Flowers are arguably the most important visual factor of your wedding day. From your ceremony to your reception, the atmosphere is dictated by the color palette, shape and design of the floral arrangements you and your florists decide upon shape the entire feel of your event.
You’ve never been married before, so how do you even begin to guess what to budget for your wedding flowers?
Creating your wedding budget can be tricky if you have no idea what flowers cost, which is why it is important to develop a relationship with your florist—one that you trust and can ask questions. From bouquets to centerpieces, keep reading for a complete run-down on the average cost of wedding flowers, along with some pro tips to make the most out of your floral budget.
The Average Cost of Wedding Flowers: A Breakdown
So how much of your overall wedding budget should you realistically be putting aside for floral design? Based on my research, here are the average costs per item to expect for wedding flowers:
Bouquet: $300 – $500
Attendants Bouquet: $100 – $150
Boutonniere: $20 – $35
Corsage: $55 – $75
Centerpiece (small—bud arrangement): $20 – $80
Centerpiece (short): $135 starting
Centerpiece (large): $350 starting
Cake topper: $30 starting
Feature pieces (ex: ceremony arbor, floral chandeliers, hanging installations): Anywhere from $800 - $5,000+ depending on your requirements and design
It’s important to remember that these are simply ballpark costs, and will vary between vendors depending on experience, location and your specific floral requests. For example: a small round posy bouquet would be priced differently to an oversized cascading bouquet, due to the difference in both the quantity of flowers required and the hours involved.
A good flower designer will listen to you and do everything they can to make your wedding flowers exactly what you want them to look like on your wedding day. And they also have some fabulous ideas. Be open to their suggestions and they might be able to help you come up with some great ideas to help you stretch your dollar like re-purposing ceremony arrangements at the reception. You may have some ideas as to where you can cut costs, but it doesn't hurt to ask their opinion–they're a professional and that advice is free!
Remember, you’re not just paying for the flowers themselves – you’re also paying for the time and skill required to plan, design, source, collect, arrange and install your order. For each client, a florist will generally:
Connect with you by phone or in person for an initial consultation
Prepare a mood board and floral concept to fit your brief
Plan, source and order the required flowers, hard goods and special items
Collect your flowers from the markets (usually, before sunrise!)
Clean and prepare each individual stem
Arrange your wedding flowers with great care and attention to detail
Deliver your bouquets and install your ceremony and reception flowers
Pack down after the wedding if needed
Countless hours of admin and emails in order to execute all of the above!
Realistically, your florist could be spending anywhere between 30 – 50+ hours bringing your floral order to life. Not to mention their business overheads like staff, warehouse rent and electricity to power the cool rooms that keep your blooms in perfect condition. These are all important factors to keep in mind as you begin researching and comparing your wedding flower quotes.
How to Save Money on Your Wedding Flowers
With all of this being said, there are some key ways you can save money on your wedding flowers and really maximize your floral budget. Here are some of our top tips to consider:
Go seasonal: Just like the fresh produce you find at the supermarket, flowers are strictly seasonal. When a flower variety is blossoming at a certain time of the year, it becomes much cheaper for florists to source.
Scale it down: If you’re working on a tighter budget, be picky with your flower order. Think about the floral details you really want to include and invest in those areas, while scrapping the details you could do without.
Ask your florist: At the end of the day, the best person to help you save on your flower order is your florist! Be upfront about your budget and ask your florist for their advice. A great florist will be able to suggest the best ways to invest your budget in order to provide the biggest impact. This could mean scrapping the table centerpieces in lieu of one feature ceiling installation or including more foliage and greenery to bulk up your blooms.
When looking at what you should spend overall on flowers, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Flowers cost money. Just like a caterer who purchases ingredients to prepare for your meal, your florist too purchases the flowers (and greenery), and they cost a pretty penny. Sometimes we have to ship them, and then we always have to clean them, treat them, and keep them cool over the 4-5 times they could be handled before they go into an arrangement before your wedding so there's a lot of heavy lifting and labor included in the cost.
Delivery, set-up/tear-down, & taxes. Most, if not all, florists will charge you separately for these necessary business fees. It may take a team to set-up/tear down for your wedding & trust me, you don't want to be responsible for that.
If it sounds too good to be true... the old adage is true for a reason. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That rings true with most things in life and in my experience, florists are no exception to that rule. Yes, you can find florists who will offer cheaper prices than delightful!, but will they offer the same quality, attention to detail, and style? Good question.
Wedding Flower Quote:
Below we've created a wedding flower quote for an average 2022 wedding. This is a general breakdown, but it will give you a better idea of the cost per item.
Bridal Party Flowers: $1,085
1 Bride's Bouquet- $350
4 Bridesmaid's Bouquets - $400 ($100 each)
1 Toss bouquet- (This is often my gift to you!)
1 Flower Girl rose petals- $60
2 Mother's Corsages- $110 ($55 each - can choose from: pin-on, wrist, or posy)
1 Groom Boutonniere- $25
4 Groomsmen Boutonnieres- $80 ($20 each)
2 Father's & 1 Officiant Boutonniere- $60
Ceremony Flowers: $1,600
1 Large Altar Arrangement- $800 (Flower Installations begin at $800 and go up from there based on the size of the arch and the amount of time and flowers)
2 Large Meadow Ground Arrangements - $800 ($400 each – could be repurposed for the head/sweetheart table)
Reception Flowers: $1,765
10 Low Centerpieces- $1,500 ($150 each—delightful!’s signature low, organic, garden-inspired centerpieces full of local, seasonal flowers and fit perfectly on 6ft. round tables and up to 8ft. farmhouse tables)
Cake flowers- $25
3 Welcome/Gift/Bar Table Arrangements- $240 ($80 each—designed for placement wherever they are needed in your reception space)
Local Delivery/Set-up/Teardown- $400
Subtotal- $4,450
Tax- $422.00
TOTAL: $5,272.00
The client in the example above will have plenty of room to include the flowers they want in their wedding and the flowers will be spectacular within the above budget. Just remember, this is only an example, but use it as a guide to plan for your wedding flowers.
I want every client to have beautiful wedding flowers and to be able to enjoy their wedding day and the time leading up to it. DIY is great for SO many things!
delightful! loves DIY, but I don't recommend couples trying to put together bouquets and boutonnieres before their wedding. It's a lot of hard work, very time consuming, and you're working with temperature sensitive objects that DIE... do you really want that kind of pressure on you before your wedding day?
So, plan that budget now and save yourself the stress later, you'll be grateful when you're getting your manicure done.
If you liked this blog post, you should check out some of our work here and contact me here about your wedding or event!