The season for wedding enquiries is upon us

 so here’s a quick glance at the true cost of wedding flowers.

 

Whether you are having the dream wedding of the season or just nipping to the registry office, it’s always nice to involve flowers on your wedding day and we do a lot of wedding flowers here at Rose&Mary. Next year is predicted to be a busy wedding season so if you are planning a 2024 or 2025 wedding please carry on reading!

The engagement season is starting soon and we book 90% of weddings for the following year in November, December and January, so whether you are having a quick browse or you want Rose&Mary to flower your wedding, it’s a useful read either way!

 

The cost of wedding flowers can vary hugely, the chunk of your overall wedding budget is usually 10-15%

If you are planning to set a budget for your wedding flowers please don’t just pick a random amount without checking with your florist first. Lots of couples we meet have set a budget of £1000 or £1500 without taking into consideration of which flowers they want or having any knowledge of the cost of wedding flowers. Having lots of bridesmaids or adding big statement florals to the ceremony and the amount of tables at the reception all determine how much money you will need to spend so it’s best to check with your florist first before setting a budget.

The average spend of wedding flowers with Rose&Mary is £2500-£3500 based on a wedding with 80-100 guests. Some couples spend a lot more while others spend a lot less. It does depend on the ceremony and reception venue, size of your bridal party and number of guests.

We are always happy to have a chat to determine what flowers you would need and send you a free, no obligation quote afterwards.

However we don’t send out quotes without a face-to-face meeting first. All quotes are tailor-made to your requirements so it’s really hard to set a price without knowing what you would like first, quotes are very time consuming and we need to make sure we are the right florist for you first.

 

For a quick guide to the cost of wedding flowers we have broken down the wedding flowers in 3  categories:

 

1. Bridal flowers

These are the personal flowers carried by the bridal party.

-Wedding bouquet

The main floral in this category is obviously going to be your wedding bouquet. All florists will have their own style of arranging wedding bouquets but there are variations such as cascading designs, round and messy or deconstructed/ boho style bouquets. Let us know what you would prefer and what goes best with your size and height and your dress.

-Bridesmaids flowers

If you choose a lot of bridesmaids that will hugely increase the cost of your wedding flowers. Bridesmaids bouquets are roughly half the cost of the bridal bouquet but you can get creative and find a place for them in a short vase or a pint glass and use them to decorate cocktail tables on the patio, bar area or cake table.

-Flower girls flowers

Children as part of the wedding party also need flowers and depending on age we can advise to use a small posy, a flower wand or just something for their hair.

-Buttonholes and Corsages

For the menfolk we can do a buttonhole. Usually it’s the groom and groom’s men and/or the Dads but who gets to adorn their lapel with flowers is totally up to you!

Ladies wear Corsages rather than buttonholes.

wedding at Warren house

2. Ceremony flowers

Are you getting married at a civil ceremony or a church?

Sometimes ceremony spaces are so gorgeous that there is absolutely no need for flowers. However big and bold statement pieces can totally transform a ceremony venue, but can be expensive. Ceremony flowers will forever be visible in your wedding photos so it’s worth splashing out for. We can discuss all this during the consultation. Below is a list of options for ceremony flowers. Your venue will dictate what flowers would suit best. Again sometimes a venue is so gorgeous that you don’t need a lot, but if you do flower a ceremony venue, 1 or 2 bigger florals as focal points work better than little arrangements spread out all over the place. Also entrance flowers can really set off the vibe of your wedding and would make a great back drop for photos. If the ceremony and the reception are held at the same venue there is a big difference in the overall cost of the wedding flowers as floral arrangements can be moved from the ceremony to the reception without a lot of hassle. If you are planning an outdoor ceremony it is always wise to think of an indoor plan too in case of bad weather. Again, we can discuss all the options during the consultation.

Below is a list of options.

• pedestal arrangements
• ceremony table arrangements
• pew ends
• floral arch or columns
• floral chandelier
• elevated arrangements
• floating arrangements
• entrance flowers

 

Entrance flowers at Fulham Palace

  Floral arch at Pembroke Lodge

 3. Reception flowers

The cost of the flowers for the reception can also vary hugely but on the whole it does depend on how many guests are coming and how many tables need to be decorated. Are you having a top table and various guest tables, or is it a free flowing kind of reception.

