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Over the weekend my mom and I walked by the floral department at Dominicks (local Chicago grocery store). I pulled a bundle of 5 mini calla lilies from a bucket and said,
“Look Ma, these are the flowers I’m going to use for the bridesmaids. Each girl will have a small bouquet of 10 stems.”
Mom: “Oh, those will look nice, how much are they? (looked at the price tag) $4.99… So that should be around $10 per girl, right? How much is your florist charging you?”
Me: *gulp* ::silence:: “$70…” 
Oops, silly me, I never really broke down the florist estimate for the Bmaids bouquets. I know that callas cost at most $2-$3 per stem at wholesale price , so 10 stems at cost would be $30 max. Where is the justification for the other $40, considering that callas are so easy to work with and just need a simple ribbon wrap?! I guess I didn’t think too hard when I received the estimate because the rest of the charges seemed fairly reasonable ($130 for my bouquet, $50 - $80 for centerpieces, $10 for boutenniers, etc. Standard fare for Chicago).
Sooooo… last night I decided to channel my inner florist, and went back to Dominicks for some mini callas. Perhaps this is something I can DIY and save a few bucks? Of course I would still have the florsist do everything else (not to mention I already signed a contract, haha)
$15 + floral tape + leftover Xmas ribbon from Nordstroms + 15 minutes =
Not so shabby for a first try! The color selection wasn’t great, so I ended up with 3 bundles in pale green, pink and purple. The green ones were kinda slim and wimpy, but the pink and purple were hardier. My main purpose was to see how easy the callas were to manipulate, and how far in advance I can make them. They still looked great this morning! But I decided that 10 callas looks too skimpy, and there definitely needs to be at least 15 - 20 stems per bouquet.
Basically what I did was:
1. Cut off the scummy ends of the callas.
2. Start with a calla in one hand and add to it one by one, adjusting their positions as you go and clutching the bouquet lightly. My observation is that the flowers look best when all the longer pointy ends point outwards.
3. When you are happy with how the bundle looks, wrap about five inches of the stem with green floral tape. This was rather tricky to manuever by myself without letting go of the bundle, so I tied them up loosely with some string to hold them in position.
4. I used a 2 inch wide ribbon, leftover from a Nordstroms present, to wrap the stem. I started about 1.5 inches below the flower, and just wrapped around and around the stem, and used double sided tape to attach the end (a hot glue gun would work well here, but hey, I was improvising with what I had on hand!)
5. Carefully cut the bottom of the stems to make sure they are even.
6. Sit them in a tall cup with only about an inch of water. Don’t want more soggy stems!
VOILA!
Hrmm, the florist was going to use some decorative bear grass on 2 of the bouquets for my Maid and Matron of honor to make them stand out. Sounds too complicated for me, so if I decide to DIY, what should I do instead? Maybe use a different color ribbon, or maybe make their bouquets larger with more callas?
Here are some resources for potential DIY calla bouquets:
Flowerbud.com - Grand Box of 120 pink or white mini calla lilies for $249 (includes shipping). I would most likely go with this company. Although I would only save $120, it would definitely be more bang for my buck!
Growersbox.com - 90 MID-size calla lilies (supposedly are longer and have thicker stems than the minis) in white only for $178.25 (includes shipping).
Freshroses.com - 10 mini callas in white, yellow, orange, pink, or mauve for $30.
FYI… all these sites have a variety of flowers for your DIY pleasure 
So… Yay or Nay?
Nay- because of timing.
rehersal dinner the night before and you won’t want to have to do them the morning of unless you are having a late evening wedding….
i would dicuss with the florist and see if they can give you a better price.
i am planning to DIY on some flowers…i have 5 BMs and 5 GMs are thats a lot for just using simple flowers…
i have done a few flowers and bouts so i know i can do them (just not perfect and round like professionals). so, that’s about $500 of saving…
i encourage DIY only if you have time the day before your wedding to work on the flowers and only if you plan to DIY on same flowers…also, you can stretch two days before if you are using roses b/c most roses at costco haven’t fully blossomed…
i would go to a costco or sam’s club and talk to the flower person to place my order…so you can have the same color (more quantity) for the bridal party…
FYI: roses are now $15/2 dozens at costco…just checked yesterday closer to chicago downtown…
i know sam’s club carries calla lilies…not sure about costco
ok if DIY on some flowers
lots of work if DIY on entire wedding (unless you have people to help you “carry and set them up”)
If you are only saving $120 I wouldn’t bother. Sure… it’s money saved but I would rather just pay the money and be done with it.
the biggest concern would be time… but if you have time, i vote yay! i think your bouquet looks just as good as the professional ones i’ve seen of mini calas. =P but then again, i’m not like a super flower lover. haha.
