One of the biggest expense for your wedding day will be the cost of your venue along with catered food and beverages.
Once you’ve gotten that out of the way, the next major expense you should budget for is your floral decor and personal flowers especially if you are planning on using real flowers.
It is important to note that the price range will vary dramatically depending on how elaborate your floral arrangements are designed as well as the types of flowers and colors you decide to use. Also important to keep in mind is the season in which you are getting married since you will be quoted at a premium if your desired flowers are out of season around the date of your wedding.
If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck, follow my three tips on maximizing your floral budget. The key here is to repurpose, repurpose, REPURPOSE!
Repurposing Your Ceremony Floral Arrangements
If your ceremony design includes floral arrangements along the sides of your aisle or large vase arrangements that flank dedicated areas of your aisle and alter, plan on reusing/incorporating them into your reception design as well. Remember, your ceremony is a minimum of 30 minutes or 45 minutes at max. There is no reason why you should toss your fresh floral arrangements after your ceremony.
(aisle florals along the floor; reuse as arrangement in front of sweetheart table etc.)
(Ceremony arrangements in vases reuse as table centerpieces at reception)
The taller floral arrangements that are already in vases can serve double duty as centerpieces on your reception tables. All other arrangements that were placed directly on the ground during your ceremony can be repurposed and used in front of your sweetheart table or on the floor in front of other miscellaneous decor tables such as your wedding cake table or as added decor near your welcome signage. These arrangements can easily be repositioned while your guests are enjoying cocktail hour and you and your bridal party are off taking photos. Communicate your wishes to your Planner or Day of Coordinator to ensure that this is taken care of.
Repurposing Your Personal Florals
Your personal florals are your bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, boutonnières and corsages etc. Have you ever attended a wedding and noticed the bridesmaids bouquets just laying around on dinner tables throughout the duration of the wedding? Just wittering away as the hours pass by. Literally watching all of the money spent on each fresh bouquet go right down the drain!
Well here’s an idea. After your bridal party is finished with all of the photo ops, have your Planner or Day of Coordinator repurpose them. Have a few solid color vases that coordinate with your color scheme on hand. That way there’s no need to have to undo the ribbon on each bouquet. You can just pop then into the vase with some water and place them at miscellaneous stations for added floral decor.
You can place one at the bar near your signature cocktail signage, another at your sanitization station while the remainder can go on your place card table depending on how many bridesmaids you had in your bridal party. Now you’ve extended the life of your bridesmaids bouquets by giving them a beautiful new purpose as opposed to laying around and slowly dying the remainder of the night.
Repurposing Your Reception Floral Arrangements
Finally, what to do with all of those reception floral arrangements at the end of the night. They’ve already did their job of making a huge decor statement for your big day but how can you maximize your floral spend even more?
(Actual wedding day floral arrangements)
If your wedding celebration is a weekend long affair, repurpose some of your arrangements at your afterparty or use them at your farewell brunch the next day.
(Same wedding day floral arrangements pictured above reused the next day at an intimate farewell brunch for out of town guests)
If you don’t plan on having either of these additional wedding celebrations then be sure to have your guests take an arrangement or two home at the end of the night. Most fresh floral arrangements will hold up their beauty for up to 4 days after your wedding. So instead of your florals ending up in the trash at the end of the night, ensure that some of your special or honored guests get to go home with a beautiful arrangement. They can take them home and dress up their coffee table or place in a vase on their dining table.
Talk about getting the most for your money! By repurposing your wedding day florals you cut the cost of having to spend on more miscellaneous arrangements throughout your reception space. A real “win-win” situation if you ask me. I‘m always down for having beautiful decor that doesn’t break your bank!
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