5 Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding: How You Can Save with Wedding Flowers,Vases and on a Wedding Florist

Flowers have the power to turn the most drab wedding venue into a perfumed wonderland that represents all the hopes and dreams of a newly wed couple. However, those same wonderful flowers can come back to haunt the newlyweds in the form of a credit card bill limiting the potential they had reveled in a short time ago. Don’t let an astronomical florist bill ruin your post wedding dreams, save your money and still have your flowers with these tips!

1. Negotiate with your florist and shop around.

Be sure to shop around town and on the internet, bulk flowers and arrangements are even available on Costco’s website. You should never feel that you have to settle because one of your friend’s or a friend of a friend is a florist, this is your wedding and you need flowers that will make you and your wallet happy.

Prices are almost never set in stone, so don‘t be afraid to haggle. Your florist may be able to help you substitute flowers that are cheaper but look similar to the ones you had your eyes on and they may be willing to help you further if you recommend them to your friends that are getting married. Speaking of friends, see if arranging for a friend to pick up the flowers can save you money on a delivery charge.

2. Buy your flowers in bulk and arrange them yourself.

This can save you a ton of money! You can even save money by just doing the centerpieces yourself and having the highly photographed pieces such as the bride’s bouquet and the groom’s boutonnière made by a professional. You can negotiate bulk flower rates with a local florist or have them delivered from an online source like Sam’s Club. There are a lot of books and videos available to help you learn how to arrange flowers.

You can even make it into a flower arranging party by gathering up bridesmaids and relatives that would enjoy playing florist for a day, just be sure to provide specific instructions. By providing a few snacks and drinks you can save money and have fun.

Words of advice from someone who’s done this:

-Make sure you have enough space to store and keep flowers cool but not freezing. Borrow space in your friend’s and relatives freezers, or even at the wedding venue itself.

-If the flowers are being delivered make sure you have enough time between delivery and the wedding to put all the pieces together.

-Be sure that delivery tracking is either included or that you purchase it if you place your order online. This can save a lot of worrying if you can simply hop on the computer and know where your flowers are.

3. Buy your vases separately.

Rather than buying centerpiece vases from the florist at their marked up price see if you can provide your own vases and save money that way. If your florist allows this or you’re making your own centerpieces you can buy your vases in bulk on the internet, just be sure that the cost per vase is less than what the florist would charge. Eclectic vases gathered from thrift stores, garage sales or eBay can make beautiful and thrifty centerpieces; the key to making this look cohesive is choosing the same color vases in that are close in height and shape or by putting multiple vases on each table. You can also make varying vases similar by adding the same ribbon to each vase.

4. Buy fake flowers and share.

Fake flowers can be as expensive as real flowers. However, if you know someone else who is getting married within six months of your wedding and is also concerned with the cost of flowers you can buy neutral fake flowers together and split the cost. Change the ribbons and the vases when you use the flowers to differentiate them from your friend’s.

Words of Advice: Be sure the person you do this with is completely trustworthy, otherwise you may be stuck with the whole bill or worse no flowers.

5. Sell or gift the centerpieces.

Asking people to buy your centerpieces may seem cold but it’s generally understood that newlyweds are hard up for cash. Let kind relatives know that if they could contribute a percentage of what you paid for the centerpieces you’d be happy to let them go.

You can also use the centerpieces as thank you gifts to people who helped with the wedding but weren’t invited to be in the bridal party. The friends and relatives who helped set up chairs and took care of any last minute errands that you didn’t have time for deserve recognition but there may not be room in the budget to find a thank you gift and let’s be honest what else are you going to do with that many centerpieces?

Final Tips:

-To give your flowers a more glamorous or expensive look add quality ribbon and rhinestones which are available online and at most hobby and fabric stores. This can make cheap wedding flowers look exspensive.

-Vintage rhinestone pins also make a beautiful addition to the handle of bouquets.