How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost in Manitoba? Part 1
{Updated for 2021}
I hear this question ALL the time. Literally, all the time. And while I can't give you an accurate blanket statement response, I wanted to at least give it a shot and explain some of the behind-the-scenes of wedding flower pricing for you.
This is Part 1 in a 3 Part series on wedding flower budgets. I'll be back soon with more, including tips on how to maximize your floral budget and some common misconceptions about wedding flower pricing. If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, send me an email to info@stonehouseweddings.com and I'll try my best to address it!
Figuring out how much to budget for your wedding flowers can be a major challenge - for most newly engaged couples, it's just going to be a major shot in the dark. Most of the online resources available are in American dollars, from very different markets than we are in, and are written by magazine editors - not florists - who haven't bothered to do their research on how much things actually cost, making their supposedly helpful suggestions to be completely unrealistic. Some of the big magazines and wedding planning sites offer "helpful" wedding budget breakdowns, with a suggestion for spending 10-20% of your overall budget on flowers, but there's a big difference between 10 and 20%!
So, before you even try to figure out a preliminary wedding flower budget, start here:
1) Figure out your priorities and what aspects of the flowers you really care about, and what aspects may be less important.
2) Understand that your budget needs to match your wants and needs list. If you don't want to spend a lot of money on flowers (which is perfectly fine! I was a budget bride, too!), you can't expect the world.
Probably the worst part of my job is finding a way to delicately tell a couple that their wish list is just way too enormous for the amount of money they're comfortable spending. While I adjust some prices on my end, most of what I have to charge is set by the growers and the wholesalers. There are a LOT of hard costs in this industry, which means that as much as we would love to, your floral designers can't just give you everything you want without a price tag attached to them. If you take just one thing away from this entire post, please know this: we aren't trying to rip you off. Believe me, we don't make a lot of money, especially when compared to the intensive work we do. There are simply very definite hard costs in the floral industry, and that just kind of sucks, because it means that we can't necessarily give you as much as we would honestly love to!
There are many things to consider that contribute to the overall amount of money you're spending on wedding flowers, including:
-The flowers themselves (duh).
-The amount of items your florist needs to make (8 bridesmaid bouquets add up really quickly!).
-The time of year (sorry to everyone who wants to get married in February, but all growers increase wholesale flower pricing for the month of Valentine's!).
-What your style is (some design styles require a lot more or less floral than others).
-The supplies required to create a design (you'd be surprised at how much time floral designers spend in Rona!).
-There's also, unfortunately, the border crossing factor. While I love to use locally grown flowers as much as possible, there are many things that just don't grow here in Manitoba. Anytime a flower crosses the border, there are increased expenses. It's a bummer, but a simple reality. What a florist in California might pay $0.50 per stem for, I have to pay $1.50 for.
-You're also paying for the service that you receive and the experience and expertise of the floral designer you've chosen. Perhaps you've chosen to work with someone who's been working with flowers for 15 years. Their experience deserves a higher pay grade. You'd expect to pay an experienced accountant more than a brand new one, wouldn't you? Or maybe you've chosen someone based on their creativity and the unique designs they create. Part of what you're paying for is their brain, which no one else has - being able to access their creativity is a benefit to you!
-Set up and delivery has a price tag attached to it, too (more on this coming in a future post!).
-Covid Note: There has been a large increase in prices and a large decrease in availability of flowers due to Covid. We’re still waiting for things to settle and shake out, so unfortunately there are a lot of question marks with pricing right now. Expect that for weddings post-covid, you will need to pay more for flowers than in previous years.
So, how much do wedding bouquets cost?
Click the graphic below to find out what makes the difference between a $150 bouquet and a $350 bouquet! This is one of my favourite resources to share with couples for a few reasons - mostly because it's a great visual comparison. For those of you who like a certain style but aren't so picky about the types of flowers that are used, be sure to take a closer look - this might give you some thoughts on how you can lower your overall budget!
For reference, the average cost of the bridal bouquets you'll see in my portfolio range from $250 - $350 each.
Quill + Oak, a florist friend of mine in Ontario, recently put together this comparison on centrepiece sizing and pricing, and it's also a pretty good estimation on what you could expect to receive in Manitoba!
Floral designs by Quill + Oak | Photos by Olive Photography
Want some more resources to compare pricing on? See how different floral centrepieces compare on budget here, and get more details on how much a full wedding tablescape will cost with all of those extras added in (candles, table runners, rental pieces, and so on!).
So, let's get down to brass tacks. How much can you expect to spend on wedding flowers in Manitoba?
For full service florals (bridal party and family flowers, ceremony decor, reception decor), my clients are spending an average of $6300 + taxes. That being said, you don't have to spend this much money, and costs can very quickly skyrocket past this point as well. For an average size wedding with 3 bridesmaids, 150 guests with centrepieces and some sort of floral focal feature at the ceremony, I'd suggest that you will be spending in the realm of $5000 +, once set up and delivery are added in. If you have a larger guest list or a larger bridal party and want to keep your floral budget below $2500, then consider some alternatives - simpler bridesmaid bouquets, lower cost centrepieces or DIY options for some of the table centrepieces, and so on. And of course, if you want to have really lush and full arrangements and bouquets, then I'll be happy to oblige :) Just be prepared for a higher price point.
Here's what I offer to clients:
-Full Service Floral Design (with a minimum investment budget of $3500)
-Event Design (in addition to floral design, and you can find out more about that here!)
I would love to discuss your wedding flower needs. I can help you narrow down your style, determine what are the most important aspects of the flowers to you (and therefore, where you should focus your budget and where you can reduce your spending), and also come up with some great ideas for unique designs that your friends didn't all have at their weddings.
Don't hesitate to reach out by clicking the button below!
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