So we’ve shared our thoughts on High Street wedding dresses and cost effective cakes, and this week, we’re turning our attention to wedding flowers. With a leading London florist suggesting couples allocate at least 10% of their total wedding budget to their floral arrangements, and the average wedding costing £30,000, you’re looking at a vast sum of money for fresh flowers that will last little more than a week if you’re lucky!
So, what’s the alternative? As ever, the Manor By The Lake wedding planners have the answers.
High Street Wedding Flowers
Marks & Spencer
We’re really impressed with the range offered by High Street favourite Marks & Spencer. If you’re looking for a simple solution for your wedding flowers you’ll find a really good choice of classic flowers in bouquets, buttonholes and arrangements.
There are a range of colours to choose from that will tie in nicely with the majority of colour schemes including classic white, pink, lilac, ivory and yellow. There are options including roses, orchids, lilies and freesia and they’ve been helpfully grouped into packages to help you get everything you need for an affordable price.
For £275 you can purchase the Creamy White Luxury Rose package which gives you a bridal bouquet, 2 bridesmaids posies, 4 buttonholes, 2 table arrangements and a vase arrangement which we think compares very favourably to many florists’ quotes.
We love the Pure Rose Mirrored Cube arrangements which are £150 for 5 and would make completely stunning table centrepieces. For a rustic wedding, the Celebration Table Plan in Ivory at £70 includes a crate of roses for the top table, and 5 plant pots of roses for guest tables together with plant markers to write your names on. If you’re planning to have more tables, sets of 5 plant pots of roses can be ordered additionally.
Waitrose
With a smaller range than M&S, Waitrose nonetheless has some good options for sourcing your wedding flowers cost effectively.
There are a number of beautiful bouquets that can be displayed in vases and jugs at your venue to create instant floral accents, or could be hand tied to use as a bride’s or bridesmaid’s bouquet.
There are ready planted rose trees and planters that would make wonderful venue decorations particularly at summer barn and country wedding celebrations.
For the more creative couples, we think the ready-to-arrange bouquet of 100 sweetheart roses at just £48 is a fabulous option to fit your wedding budget.
Online
Great British Florist
We love this website that neatly divides into seasonal sections so you can easily see at a glance what floral options are available depending on when you’re getting married.
You choose and order online, and we like the fact that you can pick and choose which elements you need and order the exact number of buttonholes or bridesmaid posies to suit your wedding size. There are also some lovely options such as flower girl wands and bride’s floral crowns to choose from to really create an impact with your wedding flowers.
There are plenty of packages to choose between for an easy option. Simply select the style of flowers you like and a number of flowers you require and then start planning how you’re going to style them when they arrive!
We think the basic package at £390 gives you lots of scope to create a stunning floral backdrop for your wedding celebrations. As well as including a bride’s bouquet, 2 bridesmaids posies, 1 groom’s buttonhole and 3 attendants buttonholes, you’ll also receive 2 extra large buckets of seasonal blooms to arrange yourself with the help of a creative friend or two!
Wholesale
Triangle Nursery
If you’re confident enough to create all your own floral arrangements then we suggest you source your flowers from a wholesaler to make sure you’re getting the best possible prices. Triangle Nursery supply to the trade, but will also supply the public. They have access to over 4000 flowers, foliage, accessories and floral supplies priced according to current live auction prices.
If you need a quote for a wedding that’s some months away when pricing is likely to have changed, you can submit your wishlist at any time and they will provide you with costings for the time of year when you’ll be ordering.
There’s a handy wedding calculator to help work out what you’re going to need as well as guides on how to care for and arrange your flowers. To help identify flowers that will suit the style of your day, there’s a great section of themes where you can see lists of suggested flowers that will work with your chosen style such as ‘rustic’, ‘gothic’ and ‘vintage’.
We hope we’ve given you some great inspiration to create your own truly memorable wedding, but for more advice, why not give our knowledgeable wedding planners a call today. Or ask to speak to the Manor’s Creative Designer about our in-house Floral Design Service!
While you’re at it, you could arrange a private tour of our stunning country Manor house. Give us a call on 01242 245 071 or email [email protected] to find out more about Manor By The Lake.
