10 Tips for Saving Money on Wedding Flowers

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Updated April 24, 2024

I’ll be the first person to say wedding flowers are expensive, but hear me out: There are legitimate reasons for the high cost of wedding flowers!

The amount of labor that goes into executing wedding floral is enormous — from initial meetings, proposal drafts, emails and phone calls, site meetings, planning, ordering flowers, vessels and supplies, and in my case, growing and harvesting flowers and foliage on my farm. Harvesting and prepping the flowers can take an entire day’s worth of work, while designing the pieces can take multiple days. Large weddings require weeks of time and labor.

This is not to mention the florist’s cost of all the things that go into the end product: flowers, foliage, vases, stands, candles, candle holders, chicken wire or floral foam, tape, glue, ribbon, plates, pruners/knives and scissors, water bills, packing materials, electricity bills for flower coolers, vehicle upkeep & transportation costs, our labor, hired labor, liability insurance policies, not to mention rent for a design space… that’s off the top of my head.

Whether you care about all of that or not, I feel a responsibility to inform people about it, otherwise you might think all us floral designers sneakily got together and decided we’d love to charge arms and legs for our services (this has never happened, I promise).

Despite all the hidden costs involved, there are actual ways you can save money on your wedding flowers! Sometimes saving money means buying cheap flowers and vases, skimping on materials, or simply doing it yourself, but I don’t encourage cheapness when it comes to your wedding day. As a wedding florist, I’m happy to enlighten you to my tips & tricks for saving money on wedding floral without skimping on the quality of the design.

1) Order ‘A La Carte’ Wedding Flowers for pickup

Our studio offers two options for wedding flowers:

Full Service Wedding Floral for those who want all of their floral decor set up and torn down for them;
A La Carte Wedding Floral for those who want bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, etc but are willing to set their wedding day up themselves with help from friends and family.

Ordering A La Carte Floral from our studio can save you anywhere from $650 to thousands of dollars in delivery and setup fees. Also, our spending minimum for A La Carte is 7x less than Full Service!

For those of you concerned with timing and your loved ones’ ability to set up your wedding floral, ask yourself this: Who are the people that have been offering their help? How hard would it be for them to place a vase of flowers in the middle of a table, or strap some flowers to an arbor with some zip ties? I’ve never had a client tell me their people couldn’t manage it after the fact.

2) Skip the Boutonnieres and Corsages

These small detailed pieces can really add up if you have a large family and/or bridal party. For an average bridal party with 1 groom, 6 groomsmen/bridesmen, 2 dads and 2 moms, the cost for these mini floral pieces comes to $250.

In the grand scheme of things $250 may not be much; however, if you’re trying to cut costs everywhere you can, I’d start with the boutonnieres and corsages.

3) reUse Your ceremony Arbor as a Photo booth backdrop

You have your heart set on an arbor but you just can’t swallow that price tag… I get it! Arbors that are fully covered with flowers range $2,500+ and they usually can’t be moved, so it seems like a giant spend on something you may only enjoy for 30 minutes.

If your ceremony location is anywhere remotely near your reception, I highly recommend reusing that beautiful masterpiece as THE photo opportunity for the rest of the night. I’ve had brides that have hired photo booth companies that set up shop in front of the floral arbor, and I’ve had brides that have opted for a DIY version of a photo booth by setting up a Fujifilm Instant Camera on a table in front of the arbor and let the guests get creative with their own photos.

The idea is, allow your guests to enjoy the arbor as much as you do! In turn, they’ll never forget your gorgeous floral arbor.

Please note that depending on the arbor design, it may not be possible for your florist (or venue) to move the arbor after it is designed. Make sure you communicate with your florist what your intentions are, so they can come up with a design that will suit your wishes before you sign off on the final floral plan.

4) reuse ceremony arrangements in the reception space

If you aren’t doing an arbor, or if your ceremony location is a drive from your reception, I recommend choosing statement pieces that can be easily moved and reused in the reception space. Our studio offers to move the pieces after the ceremony, but we also encourage you to glean help from willing aunts and uncles to save on delivery fees (we have to charge for the labor & mileage involved).

