Why are flowers so darn expensive?

My flower budget was $5000 but once I realized how expensive they are we bumped it up to $7K we found a florist for $6500. One florist quoted us $10,000 omg I almost died after reading that one lol.

I wouldn't mind paying that , the quotes I when getting are between $22k and more.

If you shop around you can definitely save. We had quotes all over the spectrum. One place wanted $10k for the most basic of arrangements and the owner almost caused DH to lose it when he said it would cost $2000 to build an arch that DH could do himself for $200. Eventually we found a wonderful florist who created jawdroppingly beautiful arrangements for a fraction. The big plus was she doesn't charge by the stem. I've since used her for everything from funeral condolences to office thank yous. Find someone who maybe doesn't have the big name but has the skill to do what you want. Good luck!!

If memory serves me correctly you are having a huge wedding, a little more than double my guest count so your number sounds about right .....

Once you add "Wedding" vendors the price triples.

OMG those flowers quotes are so expensive!!! We are using flowers that are in season and our florist quoted us just under $1000.

Flower prices are nuts! I think that spending tons of $ on cut flowers is a waste. I always thought that. Very early in our relationship, I told FH that if he wanted to get me flowers, please DON'T. He's always bought me potted plants instead.

So, for the wedding, we had NO budget for flowers. We're having the wedding in our garden that's full of green plants & flowers. We thought spending way too much $ on flowers when we have so many already would be really silly.

Then I thought more, & in an effort to make the backyard look more like a wedding that day, I decided to just do baby's breath as the wedding flower. It's white (that says "bridal" to me!), it can look really elegant if arranged well, & most importantly, it's CHEAP! I'm getting 3 tightly packed bundles of baby's breath that's 15 inches across for $15 each. Those bundles can be fluffed up and expanded to three feet across if I wanted huge arrangements, but for $45, I'm sure I have plenty for what I'm wanting to do.

Our entire wedding was under $10,000, so there was no way we were going to pay thousands just for flowers. At the same time, since we were arriving at our ceremony location the night before the ceremony, we didn't want to spend a lot of time on DIY flowers. We ended up paying a little under $300 for two bridal bouquets, a MOH bouquet, a bout, and some freeze-dried flower petals to scatter on tables at the reception. All our other ceremony and reception decorations were nonfloral.

@Andrene: I have called almost every florist (high-low end).

@Eughinia: The guest list is under control now . I'm doing 3 different centerpieces to save a few dollars.

I have been getting quoted $125 or more for that little centerpiece below.

22k is more than my whole wedding...My flowers are $1800 for ceremony and reception, way too much money for me, but I will get what I want!! Im sure you can find cheaper places!!

I wanted to add (but didn't have enough room in my previous post), that my circumstances are very different from most brides. Baby's breath might not be the right look for their venue, or even what they want.

My friends who have had wedding recently have saved lots of $$ by getting their roses and lilies bulk and wholesale and doing arrangements themselves. I believe my last friend who got married got all her flowers at Costco. I think in this particular instance, DIYing flowers might save you tons of money if you feel you can achieve the look you want. Good luck!

That notion that 'wedding' makes everything more expensive isn't really accurate. There is a vast difference between ordering five centerpieces to be dropped off for a birthday party and decorating for a wedding. The scale is different; the gravity of the event is different.

If flowers aren't a priority, it's not where you want to spend your money. For other couples they are; maybe the invites aren't so important.

We are doing a mixture of highs and lows, our lows are $150 and our highs are $250. Maybe play around with the flower choices to get more bang for your buck. Tell them what you are willing to spend and see what they can come up with and still be close to your inspiration.

If you've called every florist it's time to adjust your design. Figure out how much you are willing to spend and then have them tell you what they can give you for that price. You just may find someone who comes up with something even more beautiful than your original design.

Wow, that's a ton! I am in the same boat as Stephanie W., only paying around $1000 but I was expecting it to be a lot more so I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. More money for the honeymoon fund!

Yea I'm thinking about scaling down on the ceremony flowers. Since we will only be there 30-45 minutes tops. Still waiting on some quotes !

OMG! 22k? 7K? And I thought mine were expensive lol...I feel better now. I am only paying 800 and honestly only wanted to spend 600, but I can handle the price.

Tiffany, what exactly did you ask for? Maybe we can help you scale it down.

Wow! these prices are high..i was crying over $895.00!...but my price will be cut down...i'm waiting on 2 more quotes...one quote i received yesterday was $350.00 which is a little better but hopefully the other quote will be less than that..

I wouldn't spend a lot on ceremony flowers unless they can be used at the reception too. Lots of my couples use columns down the aisle with the centerpieces on top, and then they are moved to the table.