Church set up + flowers

lorenzo87 · 12-01-2016 03:38PM #1

Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone knew how to cut costs on the church set up and flowers? I think the prices in general are crazy myself, I have been quoted 700 - 800. Any help or advice much appreciated. We are in the Mayo/Sligo area. Thanks.

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:45PM

Don't have any?

lorenzo87 · 12-01-2016 03:45PM

lazygal wrote: »

Don't have any?

Sorry?

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:46PM

Do you need flowers? If they are over the budget, don't have them.

fits · 12-01-2016 03:47PM

You dont need to bother with them. I rarely notice flowers in the church. Churches are often quite ornate already. And ofyen youd need to put in loads to make an impact. They dont add that much to the day...

( i just had bouquets made up by m-i-l. Hotel put flowers on tables and on ceremony table)

jon1981 · 12-01-2016 03:48PM

700-800 should see you right. That was around the price we paid. Contrary to what some might say, the made a massive difference as they are visible in all photograph in the church and the Alter and aisle looked very well.

P.S. I was also a sceptic but when you see the church pre and post flowers, you'll see why you did it.

lorenzo87 · 12-01-2016 03:48PM

That's what I was thinking. Trying to tell the missus that is another thing though.

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:49PM

fits wrote: »

You dont need to bother with them. I rarely notice flowers in the church. They dont add that much to the day...

I would actually have had more decor if I had my time over-some of our ceremony pictures look a bit bare. But I'd rather have spent the money on our guests that a few hundred on something a lot of people won't notice.

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:49PM

jon1981 wrote: »

700-800 should see you right. That was around the price we paid. Contrary to what some might say, the made a massive difference as they are visible in all photograph in the church and the Alter and aisle looked very well.

If you have €700-800 of course have them. But if the money isn't there for them, you have to rethink it.

jon1981 · 12-01-2016 03:50PM

lazygal wrote: »

If you have €700-800 of course have them. But if the money isn't there for them, you have to rethink it.

The OP never said money was the issue, obviously if it , then don't do it.

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:52PM

jon1981 wrote: »

The OP never said money was the issue, obviously if it , then don't do it.

OP did ask how to cut the costs.....

fits · 12-01-2016 03:52PM

Well they wouldnt have made any difference to ours. But we were incredibly lucky with our venue.

My friend spent a lot on flowers with lamber de bie for her marquee wedding They were amazing but not necessary for us.

lorenzo87 · 12-01-2016 03:53PM

The money isn't an issue but I am not one to waste money either, I am just seeing if I can find cheaper than 700-800 as it does sound expensive and I can't justify spending more than 500 personally. Thanks for the help folks.

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:54PM

It does depend on the venue. A lot of churches are hideous 1960s affairs. But in a venue with a lot of features anyway decor can be more creative.

jon1981 · 12-01-2016 03:54PM

lazygal wrote: »

OP did ask how to cut the costs.....

Ok missed that. OP you can do a lot yourself ( granted with additional stress). I'm sure you have a list of outstanding expense for the wedding, you need to rationalise the cost of flowers with the other items. If it's simply you don't have the money then that's it. But if it's a question of not seeing the value, again when you see the church with the flowers laid out, you'll see the value.

fits · 12-01-2016 03:54PM

lorenzo87 wrote: »

The money isn't an issue but I am not one to waste money either, I am just seeing if I can find cheaper than 700-800 as it does sound expensive and I can't justify spending more than 500 personally. Thanks for the help folks.

Diy?

lazygal · 12-01-2016 03:55PM

lorenzo87 wrote: »

The money isn't an issue but I am not one to waste money either, I am just seeing if I can find cheaper than 700-800 as it does sound expensive and I can't justify spending more than 500 personally. Thanks for the help folks.

I would tell florists your budget is €500 and see what they come up with. This worked a lot for us with wedding vendors, giving a clear budget and seeing what they can do for you.

Toto Wolfcastle · 12-01-2016 03:55PM

What are you getting for that price? An obvious way to cut the price would be to cut down on what you actually get. We didn't spend anywhere close to that amount on our flowers. I thought wedding flowers were expensive too until I actually did some training in the area. Flowers aren't as cheap wholesale as you'd think they are (depending on the flower!) and the amount of work that goes into wedding flowers is unbelievable.

SarahMollie · 12-01-2016 03:55PM

fits wrote: »

Well they wouldnt have made any difference to ours. But we were incredibly lucky with our venue.

My friend spent a lot on flowers with lamber de bie for her marquee wedding They were amazing but not necessary for us.

I can never understand that personally. Marquees require so much decoration (aka money) to make them look like more than a big white tent....I think I'd rather spend the money on picking a place that didnt need so much decoration in the first place.

TrixIrl · 12-01-2016 03:59PM

Most hotels provide flowers for your wedding reception (on tables, candleabras etc). If the venue isnt too far from the church (and you have a willing friend with car), why not ask the hotel if you can use their flowers in the church and drop them back before everyone goes in for dinner? The hotel flowers arent doing anything at that hour anyway!

Even better, if you know who does the flowers for the hotel, why not approach them about your bridal flowers/buttonholes? In that way they'll be dropping you out flowers anyway to the church/home and can bring the hotel flowers with them?

Might not always work but worth a shot!

jon1981 · 12-01-2016 04:01PM

TrixIrl wrote: »

Most hotels provide flowers for your wedding reception (on tables, candleabras etc). If the venue isnt too far from the church (and you have a willing friend with car), why not ask the hotel if you can use their flowers in the church and drop them back before everyone goes in for dinner? The hotel flowers arent doing anything at that hour anyway!

