budget wedding-DIY flower bouquets

[DVCBELLE]

I did the flowers for my brother's wedding - I had no experience and it was so easy - I actually had people asking about them and where we got them...

We bought them from Costco - call and ask them about it - we were able to order whatever we wanted from them and then just went the day before and picked them up. The price was amazing.

I made very simple rose bouquets but I did a trial run with a bunch of different flowers and it was so much fun! The knot is a great place to go and read about it - so many girls do their own flowers on there and take step by step photos of what to do!!

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I know people who have DIY'd their own flowers for their weddings and other large parties. Some of them went with floral wholesalers others bought their flowers in bulk from either Costco or Sam's Club and got good deals on them.

So those are the options I'd look into. There are some very simple and beautiful ideas with hydrangeas or tulips. There are thousands of simple floral arrangement ideas you can find on line.

Good luck!

 

[smokeyblue]

My mother is a master florist. She has saved at least three weddings at the last minute because the bride thought they were going to do their own flowers. I remember when I was in high school one bride coming over in tears at 10p.m. with a box of trashed flowers! I don't know how, but my mom was able to salvage what looked like a box of garbage.

I'm not saying you can't do it . . . but you need to have a very good plan. Be prepared for anything! My mom doesn't do fresh at her shop, but does fresh for weddings and proms upon request from very good customers. She doesn't have a commercial fridge or a regular wholesaler. She usually calls the wholesaler tells them what she needs, what day she needs it and arranges to meet near one of their flower shop deliveries. She takes all the shelves out of the fridge and puts all the flowers in a 5 gallon bucket with water in it. She usually does the flowers the night before and does the finishing touches the morning of before delivering.

I'd make sure to check out what temp is appropriate for your particular flowers and test your refrigerator to see if it's keeping the right tempurature.

Good luck to you!

 

[KibbyCat]

Not about flowers
For a budget wedding, we hired a photography professor from a local college to take pictures at our rehearsal/wedding, His rate was about 20% of what the average professional was asking, and he gave us all the film to process ourselves. (This was of course before digital photography, but someone looking to save money on wedding photos today could hire a professor/student that will give you the images on a disc or thumb drive or memory card/stick.)

Just inquire at your local university or community college.

 

[meriface11]

i did the flowers for my wedding.

i bought about 500 roses from a local market, and some large bouquets of wildflowers for arrangements for the church.

i bought short bowls for about a dollar each at AC Moores for the centerpieces.

the morning before the wedding i picked up the flowers, and my now DH, MOH and I stripped the thorns off the roses and made the centerpieces--just bunched them together tight and tied them with wire and tape. left them i a very air conditioned room all day and overnight. my MOH;s DH was kind enough to drive them over from the room to the reception hall and put them all out on the tables during cocktail hour. we left the roses for the bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages in the buckets.

the morning of the wedding we got up early (i couldn't sleep anyway) and did the bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages while we were getting ready in my suite. again, just did tight bunches wrapped with wire and tape, and then ribbon. i had hair and makeup done for me and my girls in my room, so we didn't have to worry about going to the salon. it was fun, they came out nice, and the total cost for all of my wedding flowers was a few hundred dollars. i'm not really a flower kind of girl, so this was not an area i where i cared to spend a lot of money. my mom was really worried they would look back, but she was pleasantly surprised. no one would have guessed we did them ourselves. it would have cost me maybe $2000 to get the amount of arrangements i needed through a florist--we had 15 tables, 7 bridesmaids, my bouquet, 8 groomsmen, DH, and boutonnieres and corsages for both sets of parents.

 

[englishteacha]

We went to a local flower shop for our flowers. For about $150 we got 3 bouquets (one for me, 2 for my 'maids), 2 fancy boutineers for my DH and his best man, and then 3 fancy corsages for the moms. Our dads and brothers, and all our sisters (5 men, 5 women) had corsages and boutineers, too, but with less expensive flowers. We also rented silk arrangements for the church. Our flowers were gorgeous, and real, but we gave the florist some leeway in what she designed. I wanted daisies and wildflowers in the bouquets, and I had a few roses in mine. The moms' flowers and DH's and best man's boutineers were daisies with a rose. Because we weren't too particular, they were able to really keep the flower cost low. My bouquet was $25, the maids' $15 each. They were tied with ribbon rather than put in a plastic holder. They were really, really beautiful and we were thrilled with what we got for the money. They were prettier than I'd envisioned.

I thought of doing them myself but as we did everything else ourselves (very, very budget), flowers were something I was willing to pay for. I think we did amazingly well for $150!!!

Oh, on our centerpieces we had fresh daisies from my sister's yard in tiny white vases we borrowed from the church. Not fancy at all, but pretty and very, very easy. My family all helped trim them and put them in vases. It didn't take much time at all, and the flowers were free! If there hadn't been daisies available for free, I was willing to buy them at the grocery store. There just wouldn't have been as many in each vase.

 

[marie1203]

My grandma did my bouquet because she really wanted to do it. She has been part of the gardening club for over 20 years so it wasn't a big deal she also made the flowers for the church over 1500 calla lilies (we got a great deal because my step-mom works importing flowers).

Sorry they looked tilted is just the angle of the picture .

 

[smokeyblue]

But, hey, I loved my cheap flowers!

OP, sounds like you've gotten lots of great advice. Good Luck. I really enjoyed creating our own arrangements.

How tacky! I really hope you can live with yourself!

My mom has done many "fake" wedding flowers and looking at the pictures you would never know.

There are fake flowers out there that you wouldn't know they weren't the real thing unless you touch them. I can't believe some of the artificials my mom gets, they are absolutely "lifelike".