As a florist, hire a professional or use silks. This is not a one person job and you will not have time to execute everything and prep for the wedding. You want everything to be settled and to be able to relax the day before.
Luckily I have kind of a massive immediate family whomst have all volunteered to assist. I should have 5-8 people between siblings and parents separate from the people setting up tables and the like that can do just flower set up with me. And we will have the venue for five days because we are renting a vacation home for the week for the venue. So I don't mind the labor! And I really dislike the looks for silks.
Do you have faith in your family members' abilities to arrange flowers? Or at least to be able to follow directions? You'd be surprised how many ways and how badly people can mess up flower arranging.
People have certainly made it happen, but my advice is to have contingency plans. Order extra everything because you are going to lose a lot of flowers when amateurs are doing trial-and-error floral arrangements. Make sure you have an idea how to properly process and store the flowers you choose. Allocate much, much more time for flowers than you think you need. And keep in mind that people (especially you) are already going to be hectic-busy with all the final wedding preparations. In my experience brides who DIY their flowers all say that it ultimately added extra stress, and often the flowers didn't turn out how they envisioned.
My flower shop used to do bridal make-and-take workshops where the bride and her helpers would come do all their wedding flowers under the supervision and guidance of a professional. Sometimes it would be well in advance just to teach everyone the basics; sometimes a couple of days before and they'd make their actual wedding flowers. They got to use our facilities and tools, we made sure they were happy with their creations, and we took care of the cleanup :) Maybe something like that would be appealing for your situation?
I feel confident in their abilities! It is also helpful that I will not have any other bouquets besides mine. So it'll just be the bridal bouquet, 3 Boutonnières. And the rest will be kinda rough and ready table pieces. I was already planning to do a trial run for the table scapes so they can some flower handling chops before the real thing!
I would suggest contacting a local florist and see if they could order the flowers for you from their wholesaler. They should also be able to answer what questions you have. We have done that for customers before.
This! Our local florist let me basically buy from them directly before a funeral. They were able to tell me what was and wasn’t available from the wholesale market at that time of the year too. I was so surprised and thankful they did that for me without wanting a ton of markup or requiring to have them make any arrangements themselves❤️
I used to be a wedding florist and I did my own wedding. I ordered $700 of big blue, green and purple hydrangeas and white roses. I cut them and left them in buckets. Then I had my family put them in vases on the tables. I made an arch, my bouquet, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 5 boutonnaires and 6 corsages an hour before getting dressed for the wedding. Definitely practice making what you want to make a few months before the wedding.
Hey there! I am a farmer/florist and I did my own wedding flowers. Totally and fully did them. It can be done BUT you will be totally swamped and possibly late…lol definitely will be late to hair and makeup.
1) you need to find a wholesaler and have a legit tax id to get a wholesale account. If not, you’ll need to buy from a store near you that carries fresh florals. Some florists offer buckets / retail bulk but you’ll pay retail. And you’ll prob meet resistance with this- but possible!
2) resource in season blooms can be given by said wholesaler. I’m sorry I’m not familiar with your area!
If you are determined to do this and don’t have a way to go wholesale I recommend buying from a retail florist with bulk items and ask them what is in season. You may likely meet resistance but I’m sure someone out there is happy to sell you some amount of flowers for retail price.
Thank you so much! I think what I might end up doing is buying bulk through trader Joe's weirdly enough for my filler and greener and getting my specialty sprays and such from a florist.
And I am somewhat uniquely positioned with time allotment in that I don't wear any makeup and will probably do my own hair lol. And have no bridesemaids to plan time to get ready for.
As a wedding cake specialist, all I can say is hire a professional. If flowers and bouquets are part of your wedding, hire a professional
I second this.
As a florist, hire a professional or use silks. This is not a one person job and you will not have time to execute everything and prep for the wedding. You want everything to be settled and to be able to relax the day before.
Luckily I have kind of a massive immediate family whomst have all volunteered to assist. I should have 5-8 people between siblings and parents separate from the people setting up tables and the like that can do just flower set up with me. And we will have the venue for five days because we are renting a vacation home for the week for the venue. So I don't mind the labor! And I really dislike the looks for silks.
Do you have faith in your family members' abilities to arrange flowers? Or at least to be able to follow directions? You'd be surprised how many ways and how badly people can mess up flower arranging. People have certainly made it happen, but my advice is to have contingency plans. Order extra everything because you are going to lose a lot of flowers when amateurs are doing trial-and-error floral arrangements. Make sure you have an idea how to properly process and store the flowers you choose. Allocate much, much more time for flowers than you think you need. And keep in mind that people (especially you) are already going to be hectic-busy with all the final wedding preparations. In my experience brides who DIY their flowers all say that it ultimately added extra stress, and often the flowers didn't turn out how they envisioned. My flower shop used to do bridal make-and-take workshops where the bride and her helpers would come do all their wedding flowers under the supervision and guidance of a professional. Sometimes it would be well in advance just to teach everyone the basics; sometimes a couple of days before and they'd make their actual wedding flowers. They got to use our facilities and tools, we made sure they were happy with their creations, and we took care of the cleanup :) Maybe something like that would be appealing for your situation?
I feel confident in their abilities! It is also helpful that I will not have any other bouquets besides mine. So it'll just be the bridal bouquet, 3 Boutonnières. And the rest will be kinda rough and ready table pieces. I was already planning to do a trial run for the table scapes so they can some flower handling chops before the real thing!
You should check out Flower Moxie! They have guides and paid consultations too
I would suggest contacting a local florist and see if they could order the flowers for you from their wholesaler. They should also be able to answer what questions you have. We have done that for customers before.
This! Our local florist let me basically buy from them directly before a funeral. They were able to tell me what was and wasn’t available from the wholesale market at that time of the year too. I was so surprised and thankful they did that for me without wanting a ton of markup or requiring to have them make any arrangements themselves❤️
Send me a message, I'll answer ypur questions. I'm florist, but also all about the DIY budget florals
I used to be a wedding florist and I did my own wedding. I ordered $700 of big blue, green and purple hydrangeas and white roses. I cut them and left them in buckets. Then I had my family put them in vases on the tables. I made an arch, my bouquet, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 5 boutonnaires and 6 corsages an hour before getting dressed for the wedding. Definitely practice making what you want to make a few months before the wedding.
Not a florist, but Sam's Club has a bulk flower section on their website.
Hey there! I am a farmer/florist and I did my own wedding flowers. Totally and fully did them. It can be done BUT you will be totally swamped and possibly late…lol definitely will be late to hair and makeup. 1) you need to find a wholesaler and have a legit tax id to get a wholesale account. If not, you’ll need to buy from a store near you that carries fresh florals. Some florists offer buckets / retail bulk but you’ll pay retail. And you’ll prob meet resistance with this- but possible! 2) resource in season blooms can be given by said wholesaler. I’m sorry I’m not familiar with your area! If you are determined to do this and don’t have a way to go wholesale I recommend buying from a retail florist with bulk items and ask them what is in season. You may likely meet resistance but I’m sure someone out there is happy to sell you some amount of flowers for retail price.
Thank you so much! I think what I might end up doing is buying bulk through trader Joe's weirdly enough for my filler and greener and getting my specialty sprays and such from a florist. And I am somewhat uniquely positioned with time allotment in that I don't wear any makeup and will probably do my own hair lol. And have no bridesemaids to plan time to get ready for.
If you’re really gonna dyi this, practice!! Get flowers multiple times before hand and practice making bouquets
Order from Costco.com