Wedding Tips: Picking Flowers

One of the main things that people think of when they think of brides (after a wedding dress of course) is the bouquet. But as a bride planning your wedding, you know that a bouquet is not where the flower options end. More than likely, your bridesmaids will also carry a small bouquet. All the guys may wear a boutonniere, you may want some as a decoration at your ceremony site, and center pieces for your reception. There are so many options! But it adds up...and quickly. So what's a bride on a budget to do? What options do you have to make your day beautiful without pay the Iron Price?

You could, of course go to your local florist and pick out everything with them, but this can be pricey. Depending on what your priorities are, this may be the one thing you want the most on your day, but for me it wasn't. I love flowers as much as the next, but I don't have an endless supply of money (I wish!)

Boutonnieres for the groomsmen and dads

Corsages for moms and aunts

I was lucky enough to find a venue that included the centerpiece flowers with the package. And to be honest, if they didn't I wouldn't have had flowers in my centerpieces. So really the only flowers I knew I wanted were the bouquets for me and my bridesmaids. We also would have had to get any boutonnieres or corsages. But since a friend, who had also recently gotten married, couldn't even remember if anyone at his wedding had either, we opted to not get them. Instead we got all the groomsmen pins from Game of Thrones. This was a great way for us to let our nerdy sides out on our day.

What our tables looked like.
Photo Credit: Jim W from The Pros

An idea we thought about doing

One thing I learned throughout this process was the price of the bouquet depends mainly on the flowers you want in it. Are the flowers in season? Are they easy to get in your area? How many do you want/need? I love all kinds of flowers that are not from my area, and they would have cost so much to import them in. As much as I love them, it just wasn't worth it for me.

So where did I get the bouquets for me and my girls? Well I looked into a few different places. And one of the places I found is called The Bouqs. It's an online flower site that will send fresh flowers to you a few days before you need them. You can choose a package where either everything would be put together or a DIY package. Most packages include bouquets for you and your bridesmaids, boutonnieres for all the groomsmen and whoever else you'd like. Packages also include flowers for centerpieces, and corsages. The reason why I didn't choose this option (because for what you're getting the price was amazing), was because I just didn't need most of the things in the packages. Since my venue provided the flowers for the ceremony and reception, I didn't need a package that included this.

The next place I looked was my local grocery store. The thought to check pricing here never even crossed my mind until someone else had mentioned they can make bouquets. When I was getting pricing for how much a bouquet would cost it became VERY clear that it all depended on the types of flowers I wanted. Even what I thought weren't too "exotic" were pretty pricey.

The final place I checked were local "Mom & Pop" floral shops in the area we got married. I was able to go in and speak with the person making my bouquet and I could tell him roughly what I was looking for. He gave me different options and were able to show me what they would look like. Being the visual person I am, this helped me put together what I envisioned in my head, despite not knowing the names of flowers I like.

B and my wedding day: Me with my girls!
Photo credit: Jim W from The Pros

Luckily there are so many options on where you can get your wedding flowers. Of course this whole post was about live flowers, but there are plenty of options for some beautiful faux flowers. From making the bouquet yourself at Michaels to buying it from a crafter on Etsy, there are so many options out there. Remember this is you and your fiancee's day, so do what makes you both happy!

Happy planning!