Good luck finding this same price on mini callas in September!
You can also go to the grocery and find huge containers of strawberries for $3.99 during the height of the season (enough to serve 20), but that doesn’t mean that you can get strawberry shortcake for 20 cents per serving in the off-season.
It isn’t fair to compare March costs to September costs on seasonal flowers.
Also, many florists, for the purposes of simplification, cover other costs in the flower prices. For instance, they probably cannot really cover delivery costs for the delivery price they are quoting, but if they raise that price, you would freak out, so they add $10 to each bridesmaids bouquet.
There are also other costs for them to cover that Dominick’s doesn’t have. For instance, all those hours of appointments and calls and proposal revisions and contracts… how does all that time get paid for? That’s why the cost of wedding flowers is not the same as just buying out of the flower cooler at that same florist.
If you take up their time with expertise in design and consultation, that gets paid for in the cost of the flowers.
If you are doing this type of comparison on the bridesmaids bouquets, then to be fair you must do the same thing to the other vendors… the ingredients to that $75 steak dinner can be purchased at Dominicks for about $9.00. The paper and ink for the invitations probably cost about 45 cents. The fabric for your gown probably cost about $35.00. The shampoo used at your hairdresser for your wedding appointment is their only material cost, about 60 cents. The digital photos don’t even have the cost of film or processing any more, Etc Etc.
Keep it real, Miss Emerald. You know that you cannot look at raw costs of ingredients when you are using a professional service. You just happened across the raw ingredient to one piece of your complicated floral order. Don’t second-guess your florist decision. You could have found a cheaper florist who probably would have screwed up a lot of the day. When you pay more for a top professional, you’re paying for piece of mind.
I’m diying all my flowers. I prefer really simple arrangements, and it’s ridiculous to pay a florist 600% markups when all you want is some flowers plunked in a vase. It helps that I won’t be working and it’s a really small wedding.
I think that the bouquets alone is a small enough project you’ll be fine. You could even meet your wedding party for breakfast and do them all together.
If your flower market is open to the public you could buy them directly there, or sometimes your local grocer (Trader Joe’s especially) will purchase them for you. I only mention it because the quality of your flowers can be affected by shipping.
Um, Cadette- why would it be okay to charge more for a wedding than another type of event? We know that overhead and labor need to be rolled into the prices, but that doesn’t make it okay to screw around with a bride just because “weddings cost more”.
Prices can be applied fairly or the can target specific groups. If you choose to single out one group to bear the brunt of the extra business expenses don’t be surprised when they find a different way of doing things. Miss Emerald doesn’t owe it to her florist to overpay for bridesmaids bouquets.
Obviously you pay for talent and experience, but from what I can see Miss Emerald has the talent and sufficient experience to pull it off.
Thanks for the various perspectives ladies, I appreciate the different point of views. A few more thoughts from my end…
Although I wouldn’t be saving a tremendous amount of money ($120 - $150 depending on which vendor I choose), I would get alot more flowers for that $$. Like I said, the 10 mini callas for which I was quoted $70 is actually a very small bouquet. I didn’t realize this until I actually SAW and TRIED it myself. By DIYing, the bouquets can have between 15 - 20 flowers each and look less paltry.
I am actually going to have a number of family members around a few days before the wedding, and even my mom was saying she would do these bouquets for me if necessary (she has flower arranging experience). So help shouldn’t be too big of an issue, especially for 5 bouquets. Also, last year I helped my future sister in law DIY all the flowers for her wedding. Not only was it a great savings, it was FUN!
Lastly, I’ve been checking these flower sites continuously for the past 8 or 9 months. The flower prices have stayed consistently the same, YAY!
Be sure to keep the finished product out of water for a couple hours to mimic your wedding day and see how well they hold up. I worked for a florist for a few years. When working with callas, we would soak thick toothpick-type pieces of wood for several days and then insert the sticks into the stems to keep the flowers hydrated for several hours as well as support the delicate stems. You should be able to purchase these sticks on any floral supply website.
I think DIY flowers is great when you have the time. To cut costs, I am purchasing some flowers in bulk as well as just blooms in bulk. You can get 500 orchid blooms on some sites for under $100. I am paying a florist labor and delivery to turn the blooms into bout. and corsages as well as centerpiece for the table. Good luck on your project! 
