Your Wedding Flower Budget

    Many seem to be surprised at the cost of wedding flowers after meeting with a florist and discussing all the available options. I find that when a Bride is not working with a wedding day planner or coordinator they often will shy away from being open about what it is they would like to allow for the flower budget. Maybe this is because people think that if you say " I have one thousand dollars to spend " the florist will then tell them your flowers are going to be nine hundred and ninety nine dollars. It is advantageous to work with a wedding day planner when it comes to your budget. They and you will be able to decide the most important items of your day and how much you should alot for everything you want, ( in priority order ).
    It is very helpful for me when I know how much a Bride and Groom want to spend before consulting about flowers. When a budget is discussed I know what flowers to suggest initially or perhaps as a substitute if the budget is lower than the flowers you want. . The flower market on the retail and wholesale level is an incredible industry. Florists have the ability to purchase their inventory in advance for most of the standard flowers that are used on a daily basis, called Standing Orders for the same price through out the year if we pre-commit to getting the SAME flowers on a weekly basis.  However everyone always asks , why are wedding flowers so expensive ? Do florists charge more just because the word wedding is mentioned ? And one of the major reasons the flowers are sometimes more costly  is because they usually have to be ordered specifically for the event. The market price at the present time will be paid. And this can fluctuate dramatically depending on supply and demand , imports, weather conditions, etc. This is why Big flower holidays and weddings will always cost much much more as will most often wedding flowers in general.  In addition to the flowers themselves there  is also a ton of expenses that go unseen by the common eye to design wedding flowers. Some of these include solutions to properly prepare the flowers, the electricity to maintain the coolers which maintain the freshness of flowers, then theres the wire, tape, ribbon, boxes, labels, vases, plus the time for contracts, proposals, and the correspondence time to carry out the perfect flowers for a wedding. As the buyer and head designer of Lasting Florals I will always try to get the best available price and work with a variety of wholesalers and growers locally and across the globe. So shop smart, interview wisely and most of all ENJOY planning the flowers for your wedding day !

Deborah
Lasting Florals