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… and I am not sure what to do.
I was super excited about the florist I met in Pittsburgh, and all we had left to do was to dot the Is and cross the Ts before she would officially be the person to bring my roses-and-dahlias-and-jewel-tones bouquet ideas to life.
But…
… that was before the final proposal came in at $200 over budget. I asked if there was anything we could do to bring the price down, but she said our only options were to either start from scratch on the plan for the bridesmaids’ bouquets and drastically change their overall look, or to start eliminating things entirely from the proposal. Given that the only things we asked for in the first place were bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages, and no one who was originally listed to receive flowers wants to forgo them, there’s nothing we can cut.
I know $200 over budget doesn’t sound like that much, but when we were only planning to spend $700 in the first place, it’s a pretty big jump above where we hoped to be. I’m very tempted to say, “oh, what’s another $200, it’s just a drop in the bucket!” But I also worry that it’s easy to drop an extra one, two, three hundred dollars here and there and suddenly be thousands of dollars over the budget we had originally planned for.
So as far as I can tell, I have three options: suck it up and pay the extra money, start over on the bouquet plan, or (sigh) start from scratch and find a new florist altogether.
What would you do?
I had a WONDERFUL florist that I used for my wedding. I recommended her to many of my friends and they used her for their wedding. She is located in Dormont, PA. http://www.dragonflyfloristpa.com/
I highly recommend her. She did a wonderful job and a VERY afforable price. I hope this helps! PM if you would like to see pictures of flowers from my wedding.
I’m definitely guilty of this! Our floral proposal came over budget $200 as well and since I couldn’t find anywhere to cut it as we were keeping it low key as is, I forked over the additional $200. Like your fear of an extra hundred here and extra hundred there later on, I’m a casualty of that as well. You just have to be REALLY good about sticking to the budget or cut the cost elsewhere!! Good luck to ya!
I would call Pete Donati in Puittsburgh.. AMAZING and VERY VERY reasonable and easy to work with.
Many of our friends have used bridesmaids bouquets that are smaller than those pictured - more of a nosegay size. Would that help?
I am in the SAME boat! We budgeted $700 for bouquets/bouts/corsages and it came in at $970. We are going to pay that price. I don’t want to revamp the flowers, I picked in season blooms and as long as the colors were what we were going for thats what I wanted.
Is there anywhere else in your budget where you maybe will spend less money than you anticipated? If so take money from that category and move it to flowers. Or if you really don’t want to change anything about your flowers, think about what you can cut in another area that you don’t care about as much.
Can you do cheaper bouts and corsages? We are doing similar bouquets to yours, with just hypernicum berry corsages for the guys (except the groom) and astrolomeria and hypericum for the groom’s bout and the corsage. Astrolomeria is cheap, comes in a lovely deep burgundy color, and is great for corsages. Our bouts are costing like, $7 each and the corsages are like, $15.
But…I hate to say this because it might make me sound like a jerk, but I found two different florist who both quoted me less than $500 for 4 bm bouquets, plus my bouquet, plus the guys flowers, plus corsages. So…I think if you really want those things, you should keep looking, because it sounds like this florist’s prices are a little high. None of the flowers in your inspirations are that expensive, so there is no way that the flowers should cost $900.
I wouldn’t buckle too easily. Maybe weigh out other options. Get other quotes and think of them as “second opinions” thats what we did and for some reason it helped our psyche. If you think “oh whats another $200..” one time you may begin to think that when working with other vendors on other aspects of the wedding. Be patient don’t get discouraged and continue to research!
I would keep looking. It doesn’t hurt to look for a new florist who may be more flexible. I was able to get all my personal flowers (bridal, 4 BM, 9 bouts, 4 corsages, 3 posies) for $400 in the Boston area. Roses & Dalias are in season in the fall so you shouldn’t be paying a premium for them.
Could you also make the bouquets smaller? My bouquet will only be 20 roses and the BM are 10 roses, so that has definitely helped.
If flowers are lower on your list of priorities, I wouldn’t increase the budget unless you know you’ve saved money elsewhere.
Oh my gosh that bottom photo is gorgeous. Are those dahlias? I would definitely try to shop around a bit more if possible, I think flowers are important and beautiful and all of that, but not worth going over budget for in the long run, when you can probably find something equally perfect for your wedding within your budget if you are willing to be a bit flexible, as there are so many options!
What about making the bridesmaids bouquets smaller size?
Flowers is one of the very few areas we decided to go over-budget on. We went over what I initially wanted to spend by about $250. The flowers are super important to me though. I love them so much.
Have you asked if any flowers are bringing up the costs significantly? For example, I didn’t realize that ranunculus were a more expensive stem than dahlias until I got my proposed floral cost back from my florist and asked what I could do to bring the prices down a notch. Instead of my bouquet having both, I’m just going with the dahlias instead. Or, could you add more filler flowers instead and use less of the pricey stems?
Maybe shop around some more before completely dropping this one! I’m definitely of the “oh, it’ll be ok” method of bucket-drops, though (it’s worked out fine so far though, I just rejigger my financials every time I get a new estimate).
Offer to pay in cash if they will drop the tax. We originally came in $200 over for our flowers and when I balked our florist offered that compromise. We ended up $200 UNDER budget! SCORE!
Lady B has a good suggestion of offering to pay in cash, a lot of vendors will give you a discount if you pay cash…
Sadly, I’m totally in the “drop in the bucket” camp and I would probably just pay the $200 extra…Mostly bc I’m lazy and don’t want to look for another florist…
I can think of a couple options to try and keep the original look of the bouquets: in terms of bm bouquets make them a bit smaller like someone suggested above, in terms of corsages (I’m assuming these are only for mothers or grandmothers) what about forgeting about a corsage and getting a brooch or another piece of jewelery (this could double as a gift), and in terms of boutonnieres what about making a DIY one made with herbs or something non floral?
Can’t you change some of the flowers in the bmaids bouquets to a more in-season or otherwise cheaper flower? Or make all the bouquets, yours included, a little smaller? Or do something in lieu of corsages (are those for the moms?)? The only reason I would support dropping this florist is if she was snarky when she told you the ways to bring the price down. if she was mean, drop her. if she was sympathetic was needed to protect to bottom line, keep her.
half of me says keep looking for another florist, the other half says pay the extra $ and watch your budget elsewhere.
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Mrs. Octopus, Boston, MA/Pittsburgh, PA Age and Occupation: 25, Grad Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Graphics Operator for TV News Engagement Date: May 6th, 2009 Wedding Date: September 2010 Venue: Heinz Chapel Ceremony, Museum Reception About Me: When my best friend dragged me to a toga party in our freshmen year of college, I was not expecting to meet my future husband; but seven years later, here we are. I'm a crazy-organized planner at heart, and I am a great lover of random trivia, books, chocolate, blogs, new and exciting adventures, mockumentary-style television, and anything heavily flavored with bright orange fake cheese powder. We're planning a festive and fun mini-destination wedding in the place where we met: fabulous Pittsburgh, PA! I can't wait to marry the man I love!
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