Florist or Costco?

Some girls have had the best of luck DIYing using Costco! (Others with other flowers too - silk (really nice ones), from grocery stores, from a farmers' market)..

I'm going through a florist. I wanted real flowers (so not silk) and didn't want to deal with having to make bouquets and keeping them cool so they won't wilt.

What does that package you looked at include?

I'm only using one kind of flower, and cutting the tops off for small vases, so I'm planning on picking up some flowers to DIY our centerpieces (as of now I'm not planning on bouquets). For bouquets and/or larger floral centerpieces, I think I'd probably go ahead and pay a florist to take care of it for me.

I DIY'ed my flowers (ordered from Sam's Club, which has a similar selection to Costco), and I enjoyed it, but it was a lot of work. I had a relatively small wedding (70 people), and I made my bouquet, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 6 boutonnieres, and 18 small arrangement in vases for the tables (rectangular tables, so multiple vases per table). It took me, with some help from my MIL and one bridesmaid, about a a day and a half. So basically you just need to consider whether the time commitment is something you think you'll be able to handle in the last couple days before your wedding. It worked out for me, and I definitely saved money, but it's not for everyone.

Flowers are not major to us. We decided to go with flowers from costco club. Going to do small hand tied bouquets for the 4bm and a little bigger one for myself. This summer I am doing a trial run to see how much a pita it will be.

Costco was perfect for us. High quality for not a lot of money. $455 covered 3 bridesmaid bouquets, bride bouquet and a bunch of boutonnieres and corsages. The only thing is that they will arrive two days before your event, so you will have to keep them in water and transport them to your wedding site.

I plan on using Sam's or Costco for my flowers. I'm probably going to have the bouts made, just because I don't want to deal with the floral tape. Otherwise, we will make several bouquets to be placed in cases as centerpieces. My bouquet will be sunflowers and purple roses. My BP will be nothing but sunflowers. ETA: your name threw me for a second. That is how I am known at work, Kim S.

I'm going through a florist to get all my bouquets. Then diy centerpieces. That's the plan as of right now anyways. I haven't even talked to a florist yet to check prices.

I used a florist for bouquets and bouts and altar arrangements and did my own centerpieces. For 20 centerpieces I spent about $300 for flowers and vases. I'll post a couple pics when I post my BAM. It took about 4 hours the Wednesday before to dethorn the roses and put them all in water and 4 hours the next day to arrange them all. I used Sam's club roses, sunflowers, and fillers.

As others have said in other threads, what is most important to you and FH, and budget accordingly.

FH and I booked a venue, which we absolutely love, was more than we originally budgeted, but the venue was the one of the most important to us, so in order to compensate, I am taking on the DIY flowers, centerpieces, bouquets, corsages etc. I DIY occasionally, but after watching multiple YouTube videos, I'm comfortable with trying, I will definitely do a couple dry runs and mock ups. I have over a year to learn.

Like you, I had been looking at florists websites and received several quotes, and the cost of a florist just cannot be worked in. I have had a couple friends use the Costco flowers for their wedding and said they were good quality, so I think I will also use them.

I looked at doing DIY, but I found a florist that would do it for cheaper than what I could have done...Once you factor the amount of time spent, the fact that you need somewhere to store and transport the flowers (we don't have a car as we live in NYC), needing to buy vases, ribbon, floral supplies, etc. It would have been more expensive and lesser quality doing it ourselves. And my mother used to be a florist too. I would really try and contact every florist willing to travel to your venue to get a quote.

I'm getting my bouquet, 6 BMS, 11 bouts, 5 corsages, 5 24" centerpieces and 5 short centerpieces all for under $2k, including a split delivery, set-up, and tax, and using flowers like peonies, garden roses, hydrangeas, expensive stuff. I did get quotes from other places up to $10k so don't be scared off if you want something relatively simple, just try to find a florist that will work with your budget.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and ideas! I have 5bm, 4gm and a shlew of parents to include! I am doing sunflowers and trying to tie in a bit of red. I don't want to be rushed into making them so I may go with a florist! I am hoping there is money in the budget for it, if not, Costco here I come!

I went to our local farmers market. They made 6 bouquets- 9 bouts, and we did single stem flowers for our centerpieces (100 stems) for $460.

For my sisters wedding we did Costco, and I'll be doing the same for mine. I plan on going out with my ladies the morning before so night before the wedding (after rehersal) we will probably just have wine and sappy movies while we work on the flowers. *fingers crossed* everything else will be done lol

I just made 2 Christmas Wreaths over the weekend, they turned out fantastic, I think. But, it made me realize, I am NOT going to do all that, times 100 a couple days before my wedding. Nope. Ain't gonna happen. Unless you are crafty and just love doing flowers, the stress is going to be too much, you are not going to be able to have your vision of the perfect bouquet realized...save the trouble and stress, pay the money.

If you choose Costco, I would definitely suggest a trial run. My rule of thumb for doing a DIY project is to estimate the time it will take and then multiply that by 2, because you are probably underestimating. If you DIY real flowers, you'll have to set aside time right before your wedding to do them, which will add to your stress. Shop around a bit more for flowers. I got my bridal bouquet, 7 bridesmaids, 7 groomsmen, my groom, 2 flower girl wreaths, and 7 corsages for about $900. Keep looking, and maybe consider doing silk so if you DIY, you can at least do them at a less stressful time.

I was originally going to do my own and then I decided it was too much of a headache and too much could go wrong so I booked a florist. For 20 centerpieces (2 per table), 4 bouts, 3 bridesmaid bouquets, 1 bridal bouquet, flower petals for the flower girls, a hair piece for me and a corsage it came out just under $1,000. I wasn't happy about it, but I'll be happy not having to do it.

Ok, there seems to be some confusion about getting flowers from Costco. You can do one of two things 1.) walk into the costco a day or two before, purchase flowers, go home and make your bouquets and arrangements or 2.) use Costco floral (technically Vistaflor) which is what we did, where they prearrange and ship everything to you two days before the wedding. It's still super cheap (see my post above) and much less stressful than making bouquets the day before your wedding: http://www.costco.com/wedding-event-flowers.html

If you want to DIY with fresh flowers, make sure to do your research. There's a lot of time and effort involved in prepping them even before you start your arrangements. You'll also need to take into account storing and transporting all of your flowers. I originally planned to go the DIY route (I love arranging flowers!) but couldn't make the logistics work for us.

Check with several local florists, and start by telling them your budget. A good florist should be able to come up with a proposal to fit your budget, especially if you are flexible about the types of flowers used.

We did Costco for our centerpieces and a florist for our bouquets.

I did Costco (online order) for baby's breath and grocery store for the flowers. I arranged the BB(200 stems in 2.5 hours with 4 of us) on Thurs and the flowers on Fri (2hrs by myself) Cost was $250 total. I was able to take the arrangements to the venue the day before.