What can I expect to pay for my Wedding Flowers?

Ocean View Estates Emma and Carlin Wedding 2019

What can I expect to pay for my Wedding Flowers?

This is one of the most common questions I get asked as a Wedding floral designer and one that really needs some explanation.  After all, for most of you it’s your first time exploring the world of Wedding flowers and most just don’t know where to begin to understand how much it costs, or in fact what you are getting for your money.  So here it is in black and white.  I hope it helps in some small way to prepare your budget and expectations in your planning journey to your Wedding Day

From the moment you reach out to a Wedding floral business, you might be asking yourself these questions.  What am I really getting for my money? Can I get it cheaper somewhere else? Can I even do this myself? Do they really understand what I want? Am I going to get what I want?  

These are all great questions and planning a Wedding is a mammoth task and can be challenging and overwhelming.  Needless to say, flowers and styling make up a huge part of your day and so you want to engage someone who really takes the time to understand what you want and to make sure you are getting value for money!

What does a Wedding Floral & Styling service do for me?

As a Wedding styling and florals business, we take the time to get to know our clients and really understand your vision for your Wedding Day. This can sometimes take hours of design and consultation work but it’s an integral part of our design process, to ensure we deliver your vision.  If it’s just floral bouquets you are after, this can take less time to work out but it generally still involves an introductory consultation, a design consultation and then a final consultation 4-6 weeks prior to delivering on your Wedding Day.  None the less, over and above the flowers, we offer ongoing support, expert advice and a sounding board to help develop the look you are after for your special day.

What can I expect to pay for Wedding flowers?

Flowers in general are expensive. Whether it’s a trip to the local market, or to the local store you can expect to pay quite a bit of money on flowers.  Generally, the best quality flowers are purchased direct from the grower or a supplier that prides itself of providing the most suitable environments and quality of stock.  

Flowers are purchased by the bunch, so to make up a floral bouquet for example you’ll generally need 5 different types of variable types of bunches ranging from greenery, florals, textures and other fillers.

The cost of these bunches for example can range from $20 right up to $35 and depending on the florals you are using can vary from $40 right up to $150 per bunch, in their raw, un-prepped state. 

Prices can also vary from season to season and specific blooms like peonies or imported roses can blow out the budget quite a bit.  The cost of the flowers alone in their raw state forms only a small part of the pricing, there are many other factors to consider in pricing to our clients.  These range from cost of materials and overheads to transportation, preparation and conditioning, design consultation, knowledge and expertise, time and labour, on-site styling and design, set up and pack down and our ongoing personalised service that’s just all part of the service.  You may be shocked but a standard Wedding can take anywhere from 15-30 hours from start to finish and the bulk of the work is done the night before.   Then there is the additional time and added costs associated with styling, delivery or set up on your Wedding Day.

Flowers prepped and ready for design

 

What should I budget for Wedding Flowers?

Pricing does vary, as most businesses have varying costs of service and levels of expertise and ways of running their businesses.  

Below are some general range of costs that will give you an idea of what you would expect to pay for certain items.  You might find some cheaper alternatives but generally, the price you pay will depend on the style, fullness, types of blooms, materials and complexity, reputation and value offerings of the business and extravagance of the creation plus any on-site set up and styling requirements and design requirements.   To ensure a good understanding is obtained this can only be ascertained through a consultation and design process.

 

(*Pricing below is a general range of pricing)

  • Bridal Bouquet $180 – $300 
  • Bridesmaid Bouquet $120 – $200
  • Buttonhole $20 – $45
  • Corsage $35 – $65
  • Table Floral arrangements $85 – $200
  • Arbour Arrangement $200 – $450
  • Bridal Table Centrepiece – $200 – $450
  • Cake Flowers $50 – $80
  • Flower Crown $55 – $75
  • Guest Table Centrepieces $50 – $250
  • Add design consultation, on-site styling, set up and pack down costs and delivery fees

As a general rule of thumb, it is recommended to set aside 10% of your overall Wedding Budget to Wedding flowers or even considering a budget of around $1500 to $3500 would be enough to have florals for your Wedding party and to create a beautiful display at your reception. Obviously this amount will depend alot on how much you are going to need! 

Has COVID increased pricing?

Absolutely it has! From freight air and sea freight issues, to flower shortages, to demand on local growers COVID has had a huge impact on the flower industry!  Pricing has increased up to 20% for some things and has affected imported roses in a massive way!  We have experienced delays, shortages, quality issues – you name it!  We are doing our best to find suitable replacements with local suppliers, but demand is high!

Ocean View Estates Emma and Carlin Wedding 2019 photography by Colin Jones Photography

How can I stick to my budget for my Wedding Flowers with my stylist?

Ensure your stylist takes the time to fully understand exactly what you want and share information about your budget.  This will ensure that there is open communication about how you can achieve what you want with the budget that you have.

