Simple, Low-Cost Elegance: Saving on Flowers
Photo by Muffet
Before you even start planning your wedding, you probably have a good idea at just how expensive they can be. There are so many things to think about and so many things to pay for. Meanwhile, the budget is only so big. Brides are often looking for ways to cut costs without having to compromise class and elegance. Flowers can take up a big part of your budget but are also an area where you can save a lot of money giving you more cash to spend on other aspects of your wedding or to save to begin your new life.
The first thing you need to do when planning your wedding flowers is to speak to a florist. Give them your budget and ask them what is in season. Seasonal flowers won’t have to be shipped too far, making those particular arrangements cheaper.
Give your florist something to work with. Choose one or two flowers that you love and absolutely need to have as part of your wedding. Tell them one or two flowers that you can’t stand and that in no way can be a part of your big day. Once you have stated your preferences, let them take the reins. They will have the best ideas as to how you can get inexpensive flowers and you need to have some flexibility to allow them to do that.
Of course it’s easy to say to find the cheapest flowers that you can but a lot of brides don’t want to do this because they think it will take away from the elegance of the event. However, there are some flowers that are extremely cheap, such as carnations that can be done quite nicely. By snipping off the greenery from the carnations, for example, you can then place them in a square, shallow dish on the tables for centerpieces and they will look spectacular!
Choosing a venue that won’t need a lot of decorating is another way to really save on flowers. One way to do this is to hold the ceremony and/or the reception in an outdoors park or garden that will allow Mother Nature to take care of the decorating for you.
You can also plan your wedding during a certain holiday season such as Christmas or Easter. This is especially useful when you are planning to get married in a church as these venues are often already decorated with poinsettias or Easter Lilies. You can also ask at the venue to see if there will be any other weddings there that day. If there are, you can ask to get in touch with the other bride and see if she is interested in splitting the costs of the floral decorations. Many brides are willing to do this as it saves everyone money.
Although planning your wedding during the holiday season will generally save you money in decorating, there are some holidays that you may want to avoid because the price of flowers greatly increases during these times. Valentine’s Day is the most obvious holiday to avoid as retailers and florists take advantage of the abundant need for flowers. But it’s important to consider other holidays as well. The price of flowers also shoots up during Mother’s Day. Although this is not a particularly romantic holiday, it’s still a holiday where many flowers are bought and given so the price will be more expensive then as well.
It’s also important to remember that potted plants cost less than cut flowers. To save some extra cash, you may want to have potted plants on the reception tables as centerpieces and you can also ask about decorating with large potted plants. You can use these in your new home after the wedding or hand them out as favors.
Consider where your flowers will be and who will see them. You may want to spend a little more on centerpieces that will be sitting on a table all evening where people will be very close to them, but choose to spend less on altar decorations. The general rule is that large arrangements are seen from far away. For this reason, your guests won’t even notice what flowers you are using in those decorations, nor will they be looking at them for long periods of time. Consider flowers such as carnations or snowball mums that are much more inexpensive than other flowers.
It’s becoming increasingly popular for brides to create their own floral decorations. They do this by simply buying the flowers and taking them home to make them themselves. For the bride’s and bridesmaids’ bouquets, they may choose three or four simple flowers and just tie them with a beautiful ribbon.
A great idea for centerpieces is to find flowers that are very cheap and place the petals on a white or clear plate. In the midst of the petals, place any kind of candle that you love and you will have a beautiful and elegant centerpiece!
