Typical flowers budget?

You can check the florists in the vendors on weddingwire. Many of these start above $2000.

Some people have gone with a supermarket florist which might be possible depending on the venue.

$400 alone only covers my bouquets! Real flowers are expensive. Fake can be expensive too. Renting fake flowers can be a good cheap option. But if you’re insistent that the decor be real, try to use more greenery than floral. I’m only using eucalyptus on my tables so it’s a lot more affordable. And my floral arrangements consist of a lot of greenery as well.

You should try local flower market and do it yourself

Unfortunately, $400 is an unrealistic budget for the florals you’re wanting, to be done professionally. My bouquet alone cost $375. Flowers are expensive! You can bring the cost down some by choosing less expensive flowers, and ensuring all the flowers you choose are in-season. You can also cut the amount of flowers used in half and replace them with greenery. Even with those modifications though, you will still need to up your budget for that many arrangements.

The budget you have set is very unrealistic which is probably why the florist just laughed. Flowers are expensive so there's no way any florist is going to be able to create the look you are describing for $400 especially if you want that to include all centerpieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, ceremony decor, etc.

I second the others recommending to incorporate greenery. There are also really helpful websites that let you look up cheap/in-season alternatives for the flowers you’re interested in. Another way to cut costs is to vary your arrangements, so if you have 10 tables, maybe just do the tall centerpiece every other or every third table and then alternate that with the same or similar flowers in a smaller arrangement. It will still tie together nicely and add variety (plus I’ve heard that sometimes tall arrangements are actually annoying for the guests because you can’t see over them and talk to other people). You can also have a more centralized focal point and then lighter floral everywhere else. That’s what FH and I are planning to do (placing emphasis on the area behind the sweetheart table) so we just have to do the more expensive pieces once and then tone it down for the centerpieces we have everywhere.

First, shop other florists. I did and saved $1500.00. Check pintrest for other "non floral" ideas - there is no law saying you HAVE to have floral centerpieces. That is how I saved money! Here is our table pieces, front and back. Between Dollar Tree, Etsy and Amazon I spent $10.00 per table.

View Quoted Comment I can't see the picture

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Well heck! LOLOL Let's try this again.

Front

sign and mini shells - Dollar Tree; chair, tealight and mirror Amazon

Back

Mason jar with mini lights and picture frame - Amazon; Vinyl (Flamingo) stickers Etsy (have matching smaller stickers to put on the escort cards. (And of course additional beach themed stickers for each table/cards)

If real flowers are a top priority to you, tell your fiancé that you want to move more budget money into Florals and less money into low-priority XYZ. Consider grocery store, wholesale flowers, potted succulents, potted plants, or low arrangements. If you have rectangular tables, consider staggering small bud vases from the dollar store with single stems. I've seen couples do spray painted baby's breath, but then it's a flower shop hunt. You can even fake greenery for far-off decor.

Anything you don't really want is a waste of money. Best wishes finding budget options.

In my city, $400 from a reputable florist would likely only cover the bridal bouquet and maybe a corsage or two. We used a mid-range florist for our summer 2019 wedding, and they required a $4000 minimum (we ended up spending $6000 and now that I'm looking at their website, they have an $7500 minimum--my jaw is dropping at how much prices have increased post-pandemic!). Anyway, we interviewed 12 florists and the absolute lowest we could find was a $2500 event minimum for a low-end floral company. With a $400 budget, my advice would be to splurge on a beautiful bouquet for yourself (because let's face it, that bouquet will be in pretty much every formal photo you take) and maybe look into renting sola wooden flowers for the rest. If done well, they can look very realistic. Another option, provided that you're able to increase your budget, is to get flowers from a place like Costco and arrange them yourselves

All of my fresh floral quotes started at $4,000. I bought all my flowers from Ling's Moment for $700. They look great and no one will care that they're not real. If you want fresh flowers, even if you arrange them yourself, you're probably looking at at least $1,500. Also, DIYing flowers is a lot of work and takes some skill/practice.

Your best bet is a grocery store florist because they are accustomed to giving you the biggest bang for your tight budget. Or if you are in a major city, some wholesale florists will assemble arrangements and deliver at cost without the standard wedding industry markup. Contrary to popular opinion, silks/faux flowers are not less expensive than fresh flowers and not all fresh flowers cost a fortune. Faux flowers are not everyone’s cup of tea either. If you go with a wedding florist, many have minimum requirements of anywhere from $****+ and that is for the basics. In a small town, you may have to pay as much as in a larger city due to vendor travel costs. Vendor costs depend on where you are located as there is no one size fits all pricing guide. If you are open to DIY, which is not less expensive either because your time and sanity are charged minimum wage per hour in addition to cost of supplies, you can save money via FiftyFlowers.com which has online tutorials.

We are using a split of real and silks. Our decorations and centerpieces are made from silks. We will have real flowers/greenery for the bride and bridesmaids bouquets, groom and groomsmen boutonnieres, sweetheart table setting, and flowers on the edges of the first few rows of seats for the ceremony. This way, your real flowers will be seen in photos and will look great where they really matter and still look good where they wont be viewed as much. Just a thought!