DIY Bouquets with real flowers bought in bulk?

It will be more work than you think. You'll need proper refrigeration at the right temperature. Too cold and they will die. The stems will need to be kept wet from the time they are cut to the time you start using them for photos.

I'm sorry I don't have much advice on how much to order. Can you get an estimate from Sams Club on how many stems come in a bunch? I would think 4-5 stems of eucalyptus per table and another 4-5 for each bouquet.

I think it's do-able. There's a lot of ideas and stories on another site like BitB, called Fifty Flowers (https://www.fiftyflowers.com) which is inspiring.

At Blooms in the Box, they also estimate how many bouqets, centerpieces, etc you can make out of a bunch.

Example: https://www.bloomsbythebox.com/pub/orderflowers.cfm?categoryid=138&productid=7796

Thank you! I guess I was just assuming I could keep them in water like most bunches you buy at the store once they're arranged?

Do you have much experience arranging flowers? DH and I did our centerpieces with fake flowers and twigs, and that was a shitton of work that we had lots of time to do - I couldn't imagine in the two days before the wedding scrambling to get bouquets together, especially if I'd never done it before. It's a lot more tricky than throwing some fakies in a vase, I imagine.

I wouldn't do it - if you're good at budgeting your time, you can make it work I'm sure (plenty of brides do), but you have to ask yourself if you want that kind of stress that close to the wedding day.

My friend's wedding that I was in in September ordered bulk flowers from Fifty Flowers (that's where I'll get my flowers from too) and we ( I ) made the bouquets and bouts the day before. It took a few hours, but I enjoy being creative and crafty so I loved every second of making them. We kept them in the basement in the dark in cups with the stems wrapped in damp paper towels. They held up really well all day and looked beautiful. I'm going to do the very same thing, we are also going to use mostly greenery and leftover roses for simple centerpieces. If you have time to do it the day before and have a creative bone and people to help then you can definitely do it. Also, blooms by the box has a lot of helpful tips and videos for DIYing your wedding flowers on their website.

Someone here did their own flowers a while ago...see this thread for a full recap. She did a lot more than you are taking on but it's an interesting read.

https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/updated-and-pic-heavy-diy-flowers-sams-club-and-huuuge-centerpieces/af3ff5ae33512115.html?page=1

It's a lot of work, you need proper refrigeration and a way to transport them. They have to be assembled when you are the most up to your eyeballs in other tasks....

I did my own flowers. I honestly with I hadn't.

I did the flowers for a friends wedding and I am in no way a pro. 3 of us put together 10 bouquets and 20 bouts the night before the wedding after ordering roses from an online site and picking up greenery from Costco. That's pretty much how I plan on doing the flowers for my wedding.

Following!

Everything is pretty much out of season that's why you're being quoted so high. I've seen people do nice diy poinsetta centerpieces around that time. That might be an option!

We did this for my best friend's wedding and I'm planning on doing it as well, likely ordering flowers from Costco. For her a few of us did three bridesmaid bouquets, a bride bouquet, two corsages and six boutonnieres the day before the wedding and it took very little time. It really wasn't that much work, but it was super simple - basically one type of flower and not a complex arrangement. I'm planning for mine to be simple as well (I don't really care that much about the flowers).

Oh wow! @OG Sarah I remember when I posted that thread about the DIY flowers. I've done a lot of learning and had a major career change since then

The short answer to your question - plan for about 5-6 stems of silver dollar euc per bouquet, and 10-12 per centerpiece (IF you are wanting to replicate the photos you have posted above). Those bouquets also contain some feather & some baby eucalyptus though, it's not all silver dollar. For reference, a typical wholesale "bunch" will contain 8-10 stems. Invest in some floral preservative, learn to use it, and when you put your stems in buckets, don't allow any leaves to sit in the water (bacteria will grow and cause decay).

Before I actually got into the floral industry as a profession, I did my own Sam's Club flowers at my wedding, but with the full expectation that it would not look like a professional florist. I knew ahead of time that there was a chance my flowers might be a total flop and be obvious DIY jobs but I was okay with that potential risk - because my guests had plenty of free food, booze, and temperature control, so I figured nothing else mattered too much at that point. My flowers were my ONLY DIY and I had professionals hired to take care of every other aspect of my wedding.

I did my 30+ centerpieces from scratch (12 tall and the rest low), but I did order a greenery garland, bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages pre-made from Sams. The quality of the blooms and greenery was all outstanding, but the bouquets and personal flowers were extremely simple and plain looking. I ended up taking apart the bridal bouquet and building a new one using a foam holder using the stems that it came with and adding some additional ones. I would recommend at LEAST ordering those pieces pre-made because you will find that they take considerable skill and practice to make them look right doing them from scratch. I was able to use a walk-in cooler at my venue, which also played a part in helping this to work out for me. It took me a full dedicated day and a half to do all my arranging, then I dropped the finished products off at the venue and still had the day before the wedding to pamper and relax.

