Aisle Decor

There are a couple ways you can cut the costs some. First, you can just give the florist the budget you prefer to have and ask her what you can get for that. You can even say you prefer to keep all the elements you have, if possible, and then don’t be picky about the type of flowers. Just give her the basic color scheme, and then have her pick less expensive/in-season flowers within that scheme. Also, are you planning to recycle your ceremony florals during the reception? That way you just pay once and then usually a moving fee which tends to be less than paying for new floral for the reception. A lot of people use their aisle florals as the centerpieces. Cutting flowers and just doing greenery is also less expensive. You can of course still do flowers for the bouquets, but if you do the chair decor as greenery only, that’ll cut costs. And for the petals on either side of the aisle, that’s popular but not really necessary, especially if you’re doing a runner and have floral at the end of the aisles. My florist charges based on volume, so can you ask her if you can cut down on the amount of petals and scatter them more sparsely? Or just have some sprinkled across the front instead of down the aisle? And in terms of cuts to your list, if you have one large arrangement on top of your arbor, you probably don’t need the two smaller ones.

I like Kimberly's suggestions. I also think petals on the sides are unnecessary if there are aisle flowers. If guests enter through the center, they may even kick them around and the affect may look sloppy. My florist also recommended every other row in an already decorative space. You could even do cloth sashes on every row and just put florals on the arch. WP bouquets are great as silk. Unless you're using them as reception centerpieces, bridesmaids (if any) will only hold them during ceremony and pictures. From far away, real doesn't matter. Groomsmen can even go with more modern floral pins. I would rethink the base flowers on your arch as a dynamic top is impactful. You can use your money instead for a statement sweetheart table display, and cake table decor. While ceremony chairs don't matter due to time sitting on them, I would focus on reception chairs. I'd skip sashes, chair covers, and chair back flowers as they are a bit dated and unnecessary (unless venue seats are hideous). There are really cute ideas for just bride and groom on the internet. Last, usually a florist will not change final costs on the signed contract. But, you can request to move the money around, so that which you do spend money on could be more full and lush.

View Quoted Comment Hello Kimberly! Thank you for your response! We are going to recycle some of the flowers. As of now, we are just thinking of different ideas on what to do. Whatever we do for the arbor is going to be used for our sweetheart table and they’re already silk. I wasn’t sure if taking out the smaller arrangements at the base of the arbor would make a difference on the look of it. I don’t want to look bare at the bottom, unless we added something else to it (or if it won’t matter). I did mention to her more greenery to cut the price down if anything. Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Hello! Thank you for the response! I did consider the idea of just doing sashes on seats without a a flower on it. WP bouquets; can you tell me what that means 😂 we’re just using Mahogany colored chairs for both ceremony and reception. We haven’t signed a contract yet but are just talking details on what everything would look like. We are doing floating candles with flower petals in them but I would think she would use different petals to put in them and decorate the tables with any remaining petals rather than use the ones on the aisle. Do you think getting rid of the two smaller arrangements at the bottom of the base would make it look bare if the top part of the arch is already decorated with the flower piece (we will use this to decorate our sweetheart table) .

View Quoted Comment I don’t think the arch will look bare if there’s only a floral arrangement at the top. Realistically speaking, how many of your guests will see the bottom? Will the skirt from your gown/altar table/guests seated anywhere but the front row be able to see the bottom of the altar? If you really feel like something needs to be there, it can be something that’s not floral so you can go with a cheaper option.

View Quoted Comment So the centerpieces are getting done by our florist,. Its one of the things my fiancé and I are set on having for the reception. It’s an indoor ceremony and reception and the venue is more modern industrial feel. It has exposed bricking walls, hardwood floors, etc. We are going for a winter theme, so having that romantic element is important to us. The petals down the aisle on both sides is a total of $100. The wedding party flowers are the most expensive thing we’re paying for which is what I figured. Thank you for all this insight!!!

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This will be beautiful and your design will bring in the romance and offset the industrial space. I relied heavily in florals for my wedding and don't regret spending my money. Best wishes.