April 23, 2024
When my husband and I got married six years ago, I was not a DIY bride. I did not know how much flowers cost. Brad and I were the ones paying for our entire wedding. When we went to the floral consultation, I had a great deal of sticker shock. The florist was here in Richmond, VA. We were not living in Mechanicsville at that time. I remember the consultant asking me what my budget for flowers was and I had no idea what to say. After all, I had never been married before and had no experience on this journey. I had a sibling, but she had not planned any weddings before either. The consultant became somewhat dismissive and annoyed with me. She started naming prices after every item I mentioned, “Well, this is going to be this much,” and “That’s going to be this much.” Her tone was quite condescending. Even though I did not know my budget, my fiancée and I may have been willing to pay for fresh flowers had we had some preparation or education about the cost of fresh flowers. Instead, I left this big retail flower store feeling poor and like I wasn’t good enough to buy their flowers. My best friend’s mom worked as a florist for most of her life. My friend convinced me to let her mom do my flowers and to go with silk because it would be a less expensive option. Our silk flowers still cost a couple of thousand dollars without labor, but the same arrangements in fresh floral would have been at least $1,100 more.
From my own wedding planning experience, and as a florist in Mechanicsville, VA, I want to provide floral education to all of you so you do not have the same situation I experienced. So, this begs the question: DIY, Custom Silk, Silk Floral Rental, or Fresh Floral?
DIY Flowers
DIY Flowers sound fun, right? Maybe. Do you have any floral design experience? Any floral design classes? Are you generally good at crafts? Those are some things to consider when you take on your own DIY flowers. Additionally, flower arrangements, centerpieces, and bouquets all take time to do properly. Do you have the time to go to work as usual, plan a wedding, AND make your own DIY wedding flowers? Also, on your wedding day, will you have time to set these up at the venue or the church? These questions are not mentioned to deter you from DIY wedding flowers, but they are some things to consider. Interestingly, DIY wedding flowers may not even be your least expensive option given the time and energy you will also be investing.
Silk Floral Rental
Silk Floral Rental is a great option to save time and money. I have six collections you can rent from. Renting provides you with fully assembled matching arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces. Silk floral rental pricing will be about what you are still going to pay for DIY flowers, but it will save you a lot of time and energy. I offer set-up and delivery within the state of Virginia for rentals. For returns, you have the option for me to return and pick the rentals up, or for you to bring them back yourself within 48 hours of your event. At this time, I have six collections I rent from and do not customize rentals. For those local to the greater Richmond area, especially to Mechanicsville, my silk floral rental collections would be a great option for you to save money.
Custom Silk
Custom Silk flowers are when you get the flowers you want in silk and not fresh flowers. This option can be less expensive than fresh flowers. Astonishingly, at wholesale cost, silk flowers are more expensive than fresh ones. There are variable factors that go into custom silk pricing. Some people do floral arrangements as a hobby and have no training in floral design or experience in decorating for weddings. They may do a great job. The people who make custom silk flowers as a hobby or a favor do not have the same pricing structure as a business does. A lot of florists will do silk flowers though. Custom silk is an option I offer. I have very high-quality silk flowers. They look just like the real thing. In my shop, I use flower display stands to organize my silks. I have found that when people come for a consultation, the flowers appear so real that their brain tricks them into thinking they smell them! Every couple that has come to my shop goes through this moment. When I inform them all of the flowers they see are silks, there seems to be an immediate understanding that if they go with silk flowers, there is no compromise of quality or appearance. All of the pictures on my website are silk flowers unless it is under the fresh florals tab.
Custom silk flowers provide you with the flowers and colors you want and a guaranteed look on your wedding day. Cream roses will be cream. Blush will be blush. The prices and colors of silk flowers do not change much by season or flower.
Fresh Floral
Once fresh flowers are harvested from the plant they grew on, they will only look nice for a matter of time. Wholesalers import many flowers from outside of the United States. This means that flowers have to travel a long distance and still try and look beautiful on your wedding day. How do you feel after a six-hour flight? The same principle applies to fresh-cut flowers. They have traveled a long distance and may have gotten a little thrown around in the process. Florists have to condition the flowers, so they look their best on your wedding day. For example, roses are shipped in boxes containing 25 or 36 roses. The head of the roses are lined up in rows of about five, and have paper in between the rows. When they arrive at the florist, the florist must take them out of the box, remove the paper, remove the thorns, and also remove leaves according to the needs of the arrangement. While making an arrangement, the florist will cut the flower to the appropriate length. Florists put in a lot of work to get any arrangement ready for viewing but put in a lot of extra work on your wedding flowers. Due to the perishable nature of fresh flowers, florists must adjust their prices to account for this and all of the work that goes into preparing them. Hence, fresh flowers then become more expensive overall.
Budget
If you know your overall budget for your wedding, then you can estimate your floral budget. Generally, you should allow 10-15% of your total wedding budget for flowers. If you find you like more lush designs, then you allow 15-20% of your total budget.
I hope this information allows you to be a more informed bride. If you are near Mechanicsville, Virginia, and need a wedding or event florist, send me a quick email through my inquiry form! I would love to work with you!