If you're going to go this route, do plenty of research ahead of time. Watch YouTube video tutorials, there are plenty of good ones out there. Research flower care. Do a trial run. Make sure you have all your materials and supplies ahead of time. Do the math on whether or not you will actually save money (a lot of times, you don't).

It can be done, but know that it will be work. Know that you WILL end up doing work on your wedding day, which isn't super ideal. (DO NOT make anyone else work as your glitter covered slaves) You may or may not enjoy it, depending on your personality type. Personally, I thrive on stress, I enjoy detail work and it helps me to have an outlet to pour that into...and it was a rush for me seeing my wedding flowers come together in the end. I enjoyed it (and for those who don't believe me, why the hell would I still be here doing it for work) BUT, I will be the first to tell you that that is most certainly not the case for everyone. Most people will find this way too stressful of an undertaking for what are already very stressful days.

Good luck, OP!

I did my floral centerpieces and decorations, bridal bouquet and boutonnieres myself, primarily with Costco flowers, but supplemented with additional stems from a local wholesale flower warehouse. The flowers were delivered two days before my wedding, and we stored them in bins in my (cool and dark) garage. They were transported to my venue (parents' backyard) in two trips over two days.

The caveat with doing my own flowers is that I had a very small wedding - only 6 table centerpieces, my bridal bouquet, and 6 boutonnieres. I did not have a bridal party, and additional smaller flower arrangements in wine bottles and mason jars made up the bulk of our decor in various spots throughout the house.

If you are naturally crafty and into DIY, it will be as much fun as it is work - I put in several hours in the two days before my wedding playing with flowers, and it was a MESS, cutting stems and stripping leaves. But I received many compliments from relatives asking if I'd worked in floral arrangements before. It definitely didn't have the flair and finesse of a professional job, but my family loved how it turned out, and I adored my bouquet.

Definitely set time aside to practice, and have plenty of spare stems for trial arrangements/to snapped stems/any mishaps that will inevitably occur. I think 6 bouquets is definitely do-able if you have all other aspects of your wedding covered. I had so much fun with my flowers, and if you go this route, I wish you a ton of luck and joy.

DIY flowers is not the path for everyone. If you can find some time to do a trial run with fake flowers, I recommend it.

We'll be doing the bulk flowers from Sam's Club, but I hired someone who is going to come and arrange them and who normally works with the bulk flowers. I don't know how many bouquets you have to make, but it will take you a long time if you have never done it before.

And then the flowers require a lot of care. They can sit in the boxes after they arrive for a little bit, but as soon as you can, you have to get them out of the boxes and snip the stems and put them in 5 gallon buckets or plastic totes with water. That's something I'm trying to logistically figure out as they will be coming on Thursday, which we'll be decorating the reception venue on Thursday. And then the bouquets after you're done with them have to go back in water (Get mason jars for each bouquet - more sturdy than vases) and stay cool as well.

Since you're getting married in January, you might be able to get away with what I'm doing which is planning on keeping them in a semi-insulated garage which will be approximately the same temp as a refrigerator when it's cold outside. You just have to make sure it doesn't get below freezing.

Thanks for all of the advice guys! I haven't arranged flowers in bulk before but I only need to make 5 BM bouquets and my bridal bouquet, I'm not arranging centerpieces or anything crazy. I thought about maybe ordering some this January to play with to see if I could realistically do it and with the January temps and all. I might even have a florist do my bouquet only and possibly put together the bridesmaids myself so if all else fails and I resort to my backup plan for them atleast my bouquet is done. Thoughts?

It would be doable to do 4-5 bouquets yourself in the 2 days before the wedding, although unless you have experience they probably won't look great. This will also stress you out in the worst time possible. But doing 25 centerpieces is an insane amount of work and impracticable without access to a commercial refrigerator. Also, who is setting these up the day of the wedding? The florist will handle that and keep you from scrambling around the day of doing it in your wedding dress.

Honestly, you would be better off shopping around and aggressively looking for deals from an actual florist to do the bouquets and make non-floral centerpieces well ahead of time.

I'll have the help of my super crafty mother, grandmother, and FMIL, I definitely wouldn't be putting these together myself and with the simple bouquets (only doing white roses and greenery) I can't imagine it being that difficult which is why going to order some to try and see. We will have the entire venue set up the day before the wedding, the greenery on the tables will just need to be laid out that morning. Am I crazy for thinking this can't be that hard? Much rather spend $500 on bulk greenery than $2000?