Bride on a Budget Save money on floral arrangements for your wedding!

 

 

If you're a bride on a budget, nobody has to tell you how expensive a wedding is. And one of the biggest expenses is flowers. We have some money-saving floral tips to share:

 

 

 

 

 

• Save time by choosing one type of flower (in one color) for your wedding decor and bouquets. Think peonies, roses, or hydrangeas, which are lush enough to stand on their own. One hue creates a fuller-looking bouquet without spending extra money. Monochromatic bouquets look fuller than ones made with blooms of various colors.
• Get the most impact from your flower budget by investing in arrangements that guests will be looking at the longest: your bouquet and the centerpieces. One great way to save on cut flowers: Splurge on the reception, where people will see the flowers for four to five hours. Ceremony flowers will be seen for an hour, tops.
• Re-use ceremony arrangements at the reception if the color schemes match. The altar flowers, for example, can dress up the guestbook table or the ladies' lounge.
• Choose roses, orchids, or another hardy bloom that can take the heat if you're marrying in summer. High temperatures will cause fragile flowers like hydrangeas to wilt.
• Are you looking for affordable flowers beyond the carnation? Try dianthus, phlox, dendrobium orchid, gerbera daisies, dahlia, chrysanthemum, alstroemeria or freesia.
• You can get by with fewer arrangements if you have some tall, lush ones placed in the center of the room. These will draw the eyes of the guests, so no one will notice that you didn’t decorate the site’s perimeter.
• Mix fruit with flowers to create beautiful centerpieces for half the price of a flowers-only design. Or ask for extra greenery to fill out the arrangement at a lower cost.
• Limit the maids’ bouquets to the same color but add interest by giving each girl a different flower—one carries white roses, another cream tulips—and you get the lilies of the valley.

Published 06/02/08