One of the most important aspects of a beautiful wedding is the flowers. Depending on the bride's final choice, they can be quite expensive. Fortunately, there are ways to save money on this expense and still create a lovely atmosphere. Here's the answer to how to have your wedding on a shoestring budget and save money on wedding flowers.
One of the best ways to save money on flowers, for a wedding, is to choose those that are in season. It should be quite obvious that because they are readily available, the cost will be less. Seasonal flowers usually reflect the colors of the season as well. Pastels are spring, primary colors are summer, gold, red, and purple are fall, and red, and white are winter. Carnations, roses, chrysanthemums are available all year long at budget prices.
Flowers can be ordered online at near wholesale prices. Keep in mind most wholesalers sell the flowers in a tightly budded stage so allow a few days for the flowers to open in a warm and light area. The flowers have to be kept watered of course so find an assortment of buckets you can use.
Choosing an outdoor location will sometimes enable a couple to save money on flowers, for this joyous occasion. Depending on the specific location, natural flowers and foliage may well be an added perk. (Hint: many botanical gardens allow weddings to take place on their premises.)
Smaller weddings usually require less pomp and circumstance. A relatively compact location and fewer guests can mean the need for fewer flowers and other decorations.
Instead of cut flowers, use potted plants. Plants such as African violets and even cacti (for western themed weddings) can be dug up and potted, specifically for the occasion. Afterwards they can be used to decorate the home. If you're planning a spring or summer wedding, consider buying flowering plants from a plant nursery. Or from a big box store like home depot. The choices and colors available are staggering.
Choose a bridal bouquet that is held together with ribbon, as opposed to being hand wired. This will save money because it is less time consuming to create. Another alternative is to choose an exotic bloom like orchids or calla lilies and carry just one stem or spray.
It is important to note that ALL flowers will cost more during the Valentine's Day season and the week preceding Mother's Day.
Another way to save money on wedding flowers is to use candles as a focal point. This is a good choice when more expensive flowers will be purchased: fewer flowers are needed. Ribbons and bows can be used to replace flowers as well.
Keep these ideas in mind and you'll know how to save money on your wedding flowers.
For my own wedding, I chose to go this route, and I found that there were several things I could have done differently to make the process easier. Here are a few quick tips for doing your own wedding flowers on a budget.
First, start looking for a wholesale flower distributor early in the process. Make sure that you are allowed to purchase from them, as many wholesale distributors only sell to businesses with a tax ID number.
Second, start practicing with real flowers as soon as you can. I recommend that you choose flowers that are easy to work with, such as roses or other flowers with a defined head shape and sturdy stem. I chose Alstromeria as my main flower and found that making bouquets and centerpieces was difficult because the flowers were delicate, had lots of greenery and had weak stems.
Third, ask for help from people around you who are artistically inclined. I had virtually no artistic ability and heavily relied on my mom who is very artistic! She did a fantastic job and I never would have been able to do this project without her. I also recommend that you get help from as many people as you can who are interested in helping. You never know who will be the floral-savant of your inner circle!
Last, I would make sure that in the long run, doing your own wedding flowers is what you really want to be doing the day before or the day of your wedding. I found the process to be very stressful, not because the task of doing flowers was difficult, but because I had so many other things on my mind. Also make sure that you have some sort of back-up plan in case some of your designs don't turn out exactly as you had hoped. We purchased extra boutonnieres the morning of the wedding to replace some that I had made that didn't turn out quite right!
In general, if you plan to design your own wedding flowers, take these tips and measure the amount of work and time you will need to spend against the other things you have to do the day of your wedding. Your wedding should be fun, and if last-minute tasks are too much to handle, you may find yourself wishing you'd hired a wedding florist instead!
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