When planning your wedding, did you think about how much fresh flowers would cost before you planned to have them? If not, you are not alone. However, if you want fresh flowers for your special day, you must be prepared for what they cost. The price of flowers at the grocery store or our beloved Trader Joe’s does not reflect the price you will pay for wedding flowers. If you are going to buy a new car, you have researched it through multiple sources. You know what the car costs, what features you want, and how much car you can afford. You also know that cars cost more than they used to cost.
The same should be true for flowers. You should research how much fresh flowers cost and how many you need. To do this on your own, look at the flowers in your inspiration photos. Identify the flowers. Count how many flowers there are. Then, visit your local florist or give them a call. Ask how much each flower costs individually. Be aware, the roses used for weddings are a lot larger and more expensive than the ones used in daily florist arrangements. A typical wedding rose costs about $4-$6 PER STEM at retail price. Some specific ones cost even more. After you have determined the retail cost of the flower, take that price, and multiply it by the number of flowers you counted for that ONE arrangement. Then, take EACH of the rest of the flowers in the picture and do the same for them. Also, count the greenery and filler flowers such as Monte Casino, solidago, spray roses, and so on. Add together the amounts of all the flower totals. Congratulations! You have just calculated the cost of ONLY the FLOWERS for the one arrangement. Do this for each floral arrangement you would like. How many bouquets do you need? Corsages? Boutonnieres? Centerpieces? Once you have totaled the cost of the flowers in all the arrangements, then you want to add an additional 30-50% for labor. Although this sounds tedious, this process will give you a good idea of what you might need to spend to get what you want in fresh floral wedding décor.
For example, let's look at the arrangement in the picture. There are 5 roses, 2 calla lilies, a couple of statice, some limonium, daisies, and one peony. The daisies could be 1 or 2 stems. Let's add it all up. The roses used for this arrangement were a regular white rose, not one expected for weddings. For demonstration, we will price it as a wedding rose.
Roses, $6 each x 5 | $30.00 |
Calla lilies, $7.50 each x 2 | $15.00 |
Statice, $2.50 each x 2 | $2.00 |
Limonium, $3 each x 2 | $6.00 |
Daisies, $3.00 each x 2 | $6.00 |
Hypericium berries, $2.50 each x 3 | $7.50 |
Peony, $15 each x 1 | $15.00 |
Total | $81.50 |
Design Fee 35% | $28.53 |
Total for this ONE arrangement | $110.03 |
That was just one arrangement. This is the basic way to determine your price.
Wait, you do not want to do all of that? I do not blame you. An easier method to figure out how much you ought to spend on flowers is to look at your overall wedding budget. The floral budget should usually be about 10-15% of the total wedding cost. If you find you like more lush designs, you may want to allow 15-20% of the total wedding cost. For example, if your entire wedding budget is $20,000, your floral budget should be $1,000-$2,000, or for more lush designs, $3,000-$4,000. The average amount spent on fresh floral weddings is $3,500-$4,000.
So, what do you do if you blindly meet with the florist, and you get sticker shock after reading the proposal? Realistically, you will need to either decide to increase your budget or make some concessions about what you really need. The job of the florist is to provide you with a quote based on the information you gave them and what you stated you wanted. It is not the job of the florist to change their set pricing structure so that everything you want fits into your budget. A florist can advise you on what could be changed to get you closer to your budget goal, but you must maintain an open line of communication for them to do that. Once you get a proposal, if you decide you do not want to work with them, kindly let them know in a timely manner, usually seven days. Maybe even thank them for their time. That is the appropriate, kind thing to do. Ghosting your florist after the proposal is outright rude. Do not do it, and if you do, shame on you.
As florists, we get excited about the work we do and want your special day to be beautiful, but fresh flowers are expensive and there is a lot of work involved. Be prepared for a realistic floral budget if you want fresh flowers.
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