First Steps in Creating Your Wedding Floral Budget.
Buying flowers for your wedding isn’t something that you do every day. We get lots of calls from brides who say they are not exactly sure what to expect, or what to ask. We get it. That’s why we are going to give you the first step to wedding flower success. We are going to talk about the first steps in creating your wedding flower budget.
The first step in creating your wedding flower budget is to determine how much you want to spend. Then divide that into how much you want to spend on centerpieces for tables, on the altar area, bridal and bridesmaids arrangements, and then anything additional.
Let’s dig in a little deeper so you can get a full picture of how to price out your wedding flowers.
Determine How Much You Want to Spend.
The first thing you should do when putting together your flower budget is determine how much you want to spend. Obvious I know, but it really does set you up for success and will give you a foundation to start with.
This is the first question we ask when we get on a call with a new bride.
This is the most important question because everything hinges on this number.
One thing to remember is that you have to factor in Labor and Sales Tax. So you should consider this as an addition to your flowers.
How Much Should You Spend on Your Table Flower Arrangements?
Determining how much to spend on your table arrangements is the most important part of your budget. It might not have as much impact as an arch, but it can easily be where you spend most of your flower money. Let’s look at why that is.
Let’s say you have 200 guests at your wedding and place 10 people per table. That is 20 tables. Let’s also say that you want a flower arrangement and some bud vases per table that costs $300. Twenty tables at $300 per table equates to $6000.
That is why this is the most important part of your budget. This easily becomes the place where you can accidentally overspend. But, on the flip side, it is also the place where you can be flexible and easily shave off some money to get your budget where you want it to be.
How Much Should You Spend on Your Arch or Altar Flowers?
Now that you have the bulk of your wedding cost figured out, you can start to think about your arch. There are so many factors when it comes to arches, installations, and floral options for them. The best thing to do is just look at your budget, find out what you can spend, and talk with your florist, they will be able to work with you and determine what is possible with the number you come up with.
How Much Does a Bridal and Bridesmaids Arrangements Cost?
Bridal, bridesmaids, and boutonnieres don’t cost that much money when you compare them to other parts of your wedding. The average cost for all of these items is around $600. This number fluctuates on how many people are in your bridal party. That would be a good number to just plug into your budget as a placeholder.
Additional Flowers Costs
Sometimes there are additional places in your venue that would benefit from flowers installations or arrangements. These types of things could be flower petals in a fountain, an overhead hanging installation in the reception area, a welcome area arrangement, or something for the cocktail tables.
Once you have your main flower costs laid out you can see what you have room for. (Remember to allow for labor, tax, and tear down at the end of the night!) Since this is just a quick budget, we are just going to assume all of that is covered in our main numbers. If you tell the florist that you want that included in your quote for your budget, they will be able to work that in.
This is where you can easily add items to make your wedding even more unique. The sky is truly the limit here. But the best part is, now that you know what your other main items are going to cost, you can think about what you want to spend for these fun moments.
A Quick Wedding Budget Breakdown
Okay, so let’s do a little example. In this example wedding my budget for flowers is $7600 all in.
The wedding venue has a welcome area, a reception area, a bar, an arch, and a lounge-type area with a cool two-sided fireplace. This area would look great with some flowers to make it stand out. It is really important to me that we do something here because it would be fun and is visible from the reception area.
We are having an intimate wedding of 110 guests and we will be seating 10 of those at the wedding party’s head table. I want that head table to be a little more unique than the others. I am okay will doing something smaller, or even some bud vases on the dining tables to get the floral installations I want.
We would like to have flowers on the arch that the wedding venue has, so I don’t have to rent one.
We want a bridal package (bridal and bridesmaid bouquets), but no boutonniere for the groom.
We would also like some extra items. We want that fireplace floral installation and an installation for the reception area to hang above the dance floor. We don’t want anything at the bar.
Okay, now that we have all of our wants for the venue, let’s look at some numbers and craft our floral budget so we can see what we can spend:
Tables = $1300 (10 Tables X $100, 1 Head Table X $300)
Arch Flowers = $2000
Bridal Package = $600
Hanging Installation in Reception = $1000
Fireplace Installation in Lounge = $2000
Teardown at the End of the Night = $400
Total = $7,300
*All prices in this example include taxes and labor.
*Remember this is just an example, you can spend whatever you want on your wedding. This is for educational purposes only. These are not our prices for wedding flowers.
As you can see, we came in a little under budget and we still have an extra 300 dollars to add to the tables, the arch, or back into your wallet.
I hope that this quick example will get you in touch with how much you can and want to spend and where all the money goes for your wedding flowers. We also hope it helps you determine what is the most important to you by putting a dollar amount to it.
We recommend getting in touch with your florist today and telling them what you want spend, also tell them you want tax included in these totals.