I’ve had many clients opt for big, beautiful statement pieces that they then had friends & family successfully move to the reception! These pieces are perfect at entryways, behind the sweetheart table, next to the bar, and really bring the whole floral design together.

If you’re on the fence about any ceremony flowers due to the cost involved, consider that these larger pieces can always do double duty.

5) Use Round reception Tables instead of Long tables

We all love a long tablescape: the entire length adored with colorful flowers, whimsical greenery and glowing candles; but what most people don’t realize is that the amount of decoration needed to fill a long table is about 3x the amount of flowers, greenery and candles than that of a round table. This is because when guests are seated at a round table, they are all oriented toward the same center point of the table (requiring one centerpiece), whereas when guests are seated at long tables, every guest has a different viewpoint on that long table, requiring multiple points of interest.

If you’re thinking you’ll decorate your long tables with “just greenery” and “no flowers” to save money, keep on reading.

6) More greenery does not mean less money

Another misconception about the cost of floral design is that greenery is cheaper than flowers. In some cases, depending on the greens or the time of year, it might be. But popular wedding greenery such as eucalyptus, italian ruscus, wild smilax, eleagnus, clematis vine, rosemary and olive leaf are never cheap.

If you want greenery garlands down the center of your long tables, be prepared to pay a minimum of $25-75 per linear foot (you read that correctly). Rather than actual garlands (which is greenery that has been wired together in a pattern to a specific length and width), you could opt for loose greenery to be laid down the center of the tables for a minimal look that is (or should be) less expensive than garlands.

7) DIY with Bulk Flowers and Greenery from a Local Farm

I know I said I wouldn’t mention DIY, but I am entirely supportive of engaged couples ordering beautiful, high-quality flowers from a local flower farm like ours and putting them together with their bridal party or other friends and family who also love flowers.

Not only are you admirably supporting a small, environmentally-responsible business over the big rotten flower industry, creating your own flowers for your wedding can be an incredibly special experience! Creating your own flowers is not to be taken lightly, though. It’s not for everyone and I would only encourage it for someone who has help from others and has ample time to create flower arrangements the day before their wedding.

8) If you long for a destination wedding, research the most economical places and book an all-inclusive package

This article by Paradise Weddings is an amazing resource that details the best all-inclusive destination wedding packages: Your Average Cost of a Destination Wedding.

Along with the tips above, there are a few things we want to discourage you from:

Just say no #1: Reusing Bridesmaid Bouquets as Table Centerpieces
I used to happily agree to reuse bridesmaid bouquets as table centerpieces. I’d provide vases on the tables so my clients could save money — and every single time I would go back to tear the wedding down, the bridesmaids usually had never put the bouquets in the vases provided (even when a wedding coordinator said they’d take care of it). Which meant 3-5 tables had nothing but an empty glass vase with water in it the entire time. One wedding I came back to had me dying laughing — one of the tables took it upon themselves to decorate the empty vase by hanging slices of bread & cheese around the edges of it (let’s just say they’d definitely been drinking).
I will never recommend reusing bridesmaid bouquets as actual centerpieces, but I do always recommend they be used on a head table, as bathroom arrangements, or on other accessory tables such as the guest book or gift table.
Related: 10 Ways to Make Your Wedding Meaningful & Unforgettable
Just say no #2: Buying Flowers from the Grocery Store
It might seem convenient to order buckets of flowers from a grocery store, but chances are you may not be able to order anything specific, or anything unique for that matter. Also, the flowers from the grocery store have most likely traveled thousands of miles to get to you, packed up in plastic and cardboard that’s been thrown in the landfill and never to be bothered with again.
As a flower farmer, I will always recommend seeking out a local flower farm and emailing them about bulk flowers — or check their web shop to see if you can easily order bulk flowers. Flower farmers like me grow flowers for people like you. Flowers are our joy - and serving you is what we’ve chosen to do with our lives! We would love nothing more than to have your business and have our abundance of beautiful, unique flowers help make your day beautiful. Please reach out to your local growers before ordering from a grocery store.
Related: Why Local, Organically-Grown Flowers are So Important