Centerpieces help!

Have you asked the florist what they could do for $1500? How many tables and how many other items are in that quote? To cut back, you may have to go with smaller centerpieces on only every other table, less expensive flowers (I would ask the florist what's in season and cheapest in September in your area), and minimal bouquets.

I agree with the PP. you should ask what they can do for your price range. The pictures you showed above are extravagant so that’s why they are so expensive. Maybe use on season flowers or something a bit more simple.

A bit of math, at 220 guests say 10 person tables that means 22 tables. Their quote is roughly $200 per centerpiece. Your budget of $1500 would be roughly $70 per centerpiece. For comparison Ive been quoted between $90-110 for low centerpieces in Massachusetts. And that doesn’t include bouquets etc. I would get a few more quotes but wouldn’t expect that price of $200 per large centerpiece like that to come down by much. You could alternate tables with large centerpieces or use local/seasonal less expensive flowers. Also definitely ask for an itemized breakdown of the cost so you can compare.

Definitely talk to your florist. Tell them your budget and show them your inspiration pictures, and see where you can meet in the middle. They are experts at this Dash they will know what flowers are in season and affordable and what will give you the most bang for your buck! It sounds like you will have a large guest, and lots of tables. I would suggest alternating 3 different styles of arrangements- a small/simple one, a medium sized one, and a large one. Having one of the large arrangements every third table will still make a huge impact, but will save you tons of money! Significantly increasing the amount of greenery and reducing the amount of florals will also save a lot of money- greenery is much cheaper and fills up a lot more space, plus it’s really on trend right now. You could even make the small arrangement flower-free and just have greenery and candles.

Agree with the others. Also, it seems like those center pieces are very over powering.

Agree with the previous comments - a good florist will work within your budget if they can (I ran into a few that had a minimum spend that was above our budget, unfortunately).

I'm not saying they'll be able to replicate exactly what you see for a fraction of the cost, but my florist was very candid about offering ways we could save money -- grabbing greens from Trader Joe's, using bouquets as decorations after the ceremony and repurposing other things, etc.

To save money, we're doing centerpieces without flowers. We'll have wood slabs with black lanterns and greenery, and I think they'll turn out lovely.

I would do a mix of low and elevated centerpieces in order to balance the room— all elevated centerpieces may be too much. You should definitely ask your florist what a/he can realistically provide that’s within your budget.


The elevated centerpieces I originally wanted was going to be too pricey to do for all 20 of my tables so I decided to just do them at our main family/parents’ tables which ended up being only 6 centerpieces altogether. The rest of the tables got low centerpieces (2 variations).
I’m not sure where you live, but in So Cal, for the elevated/tall centerpieces, most quotes were coming in at $250-350 a piece so what you were quoted seems about right. Mine ended up being $300 each. The smaller/low ones came in around $150 each.

I went to a large wedding last year that was otherwise very elaborate but the flowers weren't really a priority for them, so they barely had any except for the ones for the bridal party. Half of their tables had low centerpieces and of the tables had high ones. The high centerpieces looked a lot like your second picture, but they were fake and I think they rented them from the venue. The low centerpieces were just candles. I've also been to a couple of weddings where they used bridesmaids' bouquets as centerpieces. If you have a large bridal party, you could reuse those flowers as low centerpieces on some tables.


Another idea could be something like this: my SIL/BIL had similar submerged flower centerpieces at their wedding. (They look more elegant when they're not in front of a yellow background.) They were like 2 or 2 1/2 feet tall so they definitely didn't get lost, but they're still easy to see through. I don't know how much they cost, but they have way fewer flowers than what you were referencing, so it could be worth asking your florist about.

I too am struggling with centerpieces. I know I don't want high ones, but even lower ones seem pretty pricey. I plan on adding other aspects to the centerpieces so they flower parts won't be as expensive. Like votives and very thin wire string lights

You may want to research fake flowers as well. For a 200person wedding I’m not sure how much flowers you’ll be able to get with $1500

You could probably do a little bit smaller of an arrangement to fit closer to your budget. For that size of the wedding, you would need quite a number of centerpieces. The examples you posted are very large with a number of flowers, so to be honest florists would be losing money if they did all of that for $1,500. Going through DIY (real flower) options, this would be very hard to meet as well.

Some good alternatives are making the pieces with more greenery instead of flowers or having half of your tables with the large centerpieces and the other half with small ones (which also is less overpowering and creates nice diversity in composition for the eyes).