Wow, you just did exactly what I was planning on trying this weekend. Thanks for the helpful hints! I am also thinking about doing my own centerpieces with them too…I would just keep it simple and use the same flowers and just add a lot of candles too. My only problem is that I am having a hard time finding a place that sells PURPLE calla lilies in bulk…any ideas?
T - try http://pacificcallas.com/ I came across them awhile ago. What I like about them is all of the positive feedback on their Web site, not to mention that instead of guaranteeing a certain variety of calla, they guarantee a certain color, so you will have flowers all the same color instead of a range.
And Miss E, I would say to wait a few days and see how your bouquet holds up. That way you can gauge your time frame and budget your wedding-day time accordingly. If you need to make them that morning because they’ll wilt any earlier than that, you can arrange to do all the other wedding-morning stuff (nails, bridesmaids luncheon, etc) the day before and save yourself plenty of time.
And while I agree that you can’t know for sure the difference in bulb prices between now and then, you can have an idea of the price range.
Also, don’t let ANYONE tell you that $150 in savings means nothing; that’s an entire day on a shore excusion during a honeymoon cruise, a fancy dinner and night on the town for your one-year anniversary, a minimum payment on a credit card, or any number of other things! We all talk about how expensive everything is; if you can find a way to control the spending, then you beat the system!
kandaceandjason - Amen to that! You’re right, $150 here, and another $150 here can really add up =) And what a GREAT site for callas!! I love their color selection… thanks!
The extra money is for the skill and labor of the florist. plus, all the supplies they use to put a bouquet together well. I used to work for a florist and wouldn’t ever do my own wedding flowers-you want the time to yourself the day before. Plus, you wouldn’t want the bouquet to fall apart-it’s more complicated than you’d think. plus, the cost of flowers will change across seasons. Definitely doesn’t hurt to negotiate though-maybe you can find a middle ground.
i liked your bouquet.
This is an interesting discussion. All the power to you for wanting to DIY your own flowers for the bouquets. Your bouquet is beautiful and it could be a fun activity the day before with your family and friends.
I don’t think that the price you received from your florist is way out there. As previous commenters have posted, creativity, design, skill, and tools all go into the process. Although an easier bouquet than other ones, it still takes the designer dedicated time to concentrate on your bouquets. You also would never receive a price for callas at cost from a florist - just like you don’t receive anything you buy from a retail shop or grocery store at cost. So, I would jump your estimate for the cost of the flowers up to 40 to 50 per bouquet. Add 5 more dollars for other materials, ordering the flowers, making sure they are cared for properly and other maintenance issues. Now, 15 to 20 dollars for labor does still seem a little high for multiple bouquets, so maybe you could negotiate it down just a tad. I would not expect too much though, since as you mentioned your other flowers were very reasonable.
It is true though - if you buy the flowers at cost, do the work, and everything else you are likely to save a good chunk of change. But I don’t think the cost from the florist is overpriced.
sorry, 15 to 25 dollars
I agree, this is a really interesting discussion, I’ve been thinking about DIY flowers alot lately. Everyone makes valid points. Miss Emerald if do decide to DIY your bouquets I would definitely make sure you have someone to help you (who doesn’t have another “job” at the wedding), an aunt, cousin, friend, etc who could take over if you become totally overwhelmed with other things. Please keep us posted on your decision, I am definitely curious to know what you end up doing!
YAY for DIY flowers…now, i want to ask for sites/places where you can order/buy the lowest priced flowers…
so, has anyone found really low prices for calla lilies…
I don’t think what florists do is all that difficult to do yourself, especially if you have an artistic eye and some practice arranging flowers. I apologize to any florists out there, it’s not rocket science. The only reason I find for paying for a florist vs. DIY is the time crunch. Flowers would have to be done the day before or the day of the wedding, when you’re going to be busy doing other things. The biggest problem I’ve encountered is trying to figure out how the flowers are going to get from our house to the reception site–who is going to have time to carry them all over there without bumping them around in their car?
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Mrs. Emerald, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, Wedding Planner Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Paralegal Engagement Date: October 8, 2006 Wedding Date: September 2007 Blogging Since: November 29, 2006 Venue: Hyatt Lodge, Oak Brook IL About Me: I have been dreaming about my wedding forever, and flipping through bridal magazines since high school, so I am in my element! I am calling our theme "Vintage Inspired French/Asian Fusion." Mr. Emerald is very involved in the planning process, but of course he generally defers to me cuz I have a strong opinion of how I want everything to be :-).
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