to use normal hand tied bouquets

[Workyticket]

for our wedding?

I'm generally clueless about weddings and you lot have been so helpful with my various queries

Postponed last year. Rebooked for July this year and we've sorted precisely nothing.

I've been quoted £80 for an informal bouquet. We're not skint but it's a very relaxed wedding on a working farm and would rather throw money at more drinks and food for guests. I also have a few bridesmaids and they'd be £50

Could I just order normal bouquets from the local florist or buy them in Tesco or am i deluded?

What's the difference? They might be a bit drippy I guess - not sure how wedding florists get them not to drip 🤔

planing on throwing eucalyptus and rucus down the length of the tables and don't tell my mam not having table cloths!

Sounds stunning.

Lovely thread OP

I went to our local flower market/wholesalers the day before our wedding (at 5am!) and got all our flowers for the tables, might be worth seeing if there’s one near you that’s open to the public. I had already bought lots of different vases from various places in the weeks before. I did have a florist do the bouquets though as I thought that would be too much pressure.

Don't do it yourself.

People say that flowers are temporary but everything about a wedding is temporary and your bouquet will be in a lot of your photographs. You will also have enough to think about before the wedding. Do you really want to be scouring the local Tesco trying to find flowers that don't look like a car crash?

Speak to a florist and tell them you are on a tight budget. If you aren't precious about the flowers used then they will definitely be able to put together something informal and natural to suit your wedding. It could be tied with a small ribbon rather than bound and pinned.

It takes training and practise to become a good florist. Part of that knowledge involves knowing how to condition flowers, knowing what will last, what will go together and how to maximise someone's budget. You do need to communicate and be honest about what you want otherwise they will quote a bog standard price for a bridal bouqet which is generally £80+ due to the amount of flowers and work involved.

Trained florist here..... I'd do you something lovely for between £20 to £40 depending on the flowers.

@Babygotblueyes

A friend got every guest to bring a white flower to her wedding and her friend made them into a bouquet for her to carry down the aisle - then she dried it. I thought it was really lovely. I know florists have to make money but seems like if you say the word wedding, the cost of everything goes up a ton.

That is simply not true. Far more work goes into producing wedding flowers as opposed to a Tesco bunch chucked together on a production line. It's like buying mass produced value sausages and expecting them to taste like organic fillet steak!

This explains it well:-
www.cotswoldposypatch.com/demystifying-the-cost-of-wedding-flowers/?v=79cba1185463

I made my own, bought a load of roses from a florist, I think she ordered them in special, the ferns were from my garden. I put them together one by one turning it each time, taped them together and covered the tape in organza ribbon in two colours. I was so proud of them

I think you probably could but would you be bothered about having them at peak ‘openness’ obvs when a florist buys for a wedding that’s what they’ll order/work with their wholesalers to get, if you’re going to Tesco the day before you could strike lucky or say peonies for example, all the bouquets they have could still be in bud - which is presumably not what you want.

Super cool, really cold but not icy water to stop them drooping.

Did my own and made them up the night before the wedding- bridesmaids made their own with me and I did mine and all the table flowers, then did button holes on the morning of! Easy, fun and they were exactly what I wanted. I ordered wholesale from
Triangle nurseries.

The main difference will be the length of stems. A bridal/bridesmaid bouquet that you hold will have had the stems shortened and surplus leaves/thorns stripped. The other difference is that a bridal bouquet will have been designed to look good from nearly all angles (supermarket bouquets are often displayed with an emphasis on just the top looking good, as that's how they're packaged).

You could get around the issue with supermarket bouquets by loosening the elastic band (or tie some string round before you remove the elastic band) in order to strip off leaves or thorns (you can just snap thorns off individually with your fingers) and tweak the positioning, then use some ribbon/twine/raffia to securely tie the bouquet together after you've fiddled with it.

If you're feeling creative, Google how to make an simple bridal bouquet. You could practice beforehand with supermarket bunches and won't have lost much if it all goes wrong!