You might want to keep it simple with a few candles and some foliage or a few bud vases but be careful that the total cost of the table decorations can add up quickly if you also take the cost of candles etc into account. You might want enormous floral chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling, floral arches or other big budget items. With a free flowing kind of reception all you might only need are a few jam jars here and there.  Usually the design of the guest table flowers depends on the size and style of the venue and the formality of the wedding breakfast. Most often we create a low table arrangement or a cluster of bud vases that you can gift away at the end of the wedding to your guests, sometimes we do big elevated arrangements at the tables for a total wow factor, it all depends on what you would like and on your budget and whatever works best in the surroundings of the venue.

Also don’t forget those thank you flowers, cake flowers and the gift table arrangement!

below is a little list of options:

• Table centres
• Votives/jamjars flowers
• Top table arrangements
• Elevated table arrangements
• Candelabra arrangements
• Cake flowers
• Garlands
• cocktail table arrangements
• gift table/ bar arrangements
• Tossing bouquet
• Thank you flowers
• flower wall

Top table at Great Fosters

 

Table centres at Pembroke Lodge 

Bud vases at the Bingham Riverhouse 

 

We have these 3 tips to keep down the costs of your wedding flowers:

1. Don’t choose a wedding date when flowers are expensive.

Its very romantic to get married on Valentines Day but the cost of the flowers will be sky high. The same goes for Mother’s day (not just the one in the UK but international Mother’s Day as well) and around Christmas and New Year. Most flowers we use go through the Dutch auction system and it is a supply-and-demand kind of thing. If demand for flowers is high (like around Valentine’s day), the flowers price will rise. If supply is high, like in the summer, the price will fall. It’s that simple.

2. Choose seasonal flowers.

Seasonal flowers are the best quality and the best value for money. Have you ever eaten a strawberry in the middle of winter? Its a bit like that with flowers; expensive and not very tasty. If you insist on peonies or lily of the valley please find out when the best time is to get married to avoid disappointment.

3. Choose larger flowers and foliages.

A hydrangea might be £10 a stem but you only need a few stems to fill a vase. Same thing for big headed roses, they might be more expensive, but a few in a rose dome  works out more cost effective than a load of skinny ones.

Foliages isn’t always green and can compliment flowers beautifully and is a very cost effective way of filling up your wedding flowers, although beautiful foliage is just as expensive as flowers, Eucalyptus for instance is not a cheap foliage!

There are dark shades of maroons to lift up the flowers, variageted foliages to compliment rose domes, silvers to compliment cool colours and bright yellow, brown and red foliages to compiment pastels or to accentuate bright flowers.

We typically use around 30% foliage in our wedding work, depending on the wishes of the bride. There are some stunning foliage arrangements on Pinterest to see where the foliage is more dominant then the flowers, but there is a thin line between too much foliage and not enough flowers, the flowers will look a bit lost.

There is also a trend of just greeney weddings where mixed foliages are the star of the show and there is not a flower in sight. Please note though that foliage only is not a cheap option, also foliages vary hugely per season and can be very expensive is bought out of its natural season (this is especially true for Eucalyptus thats out of season from May till August)

So for a recap; The cost of the flowers can vary hugely and is always discussed during a consultation. Afterwards an itemised quote will be send to you that will include all the things we’ve discussed. At that point it’s not very important to make any firm decisions on the flowers, there’s plenty of time for that in the lead up to your wedding day.

The most important thing after receiving your quote is that you choose the florist that will be most suitable to you and your needs and will be able to fulfil your floral wishes. We wedding florist are all different designers with different approaches to wedding flowers so make sure we are a good match, also don’t ask for a quote if you are not seriously considering us as your wedding florist; quotes are time consuming!

After you have received your quote and you want to go ahead and book us as your wedding florist we need a booking fee of 30% of the total cost of the flowers. This will secure your wedding date with us and we will block your date for other couples and the booking fee will be deducted from the final bill. A second consultation will be organised 6 weeks before the big day to finalise all the ideas.

If you are planning to gather multiple quotes from different florist please don’t just pick the cheapest one; you wouldn’t walk into a bridal gown shop and just pick the cheapest dress! Choose the florist who has the designs you like and who you have great communications with. Us wedding florists all charge according to our experience, you can read our blog on wedding floral pricing here.