As you prepare your flower budget for your wedding, some expenses will be obvious. The bigger the arrangements, the bigger the price tag, of course. But what unexpected factors could raise lower your florist costs? Here are a few to pay attention to.
1. The Venue's Beauty
The venue itself will impact how many flowers you need and what you do with them, as in how much natural beauty the place has on its own. A ballroom filled with windows that overlook a lush golf course, for instance, needs less additional decoration. A high school gym, on the other hand, may have many things that don't match your theme and should be covered up with flowers, greenery, and other decorations.
2. The Time of Year
Which flowers you choose at which times of year affect pricing. A February wedding competes with the flower needs of the most popular time of year for floral shops — Valentine's Day. If you want flowers popular in bouquets, you'll pay more and have less availability. In addition, someone who wants spring blooms will have a hard time getting them and pay more for the importation in fall and winter.
3. Labor for Arrangements
The size of the arrangements isn't the only deciding price factor. Someone has to physically design and put all these arrangements together. If you're happy with just a color set and certain highlight flowers, the work will be simpler and more flexible. However, if you have specific design requirements — such as crafting arches or hanging arrangements — you'll need to pay for the extra labor costs of doing them.
4. Wedding Location
The more distance between your venue and the source of greenery, the more it will cost to get them there. An island wedding will find lush tropical blooms and leaves everywhere around it, but a couple marrying in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado needs to pay to bring the same to them. If you do have certain "statement" flower needs, the more you offset these with locally-sourced flowers, the less in overall costs.
5. The Florist's Reputation
Popular florists with tons of experience and high-visibility signature pieces will cost more than a local flower shop who hasn't reached that pinnacle of success yet. Unless you have very complicated arrangement needs, you can often choose a more up and coming floral designer for a better price than a big name or a long-time business.
When you understand the many variables involved in pricing for your flowers and arrangements, you can focus your money where it counts. Want to know more? Start by contacting a flower shop or florist in your area today.