@Poppins2016

The main difference will be the length of stems. A bridal/bridesmaid bouquet that you hold will have had the stems shortened and surplus leaves/thorns stripped. The other difference is that a bridal bouquet will have been designed to look good from nearly all angles (supermarket bouquets are often displayed with an emphasis on just the top looking good, as that's how they're packaged).

You could get around the issue with supermarket bouquets by loosening the elastic band (or tie some string round before you remove the elastic band) in order to strip off leaves or thorns (you can just snap thorns off individually with your fingers) and tweak the positioning, then use some ribbon/twine/raffia to securely tie the bouquet together after you've fiddled with it.

If you're feeling creative, Google how to make an simple bridal bouquet. You could practice beforehand with supermarket bunches and won't have lost much if it all goes wrong!

So practise a couple of times with supermarket bunches at £15 a time plus flowers for the big day and you're up to £45........ .

You might as well get a florist to do it.

I did all our table flowers but I wanted freesias so I ordered just the flowers from a florist to be sure of getting the right ones then did the arranging myself. This was cheaper than buying them ready done but a bit more expensive than the supermarket.

We used a florists wholesalers (Birmingham) and David Austen roses ordered direct. Florist did bouquet but my mum, grandma and myself did the rest. Now they're floristry trained but I was perfectly capable of doing zinc bucket table decorations and the like. Worked perfectly and we had a too budget look for £500

If you’re going for the supermarket option I reckon Morrisons have the best range of flowers

I had paper roses made out of pages from my fave books.

@Queenofbeebers

I had paper roses made out of pages from my fave books.

That sounds amazing!

Sorry - i didn't mean to offend any florists

I know that a traditional, perfect bouquet would need to be done by someone trained. Professional flowers are beautiful 😍

I spoke to dp about it last night and he's up for giving it a go. He made our door wreath out of bits he cut from the Christmas tree and foraged bits from the overgrown cemetery and it was bloody gorgeous

I'm off tomorrow so will have a walk down to morrisons for a nosey

I was quoted £100 for this last week

I mean - I love it but I'm 42! I proced up some Denby bowls and cringed at spending £100 on them... but they'd last forever

@Workyticket

I was quoted £100 for this last week

I mean - I love it but I'm 42! I proced up some Denby bowls and cringed at spending £100 on them... but they'd last forever

That bouquet is £100 because it has some expensive flowers in it; scabious, delphiniums, eryngium, antirrhinum, spray roses, peonies(?), fountain grass, etc. There are also a lot of them. You would be surprised how many flowers are used (a big armful) before they are stripped down and put together. It is probably bound and pinned with a quality ribbon and pearl headed pins. Putting it together might take a florist an hour as there is lots of fiddling making sure that all those expensive flower heads are in the right place and can been seen (not strangling each other which is often the case in DIY efforts).

Florists can only buy scabious in large wraps. It is £££ and is really delicate and not particularly long lasting. If a florist uses five or seven stems in your bouquet, they will still have at least 40 stems left to sell. That can be a bit of a problem for some florists if they aren't doing the rest of your wedding flowers. They're not a supermarket supplier who can allocate five stems to ten handtieds.

You won't get those flowers in Morrisons. Most of them are too delicate. Supermarkets are very clever how they present their flowers. They generally use big flowers to deceive the eye; lilies, small short roses, spray chrysanthemums, blooms, alstromeria, etc. With the exception of the lilies, all of these are cheap flowers. They also use little to no foliage but package it in such a way so that it looks like more than it really is. The quality is lower than most florists as supermarkets buy based on price rather than quality.

The biggest mistake a bride can make is to find a photo online and say, "this is what I want". It's like wanting to eat at Le Manoir but only having the budget for Pizza Express.

