorations. For example, candles, bowls of fruit, poms, etc. can be used as centerpieces in lieu of flowers.

I think your pricing is spot on in your locale. Cate bought her flowers at Ways Green in Chadds Ford. We were very disappointed in this highly rated florist. The roses were old.

The total cost was about $1K. That did not include any centerpieces. Her venue provided those.

Bridal Bouquet – Ivory – Hand tied – Pink Hydrangea, Vendela Roses, Sweet Eskimo Roses, Pink Wax flower Mini Variegated Pitt throughout and collaring, White Sweet Heart Roses in place of the Stephanotis

$175.00

MOH & BM– 9 Vendela Roses and 3 Sophie Roses. No Greens.

5@ $50.00

Groom – Vendela Rose tree fern w/ Pink Wax flower

$9.00

GM & Ushers – Sophie Rose tree fern

6@ $8.00

MOB– Wristlet – Valerie Sweet Heart Roses w/ Purple Filler.

$35.00

Step Father – Valerie Sweet Heart Roses w/ Purple Filler.

$10.00

FOB– Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses w/ Filler

$10.00

Step Mom – Pin on Corsage of Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses w/ Filler

$30.00

MOG– Pin on Corsage of Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses with filler

$35.00

FOG – Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses w/ Filler

$10.00

(3)Grandmoms – Pin on Corsage of Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses w/ Filler

$45.00

Grandfathers – Eskimo Sweet Heart Roses

2 @ $10.00

Ceremony

Kiss of Peace Roses

2 @$15.00

Blessed Mother Presentation

$15.00

Reception

Toss Bouquet - $35

Decorate the Cake - $125

I think your price is pretty accurate. Here's my cost and what is included:

$384.00

1 bridal boquet of peonies, roses, spray roses, ranniculus & stock

1 Grooms Bout roses

2 mother's corsages

2 fathers bouts

1 single rose for in memory

2 old fashioned glass milk jars filled with daisy's and 1 large gerber daisy

2 sprays for the candel labras with stock, gladiolas and hanging amaranthus

Delivery & set up

I am also doing a mixture of silks & feathers for the rest of the BP which includes

1 MOH

3 BM

1 Best man

3 Groomsman

3 Jr. Groomsman

1 Jr. bridesmaid

1 flowersgirl

cost $225.00

Total floral cost $609 and I really had to stretch it and search because i am not of a fan of silk but this girls does amazing work and uses the highest quality you can find that they look so real you wouldn't even know it.

These are her silks!

Shana, those prices are very reasonable, in fact some of the prices are way low! You most likely won't need breakdown unless you are renting big glass vases....I never do breakdown (but do be aware that you as the bride/groom are responsible for cleaning up the venue including getting all those flowers out of there!).

Carole M, your daughter's bouquet is gorgeous! In what way were the flowers "old?" They look like open garden roses, to me, and lovely. Did they shatter, during the ceremony/reception?

That's a really tough one... We budgeted for 2000$ but it ended up being only 700$ because our flowers arnt expensive. I needed 20 arrangements for tables with babies breath and white hydrangea five bouquets including mine with babies breath and hydrangea mine had some blue delphinium Bella Dona and two large arrangements for the isles too go on top of the wine barrels and a few bunches of white roses we are hanging in the willowtrees. And of course MOB and MOG corsages. The men arnt wearing flowers they choose not to and I'm cool with that! I was blown away by the price it was the first thing that's come under budget! All depends

Wow! Thanks so much ladies!!

Good post, i am totally lost on this as well. We are meeting with a florist tonight. We have to use one of the florists associated with the venue which means they most likely will raise the price considering i have no other option. We dont want anything crazy either as i feel flowers are a waste. We were thinking something like this which i cant see being too expensive:

Since cost is a concern, you might wanna consider having less tables. For 200 guests, you don’t need 34 tables. That would mean you need 34 centerpieces, which then equals $1,700 in centerpieces alone for the $50 low centerpieces. I would suggest you cut the amount of tables needed to maybe 20 tables. That would be 10 per table. But then again, since you still have time to get a confirmed guest count, your table numbers could go down or they could go up. I would also be concerned about all of the extra fees the florists is charging for 35%labor/delivery/set up fee & 6% tax & 250 fee for breakdown. That seems like alot to me and will definitely inflate your flower budget. Why are they charging you another $250 on top of the 35% for labor/delivery/set up? Personally, that seems like that's alot of extra money being thrown away.

@Vanessa R. that centerpiece is so beautful! @ Mrs. B to be I agree about the extra charges and Im thinking of maybe seating 8 at a table instead of 6. Money isnt really a concern too much, I just dont like OVER paying for something..if that makes any sense. I dont really want to cut out on what we want, just dont wanna over pay for it either