How To Maximize Your Floral Budget

Wedding florals are a high priority item and a quintessential part of your wedding’s aesthetic. Everyone wants to make the absolute most of their wedding budget and florals can take up a big portion of it. While many would love to put flowers absolutely everywhere, it’s just not always feasible. Below are a few tips to discuss with your floral designer to maximize your budget and really make the most out of your wedding day florals.

Have Your Florals Do Double Duty
I’m a huge fan of using the florals you have in both your ceremony and reception setup. With most ceremonies lasting only 30 to 60 minutes, couples will often forgo florals at the ceremony in an effort to save money. But there are a few ways you can ensure your florals are used twice so you really get your money’s worth.
Altar pieces—those freestanding arrangements that flank your altar space —offer a beautiful focal point and can easily be moved behind your head table at your reception. You can also use your centerpieces as aisle décor, by placing them on pedestals for display, for a marginal rental fee.
For couples that love the look of an arch, ask your florist if they have a frame available that is lightweight in material (copper pipe is a good choice!) so it is easy to move for use as a head table backdrop.

Photography by Mango Studios. Floral design by Ashton Creative Floral Design.

Emphasize A Colour Scheme Instead Of A Flower Type
Of course, everyone has their favourite flower. For example, you may love peonies, but including them in your entire floral scheme is not as budget-friendly as you might hope. While you may prefer certain blooms over others, remember that the purpose of wedding florals is to convey a certain colour scheme and arrangement style.
Floral designers have to balance the size and scale of the arrangements with the preferred blooms while trying to make it all fit within the target budget. Ask your florist to make suggestions as to how to best represent your colour scheme and style preferences using flowers that help fill space and, more importantly, are seasonally available (more on this below).
Save the specialty premium blooms for your bouquet and personal flowers since those will be what you spend your day looking at, while your centerpieces can be enjoyed by guests as part of the overall atmosphere of your wedding.

Photography by Inna Yasinska. Floral design by Ashton Creative Floral Design.

Use Seasonal Blooms
Like fruits and veggies, flowers have growing seasons, so using flowers that are in good season at the time of your wedding means you will get a higher quality bloom for a better price. This will reflect in the arrangement as the flowers will be fuller in size and petal count which will show in the best way possible. No one wants to pay a premium price for a flower that will underwhelm because it’s out of season.

Trust your floral designer to help guide you through the best ways get the most out of your arrangements to ensure your flowers create the atmosphere you want for your wedding.

Ashley Plainos is the owner and lead designer of Ashton Creative Floral Design and has been designing custom wedding florals for over 10 years. Channeling a romantic and feminine aesthetic she’s designed florals for some of Toronto’s most beautiful event spaces. Her work has been published numerous times in some of Canada’s top wedding publications.