Following on from our recent posts about wedding flower costs and averages, I thought it might be helpful to do a quick summary of example wedding flower budgets and what you can expect to receive from us within your budget.
There is a lot of flexibility when it comes to sorting through a budget for your wedding flowers. It’s important to know, as a couple, how important fresh flowers are for your wedding day – you may feel flowers aren’t a central focus for your day or you may feel your flowers are ‘the thing’ that will bring your unique day to life. Also, give some consideration to your venue: does it need the additional decor florals provided or is it a beautiful venue itself and you don’t need to go over the top?
As a good rule of thumb, we suggest your floral budget account for 10-15% of your overall wedding budget. If, on the other hand, you are looking for Pinterest-worthy, abundant design, we would suggest allocating 20-25% of your total wedding budget. Most of our couples spend between $3,500-$7,500 but some spend less or budget more based on their preferences. Remember, it’s your day and the day should reflect your taste and style.
Below is by no means a complete list. Like everything else wedding-flower-related there are so many ‘what ifs’ and ‘except this’ scenarios. The following is meant to be a rough guide to help you plan which items could be covered within your price range.
Under $2000
- Most often, this will allow for a bridal bouquet, a few bridesmaid bouquets as well as buttonholes for the groom and groomsmen. Depending on the number in the bridal bouquet, it could account for buttonholes and corsages for a few additional family members
- If you are having a very intimate wedding and no bridal party, it could account for your bouquet, a buttonhole as well as a small feature installation at the ceremony or reception
$2000 – $5000
- Depending on the size of the bridal party, this will cover all personal flowers (bouquets, buttonholes) as well as allow for some table decorations at the reception. We would suggest smaller arrangements on each table or a collection of bud vases and feature blooms that fit within the budget
- Or, instead of table flowers, this could allow for a large feature at the ceremony (perhaps an archway with florals) or the reception (perhaps a hanging foliage installation with a few pops of flowers throughout)
Alternatively, if you’re bridal party only includes two additional people, this budget could allow for a ceremony feature element as well as a reception installation. We could then look at using candles to decorate the tables instead of flowers.
$5000 – $8000
- This budget could cover the personal flowers as well as a feature element at the ceremony and the reception. It can also cover smaller table arrangements or bud vases for table decoration as well as candles.
- Or, if there is just one of either a ceremony archway and/or reception installation, there will be the budget to cover our standard-sized table arrangements.
$8000 – $15,000
- This price range falls within our typical full-service wedding – most often this includes personal flowers, a ceremony floral feature, an installation at the reception, as well as flowers and candles for the tables.
- Having said that though, if we are building a custom ceremony element (i.e. chuppah), this budget may only account for personal flowers, the ceremony feature and a few touches at the reception.
Over $15,000
- With this budget, we are often looking at a collection of personal flowers, large statement/impact pieces at the ceremony (for example, urn arrangements or an archway PLUS aisle flowers OR a feature chuppah installation). For the reception, the budget could allow for a hanging feature as well as flowers and candles for the tables.
It’s almost impossible to provide all the details on each and every budget because every couple’s wedding is unique. The above looks to provide some guidance on what items can be accounted for within a budget.
You’ll note we haven’t mentioned lots of the smaller pieces so often requested – flower crowns, cake flowers, rose petals, junior bridesmaid posies, and gift table arrangements. There are literally hundreds of permutations and combinations so we have left these out to try to keep things simple.
Also, prices will vary quite a bit depending on the number of flowers used and how many premium blooms are to be included. Peonies, orchids etc. are more premium flowers and the budget needs to account for this.
It’s also important to be aware labour charges can vary dramatically as well – each venue has its own rules on when we can set up and when we need to pack down. All of this has an impact on costs for the day. Labour charges also change depending on the time of day we need to set up / pack down as well as the day of the week (Saturdays and Sundays incur premium labour charges and early morning set-ups and late-night pack-downs also incur premium labour charges).
From our perspective, we are super excited to work with couples regardless of their budget. But be sure to ask your preferred forest if they have a minimum – and ask them for suggestions on where the money is best spent, where to get ‘the most bang for your buck’ at your venue and how to make the greatest impact on the day.
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