Even better, if you know who does the flowers for the hotel, why not approach them about your bridal flowers/buttonholes? In that way they'll be dropping you out flowers anyway to the church/home and can bring the hotel flowers with them?

Might not always work but worth a shot!

This simply isnt' true... most hotels will provide them at an expense. Certainly no venue we talked to were offering flowers for free. Center pieces also in alot hotels are not provided free ,in ours they were, but in a lot they have to be rented.

OP typically you get the flowers for the church and then the flower person will transport the flowers to the venue for the top table.

TrixIrl · 12-01-2016 04:07PM

jon1981 wrote: »

This simply isnt' true... most hotels will provide them at an expense.

OP typically you get the flowers for the church and then the flower person will transport the flowers to the venue for the top table.

As i said this may not always work, but I have worked in several hotels over the years and wedding flowers for tables/top tables were always included in an overall package - just picking a random one or two of hotels (which I do not work for!) http://www.mountwolseley.ie/cmsFiles/2015___2016_wedding_packages.pdf or http://www.brandonhousehotel.ie/wedding-packages-wexford.html

So its worth asking if they are included

If not, the previous suggestion of going to the florist with a specific budget and asking them to tailor a package to your needs is always a good idea!

hardCopy · 12-01-2016 04:12PM

Talk to a florist about what could be cut out. Could you get by with every second or third pew-end, can you save by collecting rather than having them delivered?

We used little wooden love hearts on every second pew end and only went half way down the aisle as we knew we wouldn't fill every bench.

stickybookmark · 12-01-2016 05:10PM

You could definitely do the pew ends yourself and quite cheaply as well. So take them out of the flower budget.
Also you can decorate the back of the 2 chairs yourself.
The church doesn't need a whole lot, just something to take the bare look off the altar. I had one arrangement on the altar and a vase either side.

Are you including the bouqets in that price OP?

SarahMollie · 12-01-2016 05:15PM

hardCopy wrote: »

Talk to a florist about what could be cut out. Could you get by with every second or third pew-end, can you save by collecting rather than having them delivered?

We used little wooden love hearts on every second pew end and only went half way down the aisle as we knew we wouldn't fill every bench.

+1

This sounds sensible. Perhaps also consider little tea lights on alternative rows if little wooden hearts arent your jam

eviltwin · 12-01-2016 06:09PM

Buy some fake arrangements? My mum in law used to do wedding flowers and did these for overseas weddings, they cost a fraction of the cost and you could easily make them up at home

Cakerbaker · 12-01-2016 07:38PM

We used a freelance florist. It was because I loved her stuff but I did find her cheaper than others as she doesn't have the same overheads as she worked from home. We decorated small glass with jars with lace and used them with battery operated tea lights as pew ends. We also borrowed lanterns from family and friends that we put in certain spots where there would normally be flowers but wouldn't feature in photos. The flowers really feature in our wedding photos so I do think they're worth while but it is worth figuring out what can be left out.

Cakerbaker · 12-01-2016 07:43PM

A tip I got from my florist was to go with basic flowers in the church arrangements. I wanted peonies, hydrangeas and other flowers in the bouquets and I wanted specific details added with roses for the button holes which added up. She said that no one would notice these fancy flowers in the altar arrangements as people just see the colour and overall effect so she used basics in these which kept the cost down and they looked amazing in the pictures. Might be ale thing else worth checking out depending on what yere going good for.

fits · 12-01-2016 07:52PM

SarahMollie wrote: »

I can never understand that personally. Marquees require so much decoration (aka money) to make them look like more than a big white tent....I think I'd rather spend the money on picking a place that didnt need so much decoration in the first place.

It was over 15 years ago and there werent too many options outside of standard hotel wedding then. Marquee was in parents garden. Best wedding i was ever at (including my own). Pure mischief. That said, bride and groom were knackered after set up and didnt enjoy as much as rest of us.

Mimojo · 13-01-2016 01:40PM

A friend of mine got married about 3 years ago, and I bought the flowers for her wedding at the flower market in Smithfield, cost about 150euro, and then got my mother in law to arrange them as she had some experience in that. If you know of anything that would be handy with something like that might be an option. The flowers on the day looked fab, she did the alter, pew ends, windows, entrance, button holes and bouquettes for a fraction of the cost.

You could also look into doing some DIY stuff yourself, including buying some lanterns, tea lights etc to dress up the church and use less flowers. There are also decor companies who will do that for you. We got married a few months ago and the hotel had an agreement with such a company to do our decor (we didnt have a church wedding by the way, all in the hotel), and the price was pretty reasonable.

A final suggestion is dried flowers. I know not everyones cup of tea, but for my own wedding I got dried bouquettes and button holes on etsy, they were absolutely gorg, photographed really well & were a fraction of the cost. I can give you the link where I bought them if you need it, lady was based in Dublin and shipped nationwide.

shortstuff! · 13-01-2016 01:45PM

Are you local to the church? Could you suss out who does the church flowers on a normal basis? Most have a rotation of local women and theres usually some amazing talent in the bunch. Thats what Ive done basically, Im lucky in that the women Ive asked is my bridesmaids Mam and she did her wedding last year so I know shes up to the task and wont find it overwhelming. Ive done all the bouquets myself, using foam flowers, maybe thats something you could look into, very easy done and look great!

Church set up + flowers

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