Fourteen Tips for Saving Money on Your Wedding Flowers

As an experienced wedding and special event florist, I'm often asked for floral advice. One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is, "How can I save money on my wedding flowers?" Over the years I've given a number of money-saving tips to brides, their mothers, their wedding planners, and anyone else involved in the budgeting and planning of their weddings. I've compiled a few of the most common ways to cut wedding floral costs and listed them below.

Money Saving Tip #1 - Keep the number of bridesmaids and other attendants to a minimum.
I'm always amazed by the number of brides who say they have a very tight floral budget yet they have a very large number of bridesmaids participating in their weddings. One of the most effective ways to immediately reduce floral expenses is to keep the number of attendants, particularly bridesmaids, to a minimum.

For an example of how the number of attendants can quickly inflate or reduce your wedding floral costs, take a look this comparison. A bride who selects an average $65 bouquet style for her 8 bridesmaids will spend $520 in bridesmaid bouquets alone, whereas, a bride who selects the same $65 bouquet for her 3 bridesmaids will spend only $195. That's a savings of $325!

Why Roses?

Roses are-plain and simple-the quintessential wedding flower. A universal symbol of love and beauty, they are at once classic and contemporary, omnipresent yet never overdone, ever current yet steeped in history. There were 20,000 cream-color roses at the wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. More recently, brides are finding Carmen Electra's luscious deep red rose bouquet to die for. Why? Roses are synonymous with romance. More elegant than daisies, less pretentious than French tulips, and more affordable than orchids...

Roses are Symbolic...

Open any romance novel, look at any romantic painting, and it's clear that throughout the ages writers, poets, artists, and others have used the rose as a metaphor for undying love, beauty, and passion. But why? It has been cited that Chloris -- the Greek Goddess of Flowers -- created the rose out of a lifeless nymph. In the creation, Chloris called upon Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, to bless the nymph with beauty; Dionysus, the God of Wine, to give her a sweet scent; and the three Graces to bestow charm, brightness, and joy upon her. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away clouds so that Apollo, the Sun God, could make the flower bloom. Voila! A rose and symbol of beauty was born.

Choosing wedding flowers by season

Flower are always add beauty in a wedding. We find that the wedding is always there in every season but when we want to determine what flower would used, the season must be considered. Most flowers bloom in spring but there are some flowers that have a uniqueness bloom in a season. A bride will either choose wedding flowers which fits the season than flowers which she can get all year around when she is planning her marriage festivities. This may be the reception, the inside decor of the celebration, the ceremony, the table decoration and it is also important when the bride chooses the flowers of her bride’s bouquet.

1. Summer Wedding Flower
You can't go wrong with an abundance of flowers at a summer wedding. There are so many varieties in season, you may have a tough time narrowing your choices down! More than 30% of the weddings take place in this period of the year and it is easy to understand why. The possibility of sunshine is much higher and the yellow color of the sun is associated with the summer. However, yellow represent sunshine; you will find other vibrant colors which are suitable for a wedding flower bouquet, for example white, pink, green, brown, red, orange and purple.

The following suggestions flower popular and suitable for the selected:
Dahlia
Dahlia is a colorful flower which is available in yellow, orange, pink, red, white, cream, burgundy and rust. Its size ranges from a diameter of 5 cm until 30 cm.


Calla Lilly
Calla Lilly is a beautiful flower and available in yellow, orange, purple, lavender, white, cream and pastel. These flowers represent the beauty of the nature.

Dendrobium orchids
Dendrobium orchids are exotic and sexy flowers which are available in white, green, yellow, pink mauve and rust. Bright purple dendrobium orchids are much less expensive during the summer months, so you can feel like a queen without the budget of one.




gerbera daisies
Garbera daises distinguished by large flowering heads that closely resemble those of sunflowers, gerbera daisies come in a vibrant rainbow of colors. Bright pink, snow white, sunny yellow, and ruby red are just a few of the gorgeous colors that these happy flowers boast.

cosmos
Cosmos are herbaceous perennial flowering plants. Cosmos flower plants grow to 3-6 feet tall. Cosmos flowers occurs in Solid pink, white, maroon, and pink with deep pink flares.




zinnias elegants
Zinnia elegans originated in Mexico and therefore, likes a arm-hot climate. The Zinnia plant's leaves are lance-shaped and sandpaper like in texture. The Zinnia plant's height ranges from 15 cm to 1 meter.Zinnias come in an array of colors, multi-colors and hues. Zinnias come as yellow, orange, white, red, rose, pink, purple, lilac and multi-colored blooms. Zinnia varieties include both miniatures and giants that range from about a foot to over three feet tall.

2. Spring
Spring is the second most popular season for couples choose to get married. It is the season when most flowers start blooming and you may experience the colors of these flowers are more beautiful than in other seasons. Some people call this period of the year the time of rebirth. The winter is done, the dark days are over and spring expresses an emotion of feeling happy. It is the most fabulous time of the year to choose flowers because there is no other season where you will find so many varieties:

Anemone * Blue, red, pink, white * Jan-May and Aug-Dec.
Bells of Ireland * Green * January-October
Casa Blanca Lily * White * January-October
Daffodil * Yellow * January-Early May
Delphinium * White, Blue * April- October
Hyacinth * Purple, Pink or White
Lilacs * Violet or White
Narcissus * White
Peony * Pink or White * Late Spring – Early Summer
Ranunculus * white, pink, red, orange and yellow * February-May
Star Gazer Lily * Pink and White * January-October
Sweetpea * white, pink, red/coral, and lavender/purple * December-May
Tulip * Many colors, including white, pink, yellow, red, and purple * December-April
Waxflower * pinky purple and white

3. Autumn
Autumn is also a good timing for marriages. The days shorten during the Fall and the temperature for many people often is more enjoyable for a happy wedding day than the hot days of the summer. The nights are cooler and you can see the green colors of the summer changing in deep yellow and red. Here are some suggestions of popular flowers :

Aster * White, Pink
Chrysanthemum * White, Yellow, Orange, Pink, other colors
Dahlia * Many Colors
Marigold * Yellow, Orange, Red
Statice * Purple
Zinnia * Red, orange, pink *
Dried Leaves

4. Winter
Winter is not a popular period for marriages but you may be surprised how beautiful it can be if you marry when it is snowing. Only 15% of the marriages take place this time of the year and likely because they fear cold and rainy days. This time of year doesn't represent the happiness which you can find during other seasons. Choosing flowers is also not easy because most of the flowers are not in bloom anymore.You have to make your choice between flowers which are available all year round :

Amaryllis * Red, White
Anemone * Blue, red, pink, white * Jan-May and Aug-Dec.
Bells of Ireland * Green * January-October
Camellias * White, Pink
Casa Blanca Lily * White * January-October
Cosmos * Pink, White, Brown, Other Colors
Daffodil * Yellow * January-Early May
Forget-me-nots * Blue
Holly * Green with Red Berries
Jasmine * White
Narcissus * White, Yellow
Poinsettia * Red, White
Ranunculus * white, pink, red, orange and yellow * February-May
Star Gazer Lily * Pink and White * January-October
Star of Bethlehem * White
Sweetpea * white, pink, red/coral, and lavender/purple * December-May
Tulip * Many colors, including white, pink, yellow, red, and purple * December-April
Waxflower * Pink, White

source by :Nina Callaway(about.com) and Eric