A much better approach is to find ten to fifteen photos with elements that you like; the colour of this one, the floaty effect of this one, this particular flower, the shape of this one, etc. It is much easier for a florist to build up a picture of the type of thing you are after and the colours you want. There are lots of other summer flowers that would achieve a similar loose country style that aren't £££. Tying with raffia rather than ribbon is also much cheaper.

Did the florist who quoted not say any of this to you?

@SausageDogSandwich that's so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to explain - the florist I got the quote from didnt.
To be fair I'd be equally happy with something like this.

I love eating out so really get your comparison. I'd pay more for a nicer meal because it's important to me. Flowers to me are just bright, pretty things.

The pic I sent her was just a random Google search for 'colourful bouquet'

I'd be equally as happy with these

@Workyticket Hmm..... some florists aren't always helpful! You do get a feel for what is important to people when you speak to them. I'd have pointed out the price factor and suggested some alternatives.

In terms of the second image, that would be a good one for a spring wedding! You could probably get all of the flowers in July but as they are out of season they'd be more expensive and not such great quality:-
Hyacinths - spring
Tulips - spring
Ranunculus - spring and £££
Freesia - available all year
Roses - all year

Spring is actually a great time to get married in terms of flowers as the bulb flowers are good value and go a long way.

Where are you, op? I follow loads of florists on Instagram and might be able to point you towards a few. Don't be put off by what looks like an expensive website. You're better off with a creative florist full of passion and enthusiasm who is willing to think out of the box than Brenda on the High Street who has been churning the same work out for the last 50 years because although she might look cheap you won't necessarily get value for your money.

When my DGPs married (during the war) they just couldnt afford a bouquet so my DGM carried her little dog! I'm not saying you would want to do this but you can have whatever you like!

Some seasonal flowers tied up would be lovely. A friend of mine went to Tesco the night before and got a bouquet. Summer wild flowers would stunning. If you buy roses you can make button hole favors

Also noticed that you are thinking of chucking eucalypus and ruscus on the tables.

Just a few things to be aware of....

The quality of eucalyptus nose dives over the summer months as it comes to the end of the growing season. There is a month or so when it really isn't great at all. Last year we stopped buying it as we were chucking quite a bit of it away as it was brown and crispy in parts. It's a bit of a nightmare as the majority of summer brides want it as their main foliage. It is also quite an expensive foliage (think about £10 per bunch).

You will need to think when you are going to dress the tables as although ruscus will do okay out of water (green and waxy foliage), eucalyptus won't be particularly happy in a hot marquee. It might look like this foliage is just sitting on the table but it's more than likely that it's in oasis to keep it fresh and lush.

I uswd my bouquet and bridesmaids for the table centre pieces

My wedding sounds pretty similar to yours - in a field with haybales and beer. I didn't have any bouquets, preferring to spend more on food and drink. But did get a few large buckets/tubs of flowers for tables. Spent a lovely hour or two with various family members arranging them in to an assortment of jam jars and vases. If you're near Sussex this where I got them from www.sussexcuttinggarden.co.uk/bouquetsbuckets

@SausageDogSandwich

Also noticed that you are thinking of chucking eucalypus and ruscus on the tables.

Just a few things to be aware of....

The quality of eucalyptus nose dives over the summer months as it comes to the end of the growing season. There is a month or so when it really isn't great at all. Last year we stopped buying it as we were chucking quite a bit of it away as it was brown and crispy in parts. It's a bit of a nightmare as the majority of summer brides want it as their main foliage. It is also quite an expensive foliage (think about £10 per bunch).

You will need to think when you are going to dress the tables as although ruscus will do okay out of water (green and waxy foliage), eucalyptus won't be particularly happy in a hot marquee. It might look like this foliage is just sitting on the table but it's more than likely that it's in oasis to keep it fresh and lush.

Thank you. That's really useful too!

Not set on eucalyptus, just thought it might smell nice 🙈

I'll dig out a pic of the venue - hopefully it'll show why we don't want formal 😀

This is it