DIY vs. Hire a Florist

Hey Alicia,

You are still very involved with your wedding if you get someone to decorate for you.

You should be relaxed and enjoying your time before your big day. Get someone else to decorate while you sit back and sip champagne

Hire a pro. I WAS a pro and I did my own. I would never do it again.

Thanks!!!! I appreciate the advice!!!

Hire a florist at a grocery store!

Depending on what you want, I'd suggest a pro or at least someone who can DIY for you.

I am actually doing DIY flowers, but I am only doing 5 bouquets (well, really my mom and sister are on Thurs before the wedding) and putting one flower in a vase on each table.

If I wanted a lot more, I would be too stressed to DIY it. Unless there is someone in your family that would actually do the arranging and the work of putting things out/setting things up, I would not DIY it for sanity's sake.

I think it depends how important the flowers are to you, and what you're expecting. If you want simple arrangements I'd say DIY or grocery store arrangements. If you want something a little more extravagant, go with a florist.

Im doing diy flowers but the importance of flowers arent big to me they will still look beautiful but i cant fathom spending a ton of money on something that just dies the next day so id rather spend that money in other areas of the wedding

I'm only using a florist to make the bouts. The rest I'm ordering from Costco. Much cheaper and I'm only doing simple bouquets and centerpieces. The rest of the decore I'm handling myself. I will try to get into my venue the night before to decorate.

Many brides use big box companies and DIY their flowers. If you're satisfied with very simple arrangements -- one hydrangea and two roses in a cube -- no, it isn't rocket science (but you'll still have to deal with prepping the flowers, delivering the pieces, etc). If you want anything more significant than that, hire a professional.

Thanks Ladies.......You guys have really helped me put things in perspective!!! What would I do without WW lol

I did my own. I also only had 50 guests so I had 5 main tables. I also live in Los Angeles where it was super easy to run down to the flower mart.

There are tons of options for you. Do alot of research. Happy planning.

I was going to DIY my own centerpiece (really simple rose and peony arrangements, nothing complicated at all) to save money. An old friend of mine does event flowers and I asked her to do our bouquets. When I told her I was thinking about doing the rest DIY she told me I was insane, no matter how basic the arrangements, simply because of the prep that goes into it. (She didn't even do her own wedding flowers) She she offered to handle the arrangements, too, at cost, as long as I could find her a good place to prep and arrange everything on site (which is not an issue for us.)

I agree with Centerpiece Flowers, if you are okay with simple arrangements with flowers like roses, hydrangeas, carnations, etc. that don't require a ton of effort to arrange you could pull it off and they will look lovely, but I would only recommend doing it if you have reliable people to help you, and only if you don't have a huge number of arrangements. (Also, try a test run. Go to a flower market or even the supermarket and get some flowers and mess around with them to see if you are comfortable with it.)

I am doing a combination. A friend of mine is getting all of my flowers from a local farm and I've hired a florist to arrange the bouquets and bouts. Then we will DIY the centerpieces with help from a small group of friends. I've also hired a coordinator just for set-up and clean up (best $200 I've spent).

Doing all my own flowers and I'm loving every minute of it.

As of right now we're planning DIY, but my aunt works for a florist and will be helping out.

I had this same debate with my FH. When I got engaged I had all these ideas about my centerpieces and how to make them because they looked so easy and such. When time started ticking and I started to research and look for materials and how much it would all cost, I pretty much threw in the towel. I didn't have the time to create what I wanted and the cost was out of this world. A lot more than I had expected. Luckily my florist, a sweetheart of a man he is, is AMAZING at his craft and showed us what would be a nice sample centerpiece. It was simple but incredibly elegant and is only charged us $10 a piece if we found our own vases. It was a dream come true, I found vases for dirt cheap and NOW I don't have to stress about my centerpieces!! My florist took care of everything to do with flowers, I don't have to DIY anything when it comes to decor and I am sooooo relieved. It definitely took almost half the stress away.

That being said, it all depends on what you want to do. If it's very complicated, expensive in materials then there is no harm in asking your florist what he/she can do with what you want or even he/she might suggest something more cost-efficient that still looks just as good. If it's still not good enough, and you have all the crafty spirit in the world to DIY GO FOR IT GIRL!!

I am diying my flowers....which means I have to use fake ones. There is no way I can get all of it done in one day. Would I prefer real ones?Yes, can I afford the one florist my venue allows me to use?Nope. I don't care that much because my centerpieces aren't flowers anyways.

I DIY'd mine out of origami. Luckily I started this a year before the wedding, because it was a huge pain in the ass (400 pieces of paper, 109 feet of floral wire and 65 feet of double sided tape). I can't imagine having to make them on top of other wedding day stress.

If you're having simple centerpieces or non-floral centerpieces, I say DIY and have lots of people on hand to set it up. You've got lots of time to practice and come up with something. if you want something a bit more fancy, or with flowers, I'd say hire someone, although you will most likely still need someone on hand to actually set up the tables unless you have a coordinator.

One of my friends was in a wedding and for the bachelorette party, they made their own bouquets. She said at first it was fun, and nice to bond with the other girls over something creative...

Three hours later everyone was sick of flowers, sick of floral wire, and just wanted to throw in the towel.

I definitely went with a pro for mine. The last thing I want is to be stressed about a DIY project going wrong.

Flowers can be soooo expensive but also I can imagine it being so stressful to DIY. I actually saw a blog post on DIY floral arrangements and it made it seem pretty possible especially if you keep it simple. Here's the post!: http://www.storymixmedia.com/weddingmix/blog/2014/05/diy-wedding-flowers/