And so you begin the fun process of preparing for your wedding day! Budgeting for this is always a nightmare as the bit you’d really like to spend the most on is the flowers.
Hand tied bouquets made with garden flowers
However, by the time you’ve booked the venue and the caterers, bought the wedding dress, bridesmaids dresses and the grooms outfit, etc etc ..the budget is looking a little depleted . What can you do with a small budget, you ask?…..well a lot , if you do-it-yourself .
DIY wedding flowers sound like it’s all going to be a mess…..don’t dispair! I’m going to help you in that process. Trust me if you spend all your budget on the flowers you are onto a winner and most of the cost in flower arranging is in labour. So here’s what you need to do…
Step One - Decide on the bridal party flowers e.g. brides bouquet, bridesmaids, buttonholes, mother’s corsages ( a larger version of a buttonholes for the Mum’s, Mum in law and any other people you want to include in the main party) . Next think about your wedding venue and what’s the minimum (table setting and the top table) and what you’d like as extras ( an archway at the church perhaps).
Step Two - On a spread sheet or paper with a grid , place all the items you need in the left hand column and then the flowers and foliage you want along the top. Fill in the amounts for each item and add up the stems needed at the bottom. See Fig 1.
FIG 1.
MY WEDDING FLOWERS
Quantity Rose Filler flower Foliage etc
Bride’s bouquet
Bridesmaids
Buttonholes
Table settings
Archway
Pew ends
Church alter arrangement
From this you can work out how many stems you need and round everything up in multiples of 10s or 20s (as you can only buy them in multiples of this at a wholesaler) and using your nearest wholesaler’s prices , work out the final cost. Dont forget to put 20% VAT on top of this.
Then you will begin to get an idea of how many arrangements you can have or substitute some of the say more expensive roses with different varieties perhaps or choose a different flower.
If you want more help with flower choice for your style of wedding or advice of which flowers would be the best choice for the season or you fancy growing your own flowers, please have a look at my workshops https://balshamhouseflowers.co.uk/flower-workshops. At my workshops , you will go home knowing exactly which flower to buy and how many! Then the pressure is off and you can get together with your Mum and her army of helpers or your gang of friends and create to your heart content. You will be so proud of yourself!
