Wedding Flowers – How Much?!

Part of my role as an event planner is to allocate clients budget to the relevant areas of their wedding/party, i.e from our initial consultation I will have an idea of how much the flowers, entertainment, stationery should cost. I’m normally pretty accurate with my estimations but then I have been doing this for 10 years.

At times however it can be confusing for clients to understand ‘why’ a certain supplier is charging x, y, z. They see the product, in this instance, say a bouquet, but don’t think about what influences the price to charge. A bit later in this post I will explain this to you and I will continue this series with explanations on entertainment, mobile bars and stationery.

 

If you have viewed my gallery of past events you will notice flowers feature quite heavily in my designs, this is because many of my events have a traditional country garden feel and/or are in marquees thus we need to fill the space.

 *it is my opinion that if you want to make the most of your marquee you either have to ensure the floral displays are large enough to make a statement or you use other décor tricks like Chinese lanterns, buntings, ribbon hanging from the framework or poles. I feel jugs and teacups of flowers on its own in a marquee just get lost.

If you want to create something like this Autumnal party or bohemian wedding , you need to ensure your budget reflects just what the flowers will cost. I’m not saying you have to spend thousands on flowers, but you do need to be realistic, not all wedding designs need a lot of flowers but if your dream is to fill your venue with peonies then you have to be realistic, £500 is just not going to suffice.

“Most of our prospective clients now come to us with a fairly good idea of what they want in terms of flowers, but not always what they cost. It is rare to have a bride who has absolutely no idea of what she wants. Our brides are internet savvy, they use social media, they bring THEIR Pinterest boards to US! They also read the wedding blogs and the bridal magazines which are chock full of gorgeous American weddings which have been photographed in Californian vineyards or New England gardens. The photographs are always stuffed full of flowers!! The magazine and blog suggested prices are usually wrong!!” Simon & Victoria, Euphoric Flowers

One of my pet hates is photoshoots filled to the brim with flowers on a table, yes it looks wonderful but brides, multiply that design by the number of tables you will have, being extravagent on one table is all well and good but what about when there are 11, 13 or even 20 tables to do?

With the type of weddings I design I find brides want beautiful Peonies, hydrangeas and garden style roses (a fact attested by Euphoric) but they come at a premium price. Likewise some brides want the “wildflower’ look, that’s great, but that’s a lot of flowers and creating that “I’ve just picked this” look isn’t cheap.

I’ve had many discussions with my florists recently who all tell me that making a profit is getting harder, they are unable to charge more for their services due to the economic climate but at the same time, wholesale flower prices have soared. So what is a realistic budget for wedding flowers?

Let’s look at some scenarios ………..

A Central London venue for the ceremony and reception with a total of 80 guests (as quoted by Euphoric Flowers in 2013)

Bridal Bouquet – hand tied bouquet £75.00

Bridesmaids x 3 – hand tied bouquets at £35.00 each – £105.00

Buttonholes x 6 at £6.00 each – £36.00

Corsages x 2 at £15.00 each – £30.00

Ceremony Flowers – 2 large vase arrangements – £100.00 each – £200.00

Registrar’s Table – 1 small arrangement – £40.00

Reception Flowers – 8 tables at £60.00 each – £480.00

Cake Flowers – £30.00

Total -£996.00
VAT -£199.20

Delivery, installation and clearance £100.00

Grand Total – £1,295.20

Now lets compare this to a flower quotation from one of my earlier weddings in 2005 (Jades Flowers)

Bridal Flowers

Bride’s Bouquet (based on Phalanopsis Bouquet) – £ 80.00

Bridesmaid’s Bouquet (to match) – £30.00

6 Orchid Buttonholes @ £3.00 each – £18.00

3 Orchid Corsages @ £10.00 each – £30.00

Ceremony Flowers

1 Candelabra Arrangement  – £120.00

Fireplace Arrangement – £50.00

Arrangement for Registrar’s Table – £45.00

Ivy for Gallery  – £80.00

Reception Flowers

8 Table Arrangements @ £70.00 each (560.00)

7 Table Arrangements @ £70.00 each (490.00)

Fireplace Arrangement  £50.00

Grand Total – £1,553

It’s amazing to see how ‘little’ prices have increased over 8 years despite the fact florists labour & flower costs have increased.

“There are always going to be factors that influence what florists charge. Certain flowers are always more expensive, more elaborate designs are more labour intensive and there are always the additional costs such as hire items, transport, petrol (a killer), wages and most importantly our time. We can spend many months preparing for a wedding. Months of site visits, design meetings, quotes, re quotes and mock ups of final designs. But it doesn’t end there, our work doesn’t finish when we deliver the bridal bouquet. If we are lucky, we will be allowed to clear a job on a Monday morning, if not it can be a midnight or early Sunday morning call followed by returning all the hire items that are frequently requested.” Simon & Victoria, Euphoric Flowers

 

It’s not just the flowers……

When it comes to charging you the client for the flowers, its not a simple matter of a rose costs £2 so they will charge £2.50, there are many other factors to consider to ensure the business costs are met:

• General running costs like marketing materials, telephone line, rent, utilities, vehicles etc
• Wages inc. freelance staff for larger weddings (circa £15 ph)
• Their TIME! You’re paying for their professionalism in creating the right bouquet or table design + the time it takes to set it all up, it’s not unusual for my florists to be on site all day on the Friday + part of the wedding day itself, multiply that by the number of staff the florist has…………and you can almost see the profit diminish
• Collection of the vases, containers, removal of flowers not wanted on the Sunday or Monday after the wedding
• 1-3 meetings per client to ensure the wedding design is perfect
• Consultations with those clients that don’t book
• Numerous phone calls and emails with potential clients
• Then of course in the world of social media its not enough for a florist to attend open days at local venues they have to blog – tweet – facebook and pin their ideas for potential clients to see!

Break the flower budget down

Sometimes when you say a figure that you are allocating to flowers it can seem high, can seem plenty, until you start breaking it down. `Remember when working out your budget to ensure you have enough for:

Bridal Flowers

Bridal Bouquet

Bridesmaids/flowergirl bouquets

Buttonholes & corsages

Ceremony

Registrar/altar flowers

Entrance flowers (i.e bay trees, urns, pedestals)

Pew ends

Reception

Entrance flowers (i.e bay trees, urns, pedestals)

Top Table

Guest tables

Feature flowers (fireplaces, beams, poles)

Misc

Occasional tables in courtyards or lounge areas

Thank you flowers

Finally

Not every wedding has to be filled with flowers, it depends on the design you have chosen and as mentioned earlier you can complement flowers by using candles, bunting, lanterns and pom poms to add colour in DIY ways – i.e you’ll need to buy or hire the items but then allocate some of your time to implement the design the day before the wedding.

Also, if you have chosen a venue that is stunning before you even start with flowers, then its best to choose simple displays to complement the room, not fight against it.

Photo Credits

Kerry Morgan, Mydas Photography, Mark Bothwell