Sunday 4 November 2012

How to Budget for your Wedding Flowers

Morning all, I'm in the process of writing a few blog posts for the next week or so, including my Campbell's Calendar.  Whilst doing this, I was thinking about how much time I've spent recently quoting for all you lovely Brides, which led me to the tricky subject of budgeting.

I very often get enquiries from Brides who have seen my designs and want an idea of how much their wedding flowers will cost them.  To be honest, this is such a difficult thing for any florist to do because every wedding is different - and so it should be!  The starting points are always the same - when, where, what type of flowers and how many.  All these factors have a huge effect on the final quotation, especially the kind of flowers you're looking for - if you were buying a car you'd have a price in mind wouldn't you? After all there's a massive price difference between buying a Mini or Ferarri!

If you have no idea about budget then have a look at Wedding magazines and blogs. Wedding Flowers which comes with Wedding Magazine is a good one - they pretty much always give an idea of the cost of bouquets, table arrangements etc and if you can, start to build up an idea of what you want to spend on flowers.  You will have an idea of what you want to spend on your venue, dress, honeymoon etc, so apply the same to your flowers.  That way, when you come to see your florist he or she can cleverly adapt your ideas to suit what you have to spend, rather than sit for hours pouring over a hot computer only to find that the consultation you've just had isn't close to being realistic!  I'm probably quite lucky, this doesn't happen to me very often at all - but it can be really disappointing for the Bride when it does. No-one wants to be the bringer of bad news and burst a Bride's bubble!

Obviously prices vary from florist-to-florist - especially if you're working with someone well-known or in a big City as their costs will be higher.  However, here are a few very rough ideas of what to expect for your money:


* A fairly modest budget is around £300.  This would probably include a simple, seasonal Bride's hand tied design, a couple of simple, seasonal, bridesmaids bouquets using the same materials, buttonholes, ladies buttonholes and possibly a few random stems in vases as table decorations.







* The most common budget I work with is around £500 - £800. For this you could expect a Bride's bouquet full of textures and gorgeous florals, several bridesmaids bouquets - possibly using different materials from the Bride's bouquet, buttonholes, corsages, a really extensive choice of table arrangements, cake flowers and/or church flowers if needed.










*If you really want to push the boat out, then expect to pay around £1,000 plus.  This will include all of the above, together with some pretty amazing extras such as a floral arch, topiary arrangements, pedestals and a whole host of specially designed items.  I've a couple next year, so watch this space for lots of gorgeous pics to tempt you!












I hope this helps give you some ideas of what to expect to spend on flowers, if you try to work out how much you have to spend before your consultation and let the florist know this, then they should try to get the absolute most for your money for you - I know I always do and working seasonally certainly helps!

Pop over to the website and download my latest copy of Inspire our style guide which gives you lots more hints, tips and ideas for your wedding flowers.

If you've any questions about costs, budgeting or sourcing seasonal flowers - do leave me a comment and I'll get back to you quick sharp!

Tx










2 comments:

Country Flora@gurgaon said...

it is really good.

Campbells Flowers said...

Thanks so much - glad to be of help!