i Need Help with Flowers

This is the florist’s job to determine actual numbers. What you do is decide what you want and what you don’t and there is no right or wrong. They are not asking “do you want 12 or 24 orchids in your bouquet?” They are asking “do you want a bouquet?” Do you want floral centerpieces? Do you want corsages for the moms of you and fiancé and boutonnières for the fathers? If no parents are attending, that is already taken care of. They want to know how many bridesmaids/groomsmen you are having so they can make the appropriate number of bouquets and boutonnières.



Without knowing what exactly is on the list to pick from, it’s difficult to say what is typical and what isn’t to guide you along. Cake table flowers are often bridesmaid bouquets in a vase. You don’t need a special bouquet that is extra for that. Corsages and boutonnières are always given to parents to set them apart and it lets guests know who they are.

You're totally right that it's personal preference! A general checklist of things is likely to be:

Personals

boutonnieres for the groom, groomsmen and fathers of the bride and groom (grandparents also a maybe, depending on your relationship)

corsages for the mums (and the grandmothers - again, depending on familial relationships)

bouquet for the bride

smaller bouquets for the bridesmaids (or hoops or pomanders or whatever you've chosen for them to carry)

loose petals for the flower girls to throw, if you're having any

Ceremony Decor

Obviously very dependent on your ceremony location, what's included already decor-wise, and your preferred look, but the basics would be:

some kind of backdrop - be it an arch, an arrangement on the signing table or a wine barrel/stand etc

some kind of aisle decoration - whether it's hanging off the pews/chairs, a pathway of rose petals, or similar

possibly some kind of decoration to mark the beginning of the aisle (again, personal preference for how much you want to get, how long your aisle is, etc)

flowers for your welcome sign (if you like the look of that)

Reception Decor

again, dependent on your venue, how much decoration you feel you want or it needs, etc

table arrangements for however many tables you have

possibly something for your guestbook/card table

flowers for the cake (if needed/required) or the cake table

flowers for your seating chart (again, only if you like that)

sometimes people have an overhead installation but that's generally not necessary unless you have a very big, empty space.

For example, here are two venues with flowers set up - they're VERY different vibes, obviously, using different quantities of florals - you can go from extremely cut back to ... well, outrageously extravagant!

Do whatever you want or whatever your budget can afford! Personally we’re just buying bridal and bridesmaids bouquets from a florist. I skipped boutonnières/corsages because that’s a lot of money for something pretty unnoticeable that will be thrown away later. I will figure out table decorations myself to save money.

This is something that is 100% personal preference and budget. Nothing is a must have. For example my daughter got married in October and when she asked me what kind of flowers I wanted I told her none. I personally didn’t want to carry or wear flowers all night. 😊 Do what works for you and your family. Also ask your florist where you could repurpose flowers from your ceremony so you don’t have to buy so many.

This is all up to you and what you want for your wedding! We wanted our venue's beauty to shine, so we knew we wanted everything simple. I'll have a list below of what all we had!

Bride's bouquet, BM's bouquets, 1 single stem rose for moms & grandma, boutonniere for groom only, simple greenery and flowers on wedding arch, same for welcome sign, long garland on head table for reception, scattered leaves/small garland on each reception table, white flowers on cake. (we had nothing for the dessert table, gifts and cards table, or the buffet line because it didn't seem important to us)

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No, I'm less concerned about the literal number of flowers, but how/when they're used throughout the wedding I do like the idea of the bridesmaid's bouquets being put in a vase! I'm most on the fence about corsages and boutonnieres for my parents, mainly because I don't know if they'd want them in the first place; but that's also something I can always ask them. Thank you for sharing!

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Thank you Rosie! Your list is very similar to the one our florist sent us. Compared to between the two pictures you shared, I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle. I think what's helping me is looking up flower/decoration alternatives to consider different ideas. I felt like so many brides just knew what they wanted from the jump, and that's not me. From what I've found so far, I think decorating the end of the aisle is giving more the vibe that I want - but not something I would've considered without searching for options! It's helpful to hear that it really is down to preference and not what flowers anyone "should" have.

This picture isn't exactly what our venue looks like, but the way that aisle entrance is decorated - a DREAM

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Thank you Grace! Yes, we're definitely trying to stay within a budget; but I think our first consultation will also help determine what that could be as well. Our florist is a preferred vendor for our venue (which we knew up front), so I do need to work with them for all of our florals. However, I know they're accommodating and have worked with many brides before; so I'm excited to see what they come up with

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Thanks Cindy! Out of curiosity, did you opt out of using flowers altogether? Or you just didn't want to carry them? I'd love to see/hear what alternatives you used for your wedding

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Thank you for sharing! This sounds WONDERFUL. I wouldn't have considered only having a boutonniere for the groom, but it makes sense. I mentioned in an earlier reply that I need to talk to our parents to see if they're expecting flowers for themselves or not. Overall, your floral design sounds beautiful; and it was helpful to read it versus the massive list I have from my florist (just to get an idea of what realistically one could have).

View Quoted Comment Go through the list and cross out anything you don’t want and go from there. It should be what you and fiancé want, not what a vendor or Pinterest is pressuring you into.


Also don’t forget that a lot of decor can be repurposed. Ceremony planters can be used at the reception. And all flowers can be donated afterwards to a local funeral home.

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You're welcome!! Asking the parents is a nice gesture, and I will say that when I talked the plan over with my MIL and mom, MIL wasn't expecting any flowers, but my mom expected a large bouquet like mine lol. So it's always a good idea to see what others feel comfortable with and go from there!!

View Quoted Comment Yes the consultation should help a lot! If it’s still out of budget, you could always ask if they can do a cheaper quote for smaller bouquets since most bridal bouquets are huuuuuuuge

View Quoted Comment She opted out of flowers for the parents and grandparents. She reused all bridesmaids bouquets on various tables and reused the swags on her ceremony arch for her head table and any other table. Just ask about ways to repurpose flowers. 😊

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The idea of repurposing has come up multiple times and is brilliant. I will definitely make sure I bring this up with my florist to see how it can be done between ceremony to reception!

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Good luck! I'm sure everything will turn out wonderfully!!

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You're welcome! And that's suuuper pretty! I think the downside is, of course, that unless you regularly order loads of event flowers (and very few people do, on a regular basis in their day to day lives!) it's impossible to estimate how much was spent by looking at photos, and you might fall in love with something that's just... wildly out of reach.

I love flowers, and one of my oldest, closest friends is a florist and there is SO much variation in cost - not just in terms of whether the flowers are in season, but in the type of flowers, how big they are/how many stems you need to create the size of decoration you want, and beyond that - the complexity of putting the arrangement together. What also impacts cost is things like - will your venue only let your florist in 1 hour before the ceremony, and have you requested something huge and complex? If so, the only way to achieve what you want is to hire more staff, which is an added expense. There are a lot of details like that which make pricing out what you're looking at difficult, even if you know the type of flowers used and all the other details about the day, type thing.

But thankfully, you can always give a mood board of what you want to your florist and discuss other options that would achieve that vibe, within whatever your budget is!