If you have a rather extravagant vision for your Wedding Day florals or are looking to reduce costs, then don’t despair, there are ways you can maximise your budget to achieve the look you are going for. 

Here are 5 ways that can help you with your floral budget.

  1. Re-purpose items where possible

We are constantly looking for ways to help our clients minimize their floral budget and re-purposing is one of our all-time favourites.  A floral arrangement on an arbour can create one of the most memorable statement pieces you’ll have for your Wedding Ceremony.  We always recommend re-purposing these arrangements for your Bridal Table. With only a small additional fee, we can re-purpose this piece to create your stunning centrepiece for your reception saving you a considerable amount.

  1. Use other styling items such as lighting, fabric and metallics alongside your florals

Florals create a softness and ambience that nothing else can so combined with warm lighting such as candles and tea lights and using metallic vessels or linens and draping, which can be hired at a minimal price, you can achieve a beautiful look without the high-end all florals price tag.

  1. Choose flowers that are in season or locally grown

Request that your floral supplier uses seasonal flowers and don’t have your heart set on specific flowers. There are ways to achieve the look you are after without going for expensive blooms, so be flexible and allow your floral supplier some creativity to create with seasonal florals.

  1. Select a venue that is naturally beautiful

We love working in naturally beautiful spaces, so choose a gorgeous garden, a windswept beach, a wooded backdrop, beautiful landscape back drop or a winery and then just enhance the space with simple floral pieces that compliments the surroundings.

  1. Choose one or two “Wow” statement pieces and consider using artificial greenery and florals to create amazing statement pieces without the fresh price tag.

You really don’t have to cover every surface with flowers. Instead, employ the “less is more” tact and create a few statement pieces in key areas and reduce the budget even more by having your stylist use artificial greenery and florals with fresh arrangement on the tables.  Hanging installations, floral garden walls, bridal table centrepiece, entrance statement pieces. Just ensure your stylist has the suitable product on hand and can guarantee you a seamless integration and request to see images of their work.  We can provide combination styling using both artificals and fresh for our clients and seamless integration and as natural looking as possible is always our top priority.

Fresh gum garlands with florals at Ocean View Estates

Fresh gum garlands with florals at Ocean View Estates

 

We work with our clients to achieve the look they want within their budget

We know everyone has a budget to work towards, but if you don’t engage someone who is willing to take the time to understand what you need, provides a design consultation process, and who can understand your vision you may just end up with something that’s not right for your Wedding Day.

At Driftwood Blue Floral & Events, we take the time to get to know you and your vision, even if that vision evolves and changes over time, so that we can deliver exactly what you want! After all, it’s your day!

Our clients are our business

We do everything we can to engage positively and create trust so that we can deliver exactly what you want for a fair and reasonable price.  If you have a budget, we’ll work with you towards your budget goals. If you are unsure of your style or theme, we can help you through that too! We are with you every step of the way!

Service is our number one priority

You’ll hear back from us immediately.  Being a small business, our focus is always on you from our free consultations, hints and tips guides, to our planning checklists and accessibility and our gift wrapped wedding boxes, videos and complimentary spray canisters, we are always looking for ways to provide our clients added value.

“But it’s just a bunch of flowers”

If this sounds like you, then we probably aren’t what you are looking for, there are lots of florists around that can do that. We don’t just put bouquets together, we are in the business of helping you create the Day of your Dreams! And this means providing more than just a bunch of flowers.  It’s about your vision, your journey and yes creating the feels and at the end of it all, beautiful memories and pictures of your perfect day! After all, you might spend thousands of dollars on photography and videography, so make it worth the while and work with someone who can create your floral and design style, to best capture the essence of your day!

Styling and design businesses are everywhere these days

They really are everywhere and are mostly trying to give everything to everyone.  That’s where we are different. We love creating designs inspired by nature with an organic edge, so if you are looking for someone who can work with the natural surrounds of your venue, or bring a natural vibe and feel to your function space, we work with you on your design to achieve the look and feel you are really going for.

We don’t just provide quotes

Meeting face to face, early on in the relationship is important to us so that we can learn more about your style and discuss your ideas and possibly help with inspiration and budget goals. This way, you can get a feel for us too and we can inject some value and make you feel at ease.  Equally important is taking the time to make our clients feel like they are our highest priority through our ongoing communication and engagement.  We never leave anything unanswered and always respond as quickly as we can to any enquiries, so we are with you all the way.

And lastly we truly love what we do, it shows and our clients love it too!

Reach out to us HERE and book a free 30 minute consultation today!  Let us help you bring your Dream Wedding Day Vision to Life!

Koren & Tom 01.09.18 Ocean View Estates Bridal party native bouquets

Bridal party native bouquets
Koren & Tom 01.09.18
Ocean View Estates

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