There are a lot of ways to save money when you are planning a wedding, and DIY wedding flowers is one of them. It’s a fun project that you can do on your own, or friends can help you with (or do for you, perhaps, as a wedding gift, especially if they are crafty). The great news with flowers is that the flowers are the star so there is a way to make them amazing even if you have never made diy wedding flower arrangements before.
If you aren’t particularly crafty, don’t worry – flower arranging requires some skill, but you don’t have to be Martha Stewart! You can check out a book on DIY flower arranging from your library or online and pick up the basics pretty quickly. Pinterest is also a great resource for ideas to use on the DIY wedding flower mental folder.
DIY wedding flowers don’t mean cheap wedding flowers, so assuming you’ve decided you’re going to tackle doing your own wedding flowers, you’ll have to answer some questions before you can get started:
- How much money am I willing to spend on my wedding flowers?
- Do I want to use silk flowers, real flowers or some combination? You could combine things like real flowers for the wedding and silk flowers for the reception? (Time is a significant factor in this decision, since silk flower arrangements can be made weeks ahead of time, while real flowers must be arranged only a day or two prior and require refrigerated storage.)
- For real flowers – do I want to get them from a friend’s garden? A local greenhouse? A flower shop?
(Be sure to read our article on using local wedding flowers for a green wedding and review our list of top wedding flowers sites)
So you’ve decided that DIY wedding flowers are the way to go and you have considered and answered the main questions, now it is time to start some serious flower planning. If you are buying a lot of flowers (silk or real) don’t be afraid to ask for a bulk discount. At the very least, keep your eye out for local or online sales on silk florals, because craft stores, and placed like eBay, often offer periodic sales with significant discounts.
If you want real flowers, and you’re feeling really thrifty and adventurous, you may want to cultivate a relationship with a local flower shop or florist and make arrangements to buy flowers at a steep discount that the shop would otherwise throw out.
You and your bridal party may end up with some unique and stunning flowers in your bouquet that you would never have considered using otherwise! Have some fun with this. Planning a wedding doesn’t have to be stressful.
Are you making your own wedding flowers, bouquets and/or wedding centerpieces? If you have an awesome idea for IY wedding flowers, real or silk, we may not have thought about please post it below. Thanks for sharing.
