Congratulations! If you’re here, you’ve most likely chosen the one you want to be with for life. After the initial excited glow settles, one question you may have when starting out your wedding planning journey is how much will our wedding flowers cost?
Flowers are an integral part of the wedding as an event. They set the mood, elevate the space and can even dictate the ambiance and ‘vibe’ of your night. Florals are a complex sensory experience and it can be breathtaking when first you first lay your eyes on a room dressed to perfection with them. They look stunning, have an earthy scent, and en masse, may even change the feel of the atmosphere, and guests will often remember them long after your event. There’s a reason they’re considered such an important part of your big day!
Let’s unravel some of the enigma surrounding wedding flower expenses, so you can make an informed decision and better plan for your budget.
The Role of Wedding Flowers
Wedding flowers can become the fingerprint of your unique wedding story. The wedding event is a moment in time; built from imagination and intricate, personal dreams to be realised for a fleeting, brilliant moment, going on to live only in our memories and in photos. When you think of your day in this way, it makes sense as to why people put so much stock into florals for such an important occasion.
From bouquets and centrepieces to boutonnieres and flower crowns, each floral element contributes to the overall magic of your wedding day.
What Influences the Cost
There are so many factors that can play into this, some which may seem invisible to the consumer. Understanding a few key considerations may help you to make better choices for your budget so, let’s break it down:
- Local and seasonal: Flowers come and go with each season. In-season flowers will be most abundant, and therefore they are most likely your most affordable option. A flower out of season and imported, may cost up to a whopping AUD $20+ per stem wholesale! There is a return toward working with the seasons and building relationships with local growers. Flowers in season are usually more affordable, often more robust, and longer lived than something which has spent a good proportion of its cut-flower life sitting in transit in an aeroplane cargo hold. Allowing your florist the freedom to make these choices for your event, can have a positive impact on your budget, without compromising your design.
- Your wish list: A common disconnect florist’s experience with couples, is the desire to tick off every floral feature without understanding the costs involved. The more you add to your floral list, the more labour, floral product, behind the scenes staffing and time, planning and administration it will take to prepare for the event. If you are constrained by your budget, stick with the most important things, and embrace the philosophy of ‘quality over quantity’.
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Complexity: Floral archways, hanging installations and ceremony meadows require the most planning, preparation, and energy in installation – not to mention the amount of raw product!
A wedding may take a week and more of behind-the-scenes preparation in pre-ordering, visiting multiple growers and flower markets to obtain the right product, conditioning each stem (and there are hundreds!), wrapping, wiring, ribboning and finessing personal florals, carefully keeping florals alive and hydrated, regular liaising with venues, couples and planners, creating mechanics, cleaning buckets, vases and spaces, packing vans and cars with Tetris like precision, managing staff and more! There are time sensitive deliveries and logistics to consider. The florist has become expert at making these things ‘invisible’ to create the feeling of a flawless process, however, don’t hesitate to ask your florist what needs to go on behind the scenes so you can feel empowered in your planning process. - Quality: One of the misconceptions about wedding flowers is that the industry adds a ‘tax’ on as soon as they hear the word wedding. The truth is, in addition to the additional workload, one of the biggest drivers of the premium price of wedding blooms is the quality of flowers used in the designs. Many popular designs feature premium flowers like roses, peonies, phalaenopsis orchids etc. These flowers may cost 8-10 times more than your typical dianthus or chrysanthemum. Wedding floristry is a different branch and skillset of floristry, as compared to an area like daily deliveries.
- Abundance: The reason wedding flowers are so memorable is because of the abundance of flowers. Typically, a wedding bouquet might include 30-40 stems. Your average $100 gift bouquet may only include 10-15 stems. That stem count is part of the reason wedding flowers are so memorable. It’s a rare and beautiful thing to carry a bouquet of 30-40 premium, perfectly curated flowers in your hands.
Exploring Your Options
We hope this insight into wedding floristry has helped you understand some of the factors influencing flower costs. Below are some budget-friendly ideas to take note of, without compromising on your style:
- Less is More: You don’t have to have a long list of flower items for your wedding day. It might be better to narrow down the list so you can create 1 or 2 truly impactful moments for the day, rather than spreading your budget thin across many smaller items.
- DIY with Open Eyes: Those of us with a creative bent might be compelled to do all of the artistic jobs ourselves, and flowering may seem like the icing on the cake of the wedding planning tasks. However there are florists themselves who’ve lived to regret doing their own wedding flowers! As a perishable product, there are a few key days just before the ceremony where the planning, purchasing and designing culminate in a mad rush of hands-on productivity. This is around the time the bride will be having their makeup done, hair styled, wrangling family, friends and the bridal party and any last-minute emergencies that might crop up. And all of this on the day you’re getting married!
Pro Tip: If you’re really wanting to get hands on, it might be more fun (and less stress!) to have a flower crown making circle for your hens’ night.
- Get Expert Advice: The floral industry is notoriously secretive. We believe this is not a helpful approach and want to help make it easy for you to feel empowered and make the best decisions. Don’t hesitate to reach out, ask questions and get a second opinion. That’s what we’re here for!
- Make the Right Choices for You: Weddings can feel overwhelming, with many people offering their opinions and advice. There might be expectations you feel compelled to observe, but really try to honour what it is you and your partner want and need. This is your day, aim to be true to yourself.
Here’s a quick list of prices to guide your decision-making:
- Personals – the budget will vary depending on how many people are in your bridal party. But, as a place to start, if your budget is up to $2,000, you’ll be able to have a beautiful bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids, 6 boutonnieres, a flower crown and 2 wrist corsages.
- Ceremony Feature – this can be an incredible way to create the ‘wow factor’ for your wedding day (particularly if the ceremony location needs a little lift). You’ll want to budget at least $5,000 plus for a full floral archway and a basic full-service wedding with selected items, but you could easily allocate more than $20,000 if you want a Pinterest-worthy floral feature with all of the embellishments.
- Reception – this is where clients may underestimate the budget. The more guests you have at the wedding, the more tables you’ll have. The more tables you’ve got, the more arrangements you’ll need. And if you want to add a flower wall or ceiling installation, the budget goes up and up. Be sure to talk through with your florist about the best use of your budget.
We have a suite of Lupin Botanical packages catering to elopements, intimate weddings, all the way through to full-service wedding events. We’re here to help answer your questions so get in touch to explore your options!
Domenica
LUPIN BOTANICAL
(With gratitude to Little Bird Bloom)